BE MY EYES! Let’s See the World Together. Hans Jørgen Wiberg

Danish furniture craftsman, Hans Jørgen Wiberg had a vision, an idea that became reality for millions around the world – ‘Be my eyes’. Hans sees the world with no land borders and he presented an idea that would bring the world together with helping eyes. 

Transcript
Catherine:

This episode is dedicated to Gaelin of Germany.

Catherine:

Gaelin you are going through so much with your 21 year old son's cancer diagnosis yet you

Catherine:

find time volunteering, helping others in need.

Catherine:

And you also find time to listen to my show and then share this amazing service with me Be My Eyes.

Catherine:

Thank you.

Catherine:

Hugs to you in Germany and Gaelin, thank you for your own positive imprints

Catherine:

hello, this is Catherine, your host of the podcast, your positive imprint, the variety show,

Catherine:

featuring people all over the world whose positive achievements, inspire positive thought and action.

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What's your P.I.?.

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Let's see the world together.

Catherine:

Danish furniture, craftsman Hans Jørgen Wiberg had a vision and idea that became

Catherine:

reality for millions around the world.

Catherine:

Be my eyes.

Catherine:

Hans sees the world with no land borders, but rather all of us as citizens of the world.

Catherine:

With that engraved in his heart, mind, and soul, he presented an idea that would

Catherine:

bring the world together with helping eyes.

Catherine:

Be my eyes is a hands-on way to rise to the challenge with your own positive imprints.

Catherine:

And this is so incredibly interesting.

Catherine:

Hans, you are truly amazing.

Catherine:

Thank you so much and welcome to the show.

Catherine:

Wow.

Catherine:

It's fantastic.

Catherine:

Well, you know, it was a listener, a friend that sent me the information about you and this fabulous

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app, be my eyes, which we will definitely get to.

Catherine:

But you have this very interesting background that has absolutely nothing to do with

Catherine:

the app and this idea that you have.

Catherine:

And so you're a furniture craftsman.

Catherine:

And before you go into that, I do have to say that some of my absolute favorite furniture

Catherine:

that we have in our home is from Denmark.

Catherine:

Hans,, furniture craftsmanship is so different from be my eyes app.

Catherine:

So how did this come about?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Well, I kind of married into it actually I'm born and raised on a farm and I was set

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

out to become a farmer because that was kind of what I wanted to but then when I was 25 and actually, yeah.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

The whole farming education and all of that, and was talking to my dad about taking over the farm and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Then I discovered this eye disease.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I realized that, that my vision would just be worse and worse over time.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So it would not be a good thing to start driving the tractor and taking over a farm.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

At that point,I didn't really know what to do.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, so I went back to school, , and, , I got into the university in Denmark

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and I started to study, philosophy.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And in that period I met my wife, , who is, , upholsterer.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

she puts new fabrics on old furnitures, , Then, , we got married and we got some kids and

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

then, , she wanted to have her own furniture, repair business, and I was helping her there

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and I really got into this, , furniture thing.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, so that's how it all started.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It is something that I do together with my wife and it's her business.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So I'm helping her when I'm not totally sure.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Busy doing be my eyes.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So that's kind of the story of it.

Catherine:

Oh, that's so interesting.

Catherine:

And to me, it's just kind of a romance story because you get into doing these things

Catherine:

together and you love being together and working together and you enjoy the work.

Catherine:

I'm so happy for you.

Catherine:

So what is the name of her shop?

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

it is, , Wiberg's Weaving and Upholstery B usiness if you translate it into English.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Wibergs Flette- & Polstreværksted it's called in Danish.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We have been, , married since, , 98.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, and for the first, I don't know, 10 years, we were basically together day and night because we were yeah.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Living.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Course, but we were also working in the same room.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It was only when we went to the toilet and we were not together.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, so, so we have really spent a lot of time together.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, I think we have straightened out what you need to do now that, so it's been absolutely

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

wonderful, but I have also very much enjoy

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, going more and more into working with, be my eyes.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, so we're not working that much together.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But I'm still working at home and she has her shop where we live.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So whenever she needs a hand, I can go out and help her and the other way around.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So it works out perfectly fine.

, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So that's wonderful.

Catherine:

Well, I applaud the upholstery business the reupholstering business and that is something

Catherine:

that we need more of throughout the world.

Catherine:

Reupholstering because it is much more sustainable with regard to furniture.

Catherine:

And it reminds me of repair cafe and you've heard of repair cafe, right?

Catherine:

It started over in Europe.

Catherine:

Yeah.

Catherine:

Not too far from you down in the Netherlands.

Catherine:

And it has hit worldwide.

Catherine:

And I think repair cafe is something that truly, and it doesn't have to be, you know, the

Catherine:

trademark recare pat recare repair cafe, but that type of notion, which is what you're doing.

Catherine:

And you're basically doing what I think is really set for sustainability for the future and to keep things

Catherine:

out of our dumps out of our landfills world wide.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah, exactly.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah.

Catherine:

And you know, we also have fashion changes with fabrics for upholstery.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And interestingly, , now, and that this has happened within the last, I think

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

five, maybe a little more years that now you can get, , fabrics that are made out of old fabrics.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And that's super, super interesting.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, and you can get , ecological, grown fabrics and all that you could not before.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, and people are asking about that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, and also it's not cheap to have new fabrics on your old furniture.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So people really think about it and, , it's

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

a big decision for for a lot of people.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But , for me, and especially for my wife, who's doing this, it's a wonderful

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

thing to kind of have this, process.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yes.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

With the customers.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

They come in and they'll look at the furniture and they look at the fabrics and they, sometimes

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

they bring it home and then they come back.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We want this one then when can you do it?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And what's the price and all that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then you do it and they come back.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

They are very happy about the result.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We have been doing this for now, , more than 20 years.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

A few times we have met the same chair twice because they have been using it and worn it

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

down and now they want to have it done again.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

That's kind of a funny thing.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, and so that's absolutely wonderful to be in this process.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

The people that come to us they really think about that this is something, , that is worth doing and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

They don't just want to throw it out.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Sometimes they could even get a cheaper chair, , if they'd just throw it out and bought a new one.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, but they love this chair and that's also, some of these, , architect design chairs.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And they have a high price, , it's meaningful to kind of put money into havethem renewed once in

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

awhile, every 20 or 30 years or something like that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It's a wonderful business to be in because it's so meaningful, , in, in many ways.

Catherine:

Oh, my gosh.

Catherine:

Yes, Hans.

Catherine:

Absolutely.

Catherine:

And it's perfect for another podcast episode.

Catherine:

. So let's move on to be my eyes.

Catherine:

Your heart, your mind, and your soul went into this idea and how it took off is just amazing to me that

Catherine:

there are so many millions and millions of volunteers

Catherine:

and users of this app.

Catherine:

Thank

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

you.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It is amazing.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And it has also surprised me and the whole team.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Well the story is that, , as I mentioned before that, , I was starting to lose my

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

vision, , and I didn't know what to do.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then, I got into this philosophy and I worked together for my wife.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then at some point I got.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Just a few hours a week, , a small part-time job for the Danish blind association where I was, , visiting,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, other blind and low vision people in my area.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, so I got to know a lot of blind people.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And at some point I got this idea that we should make a group of volunteers who you could make a video call to

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

so when you need some, visual assistant and , there was no one around you.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

many blind people live alone or they they live together with someone, but the other person is at

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

work or, and then, yeah, you'd need a pair of eyes maybe only for 20 seconds or something like that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And you can make a FaceTime call or Skype or something like that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But then you would have to call a specific person and then you have to think is

