How Brent Lindeque became the 'Good Things Guy'
10 years ago, the life of Brent Lindeque completely changed. He had woken up and had gone viral around the world. Sara-Jayne Makwala Kings speaks to the man behind the ‘only good news’ media sensations that is Good Things Guy.
If there's one guaranteed way to put a smile on your face each day - its a visit to Good Things Guy, a platform to showcase all the good things about South Africa and everyday South Africans.
This month marks 10 years since the launch of the good news website, founded by Brent Lindeque.
Lindeque's life changed dramatically when instead of drinking in a NekNomination, he filmed a video of him feeding a homeless person, which went viral.
This sparked a global movement to commit random acts of kindness.
"I put the video up on a Friday and I woke up the next morning and it had gone viral. It had hundreds of thousands of views and there was so many missed calls from media agencies around the world. It was unreal. That's how my life changed."
-Brent Lindeque, Good Things Guy founder
This video catapulted Lindeque into fame, and he became known as the 'guy that did the good thing'. Charities and businesses were soon wanting his attention to showcase the work they do.
"Ten years ago when I was in this space, for the first time I didn't feel like South Africa was falling over. I felt so proud and hopeful about the country and I wanted South Africans to feel the same way. So I decided to share one good news story to share with SA everyday. From there it became three, then six stories a day. Ten years later and we share up to 15 good news stories everyday."
-Brent Lindeque, Good Things Guy founder
Lindeque says he's surrounded by a phenomenal team country wide and are passionate about spreading good news.
"Ten years ago when we started, we would search for one good story a day and it was so tough. Not because there was no good news, but because the reality of what we face in SA was so hard that those light stories didn't have space to shine through. A decade later, our email overflows. When we wake up in the morning, we wake up to 100 stories. Because we've become the go-to place for good news."
-Brent Lindeque, Good Things Guy founder
And what makes a good news story for Lindeque? He says it's all about the human factor.
"It's about an extraordinary human being just doing one thing that makes a difference. Just being kind to each other and doing one that makes them shine. Those are the stories I love."
-Brent Lindeque, Good Things Guy founder
Scroll up for the full conversation.