Best Year Ever

by on May 1, 2013

Today is the start of my 29th year.

At times like New Years Eve and Birthdays I can get a bit introspective. Depressed almost, thinking about where I am in life and what I am doing.

This year I feel really present and in the moment – something I have long struggled with, as too often I am looking ahead rather than appreciating where I am.

I think that the pace of life here in Bali has helped me to do that. The days seem so much longer. I watch the sunset at the end of them now instead of fighting through a commute. The colours slowly change. Yellow to orange to purple to black and I relax.

For maybe the first time in my life I really feel like I am where I want to be and doing what I want to do.

Maybe this can’t last forever but I can try.

Bali Birthday

1st May 2013.
Celebrating my 28th Birthday in Bali with Marina and my new surfboard.

The Best Year Ever

After reflecting on my first decade of adult life I decided that it was time to do things a little differently.

I decided that I want to make this year the best of my life so far.

But I’m not just talking here about travel and having fun, though still extremely important. This is about making the best year in all the areas of life that are important to and interest me like health and fitness and achieving my highest levels of fitness ever, having my most successful year so far in terms of finances and income, starting and running my most successful businesses ever, even playing my best footie season ever if I decide to stop and settle down somewhere for a while and hey since I’m at it I may as well try and see if I can do my best surfing ever too.

So here it is, the Best Year Ever Manifesto:

“Attempt to make this year the best year ever in all the areas of life that are important or interesting to you.”

Anyone with me?

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Ku De Ta Bali Review – Or how to Drink $150 in 2 hours in Bali

by on April 13, 2013

Kev: “How much are the Sangria bowls Marina?”
Marina: “$5!”

On Friday night we decided that after a tough week of adjusting to life in Bali we would treat ourselves to some nice Friday Drinks at one of the many beach bars around Seminyak.

While I fished around for some freebies by name dropping the hash tags of two of the big beach bars in the area on twitter the weather wasn’t looking great so we decided not to venture too far down south toward Kuta.

Having read a good Ku De Ta Bali review we headed there and were not disappointed.

We hopped out of the cab and walked down the driveway of the club, past the fountain and up the stairs to be greeted by the friendly restaurant staff. As it was still early we walked through the quiet restaurant area out into a grass courtyard area with a central water feature, DJ booth and cool looking comfy lounge chairs all facing the in the direction of the beach at the steps at end of the courtyard.

The DJ was playing some funky tunes, the sun was setting and perfect waves were rolling in. The only disappointment was I hadn’t brought my board.

 

A friendly waiter came and introduced himself and the drinks menu. I left Marina in charge and headed to the end of the courtyard to view the surf and take a few photos.

I came back to what looked like and ultimately was a delicious bowl of fruit filled sangria.

I asked Marina how much it was and we sat happily sipping away, amazed that you could get such an awesome drink for just 5 bucks!

Ah but it was too good to be true. Victims of the confusing amount of zeros in Indonesian currency we didn’t realise our error until about half way through our second bowl and a good 7 or 8 glasses each.

But by that time it was too late, we were having too much fun to care.

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Questions and Comments:

  • Ever been to Ku De Ta?
  • What’s the best bar/club in Bali/the world!

(P.S. If you enjoyed this post please like and share on your favourite social networks.)

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Arriving in Bali – What to Expect When you Arrive in Bali

by on April 10, 2013

As soon you step off the plane the hot muggy air hits you. You walk nervously towards the immigration desk first going to the queue for a VOA or Visa on Arrival where you are offered by every Indonesian in the airport to be taken to the express queue.

You look about quickly to see if you can spot a sign for the express line while trying to work out in your head if this is a total scam or just a simple way for the people here to make a little extra money from time poor, cash rich tourists.

You look at the guy’s blue uniform and badge. It means nothing to you. Is he a police officer, a security guard or a scammer?

He asks to take your passport but you decide it would be unwise to let that out of your hands 100 meters before an immigration check point so you decline as politely as you can.

