Growing Bali Abundance
Slowly I sold a lot of my items and had made enough money to make a second trip to beautiful Bali. I think I had around $10,000 this time so with expenses possibly about $7,000 to $8,000 to spend on new stock.
Mum came with me again and we boarded our plane to Bali this time I hoped to make some better business connections. A friend had suggested her driver Smiley she felt he was honest and genuine so I decided to give him a call. She was right I felt a connection with Smiley and he became my driver and his family became my Bali family. I ended up becoming close to him and his wife Paris and their son Jordan. They would invite me to ceremonies and also to their home which I will cover in later videos. This was so valuable as in future trips I would just tell Smiley what items I wanted and he would remember my shops as Bali was still new to me so I could not remember the areas or the streets. Smiley was always happy and when I was stressing trying to work out pricing etc. he would make me feel calm by constantly reminding me that I will end up in the same situation with or without stress so why stress "don't worry". He would tell me to be like the river and "go with the flow" something I realise now to be so important but this has taken some time to try to master. My driver was established so now I needed a good Shipping person as the last one I used did not package the paintings well so did not want to use them again.
It was Nyepi Day which is a day of silence even the airport is closed. Still being new to Bali we had no idea about Nyepi Day It is like the Balinese New Year celebrated unlike anywhere else on the planet. Even the airport closes on this day. The Saka New Year here is also known as the Bali day of silence. ... Leading up to Nyepi Eve, village meeting halls known as banjar showcase papier-mâché effigies called ogoh-ogoh. ... large statues that are paraded through the streets.
It is a great time as a tourist but if you have come to shop not so great as all the shops are closed. This caused me to feel a little stressed as this took out quite a few shopping days. In the end it all worked out well just as it usually does. On Nyepi Day you cannot leave your hotel you are basically in lock down there was black plastic at the front and back entrance so it was a forced day of rest which was nice. Mum and I headed for breakfast and met a man called Mark. There was squirrels in the trees that were dropping nuts like tornadoes onto his table so he moved to sit with us. It turned out that he had been exporting from Bali for many years and had shops in Queensland and did markets. He had since changed direction and was now doing Bali Huts. After spending the day with Mark he had offered to take us to the Kumbasari Market in Denpasar and show us around and also to introduce us to his shipping guy. This was fantastic as this was a great start to our second trip. When we met the shipping guy he seemed nice, he usually only did container loads. Mark told him to do LCL (Less than a container Load) for me as it would not be long before I did a container. When he said that it seems so surreal I could not even imagine shipping a whole container. It felt good that after a day talking with me he could see that as my reality which also I guess helped my confidence in myself. He said he meets lots of people that get ideas ship a container but then cannot sell the stock and never return. He felt I was doing it the correct way starting slowly.
Mum and I enjoyed this trip now having established a driver and a shipping guy. Mum was like a celebrity with the local suppliers they always were offering her a seat and water or something to eat and often giving her a small gift. They all asked her age and then told her how beautiful and strong she was. She loved it although it was often hot and probably a long day waiting around for me to finish shopping. Mum kept coming on trips until she had her hip replacement and then with the uneven streets of Bali it just became too hard and too risky in case she fell.
I now felt confident to come on my own I had my contacts so never really felt alone. My driver’s family lived opposite the hotel I stayed at so I knew his extended family so felt safe if ever I had a problem they would always be close by. Bali was now becoming my second home.
We sent home 5 cubic metres of stock on this trip and then stay tuned for what happened next…
Click the link below to watch our video series Behind Bali Abundance
