Phone booths in Ashburn, Ontario. Photo by Rick Harris.

Here’s how I slashed my cellphone bills by 70%. The goal:

• Make free calls without depleting your daytime minutes
• Make unlimited long distance calls within Canada and the US
• Receive calls anywhere within Canada without long distance charges

Requires:

• Skype account ($3.25/mo)
• Cell phone on Rogers with MY5

Free Outbound Calls

Making free calls from your computer is simple thanks to VOIP services such as Skype, but calling from your cell phone is way better.

1. Get Skype To Go.

Skype To Go lets you call any phone number (cell or landline, globally) by first calling a Skype access number. Get Skype’s “Unlimited US & Canada” plan for about $3.25/mo. You’ll get unlimited calling from your computer, voicemail on your Skype account, and call forwarding (calls to your Skype username can be forwarded to your phone).

It also gets you Skype To Go: just choose your area code and Skype will assign your very own local access number. Now you can call that number, key in your destination number, and enjoy nearly-free long distance calls. Your cell number will still be passed along as your caller ID.

2. MY5 it.

Calling your Skype To Go number will still rack-up airtime charges (daytime minutes) on most plans. So add your Skype access number as a Rogers MY5 number to make your calls completely free. Some other carriers have similar plans.

If you travel much you’ll want Rogers’ MY5 Canada-wide plan, letting you call your access number for free wherever you are in Canada. This came standard with older Rogers plans, but newer plans only get MY5 Local unless you upgrade.

3. Get a dialer app.

Optional step: using your access number is much easier if you have a smart phone. Get a calling card dialing app (such as Easy Dialer for BlackBerry). Then you can call your contacts as normal, and the app will call the access number first before sending the destination number.

Free Inbound Calls

Most of my long distance charges came from answering my phone outside of my local calling area.

1. Signup with FreePhoneLine.ca.

FreePhoneLine.ca is a great service. Use their PC/MAC app to make free local VOIP calls (and free long-distance between certain cities). You’ll get a number in the area code of your choice. That number will display as your caller ID, and calling it will ring your computer (if the application is running).

2. Forward your number.

FreePhoneLine.ca also lets you forward incoming calls to another number. Forward all calls to your cell. Now you’ll have to tell everyone your new number. It hurts but what can you do.

3. MY5 it.

Set your FreePhoneLine.ca number as a (Canada-wide) MY5. Now you can fearlessly answer your phone anywhere in Canada.

Notes

• This system has worked great for me so far. I use Skype To Go for both local and long distance calls during the day, and the quality is excellent. Sometimes a lag is noticeable, and sometimes a call does not go through. I’ve noticed some toll-free numbers cannot be called this way.
• Since Skype will pass your cell number as your caller ID, people may call you back at the same number unless you tell them otherwise. There’s no way to change the ID.
• Google Voice is a better system, but not currently available in Canada. There are ways around this but you’ll be assigned a US number.
• Kevin Kane wrote a great summary of the above including screenshots and setup details.

Know any other tricks to keep the bills down? Any way to use Google Voice with a Canadian number?

Nike takes its name from the Greek goddess of victory, but who pictures a goddess when they buy running shoes? I doubt that one in a hundred customers give a thought to the meaning behind the name. Would Nike have done so well under any name?

I don’t think picking a ‘great’ name is so important; the real meaning of your name will be crafted by your branding efforts. But there are a few show-stoppers to avoid, especially if your company will live mostly online. In order of importance, some naming considerations to mull over:

1. Brandable. Before building a brand, you need to know you can own it. Without a trademark you have little claim to the brand you build, but in my experience this is often overlooked by web entrepreneurs. Because it is a bit costly (roughly $1500 USD for a US or Canadian application, depending who you see, and much cheaper if you brave it yourself) you could delay the application until you actually launch. What cannot be delayed is doing a thoughral trademark search in the jurisdictions you plan to do business. Make sure your name is different enough (not ‘confusingly similar’) with other trademarks in your proposed class(es). Start your US search here,  your Canadian search here, and your UK search here. Remember that common words aren’t easily trademarkable (the process would be harder, and enforcing your trademark rights would be difficult).

