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Jessica Grace Coleman

Welcome to the Travel Transformation Podcast, where we talk all things travel and all things transformation. My name is Jessica Grace Coleman and I'm your host, and today I have a very special guest, Cody Grannan, founder of Give The Goodness Global, an amazing global outreach project that is doing so much amazing work over in Southeast Asia. 

I asked Cody to come on because I found him on Instagram. I saw what he was doing. I thought it was really cool. And I think it's important as a business owner to have a purpose behind your business – other than helping your clients, which is obviously the main thing, and making money. We can't forget that, because the more money you make, the more people you can help and impact. But I think we should also have a charitable element to it, to make it a purpose-driven business. Because if you're making money already, it doesn't take much to give 5% or 10% to a charity of your choice. And if you bake it into your business model, then you really don't even have to do anything. It's just when you get sales, you can give money to other people, which is obviously a win-win for everyone. You can help them with exposure, you can help share their stuff and vice versa, and I think it's just a great idea all around. 

So I contacted Cody on Instagram. I said, I love what you're doing. I have a business that is travel-related and I would love to help give back in some way, especially as I travel quite a lot – and obviously there's the whole sustainable thing. You worry about going on planes and your carbon footprint. You worry about being a tourist and having an impact on the places you visit. And we talk about that in the interview a bit. So I thought it would be a good idea to give back in this way, with someone who's already doing the amazing work. And it's related to travel and visiting different countries and helping people from different cultures and different backgrounds to you. And travel opens your eyes so much to the way other people live and their lifestyles and their cultures, and I think it just all tied in very nicely. 

So, we decided that 10% of all my profits from the sales of my book Intentional Travel Transformation will go to Give The Goodness Global. If you're an author, though, you'll know that there isn't a great profit margin on books, and I wanted to give a little bit more than the 10% of the book sale. So I also decided to give 5% of any of my online digital products and services to Give The Goodness Global. So if you sign up to be a member of my Academy, if you buy one of my mini courses, if you buy one of my Flip The Script Party Packs, if you hire me as a coach or a consultant or a speaker… any of that good stuff… then 5% of all sales will go to Give The Goodness Global. 

We also talk about this in the interview, but you can find him @givethegoodnessglobal on Instagram, and if you press the link in his bio, you'll be taken to his Linktree, which takes you to his merchandise, his website, and his GoFundMe page. So we really want to get donations going to Give The Goodness Global because he puts a lot of his own money, a lot of his own time, a lot of his own energy into this. And he's doing a great job, but he really wants more help, more exposure. He wants to get his message out there and he's just a really great guy, and you'll be able to hear that in this interview. 

So I'll stop rambling. Now let us get to the interview with Cody Grannan, founder of Give The Goodness Global. 

Hi, Cody. Welcome to the Travel Transformation Podcast. Thank you so much for coming on!

Cody Grannan

Hi Jess, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Jessica Grace Coleman

No problem. Now, I know all about you and your project, but for our listeners – and we're going to dive into your story in a moment – but can you just give a little bit of background information about you, including where you're from and where in the world you are right now?

Cody Grannan

Sure. So my name is Cody. I recently turned 33. I'm from the United States of America, and I started full-time travel in May of last year.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Nice. And you're in Thailand right now, is that right? Whereabouts?

Cody Grannan

Yes, that's correct. Currently, I'm in Hat Yai, Thailand, down in the south portion.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Nice. I've been to Thailand a few times, but I've never been to that area. Sounds very nice, what I've seen anyway.

Cody Grannan

It's beautiful. The traffic isn't so terrible here, so I really like that. 

Jessica Grace Coleman

Okay, so let's get into your backstory, which I think is going to take a while, but we've got time. So you are the founder of Give The Goodness Global, which is an amazing global outreach project, which, as I said in the introduction, I have partnered with because I saw you on Instagram, and I thought, this is really cool. So how far back do we need to go to understand why you're doing what you're doing now? Basically, give us the origin story of Give The Goodness Global.

Cody Grannan

Okay, sure. Yeah. Thank you for recognising that. And there's a lot that it entails to bring me to present day. So it starts… I spent from 2006 to 2016 in the US Military as an infantryman, and after getting out of the army, I was kind of lost. I didn't really know what to do with myself, so I did what I thought was right in the moment, which was, let's go to college, we'll get a degree, we'll go to medical school and become an interventional cardiologist. So I started studying at university – molecular biology and biochemistry as a dual bachelor's degree program. I made it through that, and once I got done, I just kind of realised there's more I could be doing to help people in this moment than just sit here, because by the time I graduate from medical school, I'll be 42 years old, and I'll have $300,000 in debt. It'd be ridiculous. 

