In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews former United Nations volunteer Yat Chun Wong. Wong recounts a formative friendship with a Korean colleague in Sri Lanka, emphasizing that age and cultural background are less important than personal character in building connections. He advises listeners to pursue work they are passionate about, noting that motivation can compensate for lacking skills, which can be learned. Wong shares business wisdom about handling failure—allowing time to reflect but moving on to avoid missing future opportunities. He encourages stepping out of comfort zones to gain new experiences and confidence. Regarding happiness, he stresses living at one’s own pace rather than succumbing to societal pressure, especially given his Hong Kong background. Wong cites "The Alchemist" as his favorite book, highlighting its evolving lessons about lifelong self‑discovery. His favorite quote, from Tony Robbins, underscores the value of effort regardless of mistakes. The episode concludes with his contact details (email and social media).
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
¡Hola! All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Yat Chun Wong, and he is a previous United Nations volunteer. So welcome to the show.
Hi Tyler.
We'll dive in. The first question I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
The best story from my life happened in Sri Lanka where I served as a United Nations volunteer. So I had a Korean friend whom I often hung out with and we are really good friends with each other. And one day she told me that she actually never thought we would become friends because I am so much younger. And I was like, oh, that's true. It's quite amazing, isn't it? Because we grew up in different cultures and she had much more life experience than I did, but I think it is this unique chemistry that brought us together and sustained our friendship. So I think the underlying message is that it's not our age or where we come from that define us, it's who we are that truly matters and affects how we make connections with those around us. And actually, this also applies in the workplace or any other settings.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Um, I guess it's very important to find something you're really passionate about to work on, because if you're talking about doing good to the community, to society, you must have that motivation that pushes you to do more and keep improving. And don't worry if you don't have the necessary skills to complete a task, because as long as you believe in what you're doing and it is worth the effort, you can always learn a new skill. It's not as difficult as you think.
And what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
My, uh, overall business advice would be don't be too upset with failures. I mean, it's okay to be sad for a while, and I think it's actually good that you can take time to reflect yourself and see what could have been done better. But this self-blaming process has to end at some point, and if you don't get over it, you might as well miss the next opportunities that may be even better than the one that you failed. So, um, just learn from the experience and move on.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
My advice to my younger self would be to keep stepping out of your comfort zone because that's how you can be exposed to new environments and learn new things. Um, sometimes it may be challenging to take a step forward, but imagine if you can turn something you're completely incapable of doing into something that you will be, maybe in a few years, confident in doing, it's going to bring you real satisfaction when you look back on your journey.
And what is, uh, in your opinion, the key to happiness?
The key to happiness would be to live at your own pace, for me. Sometimes society may give us pressure to go faster because it seems everyone is doing the same, especially I'm from Hong Kong and it's like always very, very busy. But it's important to know that there's no single lifestyle that fits everyone. So I think the key is to realize that we don't necessarily have to go with the flow. We can actually take control of our own life and find a way of life that is the best fit for us.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
The best book I've read is The Alchemist. I like the fact that the same book gave me different thoughts when I'm reading it in different stages of my life because the story is all about pursuing dreams and In reality, my life goals may change, so I have different perspectives from time to time. But if you talk about the number one thing I learned from it, it would be that it takes a lifetime to realize who I really am, and there's no definite answer, which is why life is interesting.
Yes, I love that. What is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote is from Tony Robbins that says, "No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you're still way ahead of everyone who isn't trying." I think it shows how important it is to at least try, and no matter what the final result is, there must be something that we can take away.
And thank you so much for coming on, man. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Okay, the best way for people to find me online is email. That is wong.yc@yahoo.com. And I'm also on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. So any platform would be fine.
Perfect. Thanks again for joining us, man. We really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
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