2. Available. You need that domain! You can see what’s available and some of what’s for sale here at godaddy. Your name should also be available in the mind of your customers, so you might want to avoid certain common words which already have a strong meaning.  Existing names may have negative associations by some population segments, cultures, or languages. If foreign-language traffic will be crucial, consider running the name past native speakers.

3. Short and Simple. For dealing with search engines and typing URLs, its very important people can spell your name. Avoid tricky spellings (silent letters, words foreign to your market, misspellings). The reason domains with just a single hyphen are worth much less than their non-hyphenated siblings is because they’re harder to explain (“that’s ‘youtube’ with a minus sign, between the you, and the tube”). Sites like del.icio.us and Flickr.com have done well despite this, but I think it’s a mistake. Google is a misspelling, but at least it’s an intuitive, phonetic spelling of a word nobody knew anyway. Of the top 25 brands in 2008, the average name length is just over 7 letters.

4. Descriptive — or not. I think this depends heavily on your market and growth plans. If you plan to exist in a niche market, a descriptive name can get your message across quickly, and be memorable. So a search engine for cars could be called carsearch.com, and potential visitors would instantly know if it’s what they’re looking for. Search engines can also give priority to descriptive URLs that contain the search terms, but I wouldn’t weight that too heavily. A danger with descriptive names (aside from sounding cheesy, sometimes) is being pigeon-holed — forever locked to your original product/service. Carsearch.com might have a hard time even extending to motorcycle search. In contrast, abstract names are the raw marble you can chisel your brand image from. A name like Yahoo! could fit nearly any business (except maybe medicine, psychology, law, etc.) and extend its brand a long way. The problem with abstract names is they are born without meaning, so you must work hard to build it. They work best where you’ll have plenty of opportunity for brand reinforcement, like with ads and event sponsorships. Of the top 25 brands, only 4 names describe their product, service, or industry. Instead of using an existing little-known name (maybe derived from Greek mythology, or city names, etc.), consider inventing a new word, which will return no competing results in a search engine. Try this web 2.0 name generator if you’re not feeling creative.

5. Emotional. This is about how the name makes you feel when read or heard. Some words are clearly emotionally-charged (red, safe, smiling, etc.), but I think most ‘neutral’ words also have a subtle feel to them. Combine words to craft your emotional message, or at a minimum avoid negative words.

If you value money, you’ll budget and track it. Why not treat your time the same?

When I worked at a large engineering consulting firm, every minute of my working day had to be attributed to a current project. I worked on various large projects for different clients throughout the day, but by 5 PM my time had to add to 8.0 hours. If a project had too many hours it would go over budget.

Since there was no category for ‘walking around’, ‘chatting it up’, or even ‘misc work’, it encouraged a productive, task-oriented mindset.

Hey you have projects too? Then why not give the system a whirl… I’ve even attached my blank 2009 calendar to make it easy! It’s based on the calendar template from the good folks at www.vertex42.com. The best time-management tools I’ve found yet is a simple to-do list. This spreadsheet marries a to-do list with a daily scheduler, and a monthly planner.

Quickly jot down the task you're working on (or plan to work on), and block it off with cell colour formatting.

Through 2008 it not only helped me plan (budget), it also showed me the truth about how many hours I actually work in the day (time spent entirely on my priority projects). Although I try to work all day, it turns out I only mange to hit 8 hours (my target) two or three days per week. I don’t feel too bad about it since various studies show that many employees only work 2 to 6 hours in an 8-hour day. And apparnetly actually ‘working at work’ improves productivity also!

In the lower frame is the to-do list. Crossing off tasks (ctrl + 5) gives a fuzzy warm feeling.

Excel file: 2009-calendar