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

this person at work or can I call him now?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Or did I call her yesterday or all that?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, but if you have a group of volunteer, you can just make your call.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, so, so that's kind of the idea.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I'm not a technical guy.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I have no clue how to make an app or anything.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So I really didn't know what to do with this idea.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I knew it was possible, but I didn't know how to get there.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then I I learned about a event called Startup Weekend where you can basically walk in from the

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

street and present an idea and hopefully somebody else also likes the idea and want to join your team.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And that's what I did in 2010.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, I was lucky that I think there was seven other people who joined my little group there.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then we yeah, we won this award.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

You can say this weekend for the most innovative idea that there was no money in that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, so we were all fired up, but we didn't have any money or anything.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So we started to write applications to foundations in Denmark.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And so on to see if we could get some support to kind of try out this idea.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

After quite a while we got $300,000, , from one of the biggest foundations in Denmark.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Oh, wow.

Catherine:

Congratulations.

Catherine:

Yeah,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

we could start to hire people who could actually do the coding and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

The 15th of January, 2015, we launched the app, , and we were really excited about that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We didn't know what to expect.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, but within 24 hours, , we had, 1000 blind people sign up which was pretty amazing.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And we had 10,000 volunteers sign up , I clearly remember my, server guy, , called me and was kind

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

of freaked out because we were not ready for that kind of downloads and, it got even worse from there,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

because within, I think the next two weeks we had a 100,000 volunteers signed up and 10,000 blind people.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So we really got a amazing start.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And

Catherine:

and so before you go on, the a hundred thousand volunteers that you got so quickly,

Catherine:

were they from Denmark or were they worldwide?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

In the very beginning they were from Denmark but very soon after,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I cannot really explain how, but people are using Facebook or Twitter and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And it, it spread like I don't know what and also we w were picked up by, , some of the tech

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

media, , and they started to write very small pieces about this exciting new startup in Denmark.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

They have many of those small super small short articles.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But it seemed to kind of spread

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

like, I dunno what and my CEO and myself was interviewed, , I dunno for two months in a

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

row, on a daily basis, , it was totally crazy.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

You can see now six years later we have, , I think we have 4.8 million volunteers all over

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

the world, , in 185 different languages and in basically all countries in the whole world.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, and we have not spent any marketing money simply because we didn't have any.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, that was very easy.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, but people has been so excited about being able to help in an easy way.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It's super easy to download the app and say, yeah I'm volunteering here.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And we only ask people to, as the name says to be someone's eyes and

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

common use of be my eyes is that you are in your kitchen and you are cooking something

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and you need to know exactly, , the recipe or, , what can is what, or have I set my

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

oven to this, number of degrees and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And I mean, , anybody can do that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

we have many calls that are, , 20 seconds.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Have I set my oven to 300 degrees?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yes, you have.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Thank you so much.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Okay.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It can also be an hour long call when you need to restart your computer and all that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, or if you are out and about and or you have lost something on the floor

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

or you cannot find it then and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So all those tasks but basically anyone can do it.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It can be a little, , difficult sometime too to navigate, as you will have to tell the blind

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

person to move the phone a little to the right, a little to the left and then a little closer,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and it's a little dark here and all that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, but you talk about it and you work it out.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And people simply love it and they are posting about it on Twitter and Facebook afterwards,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and then we get even more volunteers.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So that's how it has spread all over the world.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So.

Catherine:

So incredible.

Catherine:

And I interrupted you when you were talking about the grant when you first started it.

Catherine:

So if you want to backtrack and go back to when you initially put it out.

Catherine:

And then you start getting the volunteers in case you had something important that

Catherine:

you wanted to share and I interrupted you.

