Building One of Cyprus' Most Impactful Environmental Movements | Niklas Wilhelm

In Episode 12 of The Farah Shammas Podcast, we welcome 🌍♻️ Niklas Wilhelm, founder of The Island Keeper(s), one of Cyprus’ fastest-growing environmental movements.

Niklas shares how a personal mission to clean beaches evolved into a community-driven initiative that has inspired thousands of people and helped remove over 12,000 kilograms of waste from the environment. We discuss sustainability, social media growth, discipline, community action, and his vision for a cleaner and greener Cyprus.

Enjoy the full episode on our YouTube channel, Spotify, Apple Podcast: The Farah Shammas Podcast. 

#TheFarahShammasPodcast #NiklasWilhelm #TheIslandKeeper #Cyprus #Sustainability #EnvironmentalAwareness #BeachCleanup

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What started as one person cleaning beaches has become one of Cyprus's most impactful environmental movements. Today's guest is Nicholas Wilhelm, founder of the Island Keepers, whose cleanup initiatives, social media storytelling, and community events have inspired thousands of people and helped remove over 12,000 kilos of waste from the environment. Welcome to episode 12 of the Faro Shamus Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

Nicholas, thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited to do this episode because everything you stand for is right up my street. But I want to dive in at the beginning and just let people know a little bit about you with your shirt on.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

At this time, yes.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

This time, yes. So tell us, tell us where where you're from in Germany, what brought you to Cyprus, and what made you start this mission to help clear up our island?

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Yeah, um, I'm I'm Niklas Wilhelm. I'm from Germany. I'm 31 years old, and I started this cleaning thing out of a simple gesture, more or less. Because after like a very short time, it was three or four weeks after I arrived, um, I took the decision to clean the places where I often visit. It was mostly the places where I train outside, and that's why it started with the topless thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:20

Okay. Always helps on social media. You've got a good body and you're there having a chat. People are like, mmm, who's this guy?

SPEAKER_02 1:29

I mean you exactly you in town. You you you nowadays on social media you need attention or you need to create attention, and of course, you you need to polarize a bit. And that's why I also, and of course, it's very hot here, so therefore it's true, there are practical reasons. Exactly. And yeah, I started mostly uh like hidden places and places where I often visit, like um, for example, the power beach. I trained there a lot in Gemasoya or the Sudi area, and this is where it all started.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

And what I Well what let's rewind. What brought you to Cyprus in the first place? Why did you move to Cyprus?

SPEAKER_02 2:09

So the first thing was I was totally done with Germany, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

So uh I mean emigrating was always a target myself. And when I turned 30, I said, okay, this is now a good point where I don't want to live here anymore, and I really want to move out. I want to have uh um want to live on a on a place where it's sunny and where I have the where I have a good mood, and the people in Germany, I don't want to say that they are very mean, but they are um the boots you the mood suits to the weather sometimes, you know.

SPEAKER_04 2:45

Yes, okay. Wow, it's understandable, isn't it? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

And I don't know why, but uh I was always like my whole life I'm uh I would say I'm a I'm a happy guy, and uh I loved enjoy doing something, and I wasn't really enjoying the life in Germany anymore.

SPEAKER_04 3:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

So I said okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

And you said you're from Bavaria and then you live five years in Berlin.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Exactly. Between in my early 20s, between 20 to 25, because back in the days, or uh yeah, since then, I had a bigger YouTube channel in the fitness niche.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

And Berlin was at this time it was the YouTube mecha, and that's why I moved with age of 19 and a half to to Berlin and started my YouTube journey there.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

Ah, do you still have that channel? Are you still posting on it?

