HVF005 – Simon Jordan

Tony Winyard 0:01
Happy versus Flourishing Episode Five.

Tony Winyard 0:10
Welcome to the Podcast where each week we give you ideas on ways you can improve your life, to have a better quality of life, better meaning law of life. We have different guests who have expertise in various areas that will help you to improve your life in some way. And this week, our guest is Simon Jordan. If you're into football, it's not the Crystal Palace chairman! This is a different Simon Jordan he's a bit of a marketing genius and environmental saviour and we're gonna hear more about that very soon. Please do subscribe to the show, share it with anyone who you think could maybe really appreciate some of the stuff that Simon talks about. And why not leave a review for us because that really helps to get the word out and for more people to hear about this podcast and right now it is time for this week's edition of happiness versus flourishing today I'm speaking with Simon Jordan, how are you Simon?

Simon Jordan 1:15
I'm very good my friend very good indeed. Thank you very much for inviting me on to this great podcast.

Tony Winyard 1:20
Well and thank you for taking the time to come on. I'm really looking forward to chat. You're based in Bridgend in Devon?

Simon Jordan 1:27
No, Bridgeport in Dorset actually. A little place called West Bay right on the beach. in Bridgeport, which is Dorset which is southwest of the UK. Yes.

Tony Winyard 1:40
And you like swimming in the sea you don't you?

Simon Jordan 1:43
Every morning, come rain or shine and it has when it has rain? Yes. It's brilliant all year round as well. It's fabulous as a little community was that go into some real hard stalwarts that go in at all yet are literally all year round. I happen to be one of those idiots Yeah, but that is lovely.

Tony Winyard 2:03
Do you have like a sort of set length you try to swim every day?

Simon Jordan 2:06
As far as the cliffs. So it's their and back. It's just over half a kilometre. Sometimes I'll go a bit further I swim down to the next Bay, which is about two miles. But it's just get in and wait. It's quite funny. There's the group of four of us that go and there's about 30 of us in total, we all come between six and 8am. And we'll swim out and we're just chatting away. It's bizarre, but, it's lovely. Yeah, it's a very sociable thing as well. So fantastic.

Tony Winyard 2:35
I knew you set up an organisation called Five Things Clear.

Simon Jordan 2:41
That's right.

Tony Winyard 2:43
Tell us about a bit about that.

Simon Jordan 2:45
Well, that was before I moved down here. I was living in a place in Wales, right near the beach again, and it was a local beach to me called Whistling Sands up in North Wales and I saw this bird on the sand near the sea and the waves are coming in... is it is it dead? and I picked it up and it had those, you know when you get a bottle of milk Tony and you take the lid off it and you've got this locking ring around it like serrated teeth on it? That was wedged on its head so it couldn't actually move its head properly and couldn't feed. So I cut that off and I took the bird to the vets and the poor thing died of shock and all the rest of it you know malnutrition because he couldn't eat, and I just thought this is appalling but didn't do anything else. And then over the space of two days I was back at the farm where I was and watched a video of a dolphin and I thought it was a whale, that had come into this small harbour in this small port and it wasn't leaving, so the harbormaster because it was becoming dangerous for the boats. They had to kill it and then they hoisted it out and it was filled with plastic bags. So literally it came into harbour to die and it really upset me. This is disgusting you know we have created this, that animal did not need to suffer this. And then the next day on Sunday I was down on a big surfers beach called Hell's Mouth and saw so many people walking down and there are big waste bins at the end of the beach near the carpark so good old walk down to the beach and lots of people saying oh beautiful beaches, fantastic looking, love the scenery, and all this stuff has been washed up and I remember picking up I've never seen a carton of milk this big. It must have been five litres. It was massive, I don't know anywhere in the UK that sells that. But anyway. So I took the lid off, emptied it out, and I'm walking back with my two dogs and I'm thinking, you know, why aren't people picking up the litter? They're loving the view and they're saying how nice it is, but they're not actually helping to improve it. And I thought well, I think that's because they see too much, so they think well, what will one piece do? So I sort of thought, Well, yeah, but if they just picked up five things that would help clear the beach, and I just thought wait a minute, five things clear! It's an idea. Anyway, long and short of it, came back, set up an Instagram account and within seven weeks it had gone global. And there's lots of similar ones such as Five minute beach clean, Two minute beach clean, Pick up five pieces. There's lots of new, similar initiatives. But I set this up and thought what can I do? using my marketing talents and getting the word out there, but it just it grew and grew. And it went global. We have people connecting with me as far as Japan, Russia, Philippines, right across the states. That summer, we set up the Five Things Clear challenge it was like the Ice Bucket Challenge. But this was actually a bit more helpful for the planet rather than just wasting water. And it was pick up five bits of litter and nominate five other people. In Germany it went just crazy... there was a famous pop star over there. I'd never heard of him But it was amazing, people really got behind it. And then the following year, so this is last year 2019, we had the million piece pickup pledge, and I tied it up with a company in LA, a guy called Jeff and he created an app called Litterati app which is very funky. And it means you could photograph the bit of litter. It would recognise what it was like,a bit of tin, plastic or whatever. And it was also GEO stamping. And we set up this challenge and we have monthly, the monthly winner would win a Five Things Clear T shirt and that kind of stuff. And it again, all over the globe. And you could zoom in literally to someone in a street in California or Holland or wherever anyone who was involved in this and see what kind of litter they were picking up. And it was amazing. We got pretty close to a million pieces. just phenomenal. Really, really good. And then this year, obviously it all fell apart, but we still have a beach clean down here every third Sunday of the month. With the last one we did, we had over 50 people turn up. We have a local beach cafe which gives free drinks. And it's amazing. In fact, I'm running a team building event next week at the time of this recording in September for a big company around here called Screwfix and then there's the co op, which are a big supermarket in the UK, they've teamed up with me, they're getting involved with it as well. So it's just so amazing. And to be honest, I never really have to push it. It just happens. You know, I just need it's all in flow. It's beautiful. Really. So yeah, that's Five Things Clear just pick up five bit s of litter every day. Simple as that.

Tony Winyard 7:34
And what was that the app? Was it Litterati?

