Making money in Bali

It looks like paradise, its feels like paradise, it is paradise! Now how the heck do I make enough money to live here? That is the question, many Bali visitors pose to themselves.

Bali’s selection of expats is really a mixed bag. I’ve met educated, cultured people, without much business sense, and total dimwits, who have managed to engineer a situation whereby they have an income. A guy I met the other night, who looked like he just got out of jail, told me he has 2 properties in the UK that he rents, which return an income of 6m rp per week. Basically all he has to do is wipe is ass, and get drunk everyday. That’s not my goal, but its cool he has the time to do whatever he wants.

A recent post on the Bali Expat Forum ask the question, ‘How do I make money in Bali?’ My answer would be ‘the same way you make money anywhere else, you write a business plan and flush out what will work’.

The deal out here is, in order to work for an Indo / western company, you have to get KITAS. A PT company can only sponsor a limited number of people for KITAS. So they will be very picky about who they hire, for the salary expense too. In Bali you are competing against people who will work for $50 a month. You have to utilize your assets, which in the case of a foreigners are : foreign passport, the internet, foreign connections, better education, savings.

A mate of mine in the surfing industry told me, he has to hit the market from a variety of angles, not just rely on one thing. Unless you’re a genius, you’ll have to do the same most likely. I know westerners who operate their own warung and do okay. The only thing is, if the food is anything other than Indonesian, they have to be there all the time, or things go to hell. Can’t say I’d enjoy moving to Bali, to sit in a kitchen all day, supervising sandwich making. But what the heck, if that’s what you do in the west, maybe doing it in Bali is a step up.

Interesting subject.