Catherine:

Well,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It was kind of interesting because , we have no idea.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Basically.We thought it would be maybe a little difficult to find enough volunteers.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, we even made, kind of a gamification elements that you would earn some point if you have

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

been helping a blind person, you could not use the point for anything but points are good.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, but soon it turned out it was similarly difficult even to get a call because there were so many volunteers.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, so this gamification didn't make any sense.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So removed that after a period of time.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But of course, when I think about it now, it makes sense that I mean, everybody.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Pretty much once to help if they can.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And especially if it is, , in an easy way.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I, myself not completely blind, but I'm using the white cane when I'm out and about.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

If I'm standing somewhere and, , trying to get across the street or something, I don't have to

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

stand there very long before someone asked me, oh, do you need help to get across the street?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Or can I do something for you?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And so on?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So my experience from my own life is that pretty much everybody wants to help it is

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

something that they can do in an easy way.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, we are all busy.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And it's difficult for a lot of people to sign up to volunteer to do something.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But with Be My Eyes you can just sign up and if you're busy, you can just ignore the call.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And if you have time, you'll say yes.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then, you will be connected with this, , blind person maybe, across the world.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

we use the time zones and to our advantage.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

If I need help, , four o'clock in the morning, we don't call anybody in

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Denmark, four o'clock in the morning.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, then we find someone who speaks Danish or English.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, in another time zone, and this means that, you might get a call, early in the morning or something

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

like that, because I'm in another time zone.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, so that's how we can provide help 24 7 without disturbing our volunteers 24 7.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

The amazing thing is that when you have 4.8 million volunteers many of them speak more than one language.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Then you always have, even in a small language like the Danish.

, Catherine:

it is so amazing.

, Catherine:

Yeah.

, Catherine:

that so many, volunteers actually, it's not amazing because positive imprints are all over

, Catherine:

the place and we meet them every single day.

, Catherine:

Like you meet them at a traffic light and you may only meet them for 20 seconds.

, Catherine:

And.

, Catherine:

They've left a positive imprint and people do rise to the challenge.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I joke about that I'm not quite sure who am I helping the most, , because the

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

volunteers seem so excited about being able to, , to do this little thing you can say but impactful, at

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

least, a blind person who needs to set the oven,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

that's not a big deal, but for this volunteer who has maybe been waiting for a month to get this

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

call and finally get, and many of the volunteers, they don't know a blind person they read about

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

this on Facebook or Tik TOK or something like that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then they say, oh, I can do that..

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and then they pretty much forget about it and suddenly one day tingling and then oh,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

now I'm a volunteer and then they get all excited and they post about it and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So it's pretty amazing how happy people are getting.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And it really impacts both, , of course the blind users, but very much also the volunteers.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, so that's a wonderful feeling to have.

Catherine:

Oh, absolutely.

Catherine:

I think that whenever anybody uses or owns their own positive imprint for a better word it is rewarding.

Catherine:

I received my first call, but I didn't know what the ring was.

Catherine:

What is my phone doing?

Catherine:

Cause it's a different ring, which is good

Catherine:

that it sounds different because now I know that ring.

Catherine:

I picked up and then finally I saw the notification.

Catherine:

I clicked on it and I got excited.

Catherine:

Like you say.

Catherine:

And then of course, by that time, several other volunteers were clicking

Catherine:

and so on, which is a good thing.

Catherine:

And it is easy to use . It's so, so user-friendly, it took less than a minute to sign

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

up.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We have put a lot of effort into making the App as accessible as possible, both for the sighted,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

but especially for the blind people of course.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

You have to verify your email and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We cannot skip that part.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And also, when you have a signed up, then there is only two buttons in the app, which

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

is also something we're very proud of.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And one of them is Call First Available Volunteer.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, and that's where you get a volunteer and the second button is called Specialized Help

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and in that you can call, , a company to get, , some special assistance from Google or Microsoft and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

. Catherine: Do you collect any of the data?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Nope.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

No we don't we, we just to see when we are connecting a stranger so, and we like to know

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

what's going on and especially if there's some complaint about something and we record the videos

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

so we can go back and see what really happened.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, so in that sense, we are collecting some data, but we're not sharing it with anybody.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So it's it just for the sector.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah, that's

Catherine:

good.

