It is good to be home after 2 grueling weeks on the road. We launched our newest chapter in Florida in Niceville and two new chapters in Des Moines bringing the total there to five. We are looking to add two more chapters in Florida in May and the calls just keep coming in to bring RLI to new areas. Why the explosion of growth? Because of the forward thinking and cutting edge type of networking that we do that is changing lives all across America. With more than 15 networking first having been created in the last 30 months RLI continues to lead the way in innovative networking that gets REAL results. If you would like to bring RLI to your city please contact me.

RLI is proud to announce the addition of Nationally recognized speaker, business coach and author Tim Davis to our executive team. Tim is joining our team as VP of Men of Faith Connect, RLI's newest model of top level networking. RLI recently expanded it's brand with the creation of Wise Women Connect led by VP Cathy Weaver. Men of Faith Connect is the next step in providing various models of networking under one umbrella. Men of Faith Connect will be a faith based men's only model that will meet once a month for great food, fellowship, business coaching, networking and inspiration. Tim Davis is known across America for his faith and his personal life calling to change every life he encounters. RLI is proud to have him join our team of ever expanding national leaders.

As a special Chritmas gift to all RLI members if you sponsor a new member between today and January 31 it will count for 2 new members for sponsor four pay no more. So some of you who have already sponsored 2 will just need 1 more to get your next year's membership FREE. Must be a new application taken from today thru Jan. 31. The New Year is a great time to help someone grow their business my introducing them to your amazing fellow members. Let's make it a goal for everyone to  sponsor one member in Jan. Merry Christmas early!!

When I wrote my post on Thursday about this Christmas feeling different I had no clue how accurate I would be in light of the great tragedy that hit our country yesterday with the loss of so many innocent lives. Yesterday to me felt like 9-11 all over again. Amber and I stopped many times during our date day to talk, weep and pray for the families of the victims, we closed our night together once more praying for them. We asked ourselves if this troubled young man had come across our path's would we have been sensitive or caring enough to have given him a hug or a word of encouragement. These are troubled times we live in. In the middle of the day yesterday we went down to Healing House to see how we could serve them this week. There was a small urgent financial need we were able to meet and Amber and I will be cooking dinner for all of the residents on Wednesday night. Not because we are special but because they are. I have committed to going out on the weekends to feed homeless people under bridges and in small camps. Why? Because they need love and hope just like me. Maybe if I could give hope to just one individual it might save someone else's life. What will you do to help the hurting and mentally ill in order for us all to live in a better and safer country? As for Amber and I we will serve the Lord and those who have been given up as worthless to restore as many people as we can to hope, love and success.

This Christmas feels different to me. There seems to be more hurting people than in years past. Broken bodies, broken homes, financial stress, uncertainly and a lack of direction seems to be everywhere. Maybe I am just more sensitive to it this year I don't know. I know that much of my success came from being given a second chance ....ok hundreds of second chances by God, my friends and my business partners than any one person deserves. That's why I am driven to help people because sometimes "they" just need a second chance or a third or a fourth.

 We give up on people way to soon and often it is because we really have no clue what they are going thru. Last night I was chatting with an RLI member online whose personal life is in shambles because of the person they love being an addict. No one on the outside would even know by looking at them in their successful business. Thankfully we came up with a plan to hopefully steer this person to help. But this is just "one" household and there are thousands of these troubled homes in every city some are even on your block. So if you are blessed this year what will you do to bless others?

 I have just a few more events on my schedule for this year so between now and January 1 Amber and I will be devoting every spare minute to helping others. Please don't be afraid to ask. If you need counseling, encouragement, a meal or a helping hand moving or finding a job please let us know how we can serve you. We want to give of our talents and gifts to bless others.

Hey RLI,

Josh Wendel here . I'm one of the owners of ijustwantasite.com. I'm really excited to get started with my new blog here on RLI. I'll be covering several subjects in my posts. The core subjects will be,

• Social media
• Website tips
• Apps
• Networking 

First just a little bit about me. You already know that I'm one of the owners of I Just Want A Site. What is I Just Want A Site? We are a website development company. We specialize in building WordPress website for small businesses. We also host websites, build applications, do search engine optimization, social media management, and very soon will be offering Google apps for business. Enough about me. In the next few paragraphs I'll be covering exactly what you can expect from each one of my topics.

Social media- in this section I'll be talking about social media in general. I'll talk about Facebook, Google plus, Twitter, and all the other social media platforms. I'll also talk about search engine optimization in this section and how social media can affect SEO.

Website tips- In this section I'll be talking about your websites design, SEO,and Analytics. Don't worry if you don't know what any of these things are, you'll know after you read my blog post for a little while.

Apps – In this section I will be talking about apps. The hottest greatest latest most awesome apps that are out and up-to-date. Specifically I'll be talking about apps that are great for productivity and business. All work and no play makes Joshie dull boy though, so also be including some games in the section as well.

Networking – In this section I'll be talking about networking.You'll find out about events that are coming up. You also find about out about events that already happened. I'll post pictures and notes if there are any from past events.

I'm thinking of posting these every Friday. Let me know what you think in the comments below. If you ever have any questions please don't hesitate to let me know my contact information will be down below.

Thank you and have a great day.
Josh Wendel
+Josh
josh@ijwas.com  

Business Builders are cool.

YouTube Link

I actually  have known about this out for little a while.  Recently Gizmodo did a write up on it. The app I’m talking about today is Bump. This app makes it possible for you to share information from one phone to another by simply bumping them together. The only downside I can really see with this app is that both parties have to have the app for it to work. I will put a link to what Gizmodo had to say about some of the new features added to the app.

Gizmodo Review 

So what you think?  Is the new feature of being able to share with your computer one that would make you more likely to use this app. Let me know what you think.

I thought about this topic for a while.  I thought about the best tip I could give that would make your website better than any other on the Internet.  My answer is this, preparation.  The best thing that you can do to make your website amazing is to know what you want.  Know what you want before you begin.

Create the pages that you want the content to go on in your mind first.  Some examples of that are about us, contact us, company history, services, etc.  After you’ve decided what the pages are going be start writing your content.  As you are writing your content be thinking of pictures that would be good to illustrate your points.  Write notes!  You’ll never remember all the stuff if you don’t keep notes.  Again this all comes back to being prepared.  After you have written all of your content go about the task of finding the pictures or taking the pictures that you thought of while you were writing.

When you are done with all of that you’re still only halfway done.  You still have to think of a budget.  Most people come to me and ask me what their budget should be.  The problem is if you don’t have a budget in mind you are leaving it up to the web designer.  That puts them in a difficult situation they have to guess how much you’re willing to spend.  If they guess too high they will not get the job.  If they guess too low your expectations may not be met.  Make it clear what your budget is and what your expectations are for that budget.  Again know what you want.

A good way to come up with a budget is this.  The life of a website is approximately three years.  Figure out what you would be willing to spend every single month for your website.  Add that up for three years and that’s what you should be spending on your website.  So if your budget is $25.00 a month for three years that would be a $900 website.  You should also be taking this amount and setting it aside for your next redesign that way in three years you’ll have the budget to do it again and it won’t be a stressful thing for you.

Your website is an important part of your business.  One that most business owners don’t prepare for.  The best thing that you can do is be prepared.  Be ready with the budget.  Be ready with content.  Be ready with expectations.  Be ready with some design concepts.  In might next website tips blog I’ll be talking about website upkeep.  If you have any questions about website upkeep that I can answer please send those to Josh@IJWAS.com.

I hope this is helpful and look for writing many more post in the future.

Josh Wendel