Or you can use a beef bullion cube or two with your water. You can mince a fresh one with your onion and garlic. Start with half a pepper and work up from there. Some chili chefs float a canned jalapeno on top their chili as it simmers. Squeeze out the juice into the pot and discard the rest.
Some folk use oregano in their chili.
It was probably in the original recipe. I find it tends to make things a bit bitter. Bitterness in your chili can be off-set with a bit of dark brown sugar. A trace of basil might benefit your recipe, too. Keep those e-mails coming.