When you ask to people who just came back from their first holiday in Bali, they might tell you about the smiling people, the beautiful sceneries and the overall magic they felt while being there.

Or if they are schoolies on a Spring Break trip, they will tell you about the amazing night life, the beautiful girls and the cheap food.

They probably experimented more than just this, but those would essentially be some of their main takeaways from the Island of Gods.

During my last 3 years living in Bali, I also experimented all of this.

But what makes me want to keep living in Bali for the next decade, goes way beyond.

Failing as a fuel

As some of you might already know, my first months in Bali were not so glorious, at all. Without going much into the details here, I got all of the money I had stolen, and struggled to get back on track.

I now joke about it, but the main reason why I stayed in Bali, was that I didn’t even have money to leave the country in the first place.

This alone gave birth to two of the main reasons why I fell in love with Bali.

Firstly, because when I was at my worst, without even enough money to buy my own food, a Balinese family offered to host me, for free, in their own house. They also gave me food as if I was part of their family.

I stayed with them for a month, and it helped me to bounce back and find my way out of my struggles.

Secondly, because this “bad thing” that happened to me also happened to be the most challenging situation I have ever faced. And even though it sounds strange to a lot of people, this extreme challenge is what led me to build some of my toughest strengths.

It taught me resilience, acceptation, patience and it pushed to be more resourceful than I have ever been before.

When I now tell my story and say to people I am truly grateful someone stole all my money back then, I deeply mean it.

Challenges I belong to

After a while, getting a “proper” job, quitting it after a month, doing freelance jobs, and eventually being successful once, when I did dropshipping, I realised that Bali was really the place where I wanted to be.

Yes, because of the people, of the food and of the sceneries. But much more because for a very long time, I felt that I belonged. Not the island itself, but to the challenges it was bringing to me.

And the more I got challenged here, the more I took it as chances for me to grow myself, and to give back, in some ways, to whoever needed it the most.

This is what love means, at least for me.

Being able to truly enjoy the good sides while accepting the challenges as opportunities to grow and love even more in return.

I know it sounds cheesy, but I mean it.

Fast forward to today, after 3 years living here.

During the past years, I managed to establish myself as a foreign investor, legally living full time on the island, and growing businesses.

I also became fluent in Bahasa Indonesia, opened the Hustlers Villa, and acquired my first land: 1,5 hectares of white sand on a gorgeous private island in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. We now sustainably develop this island into my next big venture, Reconnect.

The professional and personal network I created around myself during those 3 years, now allows me to not only run (and own) my businesses safely while complying with the laws, but also to help other foreign investors to establish themselves in Indonesia (saving them the 3 years of learning I went through to get there).

The summit as a start for the next climb

I know some people would look at this picture and think that I am successful, and in some way, I am.

I am more successful than 3 years ago, when I couldn’t even afford to pay for my own food, this is for sure.

But I am also aware that in the type of ventures I am heading to, I am still like a baby walking around in a playground, surrounded by a lot of smarter and hungrier people.

And this leads me to the last reason why it feels so special for me to live in Bali, and more generally in Indonesia.

Because here I know I can find the type of challenges that will keep pushing me beyond my current limits, leading me to grow on a daily basis. And those are the challenges I choose for myself to take over.

What else could I dream for myself than choosing most of the pains and the difficulties I am going through?

Everybody can decide to have goals and dreams, but not everybody decides what type of pain and challenges they are accepting to go through to reach those dreams.

If you ever happen to come to Bali, please be my guest, and come say hi at the Hustlers Villa.

I’d be happy to share more with you and, especially if you intend to grow businesses here, it would be my pleasure to guide you as much as I can.

Thank you for reading,

Thomas