For sometime now we have been working with David Grier – Adventurer, Chef, Inspirational Speaker and all round good guy. I remember the first time I met David. I was still working at a digital advertising agency in Cape Town and David was about to run through Ireland and the UK as you do….of course!
We helped David with marketing the adventure and created an online campaign for him to raise funds for the Miles for Smile initiative he started to support Operation Smile South Africa
I then soon afterwards left the ad game and started Bigger Than Me and haven’t looked back. David and I kept in touch and it wasn’t long until David approached me with another adventure he needed help with which was to run through Cuba with his running partner Andy Stuart.
The rest is history I guess, Bigger Than Me was a newly created social change agency and David needed help changing the world, telling his story and the lives of children in South Africa. Since then we have helped David with all of his adventures from running through Cuba to Man vs Beast along the West Coast of South Africa against cross country horses, whom they beat, to Count Down to Surgery: Madagascar and now his latest adventure Thailand Ultra: Power of 10 which entailed running 1100 kms in 20 days and then still running one of the toughest ultra marathons in the world, the Thailand Ultra. Andy Stuart came 4th and David came 7th out of a field of 80 competitors, many of whom didn’t finish the race. This was again in support of the Cipla Miles for Smile initiative and Operation Smile.
Bigger Than Me was responsible for creating, curating and put together the entire content marketing and digital media campaign of the event which involved video updates, blogs, social media management and fundraising mechanic.
Take a look below at the overview documentary we created for the adventure.
I suppose the reason I am writing this blog is not only to talk about David and the amazing things he has done for the benefit of others but the reasons as to what makes someone so selfless in everything he does while at the same time achieving some many remarkable things and still doing good in the world. Theres no doubt that David Grier has drive thats a no brainer, super busy and constantly running from one thing to the next, there is one thing that his very good at doing at thats to make sure the people that he surrounds himself with share his passion, believe in him and above all trust him. He always does what he says, maybe not exactly as he first envisioned it but the end result is always the same which is key to his success. David is probably one of the most humble people I know, everything he does is authentic and real. Totally down to earth. As long as I have known him he will always make sure he says thank you, sincerely. Not over email but a phone call. The personal touch!
There are very few people in the world that are like David of course but can you imagine just for one second what the potential would be if everyone did their part and took responsibility for their place in the universe? Sure, not all of us can be the next David Grier but each of us has the potential to make significant change to the lives of people just in our immediate circles like friends, family and colleagues. We don’t necessarily have to run through some deep dark jungle half way across the world to be affect significant change and create impact on our planet.
I think we all have the ability to create change and actually want to do good, i just think we feel that it always has to be this massive event or adventure which is out of reach and capacity but if each of us just a did little bit each day for the right reasons and not in service of ourselves we would be half way to solving a lot of the world issues.
David certainly has had a massive impact on my life personally and on how I have gone about creating what Bigger Than Me stands for, its weird I knew David and I would be working closely since the very first day we met. I guess these moments are what I call the “Yes Click” or synchronicity where you just know with any doubt, certainty. Those are the things that should guide you and you should chase.
So when all is said and done Mr David Grier from everyone here at Bigger Than Me, we salute you for being a truly awesome human being and for constantly doing such EPIC SHIT that inspires us all to step out of ourselves and try and follow your footsteps.