SPEAKER_02 3:34

No, I'm not I'm not posting on it anymore. I mean it's 12 years ago. Uh but back in the time it was very nice, and um it was a that was a very good time. We are we were both uh two friends, like best friends more or less. And but it's that that was more or less the also the the clinch because best friends together in the first apartment, we moved out of from our home, uh, you know, and we both had um relationships in in German in our hometown, and uh yeah, after a short time in in Berlin, unfortunately, we we broke up together at the same time, we had parallel lives, yeah, exactly. And yeah, I I continued alone, but it wasn't the same feeling for the audience, also, because the audience knows okay, there are two guys uh who are making fitness, and uh I tried to to do it by myself, but uh it wasn't the I and I didn't feel it anymore very much. And then I said, look, after five months or six months in Berlin, I said okay, but I will stay here because uh I decided to move, and that's why I try to keep my things running in uh in Berlin also, and that's why I lived there for five years, yes. And I came back in 2020. So since cor when Corona started, I went back to my hometown. Okay, yes, and this was the best decision to be honest, because my I really missed my hometown, and as I told you, Wurzburg is the name, it's surrounded by uh wine mountains, it has a river there, it has beautiful castles there. Yeah, and uh it's a very beautiful place, actually.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

Yeah, do you miss it now?

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Um I miss the place in general, yes, but it's a small town, it's around 120,000 people, and um you know uh you know probably everyone there, so almost, so therefore I miss the place. Of course, I'm missing my family, my friends, but I I mean I'm like here for around nine months so far, and I would say it's I'm not in the missing phase.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Okay, so how did you choose Cyprus?

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Um Cyprus, I mean in the first way I wanted to move to Valencia, for example, because I have uh some things in Valencia. We I bought with with a friend of mine properties there, and I had a very good connection to Valencia. The thing is the language, and once the citizens in span uh starting speaking Spanish, it's very hard to follow, to be honest. I can speak a bit of Spanish, but not that fluently. And uh the second thing was of course, uh the taxes in uh Spain are almost the same as in Germany. And when you're self-employed, of course, you're looking for uh a good tax opportunity or a good optimum optimal uh place for for your taxes. And there was Malta in Cyprus. I have been to Malta for a very long time also, but it's it's very small, it's 12 times, it's actually 12 times smaller than Cyprus.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Yeah, and uh at least, yeah, it's tiny, beautiful, but tiny.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Yeah, and of course a place where the people are speaking English, and that's why I uh decided to move to Cyprus. And of course, it's very beautiful and sunny and nice here. So uh and a friend of mine who was already living in Lanarka, and I uh I visited him, and then I decided, yeah, this is a good place. I will come also.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

And so are you based in Lanaka?

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Uh no, I'm in Limotone. But he's living in Larnaca.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

So, how did you decide Limersol?

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Um, yeah, it's a it's a it's a good question because I was in Larnaca in the first place, then I went to Paphos to take a look there, and at least in in uh end up in Limassol. The thing was in Lanaka it's a bit too quiet for me and it's a bit too small. It's more like when I have a family, for example, I guess Lanaka is a good place to be. But um, then I went to Paphos, and Paphos there are a lot of Germans.

SPEAKER_03 7:40

The truth comes out. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

I'm not moving out of Germany to meet the Germans again. I mean, I'm I I like my citizens sometimes, you know, but when you're when you're all meet different people, yeah, and when you're sitting in a cafe, for example, and you're hearing German, you're not feeling like you're outside of the country.

SPEAKER_04 8:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah, true.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

And uh that's why I said okay, Pavos is very beautiful, and I guess I would say it's the most beautiful spot, like uh uh when it comes to the cities. But then I went to to Limassol for two days, and I mean Limassol is there's a big life, you know, so it's a real real city, and I said, Okay, if I can afford the rent here.

SPEAKER_04 8:25

I know that's the other issue with Limassol. But there you go. It is true. Limassol is the best. I always say that, really. I mean, obviously I'm biased, but Limassol is definitely the best city for me.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Yeah, for me also. It was very the it was the right decision, and um I found an apartment I can afford.

SPEAKER_04 8:43

So not a closet, not a hole in the wall, a real apartment, a real apartment with a front door and some space, and hopefully a bathroom. Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Not very big bathroom, but I'm but I'm okay with it.

SPEAKER_04 8:58

Okay, all right, good. We're all good then. So your story is really remarkable because you came only last August, you've been here nine months. Um, I love nine as a woman. That's the time of birth and renewal and bringing things to life. And in that short space of time, you started The Island Keeper, which is an Instagram and TikTok or just Instagram?

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Oh, so Facebook.

SPEAKER_04 9:23

And Facebook um platform uh or on these platforms, account on these platforms, and it has grown. I mean, just on Insta, you're over 130,000 people.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

50, yes.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

Um what?

