One Thing I Love About Louisville: Todd Earwood

Todd Earwood is an entrepreneur who is so friendly and outgoing I don't think he's ever met a stranger. He produces The Daily Idea web video show which keeps getting funny and funnier.

After Michelle asked me to write about The One Thing I Love About Louisville, I found no shortage of topics and I'll try focus on one.  However, please let me set the stage...  I was born in Louisville and lived here until I was eight.  When my Father took a pastoral job (yes, I'm a PK) in Murray, Kentucky, I did not attend what I would later find is rather important to many Louisvillians... a local high school!  Yes, I attended a county school and it wasn't Oldham, Bullitt or Shelby.  That being said, I've lived almost half of my life here and have survived that repetitive question quite well since I returned after college in 2000.

Which leads me to my one thing, Louisville is an accepting city.  I moved here for a job and found I could quickly make friends with minimal effort.  Now, I've never been accused of being a wallflower, but after getting involved in the business community, a great church and playing a few recreational sports, I felt pretty connected. 

Fast forward eight years and I left our city's third largest employer to start a few ventures.  Speaking of business, I've chosen (for richer or poorer) the entrepreneurial route for my "job."  Is this city the easiest to raise capital for a startup?  Probably not, but Louisville is accepting of entrepreneurs and for the most part, supports them.  Our cost of living is great and the ease of networking still stands as a benefit to anyone who wishes to reach out.  There is a growing entrepreneurial community here and if you doubt it... start counting the numerous independent restaurants our city supports.  While I still will eat at a chain on occasion, I appreciate the obvious willingness and acceptance of these businesses by our community.

Alas, I have no culinary acumen, but our city's residents don't mind an entrepreneurial story or plan.  It's been nice to see the continued progression of this piece of our business community and I personally hope the technical niche can match our life sciences' successes.

Finally, one can measure acceptance in many ways: by our diverse food options, houses of worship or varying neighborhoods.  But I look back at that persistent question about high school as social proof we're an accepting community. Louisvillians ultimately want to connect with others.  They seek out a point of similar interest and many happen to choose high school as the starting point.  The depths of the connections I've made both professionally and personally have established my strong relationship with this community.  I'm not going to debate the merit of or try to heist the "possibility city" tag line, but Louisville has given me great options.  And though I didn't attend a local high school, I enjoy the daily benefit of being accepted as me.

Todd Earwood resides in St. Matthews and claims both Louisville and Murray, KY as his hometown.  He is the co-founder of Jotzel Media, a local new media company specializing in video and web applications.  What does that really mean?  Todd works with the Internet and finds creative ways to help businesses grow.  Currently, Todd produces The Daily Idea, a popular, web video show.  Todd has been bitten by the social networking bug and spends too much time on Twitter and Facebook.  If all that wasn't techy enough, Todd blogs at ToddEarwood.com and WebShowStrategy.com.