John Wren's The Startup Show,
Sponsored by the Small Business Chamber of Commerce, Inc
Each Monday from 5 to 6 p.m. Mountain Time

Watch here or on YouTube Live Broadcasts or Google+ Hangouts.
Want to be on the show next week or on a Special Edition?
Want to be a sponsor of the show?
Contact John Wren, (303)861-1447

Watch here live at 5, then as a recording.

Examine. Thanks, God, I needed that.

Just a few minutes, I start with reading email I get from Jesuits each day, meditation on today's readings, today remember that those who aren't against us are for us, sparks idea for today's The Startup Show, open spaces as discussed in a recent America Magazine article. Examine, gratitude, review, ask forgiveness for wrongs, pick a couple of things I'm going to do for sure today, ask for help. Then I do 10 minutes of centering prayer. I'm ready for the day!

For more about the Examine, and there is much, much more, see http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen/

Listen to The Startup Show this afternoon, we'll talk more about this then. http://Facebook.com/SmallBizStartup

Later this morning here on JohmWren.com

Later this morning, my experience today with The Examin suggested by a military veteran, based on his own experience with it.

The Examin will also be the topic of our show today on the Small Business Chamber's The Startup Show, 5 to 6 pm each Friday, broadcast around the world on YouTube Live Broadcasts and Google+ Live Hangouts. If you have news about you and/or your business you'd like me to announce on the show, post a one-sentence smart and a link to the URL for more on our http://Facebook.com/Small.Business.Chamber See you live at 5! There will also be a link to the show here, it will convert to a link to the recording of the show right after the broadcast,  in case you can't make it at 5 or if you like the show and want to share the recording with friends on social media or you Internet publication. 

More in a couple of hours... 

Start! It's only too late if we don't start now!

Out of work? Hate your job? Bored with your life? There is help. This life is short, but it's only too late if you don't start NOW!

Don't worry about a purpose, getting a better education, or having money or connection. Do the little you can today, trust that with God's help it's enough ! Repeat tomorrow. 

My suggestion: 1) right now pray, in what ever way you want, "God please help!" Is good prayer 2) email http://www.eparachute.com/ for this info and/or go to your local book store and read the new 2014, not 2013, or 2012 What Color is Your Parachute It changed in a big, big way in 2012, but some of the best new material was left out of 2013. 3) Call someone TODAY and tell what your doing, set a time to get together face to face, at that meeting commit to regular meetings.

If you are desperate enough, or if any of this is unclear, you are welcome to call me, but only if you do it right now. Start ! There is never a charge for phone calls or anything else unless you've paid me in advance, so you are never surprised by a bill. If I can help you I'll work with you regardless of your ability to pay. Right now, while it's on your mind, call me at (303)861-1447, if you get my voice mail leave a complete message in the confidential voice mail box. Let's get started! 

When you can, would you please contribute to me so I can continue to help co-create a Good Living for clients regardless of their ability to pay. Contribute online using the above link, or mail your check to John Wren, 960 Grant St. #727, Denver, CO 80203. If you have any questions, or if you have the name and phone number of someone you'd like me to contact, you can call me now at (303)861-1447, if you get my voice mail leave a complete message in the confidential voice mail box.

Read 2012  or this one, not 2013.

I was in the downtown Denver Barnes & Noble book store yesterday evening, and quickly read through Richard Bolles' new 2014 What Color is Your Parachute. I first read in 1974 in the Wichita Public Library, after working for Snelling and Snelling as a placement councilor and before that as a personnel manager for a wholesale company, I could see it was a very, very different approach to startup and I really connected with it. Since then I've exchanged a few emails with Richard, who is a fantastic person.

We are taken, blessed, broken and given.

Pope Francis and I both shared with the world about our calls last Thursday. His interview got a lot more attention, of course, than my media release (see below), but seems to me the the Pope and I are working toward's the same end, taking God's love into every neighborhood, worldwide.