Catherine:

Yes.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

If you sign up as a blindperson, we to make sure that you, , understand how to use it.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And we also give people ideas for how they can use it and make sure they know , it's a free service

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and, but you also have to behave in a certain way.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We do give the blind users more information than the volunteers, simply because they are the ones who are,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

In front of it., so to speak, so, right,

Catherine:

I clicked the learn more and it was a video that was short and it was to the point.

Catherine:

This video the app provides is, I think it was which one is red.

Catherine:

I can't remember.

Catherine:

And then it tells you, you would say it's the one on your left so the blind person or

Catherine:

the person who is visually impaired or color blind, , will know which one is the red one.

Catherine:

So it was very easy.

Catherine:

And so as a volunteer, you're not giving your life information or watching,

Catherine:

you know, three, four hours of video

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And also kind of to underline that it's not rocket science.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It's just your eyes that we need.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Because the blind people, they know exactly what they are doing.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, so you don't have to be their brain.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

You just have to be their eyes for a little while.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And this is of course super, super important.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Some somebody may ask you, oh, would you.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Go with this color.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then yeah, you can say well, I don't know.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, but I wouldn't do that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Or, but if you are a young hipster myFICO for you or something like that so, so you might be asked something

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

like that, but then you can absolutely feel free to say, well, I'd rather not have any opinion about that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Or if you are comfortable many are oh, I don't think, , this color goes with this car.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, sometimes they even ask, oh, but what color are your shoes?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Can I see them?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then they get into this whole conversation.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

What is going with with what?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

that is super interesting.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I have no clue what they're talking about.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But

Catherine:

so that's funny.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We even have people who are using, be my eyes when they putting on because all

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

the different whatever you put on the containers, it is in, , pretty much the same, all of them.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And maybe you have, , three or five or six different colors and it's impossible

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

to kind of keep them apart and all that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

That's a very personal interaction you have with another person putting on makeup there.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I sometimes get emails about that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Oh, I actually help this person get ready for a job interview or something like that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So it's yeah, sometimes it's really important stuff you're doing so.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

You are alone and your wife is not there and you are in this job interview and yeah, I want to make sure

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

that this shirt kind of fits the rest of it and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then they can use the, be my eyes for that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

it's not only for, , for blind people.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We also have, dyslexic people who, scan something and have it read to you, but sometimes yeah dyslexic

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

person needs a person to, read it, to understand it.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Volunteers are happy to do that as well.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So.

Catherine:

I am so glad that you offer that.

Catherine:

And I didn't think of that.

Catherine:

I'm a teacher and I work with students with dyslexia and they need help and they need

Catherine:

that extra eyes and orally they can process a lot but visually they have a hard time,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I met one who said that sometime I simply need a human being to

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

read to me instead of a computer because, It doesn't make sense when the computer does that

Catherine:

I think that your idea is so phenomenal and I'm so glad that you were able to get it

Catherine:

off of the ground and get it developed into this remarkable app that is so easy to use.

Catherine:

So now you mentioned Google and Microsoft.

Catherine:

So how did their involvement play in all of this?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Part of the history is that from day one, we decided that Be My Eyes should

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

be a free service, simply because, , no matter what country you live in, , Blind people in that

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

country are most likely in the low income end.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

, we could see that the 90% of the blind people in this world, they live in India and Africa and other low

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

income areas, and they might get a smartphone but we cannot charge them to not have as much or anything.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So we decided that eyesight should be free.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then we had to find another business model and that is what we are doing.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

The second button, as I mentioned is called specialized help.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And when you pressed up one, you can find a number of companies.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then for instance, you can call Microsoft.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then when you press that button, We sent the call to Microsoft, but they know it's coming from,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

be my eyes so they can make sure that those, I don't know, 10 or 15 people at Microsoft who know about

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

what kind of program the blind people are using,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

that those people are the ones who is answering those calls.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So it's way easier for the support people.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I mean they have a huge circle center.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I dunno somewhere in the world would maybe thousand people but very few of them know anything about being

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

blind, but they do have some experts in this and those people are the ones answering the calls, coming

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

from, be my eyes and they also get the video part.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So it's way easier for Persons in this call, the blind person and the support person to have

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

this conversation because they can simply show the person what's on the screen now and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And this is Microsoft and Google and Proctor and Gamble and the pharmacies and a number

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

of other companies are so happy about this.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So they are willing to pay, be my eyes to be on our platform.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And you can say that we are helping the companies be better companies for the blind customers.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And so we we have this it's from a postcard I believe this motto ' everybody wins only when nobody loses.'