Simon Jordan 7:37
Yes. So it means you when you pick up a bit of litter, you can just photograph it and it geo stamps it. So it shows you where you've picked it up. And then you can use that data. And I've got the ability to go into a map and to literally zoom right back at Google mapping and see where people who've been using this and have are part of the Give Things Clear pledge. We're not running it now. But when we were doing it, we could zoom right into anywhere in the world and see where what kind of litter they were picking up pretty good.

Tony Winyard 8:10
The beach that you initially started this; Have you seen much of a difference in that beach and other beaches?

Simon Jordan 8:21
It's continuous, I know there's more people. Since I've moved away, I still stay in touch with a lot of people. They are picking up more friends of mine who are ultra marathon runners, they went up Snowden recently. They are picking up litter and posting it. So there's definitely more awareness. There's more action being taken. I talked to a couple of schools when I was up there when it first started now, where I am now I've pretty much spoken at all the local schools before we went to lockdown and that was good and we run competitions for them. So yeah, it is more of awareness. I'm working with the local council as well. We've put up signs on the wall. The bins, and there's signs near the beaches saying West Bay's litter free, which is good. So yeah, it is a difference but the thing is a lot of stuff what washes up as well. We're looking at trying to get beach ambassadors so when there has been a storm which there was recently we sort of activate but like you know, when there's a fire and you know that the Volunteer Fire Brigade, they get a shout, and they all go out pick up. So that's our idea. In fact, I'm meeting up with the mayor, again tomorrow, a guy called Ian Bark, a lovely guy meeting up with him tomorrow and some other colleagues to discuss where we are with what we're doing. And making Westbay litter free. And ideally we want to make it plastic free as well, because it's a holiday destination. So and all of you know, plastic spoons for the ice cream and that kind of stuff. And some people who've got the fish and chip shops down here. They're still using polystyrene, which is just ridiculous in this day and age. So yeah, we're just trying to educate them.

Tony Winyard 9:55
And so have you always had this kind of community drive. Has it always been in you?

Simon Jordan 10:04
No, not really. I'm one of five kids, I'm the youngest. I've always had a lot of people around in my life. But I think I'm someone who thinks you know, if you've got a talent, use it, if you've got knowledge, share it. And I think it's important. You know, I think it's a waste. That if you learn something, you don't pass that on, you keep it to yourself. I think that's quite selfish. And I think there's a lot of people out there who need your help need your advice, even how you need your time and time is such a precious commodity. But in terms of rallying the community is great and it's a brilliant way of meeting people. I've been down here less than two years now and I've met so many people through the swimming community. I've met friends now because the beach clean. I think it's wonderful and it brings people together for a common cause. And again, it spreads awareness. And when I go out and teach to the schools that then spreads to the parents, you know, I still see, you know, when we go swimming in the morning, you know, we've found nappies on the beach now that's not a child living it, it's an adult. You know what is going on there? So, yes, sometimes the adults, I just don't get it. I won't say what I really think about people who drop things like nappies on beaches, but and we're hoping by educating the kids that the kids will say, No, mum, don't leave that on the beach. Or I don't want a plastic bag. I don't want a plastic straw. What does get me actually, you see the people now using paper straws. Great, but what they're drinking out of... a single use plastic cup. Yeah, well, okay, one out of two ain't bad!

Tony Winyard 11:41
Yeah. Slowly, slowly. So apart from all that amazing stuff you do? What else do you do, Simon?

Simon Jordan 11:50
Well, I run a marketing and branding agency, working with coaches and consultants from all over the globe, and helping them build their brands but it's all about aligned business building. I talk a lot about this thing called "Forced Success". So people set up a business and they'll see that someone else is doing. Yeah, they're doing amazing things with Instagram, and on social media and lots of other things. And I need to be doing that because they're doing that as well or they will buy a programme or a course or they'll buy into the coaching that a particular "guru" is selling. Because that guru was promoting it as they made a million dollars sitting in their bedroom in their underpants five days a week or whatever, anything I can do that. Well, yes, that's fine. But their success is their success. Their energy is their energy is not yours is a different path. So, you know, I when I teach and I coach my clients, we help build their brands. It's always about alignment. So I will say look, these are the foundations of basic marketing and brand building. But when I work with them, I get to know that person And we encapsulate their energy into the marketing. So the website should if they're the face of the, of the business, their marketing, everything that they're all the touch points social media, emails, business cards should be a direct representation of who they are their energy, their personality. And when we're building out their businesses, so it's about checking in, is this does this sit right with you? Don't just do it because I'm saying to do it, I will suggest it but you, you need to know yourself well enough that yeah, that feels right. Because if you if you think I'm gonna go for that, and it's not aligned, it's forced success. And you see, I've met so many entrepreneurs who might have fantastic money, but their relationships have fallen apart, their health is hanging on, and all these different things because it's not aligned. It's something I talk a lot about, you know, the universal flow. And there is no struggle in the flow. So what's one of the things I do so it's not your usual kind of we'll build a brand or design it out with you. The website will We actually build it out around you and your energy and that way you attract a similar energy.

Tony Winyard 14:12
and when you say universal flow what do you mean by that?

Simon Jordan 14:16
Right well we're all heading downstream. That sounds like a negative down but it's not we are all in the river call it that, it's really a metaphor, we're all heading down the stream and everything we want is down that stream everything you know, and if you want, better health, the house whatever if it's materialism, whatever, if it's meant to be it's all heading down there. But there's some people in that river who are in their boat, and they're, I don't want this boat I want that one or I want to be going up that way in the different streams, so you're fighting against it, you're causing chaos, you're causing drama. You know, you're fighting you're battling against the currents rather than accepting surrendering. going with the flow and being aware of what's coming up for you. You know, so many people just don't listen, I didn't for years, I battled, I had health issues, I was overweight. I come back through bankruptcy, all the usual entrepreneurial stuff, you know, "Lived in a Shoe box in the middle of the road and lost both legs and grew them back again"! You know, the stories, but it's true. And, you know, we talk a lot about, we've got to hustle, you know, you've got to hustle, actually, you don't. That old paradigm doesn't need to be that way anymore. If you're in flow, and you're in touch with what's going on. Amazing things can happen. I mean, I can just bore you stupid with the amazing things that have happened and come just out of ease. Just so simple. You know, I was working with my Five Things Clear initiative. I just thought wouldn't it be nice to be working with a company who's doing some good in the world who's trying to help the planet... two days later a guy called Anton from LA contacted me and I'm now their creative director and have been for a number of years and they've got a recyclable plastic free cup called Cuppow, brilliant thing, in fact, got one on my desk. So I've been working with them.

