I awoke early on the morning of Jan. 22, 2024. My stomach was doing flip flops. My heart was pounding. My mind was racing.
At noon Eastern time that day, I planned to officially launch my website, keviniole.com. I’d dreamed of being a sports journalist all my life and worked professionally for over 40 years. Never, though, did I work for myself.
And with the launch of the site looming, it seemed overwhelming. There was so much to do and so much I did not know. The content management system (CMS) at BoomPress, the company which built my site, was unfamiliar. So I couldn’t work as quickly as I’d like.
More than once that morning, I considered scrapping the entire thing.
Fast forward to this morning, I awoke to a robust and thriving site that is celebrating its first anniversary. While it can stand some improvements, it is exemplary in so many ways.
I had more fun in 2024 doing my own thing than I ever had in my journalistic career. I badly missed my previous co-workers, no doubt, but being able to direct the site and my YouTube channel according to my vision has been exceptionally rewarding.
At the time I launched keviniole.com, I began to pay attention again to my YouTube channel, which had been badly neglected for a long time. The channel grew by more than 400 percent, and I conducted one-on-one interviews with some of the biggest stars in combat sports. Among those who sat down with me were UFC CEO Dana White, UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, and WBA-WBC-WBO heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk.
There were a lot of amazing moments along the way. In October, I purchased a new camera and I was planning to use it for the first time for an interview with UFC middleweight Khamzat Chimaev, who was scheduled to fight Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.
The interview was set at 6 a.m. my time, so I awakened at 5 and was in front of my computer at 5:15 a.m. I wanted to make sure nothing went wrong and since it was a new camera, I wanted to practice. It turns out that practicing almost cost me big-time.
I have a dummy battery now, but I did not at that point. Chimaev came on a few minutes late, and he was in a great mood. The interview was going well when, all of a sudden, my image went blank. I panicked. I didn’t want to waste the fighter’s time, and I knew he was only doing a handful of interviews. I had some key questions to get to, and I couldn’t get my video on. He was on the screen, but I was not.
So, I figured I’d conclude the interview as if for a written column, though I rushed through it. Two amazing things occurred at that point. But first, it turned out the camera had overheated because it was on for more than an hour straight. There is a setting that I could have changed to mitigate that, but I didn’t know about it at the time.
First, I mentioned to my good friend, George Zapata, what happened, and he helped me salvage the video. Secondly, my other friend, Nestor Reyes, took a clip of me asking Chimaev if he’d ever fight in the U.S. again and turned it into a YouTube short and a reel on my Instagram page.
Well, guess what? The next day, it was about 10:30 p.m. and I had just gone to bed. My head had literally just hit the pillow when my phone rang. It was White, who was in Abu Dhabi. When I answered, he said, “Don’t ever say he didn’t do anything for you.” I had no idea what he was talking about.
White said, “Have you seen your Instagram?” I checked and wouldn’t you know, then-presidential candidate and now President Donald Trump had shared my Instagram Reel in his Instagram story. He even added my name on the top of the video.
It’s not every day a President of the United States shares your social media content, so that was amazing.
Screenshot of President Trump sharing my IG reel on his Instagram story.
It was that kind of a year for me. There were so many unreal moments and milestones, it’s hard to believe all of that was crammed into a year.
If you haven’t been to keviniole.com before, welcome. I encourage you to bookmark the page and visit frequently. Also, register for a free account and then comment. We only ask for your email to prevent spam. You will never receive anything from us, nor will we share your information.
If you register, you can comment on any post or even create your own threads.
The one thing I did not do in 2024 that I’d planned was to launch an app for the site. It’s on the to-do list for 2025.
I want to thank you sincerely for your support, well-wishes and criticisms. I want to thank everyone who advertised with me and hope we can do business again in the future.
I need to single out BoomPress’ Melissa Lloyd for her patience, understanding, kindness and wisdom, as she made a huge difference helping me navigate the unknown.
I owe much to Zapata, who hosts the Zapata Brand Boxing Podcast, and Nestor Reyes, of Creative Nestor Solutions, for their help, friendship and advice.
Thank you to my intern Austin Morales, a talented young man who helped push my YouTube channel to the next level.
I am planning improvements for 2025 on both the site and the mobile app as well as my YouTube channel. There should be news about the site coming out soon that I believe will take it to the next level. If you have suggestions, please drop them in the comments.
It’s been a great year and I am so excited about what’s ahead!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.