Here's is what Pope Francis said about the Church as field hospital:

“I see clearly,” the pope continues, “that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.... And you have to start from the ground up."  From http://www.americamagazine.org/content/good-word/popes-interview-and-bible

Media Release-- New Effort to Start Neighborhood Learning Groups.

September 19, 2013

For Immediate Release

SMALL GROUP IN EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD MISSION OF NEW EFFORT.

Newly active citizens will launch self-directed learning groups in their own neighborhoods.

Denver—Longtime community activist John S Wren announced his new effort to create Go+Groups, neighborhood self-directed learning groups. For information about how you can help your neighborhood start a group contact Wren at (303)861-1447 or John@JohnWren.com.

“Our mission is a healthy group in every neighborhood, across Colorado for now, soon across the country, and we believe eventually around the world. The independent, self-governing, self-supporting groups will be used for educational, social activities and mutual aid.

“We are educational, not political. Like the Denver City Club, of which I’m a past president, we will inform, not reform. Our members will be encouraged to affiliate with a political party; we hope to have members from both major political parties in our groups.

“For groups to be listed in our directory, they will need to agree with our purpose, a focus on creating a Good Living in a culture of life, with recovery, life-long learning, and doing work that provide an adequate income, learning and leisure.

“My neighborhood will be the model for our new program. I’ll be taking action here and writing about it on www.JohnWren.com. Also I’ll be recruiting 3 other neighborhood leaders. That will be our model, 30 days to organize your own neighborhood, help 3 others get started.

“If we are successful we’ll have a big increase in informed participation from political newcomers in the Colorado Caucus in 2014,” said Wren.

                                                                        ###

John S Wren (303)861-1447 John@JohnWren.com is a graduate of Denver Thomas Jefferson High School and the University of Denver. He’s been active in politics as a Republican and a Democrat, he is now registered Unaffiliated. He helped defeat Amendment 29 in 2002 which would have radically changed our Colorado Caucus, what Wren calls “the best chance the common person has of servicing in elected public office.”

Oxford Group Handbook

A Christian revival movement, this was their handbook:  http://www.orange-papers.org/What_Is_The_Oxford_Group.pdf

Live at 5 p.m. each Monday
The Startup Show, Sponsored by the Small Business Chamber of Commerce, Inc
New! Text us a question during the show. After the show, call The Startup Line (303)861-1447

Big changes for Denver IDEA Cafe. Join us tomorrow?

We are moving back to Panera Bread, 13th and Grant near the Capitol here in Denver. Also, we are shorting the meeting to just one hour and now meeting every week. Big, big change will be the format of the meeting.

Hope you'll join us this Friday, tomorrow, Sept 13, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. We get help to start as we give help.

More here about this new meeting format after tomorrow's test. Information and optional RSVP at http://Meetup.com/Small-Biz-Chamber, see Denver IDEA Cafe. Or call (303)861-1447.

Real help from real people.

That's what we promise for our IDEA Startup Workshops. 

If you have had startup experience you'd be willing to share, I'd like to talk with you. We are starting new groups in cooperation with local chambers of commerce, and we need your help.

For all the details call me this morning or any morning from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at (303)861-1447

This life is short, let's get started!

My network is my net worth?

That's what I was told last night. 

But it's true only if I'm making regular deposits to the relationship account, doing meaningful work for them that results in their being delighted and me getting compensated.

In politics, where networks are sand castles, the question voters, volunteers and contributors ask is "what have you done for me lately?" 

In business, even more so that politics, it's the same question with a sharper focus. Having a name, contacting the name and staying in touch has no impact on my net worth unless I've received pay from the customer for doing work that delighted him or her, and who as a result has become a good client who gives my repeat sales and referrals to qualified prospects, people who have good potential of going through this cycle with me.

Of course none of this applies to my family, nor to a handful of my very close friends, nor to work I'm called to do by God when the order is to burn the bridge and give it my all, whether that is sponsoring/mentoring one person or fighting for some cause. In this realm my network is my negative net worth, and it is in this realm that I've labored for the last 23+ years. What I've learned from these thankless days, especially the extraordinary time spent with my father, is that it really is true, if you want gratitude, get a dog.