1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,320
Speaker 1: Onto Freedom Month of course this April, and as we market,

2
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:10,520
Speaker 1: we're seeing really a powerful shift in how freedom is

3
00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:14,320
Speaker 1: being expressed, not just through perhaps progress that we're making

4
00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:18,439
Speaker 1: as a country or through policy decisions, but really through

5
00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,479
Speaker 1: the stories that we choose to tell. And somebody who

6
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:24,800
Speaker 1: has made us all happy and smile and put some

7
00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:26,599
Speaker 1: love back in our hearts with the stories that he

8
00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:30,680
Speaker 1: chooses to tell is my next guest. It's Brent Linda Key,

9
00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:35,720
Speaker 1: founder of Good Things Guy. I'm always thrilled, excited, delighted

10
00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,199
Speaker 1: to have him on the show. Good sir, how are you, Jane?

11
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,840
Speaker 2: Good morning. It's so good to be back on here

12
00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:45,159
Speaker 2: with you. I love spending time with you. Thank you

13
00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,560
Speaker 2: for having me there. He is, how are you, Darling.

14
00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,000
Speaker 2: I'm so good having a good space. We just got

15
00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,280
Speaker 2: over obviously the Easter holidays. Yeah, and I got to

16
00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:56,760
Speaker 2: spend some time with family, which is always a great thing.

17
00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,080
Speaker 2: And yeah, I'm just a fantastic day. It's a Saturday.

18
00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,160
Speaker 2: It's nice and sunny here in Johannesburg, so I know

19
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:05,000
Speaker 2: it's going to be a good day.

20
00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,119
Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff, good stuff. Listen, before we get into

21
00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,600
Speaker 1: the power of storytelling, talk to us about really the

22
00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,200
Speaker 1: power of words and how you've seen that play out

23
00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:16,640
Speaker 1: from your vantage point.

24
00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:22,000
Speaker 2: Oh wows. Words have the ability to either build a nation,

25
00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:28,679
Speaker 2: to create incredible initiatives to change someone's day. Words have

26
00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,880
Speaker 2: the ability to save lives, and an equal measure, they

27
00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,160
Speaker 2: can do just as much damage. So in sort of

28
00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,240
Speaker 2: my space, when I look at what we do at

29
00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,479
Speaker 2: Good Things Guy and the stories we get to tell,

30
00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:42,640
Speaker 2: I'd like to say I've got one of the best

31
00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,679
Speaker 2: jobs in the world. I get to provide hope and

32
00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,640
Speaker 2: to make South Africa proud and it's such a privilege

33
00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,680
Speaker 2: to do that. When I speak about words in sort

34
00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,600
Speaker 2: of a negative connotation, that comes from what I see

35
00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,840
Speaker 2: on social media, and obviously we've all been through in

36
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,120
Speaker 2: distances where we may have been part of an argument

37
00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:05,440
Speaker 2: or seen some sort of comment that has triggered us,

38
00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,720
Speaker 2: and it's a Those are always reminders that words are

39
00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,520
Speaker 2: powerful and they have both those abilities to either uplift

40
00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,000
Speaker 2: or break down. Talk a little bit.

41
00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:19,280
Speaker 1: About why you say that the stories we tell shape

42
00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:21,000
Speaker 1: the country we've become.

43
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,519
Speaker 2: Oh, this is so important to me so over the

44
00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,960
Speaker 2: last decade that I have you know, when I founded

45
00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,760
Speaker 2: Good Things, God or it'll be eleven years. This year

46
00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,360
Speaker 2: we've noticed a trend which is so interesting to me

47
00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,920
Speaker 2: in when things are good in our country, when when

48
00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,120
Speaker 2: the headlines are okay ish, because the news is obviously

49
00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:47,320
Speaker 2: always using. But when we feel happy, when the sun

50
00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,600
Speaker 2: is shining, when the spring Boks are winning, when we

51
00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:52,760
Speaker 2: just feel sort of in a good space, we're more

52
00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,959
Speaker 2: open to good news. And why do I say that, Well,

53
00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:58,079
Speaker 2: we in the back end of good things guy. I

54
00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,840
Speaker 2: can obviously see the readership and can see what people

55
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,480
Speaker 2: are doing on the site, and when when things are

56
00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,239
Speaker 2: good in this country, our readership is at its best.