You get the visa. You clear immigration, grab your bags and head for the exit. You hurry through a corridor of money changers hanging out of their booths like prisoners in cells trying to grab the attention of a new inmate.

You step outside into a thunderstorm. Thankfully your driver is waiting and you make it to the car. An airconditioned steel sanctuary where you have a chance to catch your breath.

You make your way through the city streets as cars, trucks and hundreds of motorbikes whizz past in every direction. You head towards a busy intersection and slow down.

The driver laughs as he points out that all the lights are green and navigates through the chaos with caution as you laugh back nervously.

Finally you make it to your accommodation, look around then sit down exhausted with a cold drink in hand and think to yourself, ‘this is going to be fun’.

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Marina sits on the step of the villa in Seminyak.


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The small garden is a welcome sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the busy street outside.


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The mosquito net has not stopped me getting quite a few bites already.

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The Digital Nomad Experiment

by on April 8, 2013

Is it possible to move to Bali and make money online?

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After 4 months of haphazard planning the day has finally arrived!

Today I begin my Digital Nomad experiment, an 8 week trip to Bali where my primary goal is to support myself and pay for the trip by building a business and making money online.

Building an Online Business
I will be utilising the skills and experience I have gained in that last 3 years in online marketing to work as freelance Google Adwords consultant as well as working on websites of my own with the aim of turning those sites into more long term digital assets.

My most basic goal for the business is to simply support myself financially by making enough money to cover my cost of living however my big goal is to aquire 5-10 good clients, do an amazing job for them and make $10,000 per month.

Using a few simple productivity principles, focused work and leveraging online marketing  I would Ideally like to do this in less than 4 hours per day and therefore have the time and income to pursue other passions such at travel, surfing and fitness.

To that end I have 3 sub goals or projects for the trip; Explore Indonesia, Rebuild my Body and Project Surf Better.

Explore Indonesia
One regret that I have from my time in Australia is that I didn’t take the time or plan my time and finances well enough to see more of the country.

Explore Indonesia is about making sure that I take the time to see, explore and appreciate the country while I am there.

Rebuild my Body
Health and fitness is something that has always been important to me. Unfortunately I let that take a back seat while I worked on other things. It wasn’t until a serious injury that I realised that without your health you really have nothing.

Therefore I will be making sure to take the time to rebuild my body focusing on undoing the damage caused to my back by being hunched over a desk for the last 2 years as well as the general tightness and muscle knots caused by a life time of laziness when it comes to stretching by doing yoga, training or surfing everyday.

Project Surf Better
I had my first taste of real stand up surfing when I was 12 or 13 on a Family holiday to Tramore in the south of Ireland and was instantly hooked.

After that I started skateboarding and tried to do it when I could at uni and while travelling and being able to surf more was one of the reasons I moved to Australia.

While I have improved I am still at a fairly basic level. While I have probably left it a little late to make the pro tour I would love to get to a level where I can get in the barrel or ride the tube or whatever you want to call it. This is when you are inside the breaking section of the wave as it barrels over your head.

The reef breaks of Indonesia are one of the world’s best places to do this and my final goal for the digital nomad experiment.

I plan to use this blog as a journal of this adventure over the coming weeks and months more for my own focus and clarity than anything else but hey, maybe if I can inspire someone to try something new, start a new business or take steps towards improvibg their health and fitness well that would be cool to.

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“What’s With The Mohawk?”

by on March 16, 2013

On Friday I had a work event with the great guys at Switched on Media where we spent the afternoon playing barefoot bowls. One of our colleagues noticed that the day coincided with The Worlds Greatest Shave, an event by the Leukaemia foundation to help raise awareness and funds, and got on the hunt for willing participants to shave off their lovely locks for a good cause.

After our bowling two of our guys stepped up to the plate one of whom got a Mohawk and thinking it looked pretty cool I decided to jump on the band wagon and see if I could do a bit of fund raising myself and joined in the banter and got involved. In the end I actually quite enjoyed my Mohawk and had some fun with it at Crossfit the following day.