So I left that life path to go and join the cannabis industry, and joining the cannabis industry in the US changed my life. I met so many open, loving, very kind people that have all these great stories of travel and where they've been and how wonderful it was. But something always bothered me about their stories. It was always just about them enjoying the places they went to; very rarely did anyone mention, if at all, ever, that they contributed something to the community that they visited. And I had plans to travel to Malaysia and just spend the rest of my days there, earlier on, when I was a younger man retiring from the military. But meeting all these people in the cannabis industry changed me. 

So, after a few years of working there, I decided to change basically my entire life path. I had done well enough, sold off all my assets, and then in May of last year I began travelling. I started in Bali, Indonesia. So I landed there and really enjoyed the community life there, and the people were so kind. But I also found there's a duality to people in different countries towards tourists. So, for me, I started to recognise that a lot of people in different countries – whether they're third world or not –they like that tourists come because it helps bolster their economy. But then there's another half of the people that really dislike the fact that tourists come there, because tourists lead to more pollution and disrespect of culture and a disruption of daily life. So that's something that was communicated to me through a Balinese shopkeep that I met and became friends with, and that really resonated within me because I started to think very hard about that. 

The more I travelled, everywhere I went, I was like, man, I'm really enjoying this place, but at what cost? It's okay, sure, to be hedonistic once in a while and have fun and enjoy your life. But for me, it became tedious. And then, at a certain point, after leaving Bali and coming to Bangkok, Thailand, I started to realise, man, I really need to start giving back to these communities. That would be a good idea. I didn't really act on it yet at that point; it was more of an idea in my head, like, let's see what can we do to make people have a better view of tourists, to give a better experience, give it a better name, to maybe bolster tourism a little bit, but Bangkok doesn't really need an introduction. So I was kind of a small fish in a really big pond at that point. 

So I set my sights for Siem Reap, Cambodia, and I travelled there next. And it was in Siem Reap – maybe my first or second day there – I had ordered a tuk-tuk driver to drive me into town to pick up a few things, and the tuk-tuk driver was just so happy to have a tourist rider. And at that time that I went, there were maybe, I don't know, four or five other tourists that I saw the time that I was there, even on the main street. I kind of asked the guy, what's the effect? Why are you so happy about that? Surely Angkor Wat is right down the road, there's got to be people clamouring to be here. 

He's like, no. Since the government shut down because of the pandemic, we've had almost no tourism, and it's killed off a lot of families. Families have lost their homes. People have lost children to sickness. We don't have money for food or water or medicine or shelter. So now, people that I used to know – that were very affluent – are living on the side of the street in the backside of a wat, that shouldn't be there in the first place at all. And tourism kind of let them down in that way. They became too reliant on it, I suppose. 

So it was kind of in that moment that everything clicked. It was the strangest thing. Like, you finish the last piece of a puzzle, you press it into place, and you're like, oh, now I see what this is. And for me, that tuk-tuk driver kind of educating me on Siem Reap and the struggles that they're having… I was blind to it, because all I was seeing were these very touristic places. So I asked him in that moment… I was on the way to the pharmacy and I was like, you know what? Take me to the poorest family you know. And he was shocked. He spoke very well English, and he's shocked. He's like, what do you mean? Well, you keep telling me that tourism being gone has destroyed the economy here, and people in Siem Reap are hungry and they're living under tarps or whatever it is. But I want to see. Take me to the poorest family. Let's see. Let's see if I can help. 

Whatever I can do to help – because that idea that had started circulating in my brain, starting in Bali when I travelled in May, had continued to grow and snowball and get bigger and bigger. And my guilt for enjoying these places and locations that I was visiting grew with it. And he did; he acquiesced my request quite well, actually. And he decided to drive me out into the middle of nowhere in Siem Reap on the backside of a wat – or a temple, as it would be commonly known for us Caucasians that don't experience travel that much. 

And this was the first time that I had cried in a long, long time. I remember him driving the tuk-tuk into this small alleyway… not a small alleyway, it was a dirt road. It was very tight. Forest on one side, concrete wall on the other for the wat and the temple. And just seeing the state that people were living in at the time really pulled on my heart. And then seeing the children, very young, small children, two, three, four, five, six years old, just looking miserable and emaciated and sick and sad. And I just had to turn away and cry to myself just for a moment because it was so touching, and it just pulled on my soul. 

It was like, okay. That was the very moment that I decided that if there's something I can do, I'll do it. Whatever it is to help these people, I will do it, because I don't want to see anyone, any human being, living this way. This is a horrible way to live. So we pull up to this tent area, and there's a large blue tarp stretched over the top of a bunch of wooden pallets, sunk into mud. And there lived a family, a mother of two. The youngest girl was around six or seven years old, and her son was about 14. They couldn't afford to eat. They were borrowing from their neighbours constantly. They didn't really have any amenities. They were just living outside, sleeping on these wooden pallets with palm fronds and things like that as a bed, and clean drinking water… there really was none for them. 

