One of my oldest friends called me this morning. He’s been working in IT for the past 12 years, and he’s been itching to venture out on his own. We’ve talked at length about some of his ideas, and I’ve always encouraged him to give it a shot. But something keeps holding him back, even when I poke holes in his excuses.

After I hung up, I rummaged around and found an article that Jim Kukral wrote in the June 2009 edition of FeedFront Magazine. The article is titled Things I Wish I Knew 10 Years Ago, and it’s a great read. The piece I forwarded to my buddy reads as follows:

Don’t Wait to Try & Get Out of the Cubicle
My favorite quote from a famous peron is this one from Wayne Gretzky. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Here’s what I know now. Of the shots I did take, not all of them panned out. In fact, more have failed than not, but the rest of them scored small to BIG for me, allowing me to be in a position today of owning my own Web business and working for myself.

Take your shot, or stay in the cubicle.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Yesterday, I received a call stating that my local search listing was being upgraded to a featured listing for 30-days, at no cost to me. My spidey sense kept telling me to hang up the phone, but as I listened to the caller’s “pitch”, there seemed to be no harm, as they weren’t collecting any payment information from me or anything. He said something about “If you don’t want to continue after 30 days, just let us know and we’ll cancel at no cost to you”. So I said fine.

I decide to do some searching on this company ZipWeb, and I’m just bombarded with BAD REVIEWS. The bulk of the posts talk about how they tack on a $49.95-$99.95 charge to your phone bill, a tactic known as cramming. Most people forget to cancel, or never heard when the CSR mentioned the fact that you have to cancel or else you’re going to get billed. It’s only when they get their outrageous bill that they find out what happened. Of course, ZipWeb won’t give you your money back, and that’s how they get you.

Articles like this, this, and this all show people who’s been taken by this scam. There have even been allegations that the company splices your recorded phone call to make it sound like you agreed to things that you didn’t.

Troubling, to say the least. In any event, when I tried to immediately cancel the service, I was told that I have to wait 5 days until my information appears in their central system. I’ll be calling them on a daily basis until I get written confirmation that my “account” with them is cancelled, so that I have something to fight them with should they attempt to bill me anyway.

I’ll update this post as things progress. Consider yourself warned!

Sounds like common sense, right? I met up with a potential business investor for dinner last night. After a frustrating dinner (where he spent half the time talking on the phone, trying to save a deal that was falling apart), he said I should follow him to the strip club, where he could “unwind” and further discuss business.

So we get there, grab a seat at the bar, and start talking business. But 5 minutes later, someone catches his eye, and he jumps from his seat. Next thing, this little Brazilian chick is sitting with us, and he’s buying her a drink. Next thing I know, he’s headed back for a lapdance from her. 20 minutes later, he returns, and it’s obvious that he’s lost his focus.

I call it a night, and leave him at the club. Total waste of a night..

This weekend, we decided to venture out of the house and hit the local movie theatre.. It’s unbelievable what movie theatres charge these days – In our case, $9.50 for a movie! In any event, my wife wanted to see Bruno, so I gave in. And while we were at it, we also saw The Hangover..

Bruno – It’s funny. It pushes the boundaries. It’s definitetly not for the homophobic! But unfortunately, it’s no Borat. (My wife disagrees, and says it’s even funnier than Borat) If you saw the early reviews, you noticed that many people shared my sentiment, and that’s why the box office numbers dropped so much after opening night. The movie has it’s moments, but I could have waited for the DVD..

The Hangover – This movie ROCKED! I’ve been wanting to see it since the first previews came out, and the wife wanted to see it for Bradley Cooper. So we both walked away happy..

The story: A bachelor party in Vegas that got so out of control, no one can remember what happened the following day. Worse yet, they lost the groom! The rest of the movie follows the group as they piece together the events of the past 12 hours as they search for their buddy. It’s hysterical.

That’s it for now..

The Discovery Channel has decided to renew its series ‘Pitchmen’, despite the sudden death of one of its stars TV Pitchman Billy Mays.

The network says it want to continue the series “as a tribute to Mays’ legacy”.

The show is about the infomercial industry, and followed two of its biggest personalities. With Mays’ passing, the new format of the show is unknown.

Billy Mays, who is famously known for his infomercials, was found dead on June 28th in his home. He died of heart failure at the age of 50 years old.

A premiere date for the 2nd season hasn’t been announced yet, but The Discovery Channel will be re-airing its special “Pitchmen: A Tribute to Billy Mays” on July 24th.

It’s already time for the next Elite Retreat, and this year it will be in New York City! The retreat will be a 2 day event on October 1st and 2nd, 2009.

The Elite Retreat is a very exclusive event, and sells out within days of opening registration. Jeremy “ShoeMoney” Schoemaker has been able to assemble the most sought after people in the industry to provide insight and help to those that attend. Some of the leaders this year will be Chris Winfield of 10e20, Neil Patel of KISSMetrics, Aaron Wall of SEO Book, and Brian Norgard, of FOX Advertising. Keynote speakers of the ER have been great in the past, including Guy Kawasaki and Gary Vaynerchuk. This year the keynote will be none other than, New York Times Bestselling Author, Seth Godin.

But you should be warned that this conference is not for everyone. Shoemoney takes the time to approve all of the attendees, so that everyone gets the most out of the Elite Retreat. Don’t be scared to register though, it is NOT invitation only. He just likes to make sure you are prepared for what this event can do for you.

Registration for the event is open early to you because Jeremy selects a few people to do some presales before he announces it on his blog (www.shoemoney.com).

The cost to attend is $4,995 per person, and although some may call it expensive anyone who has ever attended the Elite Retreat calls it an investment that easily pays for itself. An hour of consulting with any one of these guys would cost you at least $5,000.

This year the event will take place at the unbelievable Hotel Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District of New York City. The hotel has one of a kind spaces for being in Manhattan, like a rooftop pool (which will be the location of the opening night party). Pics of the hotel can be viewed here: http://www.hotelgansevoort.com/photo-gallery/index.cfm

For more information on the Elite Retreat NYC, check out http://www.eliteretreat.info. But don’t take too much time deciding, the event always sells out, and like I said Jeremy will be announcing the event to the world on Wednesday.

Check out photos from last year’s event
Click here to view the Elite Retreat Agenda