SPEAKER_02 9:36

150, yes, but how much? 150.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

150 now. Imagine. I mean, and I only checked it a week ago, I think. I mean, that's how insanely when I first um heard of you or saw you, I think it was just before we actually met. You were like on, I don't know, three, four thousand followers. Yeah, then I met you and it had already gone up to like, I don't know what, 50,000, and now it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah, it grow.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

Tell us, tell us, tell us about this amazing inspirational story, not what you're doing, why you're doing it, and tell us a bit about the accounts.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Yeah, sure. It has grown a lot, and um, it wasn't really planned. Okay. I mean, I knew what I did because I have a marketing background and I know how to engage the people, I would I would say. But my origin goal was I wanted to spread awareness, and I didn't even have an Instagram account to this time because I started with TikTok because I knew when I make TikToks, um, you can prepare the algorithm a bit that it's very local spreading. And I made the videos on TikTok um to spread awareness, to bring people to do the same, more or less. And but people reached out to me and wanted to help. And I then I uh was feeling like okay, it's a very good way, maybe to um to bring more people together to do the same. And so far, um I'm currently hosting a volunteering group with over 150 volunteers, and we are calling ourselves the island keepers.

SPEAKER_04 11:14

Amazing, it's very cool actually, because um Yeah, you're really starting a movement, it's not just a social media trend.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Exactly, and um this this was or I created this uh out of the or I'm starting again in the first cleanup, in the first bigger cleanup, we were four people with from no yo, four people plus me from five different um uh like uh countries now amazing, and this was amazing to see that you're bringing this different types of different cultures, different people, different backgrounds together. Exactly, and I was really fulfilling like okay, you're doing a good cause, uh you're bringing people together, they have fun, and after then they are networking also. And since then, for example, uh three weeks ago, we had our biggest cleanup so far. It was with more than 120 people. It was crazy to see. I was almost crying as I saw this. Yeah, it was so amazing because so emotional. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 12:16

That's Nicolas. I was thank God I'm so emotional.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

I was so nervous that everything is going well because we had a DJ there, we had a bar there, we had food there and all this stuff.

SPEAKER_04 12:29

And you organized all of that.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Exactly. I was organizing all of this, and now, for example, on uh Sunday, this upcoming Sunday, I'm hosting a new big cleanup event because I'm currently focused on this big event. Because my motto was hey, I want to make picking up litter cool. And because nobody is going to YouTube, for example, or to TikTok and types in how to pick up litter.

SPEAKER_04 12:55

No, but surprisingly, what to do on my Sunday picking up trash.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

And that's why I was thinking, like, okay, I try to combine it with something cool.

SPEAKER_04 13:08

Yeah, um networking, a community spirit, because we're all missing that and everyone's craving that.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Exactly, exactly. And um then it turned to this to this movement, and in turn to basically three pillars I'm I'm I'm currently doing. I'm supporting NGOs because of my reach or with my reach, and I'm supporting animal shelters mostly. Um, either if it's through donations or so food donations or with my with my reach. And to answer your question, I can tell you a bit about um the social media in general. I started with uh litter picking, then I uh said okay, when I put this time and effort into the videos, um sure you want to go across all part platforms. So I connected um my Instagram with my Facebook. Facebook, the local audience, is very, very well. And um I try to focus on three different types of content because most people uh what they they just posting and they are hoping, okay, hopefully I'm going viral. Um, but you have three different types of content to to go viral, and mostly the viral videos are not the videos you really need. The people are not staying, and the people watching the video, for example, but uh which benefit you have from it when you have a video, for example. I have a trash video, it has 2.6 million views, and I gained from this video, for example, 2,000 followers. But I have a storytelling video that has 500,000 views, it's uh it's quite good, yes, but it's not that much, and I gained 60,000. So the difference is insane. Yeah, and um yeah, so far I'm really happy about the outreach because the outreach is now uh my vehicle to bring sponsors into the events, and for the upcoming cleanup, and this is so nice to say that every participant who is coming to the upcoming cleanup on Sunday, and we have 110 pre-registrations, I'm getting goosebumps telling this, and nobody has to pay anything. So the beverages, food, um, drinks, coffee, everything is for free. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_04 15:21