Simon Jordan 16:12
Then about a month ago, I thought, I'm fully booked at the moment and I'm working on some big projects and some big clients, but I thought Actually, I've not coached a few people for a while. I enjoy that. I enjoy that interaction, that one on one, and helping them build out. It always seems to happen two days later! Two days later, I get three emails. I kid you not from people, and I'm now working with a guy in Colorado. I'm working with another lady in this country and another client as well. That's just from saying, wouldn't it be nice so there's no no attachment and it's all about being in the flow. There's more to it than that. I talked about, there's a whole process, I call it The Simplicity of Success. But there's no fight. There is no blaming. There's an awful lot of gratitude that comes from there. Even the house we're in now, when my other half she was working for herself 14 years yoga teacher, very good at it, but just got fed up with it, just the energy had burnt out, didn't want to do it. So she thought "I'd really like to work for the National Trust". To get into the National Trust is quite a big thing, She used to be a project manager at the airport. So she had those skills. But anyway, she applied for this job; didn't get the first one and she didn't really want that. And she said there was another job which was a better position within where we are near the coast. Anyway, she got that job. We then had six weeks to move. And we were Oh my god, panic, panic, panic. And where most people come from and where we would have done as well. It would be Oh my god, we've got six weeks to move on. And you would focus on everything you don't want. I don't want to be living in a tiny flat because obviously we had to rent. You can't buy anywhere in six weeks, it's an impossibility. So just, okay, let's just chill out. Let's surrender. Let's not fight. This has been handed to us if you think about drifting down the river, if you're panicking, you're coming from a place of fear and lack and all the rest of it and worry and stress. So we just lean back in the boat, pull the oars in and just let it go. But within that it's not a matter of sitting on your backside doing nothing. It was okay. This is what the universe has brought to us, it brought the job the exact one she wanted. So where do you want to live and I was just finishing living up in Wales. And I moved out, we'd sold the family farm. I was renting this property. Middle of Nowhere. I just wanted to get away from the world and it was amazing. my neighbours were sheep. That's it. I could see 60 miles out across the sea it was fantastic. But it was bloody cold in the winter. And I thought I just can't do another winter here. So this is August, September time and six weeks to move. Right. Okay, what do we do and I'm moving from North Wales Hundreds and hundreds of miles away down to the Southwest. That's where the job was, no idea. I've never been to the place before. So we just sat down and again, coming from a place of gratitude thinking, wow, we've got an opportunity here. Isn't this wonderful that you've been given a job the exact one you want, My business is portable, we can take it anywhere. How lucky is that? So starting off coming from a place of gratitude. So that changes the energy rather than Oh my god, okay, you got a job. Where are we gonna live? That's panic that's fear, different energy. So having gratitude Okay, well, what would we like? What a wonderful experience this is. So we made a list of everything we wanted. I wanted to have space for an office at home, space for people to come visit I wanted a gym at home. We wanted a garden we wanted a place for the cars and the drive. Instead of parking on the road. We wanted to have access to the beach. If I couldn't have the mountains, I wanted the sea to be close. Wanted big space for the dogs to roam around So anyway, we just put it out there. And we weren't attached to it. So complete unattached intention. Again, think about the river, you're just drifting downstream and just surrendering. No, it's fine. Everything's meant to be. So the first house that Gina comes to see is the one we're in now. And it has everything, everything on that list. It just phenomenal. half mile from the beach, drive with the cars, work from home, got a gym. Gina turned one of the rooms into a yoga room, space for the dogs. Just absolutely amazing. And it just flowed. And I can tell you so many examples like that when it's just as soon as there's been any fight and kind of holding on this fear, again in the boat, wanting to row up against the stream against the flow. It just hasn't worked. And I see so many people in drama and chaos and you think Your external world is a direct reflection of your internal world. So whatever energy you vibrate at... I know I'm gonna sound a bit hippie but I don't care. And this has been tested. Let's say you get a room full of tuning forks. It's a weird messed up room. Why anyone would want a room full of tuning forks, unless it's an art installation! And you get a tuning fork with the key of A for example, and you ping that, you whack it, so it starts vibrating. None of the other tuning forks will vibrate apart from the other tuning fork that's in the key of A and what that means. And that's true that has been done. And what that means is it's about energy. So when you vibrate at that energy, of gratitude, of love of forgiveness, or whatever it might be peace, love, and whatever, you attract, you get other things vibrating around you which attracts to that. And that's what we did. We came from a place of gratitude and we've got that and then you know, the client that I attracted in LA, the three clients that came in recently, and I've never been so busy, during lockdown. And it's all from the work that's been done. And tuning in, being in flow. I just phenomenal. And it all came from a place of surrender. And the universe was cracking me on the back of the head so often, you know, I was chasing the dollar, I used to wear the pinstripe suit, and all that kind of stuff, it was about image and fake it till you make it. And I did that for years. I've had my own practice now for 11 years, and I just fought against it. Oh, here we go. And I used to look at other people and be jealous and why, you know, compare myself comparisons are terrible. Why is Tony doing podcasts and I'm not I need to be doing this and bla bla bla and not thinking about I didn't know at the time. Well, what I said before, their energy is that's their path. It's not the same. If you say I want to be like Tony, that's fine. You can look at what he's doing but think of Tony has his contacts. He has his experience. He Has his life path he has all the things that he has going around around in his personal ecosystem, his business ecosystem, it will never be the same as yours so you can never directly have that. So when you buy these off the shelf courses, going great, well he bought one and he made a million in whatever time, I want to do the same. It doesn't always work like that and then people get frustrated they get angry and they go "oh that bloody guru who ripped me off"! well no, you chose to do that. You can't buy someone else's path you need to look at stuff and again Listen, and so many of us don't stop and actually listen and tune in and what is coming through right now. A lot of people are frightened to stop and listen because of what might come up. Because we spend our time distracting, you know, we get up in the morning straightaway we're on our phones and last thing we do before we go to bed we're on our phones, the brain never stops you know, we are not made and built to, to take in the amount of data we take in, we need to take time out just to stop and listen, call it meditation or whatever. I'm not one really for meditating. But I sea swim every day. And there's a bit, I go right out and it's just me in the sea it's beautiful. I just get that time to completely switch off. And it's when I'm listening to what's coming through what does the universe want to tell you what part of the river does it want you to point you in? Don't fight against it. So yeah, that was a very lengthy answer to your question, Tony.

