I’ve always travelled. It’s always been important to me. That is why I based my business on current technology – so I could travel and run my business from anywhere.
The pandemic prevented me from living my dream – but I had the right processes and systems in place to create an entirely new base somewhere else in the world. And I didn’t want to get to the end of my life and think “I’ve only lived in one town my whole life.” I wanted to see the world, meet new people, learn, grow and develop.
You learn different things from different people, countries and cultures, and often staying in one place limits your pool of experiences to draw from. Exploring different cultures teaches you how to adapt and accommodate for a vast array of different people and customs.
In Indonesia, at meetings, they have an opening and closing prayer. To allow for that, you must adjust and step outside of your comfort zone. Being impolite or aggressive in any way is unacceptable because the culture is built on gentleness and kindness.
Starting to plan
My ambition was to build a global team. I already had a team in the Philippines and Sri Lanka, so I needed a base nearby. I looked for a country with a strong community of entrepreneurs and a place that matched my ambitions and goals, with warm people and warm weather: Bali.
Once I’d found Bali, I researched into Visas, added myself into multiple Facebook groups, researched on Linkedin for people to connect with. Just type in your destination and groups to research will appear. I searched ‘digital nomad Bali’, ‘villas Bali’, ‘ex-pats Bali’, ‘entrepreneurs Bali’ etc etc. Think about what your needs and ambitions are, then tailor your research to accommodate. All this research connected me with people prior to going, so I wasn’t alone when I arrived.
I also got in touch with ACCA Indonesia to continue with the webinars and ACCA advocacy.
Preparing for Bali
Abide by the countries rules and regulations. If you have a Visa, use it in the correct manner. Make sure you have the correct travel insurance and medical insurance. Ask Uncle Google – he has all the answers.
Read blogs about moving and the issues they’ve come across. Research security, staying safe and try to understand what it’s like being there before going. Connecting with people will give you reliable answers to most questions. There’s lots of information available so make the most of all the resources at your fingertips.
Accommodation
I needed flexibility, so I booked a hotel for three days on the basis I could work it out as I went along – but this only works if you aren’t risk-averse (outside of accounting). I booked three days knowing I could stay longer if I couldn’t find somewhere better. But I would advise against a hotel long-term when a villa or Airbnb would be more cost-effective.
It’s easier to look at the villa in person before you commit yourself. In Bali, you rent a villa for a month at a time so you have the flexibility to change each month if you want.
The travelling accountant’s app stack
Start with essential apps:
Lonely Planet: travel guide including maps and local information to visit local tourist places and temples
Booking.com: finding hotels
Gojeck: taxi -bike/car, food delivery, shopping (this is an essential app in Bali )
tokopedia: Indonesian version of Amazon
Monzo: cashcard to keep track of spending - although many places require cash
Expedia: book hotels/flights
Xe.com: currency exchange checker
360bali: A guide for Bali experiences
Air bnb- booking villas
EhaC: an Indonesian e-health card mandatory for flying to Indonesia (to connect to Bali). The Indonesian government obligates you to fill out eHAC as an effort to detect, prevent, and control public health emergencies through official point of entries. The app has a QR code that has to be updated before you go, which is scanned on arrival.
Once in Bali, I joined Gyms, entrepreneur circles, a bank. I then expanded my tech stack:
F45 training: gym
Bigtribe Bali: entrepreneurs circle
Dojo: Bali co-working
ThriveIn: creative network
Wifi
When I did my research, I found Bali had a multitude of co-working spaces with wifi and, because Bali is well known for digital nomads, there’s wifi pretty much everywhere.
When travelling around during working hours, it’s better to stick to places where you are certain of wifi. I save my trips to places with poor wifi at the weekend and out of office hours.
Important: Make sure your villa has wifi before you go and then test it out when you go to view the place and ensure your laptop is registering the wifi as secure. Co-working spaces are designed for this and are usually secure.
Tech and security
I’d recommend a laptop with good battery life, I always go for MacBooks. But there are repair shops so most issues can be fixed in the normal manner.
I’d recommend a good laptop with all the security built-in. Here is my security tech stack:
NordVPN: Virtual private network (VPN) offers online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection
Yubico: Two-step authentication
Google authenticator: implements two-step verification services for authenticating users of software applications.
Privacy filter for laptop: Prevents others from seeing your screen.
A high priority is Practice Protect, an accounting-specific cybersecurity platform that protects data and client information. Using strong passwords isn’t enough.
I would still face away from people and choose coworking spaces geared up for high-end security.
The Start-up Practice
The Start-up Practice is the inner circle for the next tribe of digital accountants. It’s an exclusive membership for open-minded travelling accountants with a work-life balance.
I created a membership for digital accountants that want to travel. We help and support each other, digitally, with setting up in other countries, who, in turn, then help others. We help with advice on their digital tech stacks as a digital nomad and support and offer exclusive discounts with app partners.
The Start-up Practice offers networking and events in different countries, workshops and collaboration. We’ve agreed that different time zones won’t be an issue and so we can have the Q&A from whichever country we are in.