Why I left my 9-5 job and moved to Bali!

Why I wanted to move to Bali - Escaping the modern 9-5 job

There are many reasons why I decided to move to Bali, but let’s start from the beginning. A year and a half ago, I came to Bali for the first time on a very spontaneous, unplanned, and may I say quite chaotic trip. At that time, I had recently graduated from USC and found myself in a pretty common situation of any recent grad: I was overworked at a 9-5 job that I wasn’t passionate about and became bogged down with the post graduation blues. From being micromanaged by my boss to coming home way past dark, I constantly asked myself - “Is this all there is to life?”.

I knew deep down that it wasn’t and I knew there was more to life than that. I couldn't imagine living this corporate lifestyle of working 9-5 everyday with only short weekends and 2 weeks a year for vacations. Living in the constant chase for happiness in climbing the corporate ladder for the rest of my life, was my worst nightmare. The thought repulsed me to my core so much that I quit my job on a Friday afternoon, booked my flight to Bali that night, and left 2 days later by myself with one small backpack and zero plans. And by no plans I mean I didn’t even know where I was going to stay the night I arrived. This might sound crazy to some people, and yeah it kind of was. But you gotta see where I was coming from. I had just left my very organized and type-A lifestyle and was craving freedom, spontaneity and adventure. So I decided to keep my plans open and go with the flow.

This decision proved to be hectic and stressful, yet completely freeing and rewarding at the same time. It was on this trip that I learned how to let go of trying to control every situation and allowed myself to just go with the flow. My 1 month trip turned into a 2 month trip of unplanned adventures, travels to Thailand, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, meeting amazing new people, spontaneous trips with strangers, and deeply internal spiritual revelations about myself and what I thought I knew about life. After months of feeling depressed and anxious while living a repetitive and monotonous modern work life, I finally felt free, aligned and completely in love with life while traveling.

What I love about Bali - Freedom, Community and Balance

Bali is one of those places that felt immediately like home to me - more so than my actual hometown in Huntington Beach, California. From the moment I stepped on the island, I felt like I could finally breathe and be completely me. It’s hard to explain Bali to someone who has never been. It’s like trying to explain how a rose smells or how coffee tastes - you just need to experience it yourself. Nevertheless, I will try to explain why I came to this magical little island of Bali in the best of my vocabulary.

One of the reasons I came to Bali is for the balanced and diverse lifestyle it offers. Bali attracts a diverse set of people from hustling entrepreneurs, spiritual yogis, all types of influencers, content creators, fitness freaks, models, families, honeymooners and more. Although these people are all here for different reasons on the surface level, deep down they are all craving the same thing: freedom, balance, community, and adventure. The reason why I chose to live in Bali is because I can literally achieve all of my passions of entrepreneurship, spirituality, mindfulness, adventure and travel from this small little island in South East Asia. Oh and I forgot to mention, the main reason we’re all really here is because of how affordable it is to live here. For example, an average meal costs $5, and the average cost of rent for a nice bedroom in a villa is about $500 a month or less! Compared to what I was paying in Los Angeles for rent, this was nothing, and for an entrepreneur just starting their company, it’s heaven.

So once I got back to the states, I promised myself that I would move to Bali in a year no matter what it took. I stayed in LA for a year after that and, low and behold, a year (and a few months) later, I packed up my things and moved to Bali.

Preparing for the move - cutting off all ties to Los Angeles

Once I got back from my first trip to Bali, I started making moves on creating a lifestyle that allowed for location freedom by starting a marketing agency from scratch. I had experience with marketing, branding and design from working full time for big tech companies so I simply took my experience from that, and started my own consulting agency. My first client was, funny enough, the company I left to go to Bali for a few months prior. Once I got my first client, I quickly got my second client and then my third. Before I knew it I had fully accomplished my dream of starting my consulting business and was working from home making more money than I ever had with my full time job.

The only problem with this is that I still found myself working insane hours, with no time for my passion projects and still being tied down to Los Angeles. At the same time of this realization, my consulting work started to dwindle down, as my clients couldn’t afford my services or decided to pause marketing efforts to raise more money. I believe the Universe, God, my higher self (whatever you want to call it), was making it very clear to me that I needed to stop working for others and go after my passions and finally move to Bali. So I booked another 2 month trip to Bali, this time with my boyfriend, Alex, to see if living there could be a possibility.

After my second trip in Bali, I knew 100% without a doubt that I needed to be here - and luckily so did Alex. So this time when I got back to LA I finally pulled the trigger and got rid of everything that was tying me down to LA. Everything seemed to work itself out perfectly and I had no obstacles in my way of preparing for the move. I left my apartment lease early and thankfully found a replacement so I didn’t have to pay any early termination fees. I sold a ton of my clothes and extra physical baggage that I felt was weighing me down. I found cheap last minute flights and an amazing co-living place to live in Bali. Alex and I started an online business a month before leaving and starting making more than enough money to sustain a live in not only Bali, but also Los Angeles. And two weeks into the New Year, Alex and I were on a flight to Bali, ready to start our lives as digital nomads!

Life in Bali Now

Well now, it has been almost a month since I moved to Bali and I couldn’t be happier. Life in Bali is exactly as I visualized it in my mind and exactly as I wrote it in my journal 6 months ago (#manifestationbaby). In the first week of being here, Alex and I met over 30 like-minded and inspiring people and can call a lot of them good friends now. Our business is going steady and I finally launched my passion business the Dreamers and Doers Club - mindfulness and productivity tools for women (join the club on IG: @dreamersanddoersclub)! I’ve accomplished more in the first month of being Bali than I did in 4 months back in LA. I feel motivated, aligned, balanced, high on life and I am so excited to see the rest of my dreams unfold in 2020.

What I’ve learned and how you can accomplish your dreams too!

I’ve learned a lot from this almost 2 year journey of waiting to go after my dreams. So for anyone who is in the same situation I was in a year and a half ago- that is - feeling stuck at a job you aren’t passionate about or wanting to go after your dreams but not sure where to start - I would like to give you some advice that I wish I could go back and tell myself (and that I actually still tell myself daily).

STOP waiting to do what you want to do, STOP waiting to be who you want to be and STOP waiting on external circumstances to dictate your life and who you are. If you’re waiting for the perfect time to finally launch the business, or waiting to finally feel ready to make the move - stop waiting. Because NEWS FLASH- you will never feel ready and the time will never be perfect - so stop waiting for that perfect moment that will never come and just take the first step.

Now in reference to my company Dreamers and Doers:

What is your DREAM, and what are you going to DO about it today?

- Kendall Fuhrman

For more inspiration and tips, Follow me along my journey:

My Instagram: @kendall.fuhrman

My Youtube: @kendallfuhrman

KendallFuhrman.com

Join the Dreamers and Doers Club!

Instagram: @dreamersanddoersclub

Get early access to the club here!