Tony Winyard 24:28
When you were saying that, near the start, you talked about you had a situation, many years ago, where you were unhealthy and things weren't going so great. What was it that made the difference? to change? Was it someone that spoke to you? Was it a book?

Simon Jordan 24:51
I went through bad relationships. Once I got divorced, and we'd been together for a long time and no one else was involved in the breakup. Was just one of those things just didn't get on, the life path just changed. And, we had two kids together, beautiful kids. She's still, the mother of my children, I will always love her for that. But anyway afterwards, I went off crazy, lots of relationships, all this kind of stuff, ridiculous men tend to do that, they need to BE with someone. And chasing around and then a lot of awful relationships. Again, because I was attracting it. I was that Tuning Fork of the key of s%+* just terrible. And I was in one relationship and moved to France. And it all spectacularly fell apart. And we were trying to set up a business over there and blah, blah, blah and then my mother passed away. I then came back I just had enough and I came back to look after the family home.

Simon Jordan 25:49
And in that time, my ex partner was still angry with me, wanting to get at me, wanting to hurt me try and damage me, my reputation, the business you name it and accuse me of all sorts of nonsense and have me arrested. It was the 15th of March 2017. And I remember the police coming down to the door? I didn't know they were police because were plain clothes. I said, Oh, you're here to view the property and they went "No, are you Simon Jordan?" Yes, "Well, we're arresting you". What? Are you serious? Really? My dogs are kicking off. So anyway, had to get a friend to come pick up the dogs. They drove me down, threw me in a cell for eight hours, interviewed me, took my DNA and stuff like that. And it was horrible. On either side of the cells are guys kicking off and shouting and fighting against it. And I just thought, okay, I'm completely surrendering. I know, I'm fine. I'm not guilty. You know, this is her being angry, wanting to accuse me trying to ruin me. Blacken my name, that kind of stuff. She's coming from that awful place, I thought I'm not going to fight against it. I'm going to completely surrender. And I remember one week later, sitting in a pub, with my brother he was oh my god. How are you doing? I said Chris it was beautiful. He thought I was completely mad, and I said I just completely surrendered and from that moment, of complete surrender and trusting. The universe has got your back, the universe doesn't want bad stuff for you, it doesn't want ill health, we attract that, we bring that into our life sometimes we don't realise why, it's a message but we don't listen to the messages, and anyway from that point, everything and I mean everything has been amazing. You still get challenges which are fine but I don't blame, I don't go bloody hell... and blame the outside world. Look at things Okay, what was this challenge for? And have gratitude for it sometimes because it's a lesson I haven't learned yet, so I need to look at it. But we spend, you know, where there's a blame there's a claim, that kind of industry. And then you look at the news that's out there. Bad news sells, and I just switched off from that. I haven't read a paper or watched the news in years. I was obviously watching little bits to find out about the pandemic, but just being in control of my own emotions, you know, and when I was in that cell I thought okay, you could panic and thinking what's going to happen, I though ok but what can I control right now? What are the controllables. I can control my breathing, I can control my mindset. And it was surrendering but there needs to be a fine balance. There's if you're incredibly chaotic, something will come into your life, which will bring a bit of control. Yeah, if you're all about the control, and there's no ease in there, something will happen, which will be chaos. You know, I know people who've who've led incredibly controlled lives, OCD, whatever everything has to be as it is, and they're never really relaxed, the ultimate chaos is cancer and I've known people who've died close to me, who died of cancer. And because the universe said you're just not listening. You are not listening. The ultimate chaos- cancer, which is where the cells of the body... it's just awful! I still don't understand why kids get cancer. I just think if there's a God, why? but anyway, when situations like that happen, when you're in adulthood, you think what's happening. Yeah, and sometimes it can be emotional as well as what you're putting in your body. But anyway, so just going back to that point, that was the complete surrender. And it was just that realisation of that and I'm still learning every day but it's phenomenal. Now I've got the partner of my dreams. We've been together quite a while. Living in the house. We've got amazing community around here. Work is fantastic. It is just incredibly incredibly lucky and that's another thing to keep checking in going and looking at what you've got and being deeply grateful for it. We don't want for much, we were talking before this interview, you know, you were saying about a minimalist life. I drive around in a 10 year old Peugeot estate with 114,000 miles on the car. Why would I need anything different? I drive to the beach it's got sand in the back. And I've got the dogs you know, and I know other people looking at me and going well you can't be successful cos you haven't got a flash car. Why would I want a flash car? what purpose would that serve? Having that on the driveway and just costing me money. What's the point? I would rather spend time with friends in the morning. Every morning I swim at quarter to seven. In the morning, the friends down there, there's times we spend, the adventures. We go out when the sea is really choppy or when it's too choppy we go and swim in the harbour which you're not supposed to, but the adventures we have. That would last forever. Having some kind of flashy car on the drive or whatever flashy watch or, for me, it doesn't do anything. It doesn't and it's just you know that the moments, stories building stories rather than having things for me is is what for me is my life. I love it.

Tony Winyard 30:50
That's quite amazing that you had that incredible change of mindset, without, seemingly, it wasn't from reading a book or from hearing a speaker or whatever, it was it sounds like that just completely changed your life just from that one moment?