And I told my tuk-tuk driver, I was like, you speak Khmer? Tell the mother of that family that I would like to help them. I would like to give them whatever I can in order to make their life better, whether it's helping them secure an apartment or get them food or get them supplies, whatever they need in that moment, just so they don't have to suffer so much. And that's exactly what happened. He went and spoke to the matriarch of that family and she very willingly came along. So all of us loaded into this tuk-tuk. So it's me and two little kids and their mother. And we drove into town. And I remember withdrawing from the ATM and just handing them the money and being like, hey, whatever you need, whatever necessities you need, get what you need, get what you want. 

And towards the end of that trip, the main concern for their mother was ‘my children can't get to school. I want them to have an education that I never got. Because if they can't speak English, they're not going to make any money here in Siem Reap, because you either have to have a trade or you speak well enough English to where you can work in the tourist spots and deal with tourists that most widely speak English.’ And that really touched me. So it was like, okay, well, what is the primary mode of transportation? It’s usually a scooter or motorbike of some sort. It's like, well, how about a bicycle? And she was like, yeah, that would be perfect. Let's get bicycles. 

And I remember the oldest son – or I'm sorry, the oldest, which was her son, we went to the bicycle shop together. And I was like, pick a bike. And the tuk-tuk driver was translating for me and the kid’s jaw hits the floor. Like, what do you mean, just pick a bike? Just like, pick whatever bike is going to get you to school that you enjoy and that you're going to like, pick one. And he did. And he couldn't thank me enough for it, which made me feel bad inside because it was like, no, don't thank me. You deserve this. You've lived a hard life so far, so please let me help you any way I can. 

And the little girl was so adorable. The cutest thing ever. We were in the market on our way to the bicycle shop. She had noticed this headband with these kitty ears on it and just wanted it so badly and kept staring at it. But her mom was like, no, we can't afford that. No. So I made sure to grab that and hide it. And then we get to the bicycle shop, after I purchased her brother's bicycle, and she keeps, like, circling this tiny pink bike with a little basket and a bell on it. And she's just ding, ding, ding, ding, ringing it, kind of staring at it, kicking her feet. 

And I got down next to her. I was like, would you like a bicycle too? Because she's going to be going to school soon. And at that point, I decided I was like, okay, well, pick a bike. And she was like, really? Yeah, of course. Pick one. So she picked that certain pink bike, and I was like, and then here, you have to wear these ears if you want to ride this bicycle. So she took the kitty ears, and she puts them on very enthusiastically and is just hugging me and is so happy and gets on this bike and starts riding around in circles. And, before I know it, both kids are gone. They are nowhere to be seen. They got on those bikes and I didn't see them again until we got back to the village, which was hilarious to me. I was like, this is amazing. 

So, after that experience, coming back and staging all of their equipment, their food and water and supplies for three or four months, I had a long chat with a lot of people in that area and they all kind of congregated around. And the tuk-tuk driver, God bless him, kept talking to me about whatever issue it was that they were bringing up, like, oh, well, we need this. We need more sheet metal so we can make better structures, and all these things that they needed. And I'm taking notes to the best of my ability about the things that everyone in this community needs. And it was in that moment that it hit me. It was like a bolt of lightning struck me and I had this vivid moment of imagination of, well, you're helping a family. Why not just do this everywhere you go? Why not turn this into something? This is nothing, but make it something – and don't waste precious time. You spent ten years in the military destroying things. Why not spend your next ten years – or the rest of your life – rebuilding? 

And that's kind of what gave birth to Give The Goodness Global. It was that very small kindness to these people that changed their life. And I stay in contact with them and they're doing great. There are other families I still support, but it was in that very moment when the kids were all happy, ringing their bells on their bikes, and drinking water, and they've got mosquito repellent now and clean drinking sources and food to eat and fire to have. It was in that moment that Give The Goodness was really born. 

I rode back to town with the tuk-tuk driver, paid him, and went upstairs to my hotel. At the time, I just kind of sat on the edge of my bed and cried a little bit, thinking about how many more people there were there and how my resources are finite and there's only so much I can do to help them. And that's really what started me rolling, like, okay, we have to brainstorm a way to help people. How can we spread kindness and awareness of social injustice and economic injustice across the board? It's not primarily an issue for only one country. 

As naive as I was, I figured people are going to be taken care of in whatever country they're in. It was very wrong. In Cambodia, especially, not to say that there aren't very beautiful institutions there or beautiful businesses – charities for people that are down on their luck – but there's a lot more that could be done. So that's the moment that I got online and started creating the Instagram and the GoFundMe projects and the websites and reaching out for donors and sponsorships and that kind of thing, so that's kind of where it started.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Wow. I mean, there's a lot there to unpack; I was trying to keep track of the questions I was having as you were talking. Have you always been this charitably minded? Because obviously a lot of people go travelling, they go to places like Southeast Asia, they see this stuff, they know it's happening, they might feel bad about it and they might try and help for a little bit, but not many people would go… like you said, you felt guilty and you had to do something. A lot of people maybe have that feeling, but they don't do anything about it. And you actually said, can you take me to this family? I don't know many people who would do that. 

