Simon Alexander Ong, Life Coach, Keynote Speaker and Author, SAO Learning Ltd
Simon Alexander Ong is a personal development entrepreneur, coach and public speaker. His clients are from all walks of life, but they share one trait; they all believe that the greatest investment you can make is in yourself.
Simon's work has invited him onto Sky News, BBC Radio London and LBC Radio to be interviewed. While in 2018, Barclays UK featured him in a nationwide campaign asking him questions on how families could embrace better lifestyle habits.
His insights have featured him in HuffPost, Forbes, Virgin and the Guardian. He also regularly speaks at organisations and keynote public events and conferences. His debut book, Energise, was published by Penguin on 21st April 2022 and has received endorsements from New York Times bestselling authors Simon Sinek, Marie Forleo, Keith Ferrazzi, and Dr Marshall Goldsmith and Dorie Clark.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
LinkedIn is my favourite social media platform because of the relationships I have built on it. I have connected with some incredible humans on it, and I find the content to be higher quality than the other platforms I use.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
My career started in 2007 in the financial services industry at what was the worst possible time - just a year before the global financial crisis swept across the planet. As a result, I ended up being in and out of jobs for nearly a decade in this industry.
While it was very unsettling at the time, it was a beautiful blessing in disguise in hindsight, for it kickstarted the longest journey we as humans make: the inches from our heads to our hearts.
Never an easy journey, but the most important and fulfilling that we will make. That led me to what I now get to do today, which is to inspire people to see their world differently and to ignite their imagination of what is truly possible so that they can unleash their deepest potential.
To accomplish this, I coach people on a 1:1 basis, deliver inspirational keynotes and workshops and am in the process of publishing my first book, Energise, with Penguin to share some of my insights and thoughts.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
That I get the opportunity to help inspire, energise and transform the lives of those that I get to interact with through my work as a coach, speaker and author. Hearing stories of the impact that my work has had on their lives is the greatest reward for what I do - it is what gives my life meaning and purpose.
In fact, I believe that our value is determined by how much more we have given to the world than we have taken from it, for it is this that contributes to our legacy.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Much of happiness is about being able to let go of what you think your life should look like right now and truly appreciate it for everything that it is. Drop your expectations and constant comparison to others.
Instead, pick up an attitude of gratitude and live in alignment with your true self. Gratitude is the gateway drug to abundance.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
1. Stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
2. The quote goes: "Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become." I don't want that to happen to me!
3. That we have already won the greatest lottery there is going - the lottery of life. We have been given this rare opportunity to experience life's gift, and it is up to us to make the most of it.
4. My wife, Laurie, and daughter, Sienna.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
Having written a 60,000+ word book during a time in which I became a parent for the first time, where the world was in lockdown and when I had to adapt my business to a very different world.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
In-person. Nothing beats meeting someone in real life - something I have come to appreciate more, having come out of two years of multiple lockdowns where we couldn't see one another in the way we used to.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
My speaking and presentation skills, ability to build relationships and partnerships with others and design thinking skills.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
One thing I wish I had known at a much earlier stage in my journey from employee to entrepreneurship is that relationships are everything. They help open doors to opportunities you would have previously been blind to, teach you lessons you may not have otherwise learnt, and challenge you to be better than you were yesterday.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
Too many to name here as I am always learning and being inspired by new people every week! The lesson? Every single one of us has lessons to share and stories to tell, and that means when we live with an eternal student mindset, there is so much to absorb and admire in others.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
1. Design - I love everything about design, from graphic design to interior design and photography to plating food on a plate.
2. Fitness - I love maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and as a result, it forms an important part of my daily routine.
3. Film - I love going to the cinema to watch films and exploring those outsides of the mainstream Hollywood machine.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
It was a tough two years living through the pandemic. No doubt about it. When the country was entering its first lockdown, my wife and I were about to become parents to a newborn. With both of us running our own businesses, we had to adapt.
A lot of my speaking engagements, for example, were cancelled as soon as it was confirmed that no in-person events could be held under the lockdown rules. And then, just a few weeks later, I got the opportunity to write my first book with Penguin.
So, in a very short space of time, I had to adapt my business to what was going on, build momentum in the writing of my book and spend time being a father to our daughter. While it was tough, I believe that challenges are there to help us grow - to show us how capable and adaptable we can be.
In fact, it builds our resilience and equips us with the insight and wisdom to come back stronger. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have completed the writing of my book. I am now about to publish it to the world, having received endorsements for it from the likes of Simon Sinek, Marie Forleo, Dr Marshall Goldsmith and Dorie Clark.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
I have had many mentors on this entrepreneurial journey of mine and have also had the privilege of mentoring others. So, for me, mentors and coaches are essential if we want to grow and evolve into the best version of ourselves.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
1. Don't just master your craft; get to enjoy the business development side of what you do as well. If you don't, then you will be left with just a hobby.
2. Surround yourself with coaches and mentors. If you are committed to developing yourself, then you need to spend time around guides and advisors who can help you get to that next level.
3. Always seek to be adding value in every interaction you have.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
The vision is not magnetic, compelling or exciting enough. But, when it is, productivity becomes easy, and we discover the courage to overcome whatever the world throws our way.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
Be attached to no outcome and open to everything.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
Success for me is being better than who we were yesterday and living a life aligned to who we truly are, allowing us to express our deepest potential. With regards to life lessons I have learned so far, here are seven that come to mind:
1. How you spend your days is how you spend your life. If you are not prioritising the daily actions necessary to achieve your most important goals, you will not make any real progress.
2. Silence is far from empty; it is full of answers. In this space of stillness, you give your innate wisdom a voice, allow your creativity to blossom and experience an awakening of clarity. And the quieter you become, the more that you will be able to hear.
3. Energy is contagious. It is therefore important to stay clear of sources that drain you of energy and immerse yourself around sources that energise and uplift you.
4. The universe delivers into your life moments of beauty, a world of opportunity and seasons of pain. Yet, if you are humble enough to explore the lessons contained within each, you will soon discover that all of these experiences are gifts. It is why our greatest periods of growth are so often preceded by times of great challenge and uncertainty.
5. Moment to moment, you are living in the feeling of your thinking. When you choose better thoughts, you harness the power to change, bend and shape your reality into something that works for you and not against you.
6. One of the fastest ways to move forward in life is less about doing more and more about stopping the behaviours that are holding you back. When you let go of what no longer serves you, you create the space and energy for that which does. You give oxygen to what matters most.
7. You can't play it safe your whole life and expect to reach your highest potential.