Simon Jordan 31:12
Definitely, definitely. I mean, I've read lots of books and things like that, but it just never really went in. I think I was just paying, homage to it, I've just taken it in. But actually I hadn't you know, I had I remember having a car accident and because of that car accident they found out I had had an aneurysm which is an enlarged artery which I then had to have a major operation. If I hadn't it would have killed me and the universe I know the universe wants me here and wants me doing things, but you know, the divorce the aneurysm all these different things and I never really listened and it's I call it the knocking sound as well. And some people that knocking sound gets louder and louder and they still won't do it. You know, I've got a friend of mine who she's in really bad health. And still goes to the gym, still does 10,000 steps a day, just talks about a kick, kick, kick, go, go Go again, it's all about control control and her body is saying, for God's sake, listen, you've got this control and everything... there's no ease there and the chaos that's going on in all these different things like oh my god, there isn't... just listen, stop and listen, but a lot of people they don't want to because of what it brings up for them that it might be memories or stuff like that. What does the universe want for you right now and again forced success or for whatever and trying to control I want to go up that stream I want to be in that boat, and you're crashing into other people. And there's all this chaos. And it's just that doesn't need to be there really doesn't.

Tony Winyard 32:49
What you just said about, prior to that happening prior to that change in your life, you had read books and then you were talking about this, this woman who goes to the gym the 10,000 steps and whatever. Sometimes I wonder if... I had a similar thing to what you were describing. Where I think I had a bit of a victim mindset and blaming things on other people and, and I couldn't say it was from any one particular book or hearing any one speaker or whatever. But one day I just realised that suddenly I had the awareness that I was playing the victim, and once I let go of that it made such a difference in my life, a huge difference. And I think for a number of people you're not necessarily going to get that from reading a book or from hearing someone speak it at that time. But it might play a part, that the book and the speaker and then at some stage, whether it be a month later, or a year later, for whatever reason, it does just suddenly kick in and you realise, what am I doing?

Simon Jordan 33:55
Yeah, you're right. It has to be sometimes you've got to experience it. And that's the thing. Just so many people don't it just and then the universe will whack you a bit harder and a bit harder again until you get it and sadly some people just don't. Yeah, you know, I've said I know people who've lost lost their lives and to cancer and things like that. It's sometimes it's Yeah, it's difficult when you look at it from an outside you think that's just it's, it's awful. But the universe doesn't want you to be ill, it doesn't want you to have this chaos. It wants you to play, have fun, be in love and enjoy life. That's what it's about. I mean, if you think in nature, you know, a weed doesn't battle to crack through concrete. And it sounds listening to this, oh Simon it sounds very simple, doesn't it? No, it's not simple. But in terms of all the different facets to it. But in essence, it is very simple. And it's just a very simple process. When stuff comes up, take a step back, and ask yourself what is life trying to tell me right now? What is this chaos happening? What am I doing? To put that stuff out there, you know if someone's cut you up or someone's crashed into your car. Instead of going "bloody idiot, look what they've done". Okay? What energy were you putting out there? If you bring it all back to you and take ownership of it, it sounds crazy, but someone's crashing into your car. And you're to blame for it. How does that work out? I've now been you know, driving for years. No one's ever crashed into my car. You know, I hear people who literally chaos every other day. What are you doing? My life isn't that much different to yours really. We might live in different places. But I don't get that. When you start to understand that, and again, tuning forks always come back to the tuning forks. What energy am I vibrating at? predominantly is your mood one of anger or, you know, if you're filling your head with the negative crap that the media and the press put out there? What kind of mindset is that? might be one that blames gossips, gossips and that kind of stuff. So what is the energy that you're putting out there? So you've got that blame? And I said, Do you actually stop and listen to what's going on? Do you come from a place of gratitude even when there's challenges. A good friend of mine Adam Walker, he was one of the first Brits to swim the seven channels around the world. Incredible sportsman and on one swim he was 12 hours into an 18 hour swim, I think was in China. Swimming across this channel really choppy seas and he was stung by a Portuguese man of war and this can kill you this jellyfish can kill you. His arm goes numb, and his back starts to go numb and and he was "oh bloody hell, what more can the ocean throw at me" and there's huge waves coming at him, you know, really battling. And then he thought, actually, I'm going to change this around and have gratitude for this challenge. For this lesson. And it was a pivotal moment. And he finished the swim and was deeply grateful with great big torn lacerations of his skin from a Portuguese man of war, their tendrils can go like 10 feet, phenomenal, it could've been really dangerous. But again coming from a place of gratitude changes your vibration. And then when you're in that energy of gratitude, other amazing things will come to you. And what will normally happen when people, let's say, if you're coming from a place of fear or lack and let's say someone inquires to Hey Tony, I'd like to work with you, if you're coming from that place, you go great, right? And you're putting out that energy of lack, of fear, of worry, oh I hope I get this client cuz I need the money or whatever. But and I was like that so much, and it's like, oh, my God, and then they wouldn't come through or they wouldn't accept the proposal or whatever. Oh, God. Yeah, here we go. Now, the proposal goes out. Fine, not a problem. Be nice to have them. Be good bit of money. But there's no attachment to it. Unattached intention. So you think great it would be lovely to have them as a client, but if they don't come through, not a problem, really not a problem. I've got the gratitude of having the opportunity to pitch for them or whatever, doesn't come through, not a problem, but nine times out of 10 They do because you're putting out the right energy. So when it comes down to it, it's very, very simple.

Tony Winyard 38:09
Do you coach or mentor anyone?

Simon Jordan 38:12
Yeah, I do, it's part of my work when I'm building people's brands, I look at that. And I normally have a conversation with them first and say, okay, where are you, and you can get a good idea of where they're coming from. And just to try and get them to understand because I've had a lot of clients in the past will come to me. And they will, they will want to get this project on the go, I want to build a membership site or whatever, because I want to be bringing in loads of money. And I listen to that, and I will tell them, if you're solely going after the money. You're obviously coming from a place of lack, or a place of greed and it's not the right energy to be vibrating. and nine times out of 10 Tony it doesn't work, and it falls apart because they've come at it from the wrong energy. You know, think about how you can serve the world or how you can inspire the world rather than how much money you can get from it. The money comes the money will flow if you're in the right energy. But yes, I do. So I work on that process. So in answer to your question, I'm rattling on, I think I'm becoming more like Ronnie Corbett, asked a simple question he'll go on. Yes, I do. That's how I work with clients. And I work with clients just on that section as well if need be.