So is that something that you've always done? Or… you mentioned the sort of contrast with the military. Is it something to do with that and your experiences in the army? Or why do you think you actually went and did something?

Cody Grannan

It's a mixture of a couple of different things. I grew up in southern Indiana, in the US. And, at the time, it's like everyone knew their neighbours, and if you knew a neighbour was struggling, you'd help them. And I grew up seeing acts of kindness happening all around me, people being essentially non-selfish. If a neighbour needed something, they got it. We made sure that everyone was taken care of. So my morals and values came from the South, which was primarily, I think, a motivator that's always been within me. 

But then I felt this tremendous amount of guilt coming out of the military and I received a lot of therapy and exposure to psychedelics, which was an interesting experience that really opened my mind and helped me start to realise that the world isn't exactly how I think it is. And I feel compelled to help people for no reason other than I don't think that the human condition should be to suffer. And if there's anything that I can do about it and I don't do it, then I feel like I'm guilty or to blame in some way. 

So, in retrospect, kind of summing it all up… it's a mixture between personal morals that were grown and instilled in me from youth, and then some of the situations during my military career that gave me this complex of, you've done bad, it's time to start changing the world for the better. 

I remember being asked, I can't remember when it was, it's been decades ago… we were asked one time, What's your greatest fear? What's your biggest fear? What's the thing that worries you most? What keeps you up at night? And for me, the answer to that question has always been having left this world without leaving a positive mark on it in some way. So I always keep that in the back of my mind every time I travel or any time I do anything, I always think about that. 

Jessica Grace Coleman

Yeah, definitely. I'm very into the whole life purpose and leaving a lasting legacy and doing good while you're here and, like you say, leaving a positive mark on the world because if we don't, then what was really the point of us being here? It's that kind of thing. So yeah, I totally get that. 

I also think that a lot of people think like, oh, maybe I'll start a charitable thing or a foundation or something, but they have literally no idea how to go about it. So when you first got the idea for this and thought, oh, well I'll actually create this, did you know all the steps – or any of the steps – of what to do online and what to set up and things like that, or did you literally figure it out as you went? How did that happen?

Cody Grannan

I had no idea what I was doing! I did not know what I was getting myself into. I had previously… well, that’s not entirely true. Like, I knew what I was getting into, but I didn't know the extent to which I would be going. At first, it was just supposed to be a pet project and then it started to turn and grow into something much larger than what I could control. Personally, I had no idea how much it was going to take of my time and funds and effort to make sure this was a successful venture. 

Previously, I had been part of a 501(c)(3) charity called Vets and Vixens. It was like a decade ago, for wounded veterans, and we had a 24-hour call line where everyone would take six to eight hours, however much time you could afford, and we would just answer through Instagram or Facebook – at the time, I believe it was. We'd chat with people, give our personal phone numbers out, and I was a CFO for that charity at the time, but I just kind of got thrown into that role. I wasn't there for the creation process so I had absolutely no clue what I was doing or how I was going to do it. 

My first thought for this was, okay, create an Instagram, get the word out there. As soon as you start getting the word out, things will start to flow and the next thing you know it'll grow, surely, and then you can just figure your way. But it's obviously not that simple. We're still not a 501 charity. It's still just a global community project. I am working diligently to try and find a set of board members that will help me schedule this and set it up into an actual charity that we can help people with. 

For now, it's just me relying on personal funding. I fund most of this myself. And then the GoFundMe that I had provided around $500, I think. But yeah, I absolutely had no idea what I was doing, and I'm still kind of fumbling along through certain phases of the creation process.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Yeah, but I think that's good, because it gives other people permission to just try things. Not knowing something is not an excuse in this day and age, when you can literally Google it or you can ask AI, you can ask ChatGPT, how do I start a foundation? There are so many ways that you can do it – or find someone like you and ask you for just some pointers on where to start. There are so many ways to do it. So I love that you just went and did it even though you had no clue. That's amazing. 

So, did you travel a lot before this? Obviously, you said you were in the army. I'm assuming that included travel. Have you always been interested in travel or is this a more recent thing?

Cody Grannan

Oh, ever since I was a child, I remember watching… I think it was the Looney Tunes shows, the little cartoons, and they would be in like Saudi Arabia or somewhere. Then Paris and all these other beautiful places. I watched a lot of National Geographic shows of different countries and I've wanted to travel since I was very small. So the need and want to travel has always been there, and I got a small taste of that joining the military. But obviously you're limited to the scope of where you're going to be and how much you can do. And it wasn't until after I got out that I got to really get out and see all the countries that I wanted to see.

