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
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
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Catherine:What's your P.I.?.
Catherine: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
Catherine: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.
Awesome information. There are so many useful ideas that need a positive imprint to put into action.