Tony Winyard 39:25
And so from what you've been saying I'm presuming then and in in the example you just gave, are you much more discerning now in who you take on? But you have to feel that you're going to be able to help them and there has to be a right match? I guess

Simon Jordan 39:42
I do. But to be honest, I now don't attract clients who aren't a fit. When I'm working with my clients, I say coaches for example, we work on them and I look at their personality, and if they're the face of the brand, as I said at the beginning, we replicate their personality in The visual aspect of the of the marketing so the website, social media, all that kind of stuff. So it's a direct representation of them so they attract the right people. And that's what I've done with mine what I put out there, my videos, even podcasts like this. So I attract people who match that energy. And I can't remember the last time I had a client that was just like, no, good. So yeah, but if that were to come through, I would check in on myself, why am I trapped in this? And then yeah, if it doesn't fit, then it doesn't matter how much money it's not worth the hassle is not worth it the chaos and I wouldn't be a match but I can't remember the last time I said no to someone. I guess the clients have come through. I'm deeply privileged to work with such great people.

Simon Jordan 39:42
So going back to when we started off the episode talking about your swimming in the sea. Is that for any sort of particular purpose? Are you doing a triathlon or anything?

Simon Jordan 40:59
No, I was training to swim the channel this year, but that all fell apart because the pandemic, it's just a bit of a pain. And then last year yeah, I was supposed to be doing triathlons. There was a lot of stuff I was supposed to be doing this year Tony. I was supposed to be climbing in Russia and supposed to be qualifying ecological diver, as part of the course, now stopped because of the pandemic. So no, it's swimming in the sea. It just sets me up for the day. It's beautiful for the mind. And just love the community down there. There's a group of as I said, there's about 30 of us come between 6 and 8am. most mornings, and I tend to have a bit of a lie in on the weekends I go down about 7.30/8am a lot of it is mental aspect as well. I love the community we have a chat. And the oldest one is Marcia, she's 76. The youngest is 36. All Ages, some people have new hips and new knees and stuff like that I've been missing. But it is it's the mental health side of it when you're out in the ocean. It's rewilding You're in something which you cannot control and you're moved along. Yes, you can swim through it. But you're still moved up and down by the waves. I just I love it and I come out I feel refreshed. My other half Gina, we went away to Pembrokeshire. And we were up in the mountains we went up to Penny fam, the highest mountain in South Wales. And we found a lake we went swimming in there and it's the air temperature was like six degrees because it was so high up. It was just fantastic when you come out, and you've been been embraced with nature, because our lives, you think we we live in boxes, we drive boxes, we stare at boxes all day. And then we switch off and then we go and switch on another box and sit and watch that until whenever and to get out and just to dip into water. It's amazing for the whole body for the energy. It's just amazing. The mindset just attached to it.

Tony Winyard 42:52
Have you done anything like Wim Hof?

Simon Jordan 42:55
No, I haven't actually I do know it. But the cold water therapy is fantastic. I mean when I said the lake we swam in. And really it was cold cold water because you're high up, it wasn't a very big lake so you know the temperature disappears. And it was fantastic. And I was in there for about 15, 20 minutes and after about 10 minutes, I've really felt my body getting warmer. And it was amazing. And I came out in a bright red and they got a wind temperature as well. But it is lovely, but I know of Wim Hof it is about the breathing. But it's also cold adaptation. So I mean, I swim all year round, never wear a wet suit. So your body gets used to it. The sea now is even warm. The coldest time is March. But when you get in there, it's the best thing to do. If anyone's listening to this and you're thinking of going for a dip. Do be careful. You have the cold water shock if your body's not used to it, the best thing to do first of all is get a bit of cold some of the water and splash it on the back of your neck because there's a receptor on there, which will help prepare your body. One of the biggest things as well because you think I'm going to be cold, I'm going to go home and jump in a bath or a hot shower. Don't! It's a really key point. People think that I need to get warm quickly. No, you need to get warmed gradually. Go and have a hot drink, warm up from the drink, put lots of layers on warm up that way, because if your extremities have got really cold and they go white, your toes and you know basically all the blood rushes to your major organs to keep them warm. You know you don't need your hands and feet really to stay alive. But if you go back and you suddenly have a hot shower that cold blood that's in the fingers and in your extremities can rush to your heart and could be fatal. So it's best to warm up naturally for 40 minutes. I know sometimes you want to be warm now. Put some gloves on or do something else, jump up down, do some exercise that's good. But don't go back to a hot shower rather.

Tony Winyard 44:49
Because by that cold adaptation you hugely increase your amount of brown fat {I said white fat by mistake!]

Simon Jordan 44:56
Absalutely

Tony Winyard 44:58
Yeah, I did a couple of Wim Hof expeditions one up in Iceland.

Simon Jordan 45:03
Fantastic. How was that

Tony Winyard 45:05
Well, it was good and it wasn't good. It was unfortunate timing because I'd only been there a couple of days and my mum had been in quite poor health and she took a sudden turn for the worse as I arrived there and so I flew back after a couple of days so but it was good being with all of the people that were doing that and I've done some workshops with them before, I'm quite in to that. Most of my life, I've been known since I was 17 as "The Eskie". My friends were convinced I was an Eskimo because I don't feel the cold. But the weird thing is I lived on the equator for seven years and I also don't seem to feel the heat because the heat in Jakarta didn't bother me at all. I have this strange resistance to temperature.

Simon Jordan 45:59
That is your superpower then?! I don't mind cold, I really don't mind cold, but the heat, I'm not good in the heat and we've had a lot of hot days down here where it's been over 30 and I can't deal with that. 38 no that's too much for me.

Tony Winyard 46:14
So, how do you see things going? Or how would you like to see your future going over the next 5, 10, 20 years?