In the end though it was strange experience. For someone as vain as me to lose all their hair is a strange experience and after the initial buzz has worn off I can’t help but feel a little self concious. Now where this for real and if I knew it wasn’t going to grow back in a few weeks I can only imagine this would make someone feel let alone all the unanswered questions and fear that would come from having a disease like leukaemia.

To be honest, before this I didn’t even really know exactly what leukaemia was and now consider myself fortunate that I have been sheltered from it and not had to see anyone I know too personally deal with it. So what a started as a bit of fun got me thinking and I guess that was the whole point and while I am certainly no saint its been a fun way to hopefully help some people.

I am trying to raise $1000 so if you would like to make a donation please go to:

 http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/thecrazyirishman

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Knowing What to Do With Your Life – Is it possible or do we have too many choices?

by on March 14, 2013

What does it mean to live a kick ass life?

(This is the first in a series of posts in which I would like to take some time to explain what I would like this blog to do and become.)

Since starting to write again on this blog and sharing my future plans for Bali I have had a lot of very positive and encouraging feedback. There has however been some time since then for the dust to settle and me to really think what about what I want to do with this blog.

“What Do I Desire for my Life?”

I’m not sure exactly what prompted me to think more closely about what I wanted for my life or they type of person that I wanted to become. In the day to day grind of getting things done, paying the bills and doing what you are told it isn’t something you allow yourself much time to think about however even though I had achieved my goals of getting sponsored in Australia something inside has been gnawing away at me.

For me moving to Australia was in itself an experiment in lifestyle design as I had set myself the goals of living by the beach and getting a job in online marketing and have been fortunate enough to live out both over the last two years. However now that has been accomplished and the initial exciting learning curve of my job has now simply become a series of the same repetitive tasks that old question rears its ugly head.

“Is this really what I want to do with my life?”

For any one that knows that knows me will know that I have long had a passion for fitness and have always loved sport and the outdoors. At University I studied for a degree in Sports Science as that seemed like the most appropriate course for me. I had a few jobs while studying and after uni but then with the recession things were not going so great and I turned to the internet looking for ways to make money.

After falling for a few scams I learnt about things like blogging and affiliate marketing and used this to set up a few websites about fitness that were making me a nice little part time income. I was making sales as an affiliate that were worth more than I was making in a full time job and often the sales would come in while I was asleep which just blew my mind

I created a fitness blog, YouTube videos and even a digital product called The 30 Day Abs Challenges that I managed to build up into a part time business and even started my own youth soccer coaching company for kids aged 3-11. After a while however I came to a sticking point in my technical knowledge and decided that if I was going to make the online business thing work I would need to go and work with experts.

“This may have been a mistake.”

For the last two years I have been working in media agency land focused solely on improving my skills in online marketing, specifically in the area of pay per click advertising (that is advertising on places like Google and Facebook) and climbing the corporate ladder but my goal was never to do that.

It wasn’t sitting at a desk all day doing reports that attracted me to online marketing in the first place. It was the ability to build a business based on my passions that I could run from anywhere that attracted me and I now wonder if my time would of been better spent working on my own projects and where I would now be with those projects if I had done.

“What Do I Do When I Want to Do Everything?”

So what exactly is it that I want to do? Ah if only I could figure that one out you may not be reading this blog.

In all seriousness though, at any moment in time I can flit between wanting to start a business in fitness, in online marketing, travel the world, surf, go back to soccer coaching, learn yoga, the guitar or any number of exciting ideas that I come across. I seem to be constantly distracted by the seemingly endless possibility of cool things there could be to do in this world and because of this I struggle to see beyond 3-6 months let alone five or ten years into the future.

This can be a problem as constantly changing my focus makes it building lasting momentum in anything difficult and subsequently I end up with a trail of half started and abandoned projects.