57
00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,040
Speaker 2: But when we feel down, when the headlines are heavy,

58
00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,760
Speaker 2: when when times are tough, when the petrol price is

59
00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:17,680
Speaker 2: going up, it impacts our sentiment towards the country and

60
00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,400
Speaker 2: towards the way we see the country, our perspective, if

61
00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,120
Speaker 2: you will, And so our readership dips. We see a

62
00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,640
Speaker 2: massive hit in sort of what people are reading and

63
00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,000
Speaker 2: consuming on a good thing of guard perspective. And that's

64
00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,840
Speaker 2: proof that we're not we're not able to be open

65
00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,280
Speaker 2: to good news when times are tough. And so the

66
00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,680
Speaker 2: reason I say the reason I and he has the

67
00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,760
Speaker 2: historical thing. So this Ebbs and flows, and it goes

68
00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,600
Speaker 2: up and down on a daily or weekly or monthly basis,

69
00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,480
Speaker 2: but some of the hardest times and the biggest drop

70
00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,640
Speaker 2: that we see in our readership year on year is

71
00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,320
Speaker 2: sort of October at the end of September, October, beginning

72
00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,120
Speaker 2: of November. I guess it's because we're hurtling towards the

73
00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,640
Speaker 2: end of the year. But we've noticed since COVID that

74
00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,920
Speaker 2: has happened again in now March April, so it's kind

75
00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,360
Speaker 2: of like we're tired and we're not ready for or

76
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:12,560
Speaker 2: we can't deal with what's going on around us already

77
00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:16,800
Speaker 2: in the beginning of the year. And it's great perspective

78
00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,400
Speaker 2: to understand that it's not just you, and I'm not

79
00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:26,440
Speaker 2: saying you are yes, yes, it's everybody. It's absolutely everybody,

80
00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,440
Speaker 2: and we're all feeling the same and that means that

81
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,520
Speaker 2: we need to be kinder to each other because we're

82
00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,520
Speaker 2: all feeling it. That's that's honestly how I see it.

83
00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,640
Speaker 2: The reason I say, and the question you ask why,

84
00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:41,960
Speaker 2: I believe that the stories we tell shape the country.

85
00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,520
Speaker 2: It's not just about the sentiment, but it's also about

86
00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:49,039
Speaker 2: changing that perspective. So working in the space that we do.

87
00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,240
Speaker 2: I know, when I write a good news story, I

88
00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,520
Speaker 2: feel better. When I read emails from our readers who

89
00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,520
Speaker 2: want to share their good news stories, I feel better.

90
00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:05,479
Speaker 2: But when we take our own narrative the headlines that

91
00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,880
Speaker 2: we've read something that's upset us and we start to

92
00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,279
Speaker 2: share that I don't know at the water cooler, around

93
00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,719
Speaker 2: the dinner table, or on our community WhatsApp groups, that

94
00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,760
Speaker 2: shape the sentiment of the country at that time. So

95
00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:24,120
Speaker 2: the stories we do tell it literally changes our perspective

96
00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:26,599
Speaker 2: on this world and shapes our country.