From the sponsors.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

From the sponsors, yes.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

So is it is this your main thing that you're doing? Do you work in something else as well? Do you make money from this? Tell us a bit about that.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Yeah, um, I have uh currently a lot of things running, so I need to start it in my head with what I'm what I'm trying to begin. But I'm offering corporate cleanups for uh companies or for hotels, actually.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

Um, watch the space. This was uh Nicholas's clever way of like pitching. I'll come into a podcast and pitch corporate cleanups.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Uh yes, this is one pillar. And um, since yeah, I'm uh obviously I'm offering the cleanup itself and also to bring my reach into it and to highlight the company if I can stand behind the company in a good way, for example, because I really acknowledge when companies are uh trying to give something back to the island, for example, and also to care about the environment. Uh, this is one thing. Then I'm of course I'm or I was thinking what happens with the trash we collect. And I was questioning myself, okay, are there very good solutions here in Cyprus? And the answer was a bit frustrating because in Germany you have a lot of things you know from the UK also, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

I I don't know. I or no, I think Germany was is much I don't know about the I know I see what they do in the UK, but I don't know really what happens in the back end. But I know when I took the kids last year to Germany with my husband, we they were running around trying to pick up rubbish so that they could take it and you know, I don't know, what do they get? Some money back for the bottles, for the bottles, and it was so exciting for them, and the kids got so into it. Um, yeah. If I we don't have that in in England or here.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

If I could bring this to the island, this would be this would be a late, this would be a change a life changer because um in Germany, as you said, for the people who don't know, you can go to the supermarket, uh, bring your plastic bottle into a get give it into a machine and get 25 cents for each bottle. So therefore, the people are very approached to collect the yeah, they're incensibized because it's I mean, it's a lot of money.

SPEAKER_04 17:40

You know, it can be a lot of money. And also, people like my kids wanted to pick up trash from the streets, yes, because they were like, wow, we just found five bottles, you know, and now we have 125, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Yeah, exactly. Or 125. I mean, I have a funny story. A friend of mine uh with an age of we were like 12, he was collecting the bottles to pay his uh Xbox.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

You see, there you go, great.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

And exactly, if you're starting with this age, you have a different approach to it.

SPEAKER_04 18:10

And um and as you said, it makes it cool, makes it trendy.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Exactly, exactly. And yeah, what I'm trying to build currently is my the first real upcycling solution in in Cyprus. So what we're basically doing, we we are collecting the waste, we are washing the waste, we shredder the waste, and we try to turn it into useful products. Like, for example, I mean, I've not I'm not at this point, but I'm currently in the process and we are trying to produce furniture at least. Or for example, hotels are using this also.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

Wink wink, here we go. You heard it here first, all the pictures. I'm gonna be like really criticized if I don't buy all this stuff. Tell me, what else?

SPEAKER_02 18:54

The mini plates you're using, for example, to scan the menu.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

The mini oh yeah, the the the um you mean the the small um card uh on the yeah on the tables with the QR codes.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Yes, this is probably all right. This is I love it. I'll buy them.

SPEAKER_04 19:12

I'm in, I'm in. You sold it. There you go. Send my fashion, everyone. I knew we should have done it on hotel talk instead of instead of the partial mass podcast. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Um, and the the the coolest thing about this is it's out of the trash from Cyprus, you know.

SPEAKER_04 19:29

Definitely, I love that. And uh I'm trying to think what out what else we use in plastic here. Um, because we try to avoid um plastic, at least in St. Rafael, as much as possible. We are the most sustainable hotel on the island. Really? Yes, awarded by the Presidential Palace. Okay, and um, yeah, so it's really important for our sustainability. We're like massive on it. And a couple of years ago, actually, we were the only hotel ever to be um uh certified carbon neutral. Okay. Of course, I had to buy the offset, but still. Um but I'm trying to think. So we we don't use plastic bottles, but where do we use plastic? So obviously, those also in the rooms, that might be a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

Umases, for example.

