Business in Bali, why would you bother! Why would you want to work? I know Bali is Australia's favourite holiday destination but let's examine why it could make a great business destination too.
I recently ran one of my courses in the Expert in Your Industry series, which I run with expert business coach Maureen Pound, in Bali. We decided early on to offer this incentive to our long term clients as an opportunity to have a break from the day to day work and complete their annual business planning. Situated in stunning Nusa Dua, we enjoyed the Grand Hyatt hospitality, wonderful massages and tasty food. Not to mention the Bintang beer! Lucky I had my trusty Closest Beer smart phone application to find local bars :)
There were many learnings from running this event and I want to share them with you in my top 10 business in Bali tips:
Ensure you have a passport. Seems quite obvious, however we had several customers who couldn't locate their passport before they went and also one which was close to expiration. It plays to check these details at least three months ahead with your event.
Leave a day early. My Sunday night flight was cancelled so I missed the first day of the course on Monday, lucky for me Maureen was already in Bali.
Buy a meal. I purchased a meal on Jetstar, but due to the flight delays on my way back they ran out of food! So if you didn't order a meal there was no food available, not a good look when entertaining clients.
Prepare your currency. The local currency is Indonesian rupiah which I recommend you getting some before you travel. Your local bank or Australia Post will exchange currency for free. You can also use US$ for most transactions.
Pay for priority. You can pay and extra US$20 or approximately 200,000 rupiah to be escorted through the visa on arrival and customs. I recommend buying this for you and your customers. The visa on arrival is US$20 so a total cost of US$40.
Get a Government taxi. On arrival at Dempasar airport there is an official taxi rank located as you exit customs, which you prepay for your journey. It is sightly expensive however reliable and quality service. To Nusa Dua it was 150,000 rupiah with no negotiation.
Book a Room. Most Bali hotels are open to the environment so quite humid. It's ok when you are on holidays but challenging when you are wearing business clothes. I suggest booking a room with air conditioning an regular supplies for your clients. However do review the costs as they can add up. Our room was US$50 per person per day for room, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.
Venture out of the resort. Not far from our resort was many local restaurants, shops and bars. All were very reasonably priced, accepted credit card and quality food. It makes for a much more interesting journey when you venture off the beaten track and enjoy the local hospitality.
Bring your own IT supplies. There is nothing more frustrating than when a projector doesn't work! My team couldn't get ours to work day 1 and on arrival I changed over the Mac to projector cable and it worked fine. Never leave home without your own cables.
Leave for the airport early. Nuda Dua is in a fantastic location from the airport. They have built a new freeway which costs US$1 and goes directly to the airport. From our hotel it was 20 minutes total. My last trip to Bali staying near Seminyak was a disaster travelling to the airport. I almost missed my flight as it took over 90 minutes due the horrendous traffic.
So there you have it, my learning experiences from running my first business event in Bali. I plan to run more events in Bali in the future because I love travel and it provides a different space to be productive with clients. All part of my plan to run a Personal Business, one which reflects my own values and maximises clients value. Who says you can't have a business that gives you the life you dream of?
I would love to hear how your tips for business travel so please share on my social media. I also have created a Pinterest board of my favourite adventures in Bali, feel free to review and add if you desire. Enjoy!