Simon Jordan 46:22
I'm simplifying down to be honest. We are looking at buying some land, which is pretty hard to come by down here. And we what we really want to do as buyers is build our own home. We've got plans to do that. Just we've been coming up with ideas. We want to live more of a sustainable life. And we've got some friends which we think Yeah, that'd be great to sort of have our own little community to live a simpler life really, you know, I'm sitting in my office at the moment, I've got all this podcasting gear and the lights for filming, stuff on the wall. I've got a big Mac and another screen all this kind of stuff... all this stuff, which you need for business. But yeah in answer I would love to just be working on the land and swimming, hanging out with friends and really doing more photography, more art. Really that's what I'd love to be doing, and working with people helping people. But yes, a simpler life. I mean, we've got some plans. I did a webinar recently, which is going to be turned into a book that's going to be coming out and we've got some ideas how we can expand that out. So to help other people to live simple lives, but also a life in flow. And success is flow. When you're in flow, there is success, and it's beautiful. You can steer it. Look at what you want. And it is amazing. And I'm testament to that my relationship is testament to that, where we're living is testament to that, it's everything, the clients I'm working with and the success they're having is testament to that. Just to spread that message on where possible, and just to do more good in the world to be honest and share the love

Tony Winyard 48:09
How do you see Five Things Clear developing and how would you like it to develop?

Simon Jordan 48:29
It has never been about me you won't see my face on the website or the Facebook page. I want more people to adopt it. I'm working with the council here. I would love to see the beaches being Five Things Clear beaches. But to be honest, if it inspires other people to create an initiative called Six Things Clear it wouldn't bother me at all. The main thing is that we clear up the litter, we become more mindful, and we look at paying rent for our time on the planet rather than just using and abusing her. Just to be more mindful for the next gen To be more thoughtful of what we're doing, and to limit the amount of greed I mean, you know, I've got a phone and it's an iPhone 7.5 and it's two years old, maybe a bit longer than that now. It works fine nothing wrong with it no scratches, not broken at all. Other people have said oh, you must get the latest gadget. Yeah, but why? You get another gadget but where's that coming from? That's from the planet, you know, recycle reuse. And I do like a lot of good things. I like damn fine whiskey, I don't mind wine. I like nice clothes, that kind of stuff. But I don't need loads of it. We don't need loads. So yeah, to live simply, really, with with Five Things Clear to spread that message out and to get more people involved to have ambassadors and I've often thought it'd be great to spend full time on that; it doesn't bring an income in. I never set it up to do that. But when I think about again, this is about being in flow when I think oh wouldn't it be good to be involved in that. It just comes up. I mean, I came back from climbing in North Africa in the Atlas Mountains. I came back okay, we've been to Everest we've done that we've done all these other things. Wouldn't it be great? Again this is in flow, wouldn't it be great to be doing something I always fancied kayaking down the Yukon in Canada. And I thought but you know that's just another holiday about me. It's not really giving back. So maybe if we did something which could benefit the planet and I kid you not within a week this guy called Micklos from Hungary contacted me and said, "I see what you're doing with Five Things Clear differently, come up to Hungary and be part of this thing called a Plastic Cup, which has been running for six years and we went over we were part of over 200 people. There's 20 odd teams we were part of the first international team. You build your boat out of recycled materials, and we have canoes as well and then we sail 70 kilometres down the river Tizer which goes into the Danube and we cleared up over 10 tonnes of plastic bottles in 10 days and it was an absolute riot. That was all out of flow. I put it out to the universe. Wouldn't it be nice to do this? I wasn't attached to it. I just thought you know what, we've got talents with my Five Things Clear and what I'm doing. And this came out of nowhere. I'd never heard of this guy before. Never heard of Plastic Cup. They're in Hungary thousands of miles away, just happened. And so yeah, to get more involved with things like that to go and help other people. I've showed other people how to set up an initiative to make it really simple, easy to share, easy to remember. 5 Things Clear is dead simple. The only complication people have is do they spell out the number five, or do they write it? Just write, it is just the number 5ThingsClear.com or #5ThingsClear

Tony Winyard 51:43
You talked about ambassadors. If anyone is listening, and there ears picked up at that, what would that involve? How could they get involved in it?

Simon Jordan 51:53
If they want to contact me, go on to the main website, which is www.SimonJordan.com and just ping me an email in there. So if you can, if you're in an area to organise, cleans, doesn't have to be beach cleans, it could be road cleans, it could be forest, could be park, cleans whatever. Doing it once a month, I always choose the third Sunday of the month, maybe even get a coffee shop involved where they give out free drinks to the volunteers, that gives them more promotion. And if you have got the time go and do talks to schools, I've got all the literature, stuff like that. You'll get a T shirt, 5 Things Clear T shirt it's got a cool logo on it. Yeah, and spread the word really, or even set up your own thing. It's not coming from a place of ego, I don't care. All I want is just for a better time on the planet and for the planet to be able to heal, which after lockdown doesn't seem to be, a lot of people are making even more of a mess. We haven't seemed to have learnt anything.

Tony Winyard 52:58
Well before we finish, you mentioned about your your website, www.SimonJordan.com. So if people want to contact you for your marketing expertise and branding and so on, would that be the same site?

Simon Jordan 53:09
It's all on there. My business is split into three things. You've got brands, so I've built brands and stuff like that. And I've got a whole host of clients. I work with one of the biggest bookkeeping associations actually I'm building their brand and humanising their brand. They've been going since '73. So it's not just coaches. It is a whole mixed bag, but that's why I love working with. So yeah, SimonJordan.com I also have another part of the business which is Adventure. So I try and get people to look at their life as an adventure to go out and explore different things, cultures, places, I know you've done a lot of travelling in the past. And then there's Contribution. So there's Brand, Adventure and Contribution. The Contribution is obviously my 5 Things Clear. I've just bought out a new book as well called "Wild Swimming Through Lockdown, and that's my contribution to the community. My love for the community and the love for the swimmers and that's just come out And if you want to go and check that out It's www.WildSwimmingBook.com it's all on there

Simon Jordan 53:12
Is it available on Amazon?

Simon Jordan 54:08
No, I'm not putting on Amazon No, it's not going out there it's just I printed it. All the money it's all done locally. So I have a load of copies printed in the office and at least £3 if not more than that now once once I've sold enough it's certainly less than 24 hours it's already sold 20 odd copies, which just for the local community is brilliant. All the profits are going to a mental health charity and it's sponsored by one of the cafes down here on the beach called the Cornish Bakery. It's all going there but it's lovely, I'm really really proud of it actually.