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And this is kind of what is driving our business model.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And we strongly believe that the companies are getting absolutely value for their money

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

because they have a easy way to step up to the responsibility for all of that customers.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Also the blind customers.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It's difficult to give support to a blind person when the technology is not working.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And that's the only reason why theystarted calling or they have issues with signing

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

up with Google or something like that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But now they can actually get help from someone who knows exactly what's going on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And that's super, super valuable for both for the company but especially of course for the blind users.

Catherine:

Wow.

Catherine:

You have done so much for the visually impaired around the world.

Catherine:

And I'm impressed.

Catherine:

I am so impressed with all of the different pieces that you worked on to make sure that they're

Catherine:

being served in all of the positive ways and yeah.

Catherine:

And to do this with the companies.

Catherine:

Wow.

Catherine:

Can you imagine the questions that people, I mean, I have questions, but I couldn't even imagine, you know,

Catherine:

Yeah.

Catherine:

Oh, I just love this app

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Nobody has done this before, so, so we could not kind of copy

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

anyone or look at the, oh, they are doing good.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

. And also this last month has been

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

totally amazing because we, we won the Webby award and

Catherine:

oh,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

congratulations picked up a apple design award, which is a super big deal.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And maybe especially for the developers and designers on my team was super, super excited about I am as well.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Of course.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Pretty much the same week

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

we got a Helen Keller award, which is the biggest award in the blind community.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So this month has been over the top.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Absolutely.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, we are super, super happy that we get this recognition from, I mean, apple, they have millions.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Apple apps in the app store.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And then they pick be my eyes and six others, I believe and give this design award

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

which is, yeah, that's a pretty big deal.

Catherine:

It is a very big deal.

Catherine:

Well, like I said, I was impressed with your design.

Catherine:

I was very impressed with the design and the ease, just user friendly.

Catherine:

Absolutely.

Catherine:

You are so deserving of the recognition because I think, yes.

Catherine:

Oh, absolutely.

Catherine:

And it, this is such an amazing positive imprint and it's worldwide and you are

Catherine:

helping so many people, not just the visually impaired, but the volunteers are enthralled

Catherine:

and their mindset is changed because of you.

Catherine:

Well,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

that is a great thing.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

We gaining people on our side because as I said before, many people don't know a blind person

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and they just read like, you, they read about this on Facebook and think, oh, I can do that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But then suddenly they are one-to-one with a blind person.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Doing something that actually means something to, to the blind person.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And suddenly they look at their washing machine with totally new eyes and say, this cannot

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

be right that these washing machines doesn't.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

To us or our so impossible, if you could not see.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And we need to do something about that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And certainly we have ambassadors out there speaking to the more inclusive world and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And that's I think that makes me very proud when I get the emails like that from people who have gets afired

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

up and say, , we have to do something about this.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yes.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Thank you.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And

Catherine:

And so you're changing the world and it's not just changing the world for

Catherine:

the people that are visually impaired.

Catherine:

It's going to change the world.

