Connecting entrepreneurs, small business owners and not-for profit organizations who are searching for a way to share their passion and information to a community of like-minded people so they can gain exposure to their ideal clients and create a ripple effect in the lives of other.
I knew since 8th grade career day that I was passionate about wellness and recreation. I went to NIACC first and then to school at UNI and graduated in Leisure Services. While in college I wanted to gain as much experience as I could in the field. I was a lifeguard in Wisconsin Dells, worked at a ski resort in Colorado, was a counselor with Camp Adventure running a day camp for military kids in Georgia, worked at The Boys and Girls Club in Waterloo, and interned at Hartman Reserve Center in Cedar Falls. After I graduated I married my high school sweetheart, Derrick who worked at the federal prison system and we moved to Rochester, MN. I worked at a home for people with disabilities and ran the recreation department. We had our first son Meirick and then had an opportunity to move back home to our family’s farm. I started working at the YMCA in Charles City. New Hampton was in the process of building a new wellness complex and I became their first director. While there we had our second son Parker. After about 3 years of operation at the CWC, Osage was developing a plan and I started as the first director at the Cedar River Complex which was at the stage of designing blueprints for an $18.5 Million events center, museum, 600 seat auditorium, wellness center and community project. While working we had our daughter Samantha and after 3 years of operation I decided it was time to spend more time with my family and have a better balance in our life. My husband works at the FMC Landfill and we grain farm with my parents near Elma, Iowa.
I believe God puts us in certain places, at certain times to learn, to share, or to grow. On our journey we became involved in selling health products and discovered the power of word of mouth promotions but we soon encountered several obstacles with these sales methods, such as over-zealous sales personal who annoyed or intimidated potential customers, a lack of product information, and a limited exposure to a customer base. With our new found industry of network marketing and my background in traditional wellness programs and non-profits, I wanted to find a way to make it easy for people to share what they do with others in a simple and non- threatening way.
My husband likes outdoor sports, so imagine a magazine that has information and articles on fishing, archery, canoeing, trap shooting, hiking, and all the things that relate to outdoor sports. Now imagine an index in the back of this magazine that lists each specialty shop and service provider like bait shops, archery clubs, canoe rentals, trap ranges, hiking outfitter, etc. that you can look up by their name, the type of product or service they provide, or a zip code to see what’s closest to you. Imagine also that there is a calendar in the center of this magazine of all the events that are taking place through anyone of these providers. And a way to discuss and get advice from others that are reading this same magazine. There are a couple problems with this magazine. First, it would be really big and heavy, expensive to print and quickly out of date. It would also be hard to find the page of what you are looking for and it would be hard to share with others.
Be Well God Bless is a website that is free for guests to search the site, view the member directory pages, post a question on the message board, read the blog that features members knowledge, follow social media sites that highlight members, view and share community calendar events, enroll for on-line education and webinars and have the ability to flip shopping on its head. Instead of going out to stores or searching on Google, a customer can post a request on our home page and our members will be notified first of what they are looking for. Providers are then able to get in contact with customer and describe what they have available.
There is a fee of $9 month for basic and $29 month for premium membership. The benefits are having a team member complete all of the setup and on-boarding for you. There is no technology or logging in required. An assigned team member takes care of you right from the beginning and continues to update your display at no extra cost. A person from our team will greet each new member, review the site with them and record a phone conversation learning about the member and their passion. The recording can then be edited and posted on the member page. All of the features and tools are designed to build the members customer base and also encourage satisfied customers to share through word of mouth combined with the member’s page.
Another way that Be Well God Bless is creating a ripple in lives is that 11% of all membership profits are put into a foundation and members may apply for grants to create a ripple in their own community.
I invite you to learn more now by texting BWGB to the number 72727 on your cell phone. You will receive the Be Well God Bless mobile page that will give you more information.
We are submitting this “Dream” application to increase the number of people who know about Be Well God Bless and to help all understand how this could be a positive ripple effect in their life and the lives of others. We are excited to gain experiences, make connections and learn more about the start-up business model. If we were to be awarded grant money it would be used to grow the team and market our website.
Our team now consists of Angie Huffman-founder, Sara Broers-Social Media, Tim Heeter-Tech Support, Velda & Val-Office Support. This grant would allow us to grow our team with Connectors-who connect with potential members, Greeters-who would welcome members and do a recorded phone call to learn about the passion of the members, & Gurus-who would edit the recorded call and upload information on members pages.
As our business gets started we will be making several personal contacts with individuals to share our story. We could jump start the process to get the word out with a marketing campaign. Money from the grant would allow us to use on-line and traditional ways of marketing to connect with our niche market letting people know Be Well God Bless is a Place to Learn, to Share, and to Grow.