SPEAKER_04 20:14

Coasters we we well, we try not to use them, plastic, but we do have in the rooms the um little boxes that you keep the Nescafe in and stuff. Um we actually got rid of a lot of the ones we used to have, and it might be baskets or but that could also be an option for many hotels, absolutely, you know, to organize also for tissues where you put out the tissues, yeah. Yes, yeah, if it's recycled, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um and with a nice design.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Exactly. Um, I have a lot of things in my mind.

SPEAKER_04 20:46

Yeah, oh my goodness. Okay, we'll discuss that afterwards. I love this.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

Yeah, this is my second thing. This is my baby, and um, I used my social media outreach to for the GoFundMe for this because um you need money to buy all the machines and they are not really, really cheap.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

Yeah, they're very expensive. Yeah, exactly. It's the opposite.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

It really depends on uh how big, because they're unlimited, of course. But um in a small scale, and we raised over 14,000 euro, and I said, okay, when we reach this uh this goal, uh I'm willing to put my uh to to sell my motorbike, for example, and to put this money also into it. It's still on sale if someone wants to have it. Because we need the money for the recycling workshop. But uh yeah, uh with uh through a lot of help um through friends, for example, from uh Paulina, she's owning a dancing school, and she said, Okay, if you know if you need if you need place, because um it's really hard to the rent here in general, plus for an office. And there were she will she offered me their basement, and now in the basement is my recycling workshop currently.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

Amazing! You see, this is how the communities come together.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Yeah, it's it's really cool. Honestly, I'm very grateful for that because otherwise. There wouldn't be a possibility to get this done, you know? And um, yeah, for example, this is the second business. I mean, I'm not gaining any money from it so far, but um slowly, maybe. And I have my my still some clients from my marketing thing, and this is currently how I keep my yeah, how I can sustain my life. And of course, the social media brings a lot of or a bit of money also with it for through collaborations and all this stuff. I feel like marketing is also a pillar, but I'm really not focusing on advertisement a lot because uh my mission is the goal for me, and I want to transport my mission and building more or less my personal brand and my own products, I want to sell my own products instead of uh doing any advertisements for any companies where I have like okay, I getting a bit of money for a reel, for example, but uh this is not my focus to be honest. And I'm currently gladly uh in the position that I'm not need to do this uh kind of advertisements, but uh yes, this is how I keep my things running. Amazing!

SPEAKER_04 23:06

Oh my goodness, this is unbelievable. So, what's the craziest thing you've ever found on a beach in a beach cleanup?

SPEAKER_02 23:12

I can tell you.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

Oh, yeah, you already know. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Uh a live and uh living chicken.

SPEAKER_04 23:22

Oh. Just on the beach. Did it belong to someone?

SPEAKER_02 23:26

It's it's really sad, but uh we picked up a bag. Um sometimes you're not open the bag because it can be that it's there, it's a bit disgust disgusting or something like this. So we picked up the bag, put it in our bag, and then we see it moving. And then we m opened the bag and there was a chicken in it. This was the craziest found, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 23:47

Oh, poor chicken, someone just didn't want it, and no eggs anymore, Lane, or something like this.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

But we rescued it and uh we bring brought it to the bed and it was living on a farm, but unfortunately it died like after three three months. It has some diseases. I don't know. We put it on uh antibioticum, but yeah, this was uh really the craziest found.

SPEAKER_04 24:11

You might have do you know what type of chicken it was? Maybe um because a lot of chickens in farms they don't live very long anyway, because they're bred just for the eggs, and then they exactly they they die very quickly anyway. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

But better to die on a farmer, yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_04 24:26

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Yeah, it was very sad to see, but I mean it was uh rescue, and it was also uh it was also nice that or you know what you have done after the like like a cleanup because sometimes you're getting in reward the clean place, for example, and it's feeling very fulfilled.

SPEAKER_04 24:43

And then on this cleanup we saved a chicken life, so therefore it was was uh was well let's talk about animals because yeah, I mean it's amazing that you found that chicken and saved it, and yeah, it died a happier in a happier way than when than the other. Um, you're an animal lover, as it says on your account. Um, and you support with some of the money you get. Obviously, you said now animal shelters. So tell us a bit about your love for animals. Where does that come from?

