This is a guest post by Ben Keene. You can find out more about Ben here.
Has moving to Bali for winter with our family worked out?
I’d only been at Bali’s first co-working space, Hubud (a bamboo beehive of digital nomadic activity at the heart of the island’s ‘eat, pray, love’ capital, Ubud) for an hour when Steve Munroe (a ‘post-UN-cubicle survivor’), uttered his mantra. Perhaps even more interesting than what Steve was saying was the fact that he was speaking to a group of Harvard students who had come to Bali to study ‘remote working’ and sustainable business.
Of course, a lot of people are coming here because of the lifestyle, especially in Ubud: an open, welcoming culture, a personal development mecca, affordable, a community of like-minded people, an adventure and so on.
So, it’s safe to say expectations were high. We’d invited the tribe to join us. 30 people had signed-up to co-work together from Ubud and support each other on our startups as well as explore and enjoy the multitude of experiences Bali has to offer. We’d also come as a family. Me, my wife, Susannah, and baby Isla. For us, this was a significant extra dynamic and one of the main reasons we’d chosen Bali over, say Sierra Leone (somewhere we both love but sadly not open due to ebola).
Me and my CTO taking in the quintessential Balinese view
Forget work-life balance. Put more life into your work
The piping of communication cables to places like Indonesia is opening up opportunities to ‘work from anywhere.’ The menu of conscious consumption here is along the lines of : Organic fruit juices, raw food, coconut oil massages, yoga, swim, free wifi. So much, free wifi. Not always the fastest, but definitely on a par with Cornwall. It’s no wonder more people are escaping the physical and psychological corporate city.
Our work tools on this new frontier are whatsapp, smartphones, airbooks, power-charging packs, jamboxes, lean startup tool kits, google drives, kindles, a visa card and a passport. This is a lightweight, mobile office. And it feels great. When combined with wifi and the right community, things really happen. Look no further than the guy launching 12 startups in 12 months whilst on the move.
The Guardian recently published a piece on co-working featuring Bethany Wrede Peterson from our tribe:
“As an entrepreneur you never really switch off, no matter where you are,” she says. “But I discipline myself during the week so I can take weekends to hit the beach, explore the island or chill out. I still feel pressure here, but it’s hard to be too stressed when you’re working barefoot on a beanbag in the sun, a beautiful rice field view just beyond your laptop screen. Balance is an all-too-elusive feeling, and I’ve found it here.”
So one month in had I got more of the work I planned pre-trip, done?
No. But its not a huge problem as the focus of work has shifted.
The main reason being that more people have signed-up to the Tribewanted pilot than we expected. As sometimes happens with projects the well planned ones don’t hit their targets and the accidental ones take-off. So days are busy hosting and facilitating and supporting this group on their startups and time here in Bali. And that’s been great because the relationships we’re building are valuable and full of trust.
Being here has also moved some priorities for my work, for the better. I’m ‘pruning’ 15% of stuff from my inbox, focusing in on, as Larry Page says, the only metric that matters: ‘Is what you’re doing changing the world for the better?’
What’s it been like with an 11 month old?
Challenging but getting easier.
There are not many places to push a buggy which means you’re carrying her a lot (and ours is a very healthy weight), so you sweat a lot and your back hurts most of the time. Good job that you can get a massage for £5.
Soft play areas don’t exist. Everything is either a drop-off into a fish pond (especially in living spaces), a concrete floor or a ravine! This means lots of ‘watching’ and Isla’s little knees have had to adapt to solid surfaces.
Bugs do exist. We spray and suncream Isla 3–4 times a day with the best natural protections we can find (thank you Bali Buda!) She has still been bitten and when our neighbour got dengue we were pretty concerned.
Warm smiles and cuddles are everywhere. Walking around Bali with Isla is like being under a constant beam of sunshine. Almost every Balinese person will smile, and most will run over and squeeze, gurgle and take her for a walk. We’ve got great support where we’re staying and Isla is getting used to being with other people. It’s pretty special to see.
Has it really been cheaper than living in the UK for three months?
Yes. A month in and its clear that we’ll save a little funds (15% margin) from being here rather than in the UK and that includes all travel costs. But a big chunk of this has been due to being able to rent our place out at home for two months and having good freelance work lined-up pre-departure. Without that we would have made a loss.
Without a baby we could have saved costs on accommodation, kit and travel which would have made the trip much more profitable.
If you are budgeting this guide is pretty good. My main advice would be make sure you have some paid work or savings locked-in before you leave.
Perhaps the biggest question of all, how bad are the bugs in rainy season?
They’re here. They bite. Some feel it more than others. I’ve not suffered. Susannah has. Paradise doesn’t exist permanently for a reason; we’d never come home.
To find out more about Hubud, Bali’s first co-working space, watch this video and visit the website.