Jessica Grace Coleman 

Nice. So you started in Bali, you said. Why did you choose to go there first?

Cody Grannan

So Bali had been closed for a significant period of time to foreign tourists, and it was the first place that had opened up. I had had a few friends that had been there and they highly encouraged me. They were like, listen, if you're going to start your journey, start in Bali. You'll have the most fun there. I was like, okay, sure. There are like beautiful bars, beautiful beaches, nature, everything you want. It's all over the island, just go. So I did my research, looked into it, and recognised that it was visa-free. And I was like, wow, I can save money. I'll just go to Bali. We'll start there. That gets me in the Southern Pacific and then maybe I’ll travel from there to somewhere else. It's a good starting point for me, I think. 

And I was told how warm and inviting the people there were, so that was another reason why. But the main reason was just, simply, I remember scrolling destinations to live or move to once you're retired because I sold all my assets, I got rid of everything, made smart investments, and I have nothing else to do at this point. So Bali was an easy choice for me.

Jessica Grace Coleman

And you're in Thailand now. Are you planning on staying there for a while or indefinitely, or do you plan on moving around?

Cody Grannan

So it's kind of the nature of the beast, right? It's Give The Goodness. I have to travel, which is a difficult thing. Basically, I maintain a base here in Thailand. I have a place here that I stay and then every month or two, I'll go travel to another country for 30 days and try and do outreach work there. And then come back here and do outreach work here for whatever I can find to do. But yeah, mostly I stay here in Thailand and then just fly from here because Bangkok is so connected to everything in Southeast Asia and it's so easy to get anywhere and it's very cheap to fly. So that was kind of the incentive for just staying here and using it as a base.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Do you miss the States at all? Do you get homesick?

Cody Grannan

I don't really get homesick. I have two younger sisters who have gotten married – and both have children now that I've yet to meet, and that sometimes draws on me a little bit, makes me want to go back. But, for the most part, one of the bigger reasons I left the US was that I didn't like the direction we were heading in, politically speaking. And I started to notice the quality of life and other things just weren't adding up for me in the US. So for me, it was like, let's leave. Let's go somewhere else. We can find a better place to spend our time and our money and invest. Because the US economy is fine, they've got enough people to invest. Let's go somewhere where the dollar stretches farther and then spend the rest of our days being a philanthropist or just being a hedonistic brute. Whatever it takes to get through the rest of your life.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Of course, yeah! And you mentioned before the GoFundMe, is that ongoing or can people still donate to that?

Cody Grannan

100%, yeah.

Jessica Grace Coleman

So what's the best way to find that? We're going to talk about your Instagram and stuff in a bit, but if they want to donate directly to the GoFundMe, what's the best way to get there?

Cody Grannan

The easiest way? There are a couple of different ways. I'm not sure about the ease of access. So for me it was if you go to our Instagram page @givethegoodnessglobal, we have a Linktree posted, and you'll see the link to the GoFundMe on that Linktree page, it's easy to get through through Instagram. Or if you just throw into Google ‘GoFundMe Give The Goodness Global’, it should pull up in the search results. And those are the two easiest ways to know how to find it, other than reaching out and looking on our personal website or the Facebook page.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Great. And you also sell merchandise, is that right?

Cody Grannan

Yeah, absolutely. I started a Teespring store and I've created a little bit of merchandise. Every bit of the sales from that store online go directly back into the charity and get recycled and go straight into donations. So there's no overhead, there's no cost, really. It's just basically a drop-ship store. So if you pay for something, and the profit margins are very low right now, people weren't buying. It was very hard to get people convinced to pay $20 or whatever for a T-shirt. So I believe I dropped everything down to a one dollar profit margin, and every single one of those dollars goes directly back into Give The Goodness Global, the donation fund.

Jessica Grace Coleman

And is that on your Linktree as well? So people can go to your Instagram?

Cody Grannan

Absolutely, definitely. It's on our Linktree. And if you can't find it through the Instagram @givethegoodnessglobal, again, just type into your Google browser, Give The Goodness Global Teespring, and it should pop up.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Great. Okay. I'll do that as well. And I'll put the link in the show notes too, so people have it for the GoFundMe and the merchandise and the Instagram and everything. 

Okay, so we mentioned your Instagram @givethegoodnessglobal, and I love looking at the photos and the videos on there because you really get a sense of what you actually do with the money and how you help the families you help and all that kind of thing. And all the beach dogs you meet – I'm a big beach dog fan – but I think my favourite was when you went and you gave some things to the kids, like toys, school supplies, and watches as well. Was that a case of them asking for those things or did you go and think, what would really help them? How do you decide what to give them?

Cody Grannan

Yes. So that's the thing… I've got to mention another organisation for this to make sense. So I met with this lady named Naret. She is a Cambodian native and the sweetest lady, very kind. She's the director of a charity called the Siem Reap Food Bank. You can find them on Instagram @siemreapfoodbank or on Facebook. It was one of these people – or one of the organisations – that I had found while I was searching in Cambodia for other charities to donate to or to help me out in locating families in need and trying to help them. And she Naret, the director, became pivotal in essentially helping me find these families that need assistance. However, their main focus is providing food and sustenance. That way, these people can survive. And, every month, I make a donation to their organisation to feed at least four families. And it's amazing – $40 US feeds a family of four or five for an entire month. So, I mean, it's very cheap there. 

So I started doing that, and she started introducing me to other families, and I started going on trips with her out into the middle of Orange Town, nowhere. And the one thing I noticed was that it was congruent everywhere: children did not have toys to play with. You would be lucky to have rocks to throw. It’s like, I'm just seeing kids throwing rocks and really nothing for them to play with or write on or colour or have any sort of sensory experience. 

So after all those experiences and meeting all these families through the first couple of trial runs with the Siem Reap Food Bank, I came upon this idea. Hey, okay, we've done the food thing. We're still giving money for food. We're going to go out and meet all these families. Surely they all have children. Let's get pens and paper. Let's get crayons. Let's get colouring books. Let's get soccer balls, because everyone loves soccer here. Let's get toys so the kids are entertained, and that spreads a little bit more happiness. 

And I'll never forget the first time we stopped that day after I had purchased all these small things for the children. The kids wouldn't even leave the side of the house because they just thought, oh, it's another food drop. And then I get out, and I'm like, hey, come here. I’ve got something for you. And handing these kids colouring books and crayons, and the first thing they do is immediately just take it like, thank you, and then disappear and start drawing and colouring or start kicking soccer balls around. I mean, I tried to hang one day and play. It was a volleyball because I couldn't find a soccer ball, but we were using it as a soccer ball. And I'm trying to hang with these kids, and I'm 33 years old. My knees and back are messed up. I'm just like, oh, I got to stop. I can't. You're killing me. Kids, you go ahead and play. 

But no, it was definitely something that I just put together for myself. I noticed that these kids didn't have toys or things to keep them occupied, so I was like, an idle mind is one that will lead to trouble eventually, and there's a very big drug problem in Siem reap. So it's like, let's get you some educational materials. Let's get you prepped. That way, you're already thinking, maybe grow your imagination a little bit and realise that there's more than one path that you can follow.

Jessica Grace Coleman

I love that. And you gave them watches as well, and you said something about the concept of time and teaching them that. Could you talk about that a little bit?

Cody Grannan

Yeah. So I had the strangest dream. It was almost like a Salvador Dali painting of the melting watches, right? And I woke up and just, like, cold sweats, thinking, oh my God, what time is it? And I'm looking at my watch, and then I thought for a moment, wait a minute. I haven't seen a watch on any of these people. They have no concept of time. How could they be anywhere on time or recognise what time it's going to be? So I decided to go and buy watches. Like, all right, we'll give watches to these kids, because if I give you time now, you'll start to respect time and not waste it, and maybe you'll start to realize the value of time and start understanding what time is. 

And it's a teaching tool. It's a mechanism for learning, is kind of the way I looked at it. It's like, you learn to read your watch. You can learn to read the time. You're introduced to numbers. You're introduced to the idea of a sunset and a sunrise, how much time there is in a day, what you can get accomplished. And then, from a very young age, they start to realise, okay, it's 7.00 p.m. It's time for me to start getting ready for bed. Or, oh, it's 7.30 in the morning, breakfast should be soon, or, it's noon. It's time for a lunch break. And then it gives them a little more structure, I think, in life. They're able to kind of match the finer details of their day to the time on their watch. So that was kind of the idea behind that.

Jessica Grace Coleman

I really love that because it's something so simple, and it's something that I would never think about. Like, if I was going around helping people, you think, yeah, like food, shelter, toys, maybe. But the whole idea of noticing that they didn't have a watch and that they might not know the value of time is something that I wouldn't even think of. So I think that's really cool. What were their reactions when you gave them that? Did they understand? Can they read time? Or is it something they'll be taught?

Cody Grannan

So the children that I had donated these watches to, the older ones kind of understood time. They were able to read the watch dials to an extent. They were close. We'll say they're in the ballpark. They can recognise, okay, little hands on the five. It must be 05.00. The youngest that I gave one to was digital, so she can just read the numbers and see. But the initial reaction to this gift was like, oh my God, this is amazing. This is such a nice thing, blah, blah, blah. And I'm sitting there trying to teach them through a watch. It was an eye-opening experience to see just how much we don't know until we learn. 