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Um my whole life I wanted to have a pet, to be honest. But there was no possibility, either my mum or my dad was totally against it. And um I actually raised a wild rabbit uh when I was uh when I was nine years old or something like this. Yeah, he was we were living in a house, and above us there was um was a Russian guy, yeah, and he found a little rabbit and he said, Ah, look, fed the rabbit, fed the rabbit, and then you can eat it. And my mom said, No, of course not, you can't eat the rabbit. Or we are not eating rabbits in general. And I was standing beside and I was looking to my mom, and she said, No shit, no.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Here we go.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

It's a new pet.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Exactly. I raised the pet, and but it was a really it was a wild rabbit, so it was very uh hard to have it in a cage. So we we released it after like I don't know, one or two years. Okay. But this was my first pet, and since then I don't know, I'm caring about animals, you know. So if I can manage a uh pet in general, I would love to care. Yeah, and then it comes to the rescued cat. Because I rescued a cat here, and this is a really love story because this is also the story uh how my social media blew up so so immensely. I really have to admit this because I mean I've I've went a lot of times viral, not only because of the cat, also with trash, and actually also with some uh some other content, but my first viral video was where I rescued uh Stray Cat here in Cyprus. And I guess it was a combination out of all because I was training there. So you see a guy training and all this stuff. But this uh cat approached me three times in a row, you know. And first time I was training there, and second time I was cleaning there because the place unfortunately was very trashed, and I decided, okay, there are live there are so many stray cats here, I want to clean the place. So I went out also with a camera for for sure. And you see on the camera that she's following me the whole time where I was cleaning and supervising the cleaner. She knew. She knew, yes. And this is where our love story truly begins, I say any every time. And I rescued this cat, and you finally got your forever pet. Yeah, I find I found my forever pet exactly. And also, um, I mean, it's very sad to see sometimes that the shelters here um are struggling immensely with donations, you know, and also with with support in general and with government support. And I said, okay, look, um, when I get sponsors for my video, they should donate for the shelters. And that's why I'm sometimes I'm getting a food donation from a sponsor, and then I'm making a video where I say, okay, the sponsor sponsored it, and I went to the shelters and giving them to them. And it's also very nice. I'm I mean, I'm currently in a environment where I'm doing cool things and I can do these things, you know. And this is what's really fulfilling.

SPEAKER_04 28:14

Yeah, you're in that position to do it. That's so good. I have to ask then, are you vegan?

SPEAKER_02 28:21

I was actually.

SPEAKER_04 28:22

Um, always my thing when I hit animal lovers. I'm like, so are you? Yes, I really am, yes.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Crazy.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

Yeah, haven't eaten meat for 20 years. Oh, great. Yeah, but I've been vegan for 10. Yeah. So I did eat, I used to eat fish.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

So I was a pescatarian, but I've never eaten dairy in my whole life.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

I mean, to be honest, I mean, I was uh vegan for three years, um, with an age of 18 to 21. It was uh a challenging time to be honest, because I was making like bodybuilding on vegan diet, and like 13 years ago, you didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 28:59

It was tough. Yeah, there were no options. Exactly, exactly. Maybe you need to revisit it. It's easier now. It is, I promise.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

We will see, we will see.

SPEAKER_04 29:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, okay. So um, what's your favorite thing about Cyprus? I mean, having been here now for nine months, what's the thing that you're like, oh, like I couldn't live without this now?

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Um, to be honest, for me, the most uh biggest thing what's what's what's uh or what's life-changing is the mood from the people, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 29:35

They're in the sun, we're happier.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Yeah, 100%, 100%. Uh maybe this is the reason, but in everything I'm doing, uh there the people want to want to help, you know. And uh I don't experience this kind of kindness of people in Germany. And I've I've said this also to a friend. I mean, I've visited almost 30 countries in my life, and uh Cyprus is one of the countries with the most kind people, to be honest. And uh this is what I really don't want to miss. I mean, unfortunately, I need to visit Germany in two weeks, you know.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

Unfortunately, oh my goodness, all your German family and friends now are like watching you. You're gonna be denied entry when you get there. We'll show you unfortunate.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

I'm I'm pretty sure that uh I can't wait to leave. Um no, but yes, the kindness of the people definitely, of course, um the weather is also very nice, but the weather isn't of course it's nice to have a good weather. But um, I mean, like I can have a nice day when it's raining outside, also, you know. So my mood doesn't really depend on the weather, but um the I I'm feeling here more that I have a bit more freedom to do what I'm doing. And I also, and this is uh pretty honest answer, I guess I wouldn't e wouldn't be that much encouraged or engaged to make like social things in Germany as I do in here because I'm seeing sometimes the need here, and for example, when I compare it to Germany, um, there's also a possibility to make social things in Germany, but I wouldn't have the motivation or the the ambition there to do it, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 31:24

Why not?