Tony Winyard 54:47
And they can purchase that from your site?

Simon Jordan 54:49
Yeah, absolutely. If you go to the About Me page, it's on there. It says the author bit it's got my first book, my marketing book, which is very old now. And then there's a second one which will link through to that www.WildSwimmingBook.com website. Yeah, if you want to have a look, there's a video on there you can see the book there.

Tony Winyard 55:09
And before we go, talking about books. Is there a book you would recommend to people

Simon Jordan 55:16
Yes. Michael Singer, The Surrender Experiment. Absolutely. I would highly, highly recommend that essentially, it's about a guy, he was in California just wanted to meditate. That's all he just wanted to quieten his mind and meditate. And the universe came knocking. And he was saying no to the suggestions. And then he thought, hang on, this is my ego speaking. And he tuned into and said okay, I'm gonna start saying yes. Long and short of he ended up running a multi billion dollar company. He's still a hippie, still tuned in, but again, he was in flow and success is flow. So yeah, The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer. I buy that for all my clients and everyone that reads it goes "oh my god, wow. I get it!" But I think it is a question you asked before, you can read stuff but sometimes you just have to experience it, you know the universe, or whatever's going for you right now, whatever chaos is or illness or anything like that; just ask yourself what is life telling me? What is life telling me right now? What am I not listening? What's happening? Because when you're in flow and you're in ease, you know everything you think how the how the planet works. Very briefly we lived obviously down by the beach. Years ago, they built this huge harbour arm and every year they have to dredge the harbour and last year they spent millions redoing all the harbour, the beach they put a load of rock armour up. That's because we've interfered with the flow. We've put this bloody great bit of concrete, if anyone's watched Broad Church, that's the Harbour Arm, where I live is where Broadchurch that TV series, it was all filmed. That's around there. Anyway, so they put this out. So it is disrupting the flow. So all the time we've had loads of rock falls, because we've got the big Jurassic coast here, all this kind of stuff, the beaches keeps shifting. But if we hadn't interfered, Mother Nature knows what she's doing the universe knows what it's doing. And then all the sands would have shifted, they wouldn't be dredging the harbour spending millions of pounds each year dredging and all that kind of stuff. When you get out of your own way. It flows. big lesson

Tony Winyard 57:29
And before we finish, is there a quotation that you like Simon?

Simon Jordan 57:33
Ralph Waldo Emerson: "True success is knowing that someone else has breathed more easily because you've been there". It's just beautiful.

Tony Winyard 57:45
So why does that resonate with you?

Simon Jordan 57:48
Because it's knowing that you've helped someone. That you've passed that on. I said at the beginning of this, when you've got a knowledge, I think to hold on to that to not share that. Your passions, your love, your enthusiasm, share that on, maybe you've read a fantastic book, give it to someone else to enjoy, share that on. And that's how things flow. Don't hold on to stuff. A great example, that might be from the Bible. I think it's called the Talents. And the farmers very serious with the king or whatever. I'm paraphrasing and probably getting the story quite a bit wrong! But he's got three sons and he's going off for a long time. And he's got these talents. So I think it's like money. He says to his oldest son, right, here's 10 talents, go and look after it, and second son, he gives five, his third son he gives two. And he comes back in 10 years time. The first son. So I invested those talents and I've got this and I spread the wealth. Now I've got 30 talents. That's fantastic. Second, son. Well, I invested my ten, but I lost some and it was tough, but I've gained it back and I've got 20. Oh that's good.son And then the third the youngest son, he said so what did you do? Well, I just hid it away. And he said, I didn't do anything with it. I was so frightened of losing it. And he said, Well, I'm taking it off you and I'm gonna distribute it to your other brothers. That's not fair he said. But I gave you a gift, and you didn't use it. And I think that is the way. I'm not religious in any way. But when you're given a gift of knowledge like I'm sharing this with you now what are the lessons that I've gone through? I'm sharing that with you, because I don't want other people to go through that too. I want other people to try and understand and to pass that on. So I think when you've learned something in life, even if it's tragic, a lot of the coaches I work with have all been through tragedy. That's why they're coaches, they don't want other people to go through that as well. They want to try and help them. Yeah, and that's I think in life to do the same. We've learned something we've had an experience share it, you know, so yes, is that true success is knowing that someone else has breathed more easily. This is such a beautiful quote. I love it. I hold that close to my heart. And the other one actually is from my dad, my great late, Father. He said "If you're not worried about the kudos anything is possible". I think so many nowadays with Instagram and likes and all these selfies and stuff people want so much love. And when you go out and do something are you doing it because you want people to see you and go well done and pat you on the back and yes, we all like love and all that kind of stuff and recognition. But what's the real reason for your doing if you're not worried about the kudos, anything's possible, but just go for it. Create it, you'll push it out there. And it's the same with 5 Things Clear. I didn't care if no one knows about it. Yes. When we do a beach clean. I post a picture on with me, and the group of people because I want to promote it and I want other people to come in and join. You need to humanise the brand. But that's the only time and yeah, that's a really good quote. One from my dad and one from Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Tony Winyard 1:00:47
Well, Simon it's been a pleasure for the last hour and thank you so much for sharing so much fantastic information with the listeners. I'm sure it's gonna make quite a difference. Well I certainly hope so

Simon Jordan 1:00:59
Well, thank you very much I really appreciate it. And again, for the listeners, you can earn more money but you can't earn more time, so the fact that you've spent your time listening to Tony and me waffle on, is beautiful it really is. I'm deeply grateful for that. Thank you.

Tony Winyard 1:01:15
Thank you. Next week, episode six is with Dr. George Moncrieff. He is an expert on dermatology on the skin and we talk about a few areas such as why we should not be using soap on our skin and the amount of damage and also the amount of conditions it causes like eczema and many other conditions as well. So we're going to hear a lot more about why we should not be using soap. He's fine with moisturiser and stuff is fine. And shampoo is not good for the hair but conditioner is very good. So that's next week's episode, episode 6. With Dr. George Moncrieff. I hope you've enjoyed this week's show with Simon Jordan, please do share with anyone who you think would really enjoy it, get some value from it, why not subscribe, leave a review and have a great week.