Catherine:

But I think that as word continues to spread and as this grows, which already has, and maybe some

Catherine:

of these companies, like you mentioned, the washing machine company, are looking into now sound.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So it doesn't matter that a piece of equipment is accessible if it is not

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

financially accessible, then it's not accessible.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And this is that don't get me started on that one.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

When we start to talk with Microsoft I mean, their accessiblity the team was maybe one or two people,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

and I believe they have maybe 100 people now in accessibility looking into whatever they are doing.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And Microsoft is doing a amazing job, making their whole organization think about accessibility.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Most people, at some point in their life, suddenly they are impaired and, or they will hopefully

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

grow old and start to lose some of their hearing

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

. Everybody at some point in their life has

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It is really smart if you are accessible to all kinds of handicaps and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And Microsoft is really thinking about that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And that's also why they together with be my eyes,.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Microsoft also got a Helen Keller award simply because they are acting, stepping up to this they

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

are active how can we make this work for everybody.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And not only thinking about blind people here, but also deaf and even deaf, blind and so on.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Yeah.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

That's really encouraging to see, and we see it is active becoming a department , in some of

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

the big companies and that's really encouraging

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

. So, so I am somewhat hopeful that

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It is.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And there's also yeah legal stuff being put in place.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So they actually have to do this but even legal stuff you can make a lot, then 10 years later, not

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

everybody is following that but it seems to be moving in these years and that's very encouraging to see.

Catherine:

This is very impressive.

Catherine:

And it's one of the things that does go through my mind when I do my podcast is that we humans around

Catherine:

the world have to do so much for our tomorrows.

Catherine:

And sometimes that just doesn't feel right and just that we have to work so hard for tomorrow

Catherine:

and for the future, you know, that things should already have been in place for life in the future.

Catherine:

But, you know, that's of course my optimism saying, you know, well, that's how life really is, but it's not.

Catherine:

And that's why we have people like you who do rise to the challenge and you, because of your app,

Catherine:

you are bringing opportunity to people around the world as volunteers to rise to the challenges.

Catherine:

And providing such a phenomenal service to the visually impaired.

Catherine:

And I, so thank you for that.

Catherine:

So is there anything else that you have forgotten to share before we get

Catherine:

into the last segment of this episode?

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I think we have touched a lot of things, so, but I'm happy to answer

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

any questions also from your listeners.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

If they have anything, they can just reach out.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And I am more than happy to answer.

Catherine:

Okay.

Catherine:

And we'll get that information here right now.

Catherine:

So first of all, the website, Hans is BeMyEyes.com

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

the email that you can reach us is info@BeMyEyes and then myself or some of my

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

colleagues will answer the questions, maybe not right away, but we try to do it as fast as we can.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So.

Catherine:

So, my last segment is of course, your last inspiring words that you would like to share.

Catherine:

Oh,

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

I didn't think about that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But

Catherine:

Take a little bit and think about inspiring words that you'd like to share.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

It reminds me of another award that we got and the appy award.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And I had seven words to give a a speech by the end.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And I said "volunteering makes our world beautiful.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

Thank you.".

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

And that was seven words and it was kind of fun too, to make that super short speech.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

But I really believe that the fact that people can volunteer and we like also to, . So use the word

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

micro volunteering, because it is most calls are less than three minutes and they really make a

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

difference and it's super easy for you to do that.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, so I really believe that the world gets a little more beautiful when you

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

can volunteer in, in this easy way.

Hans Jørgen Wiberg:

So, yeah.

Catherine:

Hans Jørgen Wiberg, you are an amazing positive imprint that has allowed the

Catherine:

flourishing of volunteers around the world

Catherine:

to use, to show, to implement their own positive imprints, but even more so your positive

Catherine:

imprint is bringing a service and bringing happiness, bringing joy to people who are

Catherine:

visually impaired and something that I just, I love your phrase that you have on your website.

Catherine:

'Let's see the world together.' And I love that there are no borders.

Catherine:

, I love that.

Catherine:

And so BeMyEyes.com and thank you so much for developing this idea into reality

Catherine:

Hans Jørgen Wiberg, thank you for your positive imprints, your positive imprint.

1 Comment

  1. Becky Hover on 08/07/2021 at 7:15 PM

    Awesome information. There are so many useful ideas that need a positive imprint to put into action.

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