The lekker life

The travel bug had firmly locked its jaws on him

Youtube and Instagram: @likeatouristza

Mark is a storyteller, and the introduction to this piece serves as the perfect origin tale to his latest venture, which is as much about hustle as it is about inspiring people to see the world with new eyes

"In June 1996, my best friend Tim told me he was moving to the United States. I was 12 years old and devastated, and I spent the next year trying to convince my parents to let me visit him in California. I tried every scheme in the book, and eventually convinced my parents to match what I saved. They didn't think I'd be able to save much, but I'd started ten-pin bowling, got really good at it and kept winning tournaments. My parents begrudgingly matched my R4 000 winnings and in 1997, I was able to spend three months with Tim and his family in the States," says Mark. The travel bug had firmly locked its jaws on him from then. Fast-forward a few years, and Mark found himself in London eating dinner in the dark

"I was being served by the blind and eating in complete darkness. The point of the experience was to understand what blind people go through every day, and gain a new perspective on life. It taught me to shift my perspective and look at life from multiple points of view." Which brings us to the serial entrepreneur's latest venture, Like a Tourist. In a partnership with Vitality, Like A Tourist creates travel content that encourages people to 'act like tourists' in their own country. Because while we're quick to dwell on the negatives - crime, loadshedding, unemployment, corruption - foreigners still flock to our shores for their holidays. Perhaps it's time that we start looking at our country like they do?

What makes Mark tick?

"I was kicked out of school at the age of 17 and entrepreneurship was the only route that made sense to me. I worked at a few jobs where I had a boss, but I just didn't connect to that kind of life. Beyond the money, I've always had very specific ideas of how to make certain businesses work that didn't always fit with the going narrative. The world will often call you crazy when you present an idea, and then call you a genius when it works.

It's absolutely vital that I mix business with pleasure. I can't work for the sake of it, and it needs to align with the passions that make me tick. Otherwise, I lose interest really quickly. At the same time, entrepreneurship is brutal because you work 10 times harder than most people. So, turning the things I love into a business is the only way I can sustain the high levels of effort I have to put in, along with enduring the stress and pressure that come with building a business

The honest truth is that I was only able to start Like a Tourist because of my other businesses. I was able to self-fund the content creation for Like a Tourist in the beginning and because we made no money at first, we had to be incredibly frugal. That said, I knew that if we could just create travel content that inspired others to be tourists in their own country, the brand would eventually attract the right partner to help us amplify our message. The growth that Like a Tourist has experienced in the past six months is solely down to us creating content that is valuable to our audience. People look out for content from Like a Tourist because it acts as an informal tour guide, and shares things to do and places to visit that weren't on their radar. And most importantly, it reminds people that South Africa is the most beautiful country on earth."

If I tried to start Like a Tourist without social media, the brand simply wouldn't have gained any traction. The viral nature of social media means that our content will be shared by people who value the work we do, which means that more people will see our content without us spending more money to reach new followers. The only trick is that the content we create has to be valuable to our audience or it won't gain any traction. We use social media to speak about what we do rather than about ourselves because when people don't find content valuable, the natural consequence is that they stop listening.

I love big cities but the small towns across South Africa really do show you the true nature of our country; towns like Dullstroom, Clarens, Sedgefield, Blyde River Canyon, Ceres, Tulbagh... There are almost too many to mention. Their pace of living is a lot slower, people are more caring, and they really put effort into their craft. I've eaten some of my best meals at local restaurants in small towns because they focus on whatever their speciality is, and they care about each meal that goes out. At times, the bigger cities have a bit of a production line mentality. Of course, I'm generalising, but you get the idea. Also, the people in smaller towns are some of the friendliest on earth.

Like a Tourist is so excited about a collaboration with Discovery Bank and Vitality Travel because our visions align. We believe that people are happier when they travel. We are fanatical about the beauty of South Africa, and want to see more people enjoying the gems of our country. The cherry on top is that Discovery Bank helps make local travel more accessible through rewards for positive health, driving and financial behaviours - and travel discounts with many other additional features all come together on the personalised Vitality Travel booking platform. Being a Discovery Bank client and using Vitality Travel myself, I have first-hand experience of how our collaboration enables people to experience South Africa in ways like never before while they get to travel for less.

There is a beautiful quote by St Augustine where he says that life is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page. You can always make more money, but you can't get back time. Speaking from the heart, the more people travel, the more they're able to see life from multiple perspectives. It's when you're away from your usual routine that you realise what's really important in life. At the same time, when people travel and share their positive experiences, they help remind other people to travel, too. If you have enough people posting about their travels, it benefits the many small businesses in the towns and cities that people visit. This can only be good for our economy, which is why I think everyone wins.