Matthew Alexander Podcast Matthew Alexander

I sat down in December 2023 with Sizwe Mthembu as a guest on his podcast, The BLSD. Show. We chatted through sports, life and the journey of being an entrepreneur in the world of business.

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:01 - Matt's Background
4:47 - Swimming and Studies
14:06 - Starting a Business
19:43 - Does Equipment Matter
21:57 - Curate Journey
26:52 - Finding Your Why
33:25 - Business Future
34:14 - TikTok and Social Media
42:21 - Pursuing a Passion
43:47 - Wrap Up Thoughts

More of Sizwe:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sizwe_10
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sizwe-mthembu-316296153

More of Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattalexander2
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattalexander_
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattalexander2
X: https://twitter.com/mattalexander99
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mattalexander_

My guest for this episode was Chris Rogers, who was a big inspiration to me early on in my own content creation journey and who continues to inspire me to this day.

Chris is a travel and action sports filmmaker, a YouTube and social media sensation who has also co-founded several businesses and who is definitely one of the most talented people on the planet with any action camera content.

We discussed how to go about creating action and adventure content, branding as a social media content creator as well as the potential future of online content.



Chapters:

0:00 - Intro

1:54 - Chris’ Daily Life and Background

6:45 - Chris’ J ourney with Social Media

12:33 - Drones

19:17 - Travelling with Camera Equipment

22:19 - Best Travel Destinations

28:33 - BOS 400 Shipwreck

31:26 - Safety with Action Content Creating

33:05 - Working with Professional Athletes

37:02 - Filming in South Africa

39:03 - Filming Action Content

44:16 - How Should Filmmakers Present Themselves

49:33 - Chris’ Relationship with Social Media

50:24 - Marketing as an Influencer vs Brand

53:00 - Do We Have to Follow Trends

59:45 - Putting Yourself Online

1:01:50 - Instagram vs YouTube

1:11:54 - Online Courses

1:18:20 - TikTok and a Potential Ban

1:22:24 - Selling Digital Products

1:40:21 - Working with Brands

1:44:00 - What to Watch Out for as a Creator

1:46:35 - Planning Travel Video Campaigns

1:53:00 - Swimming Brand Campaigns

1:57:16 - Working with Other People for Travel Content

2:02:26 - Risking it on Big Ideas

2:09:28 - Where Would Chris Start?

2:11:53 - Wrap Up



More of Chris:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisrogers

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chrisrogerss

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisRogers



More of Me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattalexander2

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattalexander_

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattalexander2

X: https://twitter.com/mattalexander99

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mattalexander_

Oli Amos, Henry le Roux and Vorster Van Zyl are three South African freelance content creators who I have known for several years and worked alongside on several projects.

Among other things, we discussed their respective journeys into filmmaking, representing ourselves as creators on social media, making time for passion projects as freelancers and how AI might impact our industry.

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:20 - Vorster’s Switch to Sony
2:28 - Oli’s Approach to Gear
4:35 - Henry’s Journey into Content Creation
8:40 - Tax for Creators
11:02 - Obsessed Productions
11:53 - Shooting Festivals
17:15 - Automotive Content
22:30 - Are TVCs dead?
25:20 - Reaching out to brands
30:20 - How to be a Brand on Social Media
33:15 - Representing ourselves on Social Media
44:55 - Shooting vs Editing
47:45 - AI Integrations
56:48 - Is storytelling changing?
1:03:20 - Educating other Creators and Digital products
1:12:17 - How to make time for passion projects
1:22:23 - Where would you start from?
1:29:27 - Wrap Up

More of Oli Amos:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oli.amos/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@oli.amos
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@oli_amos

More of Henry le Roux:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halohenry/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HenryleRoux

More of Vorster Van Zyl:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vorstervz/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vorstervz

More of Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattalexander2
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattalexander_
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattalexander2
X: https://twitter.com/mattalexander99
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mattalexander_

John-Marc van Wyk is a South African content creator with over 7 million followers on TikTok and 1 million on YouTube. With nearly 250 million likes on TikTok and multiple videos with tens of millions of views, he’s certainly broken to the code for creating short format content in the modern age of social media.

We discussed his journey on social media, how to create viral content and working with brands as a content creator in South Africa.



Chapters:

0:00 - Intro

1:21 - John-Marc’s Background

2:42 - Making Videos

6:48 - TikTok Journey

9:38 - Content Creation as a Career

14:14 - Growth to 8 Million

21:14 - Consistency is Everything

23:13 - Making a Viral Video

27:13 - Drive Behind the Content

35:00 - Content Creation Process

41:48 - Outsourcing Editing

47:45 - USA vs SA

51:10 - Interacting with Fans

59:20 - TikTok & YouTube Ban

1:08:04 - Working with Brands

1:28:32 - Starting as a Creator

1:30:40 - 1 Million on YouTube

1:33:31 - Wrap Up



More of John-Marc:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmarcvanwyk

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmarcvanwyk3

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@johnmarcvanwyk3



More of Me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattalexander2

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattalexander_

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mattalexander2

X: https://twitter.com/mattalexander99

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mattalexander_

James Freemantle is a jack of all trades and a master of many.
He has a wide array of skillsets, including social media influencer, fitness fanatic, reality TV star and a marketing genius. James is an entrepreneur and the founder of FMG Digital. Above all, James is a close friend of mine who inspires me daily to become a better version of myself and is someone I that know adds tremendous value to everyone he interacts with.


Chapters:

0:00 - Intro

2:19 - James’ Background

4:20 - Scaling a Business in South Africa - FMG Digital

25:27 - Goggins Challenge

40:06 - Iron Man Training

51:49 - Building Self Discipline

01:01:12 - The Importance of Diet

01:08:53 - Building a Social Media Presence

01:29:33 - Working with Gymshark

01:41:20 - Love Island

01:47:20 - The Best Marketing Education

01:58:55 - Working vs Owning

02:08:43 - James’ Future



More of James:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayfreemantle_

FMG Digital: https://fmg-digital.com



More of Me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattalexander2

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattalexander_

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattalexander2

X: https://twitter.com/mattalexander99

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mattalexander_