SPEAKER_02 31:25

The government is uh working very very much against you, to be honest. And um, I mean, I've never I didn't experience here any government support, but I'm experiencing the support from the people here.

SPEAKER_04 31:38

Oh yeah, and the appreciation.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 31:40

Yeah, because we're people often say that here that so many people come to Cyprus, fall in love with the island, yeah, and then do so much to help preserve its nature and clean up and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Yeah, I mean nobody wants to live on a polluted island. No, and uh the island is so beautiful and it's so sad that it's trashed.

SPEAKER_04 32:00

So hopefully we can spread up a bit awareness and definitely and ingrain it into the culture. So, what's your ultimate goal for the island keeper and for Cyprus? What would you love to see, like say I helped I help bring this to fruition in let's say two or three or five years' time?

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Um I really would love to see that the recycling company is doing well and that we can provide some, for example, also schools uh with with chairs or desks out of the wow, that would be amazing. Yeah. And I'm also what I want to, this is uh what I have in mind is maybe there is a possibility because of my my outreach to bring people on other places also to do the same. Because now I know what it needs to set up the recycling business in small scale, and I just need to make an info product, for example, to say, okay, look, you are in Greece, you are in Bali, you want to start with a recycling company or upcycling company, you can sustain your life, hopefully, through this. And here's the introduction: how you could manage that, and um this would be very nice because then you have like not island keepers and not items of Cyprus, because my recycling company's name is Items of Cyprus, but you have items of Greece, items of Bali, and you have 10 different small uh recycling setups all over the world. This would be this would be insanely cool.

SPEAKER_04 33:31

That would be amazing, it really would. Right. On that note, I'm turning to social media to see. We didn't give everyone a lot of time, but let's see if anyone has asked us anything. One minute. Where do we go? Okay, so we have one from Athena. Um, nutrition's obviously very important to you. How do you keep up your lifestyle?

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Currently, I'm in a weight cut.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

You're in a what?

SPEAKER_02 34:04

In a weight cut. It's currently very hard. Um, so uh you mean like with cooking or?

SPEAKER_04 34:12

I I I don't know. I guess she means like working out and staying fit, and yeah, maybe what what food do you eat?

SPEAKER_02 34:20

Yeah, I mean I can I can give an example through my through my normal day. I'm working up very early between 5:30 to 6 because I'm going to bed very early, around 9.30 and 10. And I have my first breakfast at about 9, two hours after I I went up. Then I'm going at 11 mostly to kickboxing or muay thai. Then I have my after the muay thai, I went to the beach for uh spring into the sea, uh jump into the sea for 10-15 minutes, my calling my me time. Then I have a big meal, and mostly at around six I have a small meal, so that's all currently. So I have one really big meal, a breakfast, it's small, and uh in the evening it's small, and I'm currently uh training like six six times a week, yes. So this is how I try to sustain the body.

SPEAKER_04 35:10

I like it, I like it. Okay, we have someone here, Dasos. What's the hardest part of running a big social media account?

SPEAKER_02 35:21

Creativity, to be honest, because um you are under pressure to post like every minimum every every three to four days, and you don't want to post the same. And of course, I'm I can post cleanups, but after the 18 18th cleanup, you are like Yeah, okay, enough.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

We've seen that.

SPEAKER_02 35:43

The storytelling is nice, and I follow his journey, but uh where's there's nothing new, so you need to try to engage the people with new stuff, and you need to have the creativity to yeah, to showcase your story, but in a different way sometimes, and this is the hardest part to be honest, and also uh cutting the videos is uh sometimes very exhaustive.