Apparently though I am not alone…

Questions and comments
Do you ever feel like what you are doing is the wrong thing for you?
Do feel as torn and distracted as I do by multiple interests?

 

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The Indonesian Income Plan – How to Make Money in Bali

by on March 2, 2013

But how are you going to make money in Bali?

My announcement that I would be living and working from Indonesia for a few months has been met with an overwhelming positive response that has really helped me feel more comfortable and confident about what I am doing. I have however mentioned that my plan is to make money online while I am there and there has been some intrigue and interest as to how I plan to do that. This is especially true of a few concerned friends worrying about how i’ll continue to feed myself the diet of steak breakfasts I have become accustomed to.

Firstly I need to mention that the cost of living in Bali is a lot lower than in Australia and I will be sharing a post comparing the two shortly.

Secondly I need to highlight that my ultimate objective here is create assets in the form of products rather than exchange my time for money. I have what I feel are some good ideas for products but I also have some valuable knowledge and skills that I can leverage too so I am looking at doing both as I move forward.

Indonesian Income #1 – The Truth About Australia Guide

Before I moved to Australia I was hungry for information and advice and would spend time online in forums, watching videos on YouTube and each month I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the latest issue of Living and Working in Australia and New Zealand magazine.

When I finally got here and started sharing photographs of all the cool places I had visited it didn’t take long before friends would ask me what it was like and for advice on making their own move.

As I really enjoyed helping my friends with this I decided to create a guide all about moving to Australia specifically for other young people moving from the UK and Ireland. I have created a few test videos and posts for the project and initial feedback to things like the video below that explains how to get a 457 visa have been really positive.

I will be launching that book later this month on Amazon, iBooks and Google Books. In order to cover my costs of living in Bali I would need sales of the book to generate around $50 per day to live fairly comfortably. If sales are good then I will expand this project to a dedicated website and launch a full online marketing plan for it.

Indonesian Income #2 – Travel Blogging, Writing and a Travel Guide to Bali

When I first moved to Australia my two primary goals had been to get a job and live by the beach. Had I not of succeeded in that my plan B was simply to do the whole backpacking thing and create a blog about it sharing photo’s of the awesome places that I visited along with tips and travel advice.

Now there is no guarantee how that would of worked out but it would of been great fun and there would of been opportunities to monetize the website through adsense or selling advertising space to various companies in the travel industry and I believe if I had of done it and put the same level of work into as I did in my job (12+ hour days) I could of built something awesome.

With the level of interest around my Indonesian adventure I am determined to make a concerted effort to build a brilliant blog and share the places I go, people I meet and lessons I learn along the way and would like, by the end of the trip, to have created a cool guide to Bali for other would be travelers.

Indonesian Income #3 – Pay Per Click Consulting and Freelancing

Over the last 3+ years I have developed a ton of knowledge on internet marketing and especially pay per click marketing on Google and Facebook. I have the knowledge and skills to be able to help businesses run profitable online advertising campaigns, something that is critical to any business that wants to grow in the coming years.

The beauty of this is that I can work with and help businesses from anywhere in the world so if you know a business or business owner that needs help with online advertising and marketing feel free to pass my details to them and have them check out my LinkedIn Profile.

But what if it doesn’t work out? 

But what if my guide to Oz is a flop? What if no one cares about my boring travel blog and what if my freelance clients fire me and I can’t get any more?

I’ll have an adventure, learn from the experience and go back to the drawing board.

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My Embarrassing Fear

by on February 28, 2013

Ok, this is embarrassing.

I have a fear of injections. As long as I can remember I have hated them. When it was time to get them in school I ran away from the line and hid behind a trampoline in a storage room of the sports hall eventually only leaving because the prettiest girl in the year managed to tease me out.

Even the thought of them makes me feel ill.

On the first day of my first job in sydney I was being briefed on one of the clients I would be working on, Red Cross, when I asked exactly what it was we were trying to help them achieve.

