Best-selling author | Global entrepreneur | Creator of Joy of Business Programs
As seen in Huffington Post, Mindvalley, and many other media outlets, Simone Milasas is an innovative business leader, best-selling author and global speaker. Simone’s approach to business for the past 30 years cannot be found inside a textbook. She is the Business Development Manager of Access Consciousness, a thriving personal development organisation, and the Founder of Joy of Business, a program that mentors entrepreneurs globally to create greater wealth, success, happiness, and well-being. Find Simone on her weekly podcast, The Choice, Change and Action podcast, where she invites listeners to choose a different reality, and keep up to date with her creations at www.simonemilasas.com
Company: Access Consciousness
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Simone Milasas: I’ve always been driven by curiosity – curiosity about people, places, and the infinite possibilities life has to offer. More than anything, I love showing people that change is always possible, no matter how stuck they feel.
As a kid, I knew I didn’t see the world the same way others did, but I tried to fit in anyway. Eventually, I realised that wasn’t for me. The moment I could, I packed my bags and set off on a three-year journey around the globe. Travel gave me a sense of freedom I had never experienced before – it showed me that life doesn’t have to follow a predictable path. While many people were content with stability, I was more interested in discovering what else was possible.
That mindset led me to a turning point in my life. I was searching for something bigger, something that made sense to me. That’s when I crossed paths with Gary Douglas, the founder of Access Consciousness®. At the time, I was already running several businesses, but our conversation completely shifted my perspective. He said something that stuck with me: “Don’t trust me – trust yourself.” That simple idea changed everything.
Fast forward more than two decades, and I’ve helped expand Access Consciousness expand into over 180 countries. Access Consciousness is an international authority on consciousness and well-being. We deliver personal development seminars all over the world and work with companies to implement well-being programs in their organization.
Beyond that, I started Joy of Business, a program designed to help entrepreneurs build businesses that aren’t just profitable but also fulfilling.
Whether through my books, events, or conversations, my invitation is simple: life isn’t about following a script – it’s about enjoying abundant living and to know that you always have a choice. The key is to be fully engaged with all choices and to live.
What are your top personal and professional goals for 2025, and how do you plan to achieve them?
Simone Milasas: 1. To keep expanding and keep growing every day. To achieve this, I start each day asking for today to be better than yesterday. One of the questions I ask myself in the morning is, “Who am I today, and what grand and glorious adventures can I have?” I think a lot of people create their today from their past – and its usually from judgement. What if, every day, one of your demands of yourself was not to judge you or anything that you are choosing?
A lot of people talk about what they want to create, and not so much about what they choose. For example, people talk about wishing they had a million dollars and never achieve it because they are not making aligned choices and taking action. I have a podcast called Choice, Change and Action and that’s literally what it’s about – choosing, changing what needs to be changed, and taking action. You have to take action – that’s fundamental to growth.
2. Another one of my targets this year is completing two books I am writing. One is on business and creating a different business for a different world. The other is on relationships and creating different relationships as well, including our relationship with ourselves. It can be hard to find time to write amongst everything else – but it’s all about choice.
One choice I make every morning is to pick up my computer and phones as soon as I wake up. I make myself a coffee and go out on my balcony to enjoy it while I work, with the sounds of the ocean and the birds, surrounded by my plants. I’m not doing this out of necessity – it’s a choice because I generally wake up creative and productive. I always ask “Where is my energy required today?” and follow that.
A lot of people have a calendar that dictates what they need to do. Yes, I have appointments, meetings, and classes – yet I will ask ‘where is my energy required today’. When you ask yourself that question, you come out of the conclusion and come into the question of what is required. You know inside which project requires your attention. You’ll notice that when you then put your energy into something, it starts to move.
Looking back at 2024, what was the biggest lesson you learned, and how will it influence your approach in 2025?
Simone Milasas: One of the biggest things I learnt was to relax and to choose based on what my body was telling me. Most people make choices in conflict with their body – and I realised I was doing just that. I was working and travelling so much that it was affecting my health. I found myself in hospital, in pain and unable to walk due to bulging discs. I ended up having to ask myself a lot of questions and being willing to change.
For example, I really wanted to travel to Italy to conduct my classes but my body was telling me – we’re not going anywhere! We need rest. So, I stayed at home and started to look at my whole schedule. I asked questions like, What would work for me? What would be nurturing for me? What does not stress my body out? As a result, I’m making different choices in 2025. I’ve been choosing to take longer trips when I travel, instead of constantly flying back and forth – which was taking an immense toll on my body. I spent a solid three months in Europe and two months in the Americas, and cut a number of things from my schedule as well.
Again, this was all about being in question, willing to change, and asking what action works for me to look after my body.
What trends or innovations do you predict will significantly impact your industry this year?
Simone Milasas: We’re in the digital era, and we absolutely need to embrace that. I’m so grateful digital technology and the access to the rest of the world it brings. But what I think a lot of people are starting to lose is that engagement with others.
We can’t forget what it’s like to be in a room of people as opposed to sitting on a Zoom. There’s something special about interacting with others in real life – seeing that white in their eyes and sitting down at a table and really socialising. I would like that not to be forgotten. We have upcoming live training in Croatia for my Joy of Business facilitators, and one of the things I’m doing there is hiring a boat so we can all go out on the Mediterranean Sea and celebrate, have a cocktail, and swim. For me, it is really important to maintain this connection with people.
I also think it’s important for people in business to remember – trust you. A great exercise we did recently for another of my facilitator training events was what’s called the Trust Exercise with horses. I co-own an eco-resort in Costa Rica where you can do this. My facilitators got to sit bareback on these beautiful horses, lean back on them, engage with them, and just “be” with the horse and learn to trust the horse and their own body. It’s about choosing to relax in a different way and learning to trust you.
How do you approach goal-setting and maintaining focus throughout the year?
Simone Milasas: For me, goal-setting isn’t about locking in a fixed result – it’s about asking every day for something greater to show up. A lot of people say, ‘This budget/projection is my goal, this is what I’m chasing’, but if that’s all you focus on, you cut off the future possibilities. Nothing ever shows up the way you think it will. So instead, I keep asking, Does this still work for me? Is this still where we’re heading? It’s not about giving up – it’s about always asking for more, staying open, and allowing things to show up in ways you never expected.
There’s a lot of judgement around asking for more when you’re perceived to already have enough. But what if there was never enough? What if there was so much money that I could buy land in the Amazon or create space for koalas to survive? We need to look at goal-setting not from a place of judgement or exclusion, but from asking questions like, What can I contribute to the planet, and what can the planet contribute to me?
What advice would you give to other leaders and entrepreneurs looking to make 2025 their best year yet?
Simone Milasas: Don’t give up. Just keep going, and know that you know what you know. Nobody knows what you know, or has the awareness that you do. So have trust in that and choose from that.