SPEAKER_04 36:10

Yeah, how the actual editing must take a long time, yeah. Um, okay, and then we have here Lenny. Um, what advice would you give me in trying to grow my online community?

SPEAKER_02 36:24

Um I guess general, like yes, what advice? Um define your niche. So this is this is the biggest thing because otherwise you will be a creator like everyone else. So you need to have a good niche, um, as more specific as better, and uh don't get distracted from the numbers because once you have a niche, for example, um the niche is like uh I'm collecting magic cards, for example. Okay. Uh you have a small audience for this kind of niche, but the the views you have and the engagement you have from the people, these are really fans. And there is a good book, I guess the book called One You Only Need 1000 Fans. It's uh readable, very readable.

SPEAKER_04 37:14

Oh, I don't know that one.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

Yes, you only need 1000 to gain, I guess, six figures a year, something like this. And the thing is, um, once you collected your niche, you should focus on three pillars um attention, value, and storytelling. And for example, uh because I said don't get distracted from reviews, uh when you have like a video, for example, in your niche and you get um 20k views in this specific niche, and you have another video where you get a bit of viral, you get 500,000. The video in your niche went also viral. But 20 because, for example, when I'm going viral in fitness, I need 2 million to have a viral video. When I'm going in the collecting magic hearts niche, I'm viral with 20k. So don't compare yourself and the views with other niches because they're not comparable.

SPEAKER_04 38:15

Ah, that's really that's really good advice. Yeah, because I think we all do it. We're like, oh, that one did really well and that didn't.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 38:22

But actually, and then also sometimes you'll see like people will, I don't know, really like one video, you'll get loads of like interaction or comments, but then you'll get no shares. And then others you get so many shares for, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

This is, I mean, at the end of the day, this is relatable. If the video is relatable, the people will share, and you can focus on videos who are very relatable. For example, comedians or something like this. This is like, ah, this gag is so funny. I need to share this with a friend. But this is only attention content, you know. And maybe this is also a very good advice. Um now I lost track.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

Yeah, about the shares and the sharing and exactly.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

The most important thing on the video is the watch time. So if you hook the people and you have, like, for example, the hook is a problem, you amplify the problem, and then you have a solution, you get the like for the video for the solution. You get hooked the people through the hook and through the amplifying to the engagement. And your biggest goal should be to have the longest watch time ever. Because if you have watch time, the video will go viral, even though you don't have likes because watch time then comes um shares, then comes like uh shares, comments, likes. So likes are the the last part.

SPEAKER_04 39:46

The last part, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Yes, and um for example, when we come back to your niche, and when you're telling the people, when you're making like a storytelling video, a storytelling video won't have the same outreach or won't have the same views as you make in an attention video. And uh people should be very clear about these three topics because when you're focusing on these three topics, you covered everything. You covered your own personal brand, you covered your mission, and you covered your what you're transporting. And um what also is very important to hook the video uh to hook the audience with your profile. Uh uh when you have like, for example, a profile, or you need to have a profile where the followers see within two seconds what is he doing, what is she doing, what is she delivering, what is her purpose, what is her mission, and all this stuff. And then pin one of this video what you're actually doing on your profile. And this is, I guess this is the best advice you can get because the most people coming through a good video across the profile, seeing the profile, don't know what they are doing, wait, and going away, you know.

SPEAKER_04 40:59

Yeah, interesting. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 41:03

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 41:03

It's always so interesting, and um, I really appreciate you bringing by the way.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

We did it, I got it pretty much.

SPEAKER_04 41:10

We've done a paddle match together, and we're gonna do another one. Now we've got our paddle court here. Nice, yes, it was it's really fun. Have you played paddle again?

SPEAKER_02 41:19

One time, yes.

SPEAKER_04 41:20

No, it's good, it's good. So, everyone, yeah. Cyprus is going crazy with paddles.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, but it's a range of things. It's it was very fun.

SPEAKER_04 41:29

It was definitely fun. Thank you so much for everything you're doing, for cleaning up Cyprus, for being so engaging and for bringing the attention on Cyprus in good ways as well, that uh people are helping and so many cultures together. I think it's so important, and I'm really an a big fan, admiring what you're doing, and here to support in any way we can.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Thank you so much for having me.