It was our job was to help them drive donations. Blood rather than money.

That was it. The image and thought of giving blood was instantly planted in my mind and set off a physiological chain reaction.

I started to feel lightheaded. I could feel the blood drain from my face, my stomach started to churn and my mouth went dry. I felt agitated, fidgety and hot.

I excused myself to get up and get a quick drink of water and next thing I know I’m waking up dazed and confused on the floor looking up at the ceo of the company and my concerned new colleagues.

God knows what they were thinking and obviously it was a bit embarrassing but I got over it and simply told myself that when you fall down you just have to pick yourself back up and get on with it.

It’s a frustrating problem though and even more so when you know it’s all in your head. I know they don’t hurt. I’ve had them plenty of times before yet still feel the same way. It’s a phobia, an overly irrational fear of something that really can’t do any harm.

Now I can’t even guess the number of friends from home that have asked me about Australia and advice on moving here yet sadly very few make the leap and do it despite openly admitting that they are bored and want to make a change.

Trying something new, moving to a new country or, God forbid, leaving a job can seem scary but like the hepatitis and typhoid injections I had to get today for my trip I was making it the experience much worse in my mind thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

When I actually went the doctor was awesome and although I had my usual dizzy spell it was over before I knew it, and nowhere near as bad as I had imagined. Whats more, even though it wasn’t a particularly enjoyable experience I was still happy that I had bit the bullet and got it done and ultimately I was better off from the experience.

Now not that anyone should take life advice from me and I don’t claim to have done anything all that special but I do know some people would like to make some changes in their lives so I guess the point of then of this post is to say that if you want to do something do it and try not to let worrying about the little things hold you back because as you now know, you are already much braver than I am.

Questions and Comments?

  • Do you have any bad phobias?
  • Have they ever held you back from doing something you wanted to do?
  • If you have something you want to do (Travel, live abroad) or an idea for something you want to start (like a business, a blog or writing a book) do you feel you have any fears or worries holding you back?

Miles Davis Fear Quote

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Good Things Happen When You Take Action – The Reaction to my Bali Blog

by on February 27, 2013

Yesterday morning I announced my Indonesian adventure plans to the world via Facebook and the response that I received was overwhelming.

I had so many positive comments on the post and on the blog wishing me well and letting me know that I’m not alone in this endeavour.

Within a few hours of posting I had already been contacted by a previous colleague about the possibility of some freelance SEM work which was absolutely awesome and me realise once again just how things start to move into place when you take action.

It reminded me of a quote that is a favourite of a very good Estonia friend of mine.

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The best message I received all day was from a very good and very old friend.  A friend with who I spent a happy childhood playing football who then moved with his family to the south of Ireland and didn’t get to see much of.

He’s a great guy with a real passion for helping people and someone who wants to make a real difference in people’s lives… I’ll let him tell his story…

“Kev,

Wanted to drop you a PM in response to your blog! What can I say other than I cannot really put properly into words just how much i admire you putting your dreams out there and giving it a go. That instinct is in all of us somewhere but taking the steps to act on it takes something else. It does make you wonder though why some people find it so hard. It’s like you said, people are tied into responsibilities and worries about all the what if’s so they turn into those old people regretting never having lived this one life they have been given.

In a lot of ways I feel tied into your mind set on a personal level. The biggest life changing event for me was the moment I got the phone call that my best mate, pretty much my brother had just been killed in a car accident. It was you I was on facebook to at the time I got the call. Since that time in my life I have been filled with all sorts of questions about what life is about, why him and not me, and what would I do with my life to honor his memory and not waste what I have. The first thing i did was arrange a volunteer trip to Tanzania because I had always been fascinated by African culture and especially Maasai tribal culture. I said i would do it for him so I got his name permanently tattooed on my wrist and away I went. That experience changed my life forever and I have since returned and am currently sitting waiting to hear back about a job application I sent with the hope of getting a 3-6 month contract working as a volunteer coordinator in the country I have grown to love in amazing Africa.