97
00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:30,320
Speaker 1: Brent, I wonder I often get tagged in things when

98
00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,760
Speaker 1: something bad has happened. People tag me and they go

99
00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:36,440
Speaker 1: get it on Cape Talk, and it's always it's always

100
00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,720
Speaker 1: a bad thing. It really is, like it's it's you know,

101
00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,120
Speaker 1: something bad has happened. Somebody wants to bring attention to

102
00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:47,320
Speaker 1: something bad. Very rarely are people tagging me for good

103
00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,360
Speaker 1: news stuff. And I don't think that's because we are

104
00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,440
Speaker 1: a country of grumps and grumblers. I just think it's

105
00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,120
Speaker 1: the perhaps the urgency of shining a light on an

106
00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:02,200
Speaker 1: injustice or something that is bad become greater. But but

107
00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:06,159
Speaker 1: how how can people get their own good news stories

108
00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:06,680
Speaker 1: out there.

109
00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,920
Speaker 2: So the reality is the shrat I've got the I've

110
00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:13,120
Speaker 2: got the absolute honor of being on your show this morning,

111
00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:15,400
Speaker 2: and it's and I'm not going to use that to

112
00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,240
Speaker 2: I mean, my my team would absolutely kill me when

113
00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:20,880
Speaker 2: I say this. I'm not going to use that to

114
00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:22,720
Speaker 2: like shine a light on the work that we do.

115
00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:25,560
Speaker 2: Because here is the reality, and this is what I

116
00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,359
Speaker 2: want everybody to remember. Good news is happening all the

117
00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,920
Speaker 2: time all around you. It's not about a publication that's

118
00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,640
Speaker 2: writting about it. I mean, we do that anyway, but

119
00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:39,200
Speaker 2: it really is happening all around you. And in order

120
00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:42,400
Speaker 2: to see more good news, you're gonna have to look

121
00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,080
Speaker 2: for it. That's that's the hard pot. You're gonna have

122
00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,919
Speaker 2: to look for it around you. But here's here's the

123
00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,479
Speaker 2: good news. Here's the silver lining, is that when you

124
00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,640
Speaker 2: start to look for more good news, you start to

125
00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,159
Speaker 2: see it more. What is that saying, if you're looking

126
00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,159
Speaker 2: for a yellow car, you'll see a yellow car. That's

127
00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:02,640
Speaker 2: hard work. So we need to start trying to find

128
00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:06,600
Speaker 2: that good news around us, within our own families, our friends,

129
00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,680
Speaker 2: our communities, maybe even our businesses or the organizations that

130
00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,360
Speaker 2: we support. And then we'll start to see more of it.

131
00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,520
Speaker 2: And here's maybe the most important but is on days

132
00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,160
Speaker 2: or moments when you can't find that good news, you

133
00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,160
Speaker 2: need to become it. That's what you need to do.

134
00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,840
Speaker 2: You need to find it within yourself to have you

135
00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:31,000
Speaker 2: change the narrative around you by becoming that good news,

136
00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:35,000
Speaker 2: by you know, recalibrating the universe doing something nice for

137
00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:37,880
Speaker 2: someone else, because that's how we start to really change

138
00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:38,440
Speaker 2: that narrative.

139
00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:41,040
Speaker 1: Brent, it's always a treat to have you on the show.

140
00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:43,880
Speaker 1: Enjoy the rest of your weekend in glorious Johannes Beeth

141
00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:46,640
Speaker 1: and hopefully the next time you're in Kate Chunk come

142
00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:48,880
Speaker 1: and see us in studio please. In fact, that's not

143
00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:51,040
Speaker 1: a plea, it's a demand, actually, Sir.

144
00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,680
Speaker 2: Sarah Jane I will take that one hundred percent the

145
00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:55,880
Speaker 2: next time. And Cap Tan, I'm going to come hang

146
00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:56,760
Speaker 2: out with you in studio.

147
00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:01,800
Speaker 1: Bring your dogs. Ah, okay, all right, good to have

148
00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:03,800
Speaker 1: you with us, Prince, thanks very much, indeed, Brent, Linda

149
00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:05,440
Speaker 1: Key the Good Things Guy and don't forget you can

150
00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,559
Speaker 1: get all your good news at good thingsguy dot com