As adults, we forget. You're not born with this idea of time ingrained in your body. You have these little subtle biological cues. Okay, it's time to eat. Okay, it's time to sleep. Okay, it's time to wake up. But this concept of time and the recognition of what it is, is a very different thing. And their responses were varied, for sure. Their parents, definitely, we kind of did the interpretation through someone else, and their parents would help them read the time, of course. But initially, I don't know. I think just the youngest one wasn't really sure, but the older ones were like, yeah, okay, cool. I got this.

Jessica Grace Coleman

And now the younger one will grow up knowing about it because all the others do as well, and she'll learn that way. So that's really cool. Now, you might have already mentioned this because we've talked about a few things, but do you have a favourite moment so far from your whole Give The Goodness Global journey?

Cody Grannan

Yeah, absolutely. It was, honestly, that moment with the little girl that I spoke of earlier, her mother's name was Ratana… I can't remember her name right now for the life of me. Please forgive me, young lady. You're one of my favourites. But just the hugs and love that I received from this small, six, seven-year-old girl just, like, hugging my leg. Thank you so much. I really appreciate this. And her running away and her little cat ears on the bicycle in that moment… it was probably one of my favourite moments. 

And then coming back to the village with all this stuff, and the interpreter told me that when we first got there, he wasn't going to tell me this… but he was like, the villagers were like, oh, here comes another do-gooder. They're not going to do anything. They're just here for publicity, whatever. And when we came back with a tuk-tuk completely stuffed full of food stuffs and storage and appliances and things like that, and money for the electricity that they're all using, that's when everyone was like, oh my God, this guy actually did something. He helped us. Thank you so much. 

And I had 20 people around me in a circle thanking me, and it was one of my most favourite moments, but one of the cringiest moments I've ever had in my life, because it was just like, oh, no, it's fine, I just want to help. Don't be like that. It's not that big of a deal. I just want to do good and you should treat each other well. That's the message I'm trying to spread here. You don't have to be a millionaire to make a difference. You don't have to have a gigantic organisation to make a difference. Like, Give The Goodness Global. We're one person, two people at most, with some connections in other industries, but it doesn't take much to help. So those were my favourite moments, for sure.

Jessica Grace Coleman

I really love that. And yeah, I think a lot of people think, oh, I'm just one person, I'm not going to make a difference. What's the point? It'll stop them from maybe doing something like this, but like, other things in their life as well… I don't know why this came to mind, but like, voting. People think like, oh, I'm not going to make a difference. I won't vote because I'm just one person. But if everyone thought that way, it would be a whole different thing. 

So, yeah, I love that. You may be small, but you're making a huge difference to these families. Like, an insanely huge difference. And you said that you're looking for board members and to get it into a charity and things. What is your big vision for Give The Goodness Global in the future? What would you love to do if you could do anything?

Cody Grannan

The biggest vision for me is for this to turn into an NGO and to have it placed on every continent and to have a network of people in every place on the planet where there is suffering and anywhere that there needs to be happiness spread. That's where I want it to be. I want it to become an NGO. I want it to become large. I want it to become a name that everyone knows as soon as they see it, or if they see this icon here, they know immediately exactly what it is, what we're there for, and they recognise how transparent we are. 

Transparency is what's really important for me because it's really difficult. People are very sceptical about donating. I've had so many meetings with different companies and people about donating to the cause, and they're like, well, you don't have 501, you're not an NGO. We really don't feel comfortable making a donation to you because you're just a person travelling. How do we know that you're not just spending this money? So that's really what I want in the long run, is to have this turn into a very large NGO that's completely transparent, that helps anywhere that there is someone that needs help. No one gets turned away, no one gets left behind. Everybody's going to eat.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Yeah, that's great. And I can totally see it happening – it's definitely going to happen.

Cody Grannan

Thank you.

Jessica Grace Coleman

For now, I think it's actually, like, a good thing that it's just you and that you can put things on Instagram and come on a podcast and tell your story, because I think people can really connect to you and know your story and your mission and why you're doing it. And sometimes when you look at these big, huge organisations, it's like kind of a faceless organisation, and you find it hard to connect with. 

So I think it's a good thing, when you're starting out, that people can connect with you and go on your Instagram and see your stories and things like that. I encourage everyone to follow you @givethegoodnessglobal on Instagram. So I think it's sort of a superpower at the moment, while you're just getting going, that people can really connect to you as a person and know you're doing good and know why you're doing it as well, which I think is the key.

Cody Grannan

I'm glad you feel that way, because sometimes I'm like, man, I wish I had, like, 20 people to help me with this, because there's a lot.

Jessica Grace Coleman

I mean, it will help, and it will come. That will come. But for now, I think it's a superpower that you can just show your story and yeah, I think that's great. So we mentioned a couple of things, but first of all, if people want to help Give The Goodness Global, what's the best thing they can do? And then what would you say to people who want to help in a similar way to what you’re doing? What's the best thing they could do to start, not necessarily start their own foundation, but to just give some goodness and put some happiness out into the world? What would you recommend doing as a sort of starting point?

Cody Grannan

Tell you what, I'll answer the second half of that question first. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, whether you're rich, whether you're poor, your social status… none of that matters. If you want to give the goodness, if you want to embody our belief, my core value, the entire reason for this name, if you want to give the goodness, all you have to do… it’s as easy as striking up a conversation with someone. Like, if you have a friend that has depression or if you know someone that's struggling around your neighbourhood or in your life or anything like that, give them a call. Pick up the phone. Talk to that person. You never know whose life you might save just by picking up the phone and making a phone call or sending a text message or sending a funny meme on Instagram. 

Get out of your house, meet your neighbours, see who’s struggling. Go down to your local homeless shelter, donate, spend your money or time, get to know the stories of someone less fortunate than you. Just be kind. Be as kind as possible. Don't be nice. There's a complete difference between nice and kind. Nice is a very different thing. But be as kind as you can with the time that you have here, and I think that goes a long way. 

And there's a lot of social studies that will show there's a chain reaction of kindness. You can see it all over social media. Someone's like, hey, I'm going to give you $1,000, or do you want me to double it and pass it on? That whole trend. And you keep seeing like, no, I don't need it that much. Pass it on to the next person. Or I know someone who needs it more. So, for the average person, the only message I have for you to give the goodness… just get out there and be kind to people. You never know who's struggling. So identify that person or identify that group and give them your time. Give them a hug, whatever that looks like for you, whatever you think kindness is, go out there and do that. 

And as for the first part of the question, what can people do to help Give The Goodness? Spread the word, man. Spread our Instagram. Follow the Instagram page. Share it. Donate to the GoFundMe. Buy from the Teespring store. That's essentially where I'm at right now, is kind of hanging up on donations. We started strong, but I exhausted most of it in Cambodia and Vietnam, helping Ratana and a couple of other families, and then in Vietnam donating to two different orphanages around Christmas time. So those funds are gone now, and everything that is going into Give the Goodness Global now is from my pocket. 

So anytime you see money coming out or products being given to people, it's because I paid for it, and it's a draw. It's really difficult to live abroad and do all the really fun things that I want to do at the same time, but that's just part of the game. You have to sacrifice for what you truly love and what you truly want to do. And I realise now that this is what the rest of my life's calling is going to be, is helping other people. So I don't mind it. 

But if you want to help, go to the GoFundMe page and donate. You can donate any amount. There's no set limit. You can donate a dollar. You can donate a million dollars. You can go to the Teespring store. I know the prices seem like they're a little steep, but literally everything is marked down to where there's only $1 profit on it, and everything that gets purchased there goes directly back into the organisation, and it helps to pay for the donations that I end up making while I'm travelling. 

Jessica Grace Coleman

Great. So, yeah, definitely go to @givethegoodnessglobal on Instagram, click the link in the bio, and you'll be taken to the Linktree and you'll be able to get the merchandise and the GoFundMe and everything there – and we'll put it in the show notes as well. Okay, so is there anything else you'd like to talk about or mention or any other message you want to get across before we finish?

Cody Grannan

Yes, absolutely. If you are a traveller, if you are planning on travelling from your home country to another country, don't be an asshole. If you are going to be travelling, please take the time to get to know the local people. Don't stay in just the tourist areas. Go farther out, meet someone different. Be comfortable getting uncomfortable, just explore, but respect the place that you go. Respect the culture there, respect their heritage and learn a little bit. Maybe even study the language some so you can at least say hello, goodbye, thank you, how much. Be cognisant of your actions, be cognisant of how you're representing your home country. 

I cannot tell you how many times I've travelled and seen people acting completely foolish and giving their country a bad name. And then it ends up that it makes it a lot harder for the rest of us that are trying to do a good job or trying to do a good thing. Because people from the country that you're travelling to believe, oh, it's just another one of those. They're just here to get drunk and take advantage and exploit us. So if you are going to travel, please do the aforementioned things, educate yourself.

Jessica Grace Coleman

Yes, I could not agree more. I always have that in my head when I go somewhere – and I go to places and work as a digital nomad. So it's always in my mind that I don't want to add to the problem, but also because I get to stay in places longer times, then you do get to live like a local and go to the local places and you don't really do the touristy stuff. And you get to meet people and you get to learn some of the language and you get to exchange cultural ideas and all that kind of thing. So I think it's a really great way of doing it, but yeah, it's definitely always in my mind when I go somewhere and it will be even more so going forward now. So, yes, thank you for that very good message. I think everyone should listen to that. That's amazing. 

Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I think it's been a really great interview and I think it'll make people think a lot more about what they're doing and hopefully spread the message about Give The Goodness Global and your message of just be kind as well, which I think is a really great message to spread anyway. So thank you so much for coming on.

Cody Grannan

Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. And always remember, give the goodness – no matter where you go. 

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