One of my other big goals was to return to college to get my degree as I was never academically driven… Until I went to Africa and decided I needed something behind me to help me open this door on a more professional level. I came back from Africa in 2010, applied for my course, got accepted then quit my job! Then the panic hit… What would I do for an income? The grant was minimal and I had debt over my head from my car loan days. So I decided I needed to put more work into getting the cover band off the ground and use this skill to get me through. Basically I have done well up to now, my gigging has been good to me, I am debt free and am now about to finish my degree. The thing is now though I feel trapped again and need to get away. It scares the shit out of me that I will fail if I put myself out there in the world but it scares the shit out of me more that I won’t try! The other dynamic for me is Maeve, I plan to spend the rest of my life with this girl, something after 9 years I am sure off. Then I worry what if deep down she does not share the same ‘wanderlust’. Life is tricky huh! During college last year I was mentoring a girl from Myanmar. She had a truly inspirational story and again it made me put my life and aspirations into focus. Because I took so much inspiration from her I got her to write out the slogan ‘Live the life you love, Love the life you live’ in her native language which I now have permanently on my body in her handwriting as a reminder not to forget that.

 

Live the life you love, Love the life you live

“Live the life you love, Love the life you live”

Anyway I am getting pressure from all sides to stay on and improve my qualifications but although still the right side of 30 I feel I have what I came for in terms of academics for now… Somewhere in me still pulls saying stay at it but I want to get back out in the world and feel it has restricted me for about as long as I can take for the last 3 years. I have the dream image of running a beach bar in paradise and at times I tell myself well why does it have to be a dream… If for example I got offered this job in Tanzania I would have to leave a lot behind, the band which i am booked with until 2014, Maeve for a few months although she said she would leave her secure job and follow me out which reassures me on that side of life. Then of course there is the camper van and the dog.. my only babies! 

Reading your post probably could not have come at a better time, it has inspired me to think more deeply about my wanderlust plan and how I would go about it. I will be heading to Thailand with Maeve in June/July for 3 weeks which will give me a taste off all things Asian. I have decided to use that time to decide whether I will return to do add on’s in my course or get working and saving and head out into the world before I consider where I want to settle.

I am guessing from your posts etc that you are doing this on your own? The last time i met you it was all houses and mortgages.. Then something changed! You can say none of my business..

So anyway Kev all I can say is thanks for sharing the post, good work on following your dreams and I look forward to following it. With any luck we will cross paths on foreign or home shores soon. I must brush up on the surfing! Seeing as you are a man that likes an old quote here is one for you that fits your blog.. ‘Humanization is characterized by freedom’ (Paolo Freire)

Good luck.
Con”

Thank you to everyone who liked, commented and shared my post. You have helped to subside the fear and your support on this endeavor means the world to me.

Thoughts, comments and Questions

I feel I am very fortunate. Unlike my friend above I have never yet had to deal with a major life altering question issue or event that has really made me think about life and the purpose of it. I just have this awareness that the clock is ticking and that is what drives me to try and do the things I want to do.

  • Have you ever had an experience that made you question why you are here or realise that life is short that spurred you in a new direction?

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Why I’m Moving to Bali

by on February 22, 2013

Pura Ulun Danu Temple on Lake Bratan, Bali, Indonesia

Pura Ulun Danu Temple on Lake Bratan, Bali, Indonesia

Is it possible to move to Bali and make money online starting from scratch?

The background

In 2011 I was fed up of life in the UK. I decided to make a change and set about more consciously designing the life I wanted to live and after speaking to a good friend who had already done the same I moved to Australia. I had two 2 primary goals I wanted to accomplish with this lifestyle redesign.

The first was to secure a job in online marketing because I had been teaching myself how to build websites and make money from them and I wanted to work with other people who had and were doing the same thing. The second was to make sure I lived as close to the beach as possible so I would be able to surf everyday.

Once I had my mind made up I spent my next paycheck on a one way flight and working holiday visa. I worked hard to pay off my credit card bills and scraped together about $2000 to get me set up. Little did I know how quickly that would that go but luckily I have some amazing friends that were able to help me out by putting me up for the first month while I found a job.

I succeeded in my goal of landing a job in online marketing by working as a Google Adwords professional at Ikon communications and later Switched on Media, two really great and highly respected marketing agencies in Australia. After this I set my sights on sponsorship and a pay rise and after a long wait achieved both of those too. Neither was easy and it took lots of late nights and hard work to gain the knowledge and skills to succeed in my roles.

So after putting in all that time and effort to get sponsored why now have I now decided to give it all up?

This is a great question and one that has made the decision for me to do this all the more difficult but the truth is I felt that I was stagnating again. I had the job and a bit of security but I had stopped pushing myself and was settling into a new comfort zone one where I was saying to myself “You have a good job, you live by the beach, just be satisfied with that.”

While I am extremely grateful for that and for all that I have, I am not satisfied. What I mean is that there are things in life that I want to do and things in life that I want to achieve that I am not prepared to give up on.

The Cost of Travel and Adventure

Like most of us I have a desire to travel, to see the world and go on exciting adventures. At the same time I want to have success financially. This leads to an internal conflict between the backpacker bum of my personality and the side of me that is the wolf of wall street and desires financial success. While I want that financial and business success I know that money isn’t everything, money is just a tool to do the things you want to do and really it’s just a made up idea that doesn’t actually exist so I am conscious of exchanging the only life I have for it to one day be an old man and regret not doing the things I wanted to do.

Wanderlust mountains

The problem is that we often see that travelling and careers or business success on diverging roads that can not co exist and are forced to choose one or the other. After or before University it is acceptable to take a gap year but after that its time to don the suit, the tie and the sensible shoes and settle into the 9-5 routine.

In 2013, with the technology that we have available I really believe that does not have to be the case and in fact I know this because moving to Australia accelerated my professional and personal development that anything else ever in my life.

So as I move to Bali it’s not just about being the backpacking bum, it’s about exploring new opportunities, exploring future trends in business, gaining a greater understanding of the global economy that effects us all and leveraging all of that and the technology available to live an exciting and unconventional life.

The Plan

The plan is essentially to test drive this idea of working remotely and building a business from Bali, my exact plans for generating income I will share in a future post but for now just know that others have done it and it’s well within the realms of possibility. For at least the first two months I will be based in Bali and Indonesia where I have organised to meet up with some entrepreneurs already running very successful online businesses from Bali. At the same time I want to improve my surfing, study yoga and learn meditation. After that I may stay another month or move elsewhere in south east Asia before returning home to Ireland in July for my sisters wedding during which I will review the success of the journey and decide on the best next steps.

If I can make it work then the possibility of indefinite world travel opens up to me and if not then I can always try again.

I want to share this adventure through my blog because I know there are many people that would like to do the same who are keen to know if this stuff really works. I believe anyone interested in online marketing, outsourcing and future trends will benefit from the insights that I gain on the journey.

But what if…

“But what if it doesn’t work? What if you don’t make any money, what if you don’t like it there?” There could be a hundred reasons I could create or allow people to tell me not to do it but in the end, if nothing else, I will have a great adventure, meet some really interesting people, see some amazing sites and grow through all of the challenges travel brings so stay tuned for future posts as I share the story of the Indonesian experiment and future blog posts such as:

  • What Inspired me to move to Bali
  • My plans to generate income in Bali
  • The potential cost 0f living in Bali vs Australia
  • Things I want to learn in Bali
  • My Bali bucket list and much more

Share your thoughts!

Iwould love to get your feedback and hear your thoughts and opinion. I answer reply personally to all comments so please let me know if…

  • You have ever thought of working remotely or even working abroad?
  • Do you suffer from the the internal conflict of wander lust or is it just me!?

 

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