Guest Post: The Internet is F@$king Amazing

(This is a guest post by Joe Olsen, CEO, Director of Strategy & Innovation at Phenomblue) The internet is f@$king amazing. I know most of us know that already but like any belief, it’s good to have reaffirmation from time to time. Thanks to Ted Williams and the Columbus Dispatch over the past 24 hours…

This is a guest post by Joe Olsen, CEO, Director of Strategy & Innovation at Phenomblue, an industry leading interactive brand experience agency. Joe is a passionate technologist, entrepreneur, writer, and speaker on these passions. Joe’s community involvement includes board of director positions for Goodwill Industries, the Omaha Creative Institute, and the Greater Omaha Chamber as well as several events focused on networking and enabling Omaha’s creative class.

Joe can be reached at jolsen@phenomblue.com or found on Twitter, @joeolsen.

Screenshot of from youtube.com, video from Columbus Dispatch, posted on YouTube by user ritchey.

The internet is f@$king amazing. I know most of us know that already but like any belief, it’s good to have reaffirmation from time to time. Thanks to Ted Williams and the Columbus Dispatch over the past 24 hours more than 4.5 million people have had that this opportunity.

The internet allows millions of people to experience a story from the beginning to the end. Unlike prior media channels, we get to be there when something starts, see it progress, and watch it end. You get the full life cycle of an experience making the entire journey more real, more rewarding, and more valuable than almost anything tangible. With the internet, we don’t live through events, we help curate them.

This is for most entrepreneurs the main reason we slave through the monetization of our ideas day in and day out: we want to be part of the ENTIRE story. The “come up” story. From nothing to something. From rags to riches. <insert my adornment for hip hop here> It’s the journey and that journey can be long and is most often weary. Contrary to popular belief from our friends at <insert any business mag here> this does not happen overnight…usually. When it does, it’s lightening in a bottle and 99.9% of entrepreneurs will never experience it.

Yesterday, millions of people watched a viral YouTube video created and published by the Columbus Dispatch about a homeless man named Ted Williams: “Homeless man w/golden radio voice in Columbus, OH.” Ted has the most amazing voice I have ever heard, to the point at which it first seemed like a voice over that was too good to be true.

The video shows Ted showing off his voice, followed by some insight into his gift and his predicament. As a child Ted idolized a local radio jockey who told him that radio was “theatre of the mind,” an ideal he took to heart and dedicated his life to crafting his voice around. He talked about how drugs and alcohol put him on the streets, how he was two years clean, and how ultimately he was looking for an opportunity to get his life back on track.

After several viewings around the office, none of us could believe this man was panhandling his gift on the freeway in Columbus, Ohio. We started talking about all the opportunities this guy would have once his video went viral. Some of us schemed and brainstormed about ways we could build crazy opportunities that would utilize Ted’s voice and his inevitable internet fame. It was a feeling very much like the feeling you get when you have an idea that you think no one has ever had before and it could change everything. It was a microcosm of entrepreneurship and Ted was the voice of the “come up” story.

After the initial shock and awe phase of Ted’s 98 seconds of fame, we were all talking about how much time it would take for this man’s life to change. The predictions ranged from hours to days, but the sentiment remained constant, this man will not lose.

Needless to say, Ted’s video exploded. Today, he was on the CBS “Early Show” where he emotionally told more of his story and informed everyone that the Cleveland Cavaliers had offered him a full time voice over job and a house in Cleveland. Almost brought to tears you could hear a man on the brink of something amazing. All of this brought to you by the internet. All of it in the last 24 hours.

According to YouTube, I was viewer 23,071. Whew… I’d like to thank the Columbus Dispatch, Ted, YouTube, the Cleveland Cavaliers, my co-workers, and of course the Internet for allowing me to be a part of this experience. Entrepreneur life lesson # who can keep track anymore: Sometimes you have to feel the stick to appreciate the power of it.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

Get the latest news and events from Nebraska’s entrepreneurship and innovation community delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday.