Episode 69: Telling Stories from the Road – From CNBC Reporter to Starting His Own YouTube Channel with Uptin Saiidi
Hello listeners – welcome back to The School of Travels podcast coming to you ths week from El Salvador! For those of you who may not be aware, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021 and I wanted to check out this first-of-its-kind financial experiment on a nation-wide level with my own eyes.
As part of my stay, I had the pleasure of meeting former CNBC reporter and current Youtuber Uptin Saiidi, who spent one week here documenting what happens when a country adopts Bitcoin as a legal tender. As I traveled with Uptin around different parts of the country watching him film his upcoming documentary, I got to have a first-hand look at what it takes to make videos on the road and tell compelling stories that make complex economic and technological issues more relatable to an audience (what Uptin likes to cover most in his videos).
Before the pandemic, Uptin spent over 10 years reporting for MTV News and CNBC including launching CNBC’s digital video news team in Asia in 2016, personally making videos that received over 100 million views across YouTube and Facebook. When the pandemic hit, Uptin was based in Singapore working out of an office three days a week. However, as the world shut down and field reporting moved to Zoom, Uptin decided to strike out on his own and start his own channel. Suddenly, a guy who had previously announced in a CNBC video that being a digital nomad was probably not for him was now able to go wherever he wanted whenever he wanted. The only problem? Making money was now going to be solely reliant on how much Uptin wanted to hustle. Let’s get on the road with Uptin and dive into his story now.
What We Cover in This Episode
- How the pandemic led to Uptin leaving CNBC and starting out on his own
- How did Uptin first get hired by CNBC?
- Making the move from behind the camera to in front of the camera
- Uptin’s early nomad experiences in Bali
- What was it like starting his own YouTube channel and brand from scratch?
- Making three videos a week for a year and seeing growth happen over time
- Telling the story of Bitcoin in El Salvador
Meet Uptin
To check out Uptin’s TikTok, click here
To follow Uptin on Instagram, click here
Check out Uptin’s 27-minute documentary on Bitcoin in El Salvador here
