Sometimes making your dream come true is just as simple as getting the right information or making the right contact, and the popular social networking website, Yourlifebox.com, is doing just that – helping high school students and young college-aged adults take proactive steps towards their futures – one dream at a time.
There are a number of social websites on the Internet today, but Your LifeBox sets itself apart from the pack with the site’s central mission: to help young members connect with other members by promoting their dreams and seeking the support of their peers through social outreach. The site provides a special feature called, the YLB Wish, a forum to ask site community members for their support or a connection, non-monetary to help them fulfill their passions and goals.
YourLifeBox.com, a site that currently boasts over fifteen-hundred members was founded by young, Manhattan born, Internet entrepreneur Jonathan Bullard, who says, "When I created Your LifeBox I wanted users to have the functionality of popular social utility websites, but with an important twist – to focus on sharing their dreams, passions and ambitions in their profile, with the added benefit to ask for something non-monetary – something practical, like a social connection, opportunity or introduction, to find support from other members to help make their dreams a reality.”
Jonathan was inspired to create Your LifeBox based on his belief that we all have the ability, but that many are lacking the opportunity to reach full potential. “There are so many talented individuals in the world who have ideas and dreams that never become a reality because they are in an environment that does not support their dreams and hopes. A simple thing like positive encouragement and support can potentially change the world for people who might be otherwise neglected or ignored,” states Bullard.
Along with the YLB Wish, Your LifeBox offers a multi-faceted, social utility for members to create their own profiles, make friends, manage their messages, blogs, invites and interactive commentary. Members who share a common goal, concern or interest can create a network of friends and contacts to offer guidance and support to each other, and can also add links to their videos and broadcasts on YLB TV.
Your LifeBox has already been used as a vehicle for users to take steps and find support towards achieving their goals. Celia Flores, a user of Your LifeBox, shared her dream on the site with the hope that someone could help her fulfill it. Celia, wanting to apply to be a physician’s assistant, realized she needed health care shadowing experience to get into Physician’s Assistant school but did not have a connection in that industry. Through Your LifeBox, she received information from a doctor regarding a shadowing opportunity that he could facilitate for her.
Another member, Dean Kabeli, a recent graduate of Valencia film school had a dream of working in New York City in the TV/Film industry. He was contacted by another member who provided him job information and listings for his field in New York City and he ended up landing an interview with a production company.
In addition to individual support, Your LifeBox founder Jonathan Bullard, who is also pursuing his masters degree in business and finance, stays connected to the education and college community by helping to sponsor career oriented campus events. Most recently, the company congregated with over 750 college students at the University of North Carolina for an event designed to teach advertising and marketing strategies and to develop personal selling and communication techniques in preparation to become marketing representatives for fortune 500 companies. Part of the event’s theme sponsored by Your LifeBox, enabled students to share their dreams, goals, ambitions and passions at Your LifeBox.com in a public arena through photos, video and print with the network of participating students.
Bullard is excited by the recent upturn in membership for the website and has been implementing a number of growth strategies in the past few months including Internet, viral and word of mouth marketing. Your LifeBox is also focused on growing partnerships with those who share the same vision for the site, and encourage business, organizations, public figures and potential investors to create a professional page as a point of connection with site members for career networking opportunities. In return Your LifeBox exchanges free advertising, PR, promotion of products and services and other benefits as of way of saying thanks for supporting site member’s dreams.
In support of student academic goals, Your LifeBox has now launched a program to reward scholarships to participating members, with the first scholarship award of $1000.00 dollars to be given out this Summer, and on a quarterly basis throughout the year. The scholarship winner will be chosen based on their Dream, and how many votes they receive for their profile.
To enter, users will be asked to fill out a complete profile, post a picture, insert their school into the school section and under YLB wish, type $1000 scholarship.
How to win a YLB (Yourlifebox.com) Scholarship
To compete for Yourlifebox.com’s current scholarship award, site visitors are asked to:
- Log on to Yourlifebox.com and fill out a complete profile, including a picture and dream
- Include attended school under the school section on the profile page
- Insert $1,000 tuition scholarship under the YLB wish section on the profile page
- Get people to vote on their profile by sharing their dream with everybody
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