Ever since I was in Psychology 101 and we talked about the impact of large organizations on the individual, I've been passionate about startup and small businesses.

My life and that of my family has been much, much better because my dad took the risk to start a business. Preserving the opportunity to do this same thing for others has been my primary motivation for most of what I've done in my career.

Now I'm putting my efforts under the umberella of the Small Business Chamber of Commerce, Inc. to cooperate with local chambers of commerce across Colorado and possibly beyond to provide IDEA Cafe type startup workshops and Franklin Circle type peer advisory groups to their members.

If you'd like to know more about how I can help you get and IDEA Cafe and/or a Franklin Circle started, please give me a call. If you want to start a Franklin Circle with your friends and neighbors that is free to those who attend, I'll help you for free.

Don Mares is with us at the Small Business Chamber's Denver IDEA Cafe this Friday (Sept 2), for more see http://www.SBCcBlog.com

We are making progress with the new online Colorado Almanac & Small Business Directory http://PioneerHQ.com. Our mission is to help strengthen the small business community in Colorado, again in cooperation with local chambers of commerce, not in competition with them. Take a look, and please take a free listing for your business. (Take a look at our Small Business Chamber of Commerce listing while you are there, we are listed under "Non-Profits.)

A few of us met for the first time to discuss Chris Phillips's book Socrates Cafe and those meetings led to what we now call Denver Socrates Cafe. The original group still meets each Friday at Panera Bread, 13th & Grant, and there is now a 2nd group that meets each Thursday at Trinity Church, 19th & Broadway, both here in Denver. That first meeting was held the Friday after 9/11, so we are coming up on our 10th aniversary. More info and optional RSVP for the Thursday night meeting at http://meetup.com/Denver-Socrates-Cafe

Are you and I Facebook friends? I post something there nearly every day that I think my friends might find interesting. See http://Facebook.com/John.S.Wren and also http://Facebook.com/Small.Business.Chamber.

Want to find a good job fast? Listen to my free podcast (scroll down, on left side of this page, then scroll down to Episode 5) then call me if you want my free help.

Great group of people will be at Denver IDEA Cafe this Friday for our 2nd monthly "Reunion" with previous speakers and attendees encouraged to attend. If you want seat at the brainstorming table, be one of the first to RSVP, or just show up. 2 p.m., Friday (Aug 26), at Panera Bread, 13th & Grant here in Denver. Free, we just ask that you bring your brain for the brainstorming. Please share with any of your friends who might find the meeting helpful. More info and optional RSVP at http://meetup.com/Denver-IDEA-Cafe or call me at (303)861-1447.

One of the leading business journalists in the country, Robert Schwab, one of the top experts in the country on Internet marketing, Scott Rodgers, and myself are just about to launch a new online publication targeted to Colorado business owners and entrepreneurs.

Our goal is to eventually become the Colorado version of the Texas Almanac (click here.)

Take advantage of the publicity we expect this fall to help get the word out about what you are doing, by taking a free listing for your business. It only takes a few seconds, it will probably be the highest ROI investment of your time! And it will really help us as we get started. Thanks!

See more about what we are doing in these first days of the project and get your free listing, take a look now at PioneerHQ.com (click here.)

I just realized no posts here on this blog for a couple of weeks. Two reasons.

First, I'm focused on trying to get our new, free Small Business Chamber of Commerce started.

Second, I'm working with Robert Schwab and Scott Rodgers to get our new online Colorado Almanac & Small Business Directory started. Hope you'll go there and get your free listing for you and your business if you haven't already.

Also, I'm changing how I'm thinking about this blog. Tried doing a daily 15-minute TV show. That went well. NOT. But I'm going to start writing here once a week or so. We'll see...

Finally, my daughters and grandsons from Houston have been here. It has been GREAT to see them. This is a picture of everyone up in Breckenridge. To see who is who, take a look at it on Facebook and check out the tags, go to http://Facebook.com/John.S.Wren