Business

This 33-year-old left the US for Bali – he now lives on $74 a day


Olumide Gbenro has never called a place “home” for long.

The 33-year-old businessman grew up in Nigeria until he was 6 years old, when his minister parents decided to move to London. Then, seven years later, Gbenros was granted a visa to immigrate to the United States through the country’s green card lottery — so Olumide, his parents, and two siblings moved to Columbus, Ohio.

“As a person of color, I feel that there are certain times in my life when I don’t feel valued as a person,” Gbenro said. CNBC Make It of blacks who grew up in the Midwest. “I always feel left out.”

Gbenro wants to lead a creative life: a life filled with travel, art, and the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. But his parents wanted him to be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer.

In 2016, he completed a dual master’s degree in epidemiology and behavioral sciences at San Diego State University. He finds himself caught between two paths: going to medical school and becoming a doctor or traveling the world.

“My whole life, I just followed the rules, whether it was parental, religious or social,” he said. “But deep down I knew that if I took the place in the PhD program, I would never go back, I could never travel abroad… I would be stuck in a trap. lab, so I decided to say ‘no.'”

Gbenro packs all his belongings and leaves America to explore the world – but it will take him years to land in Bali, his forever home.

Become a digital nomad

Gbenro’s first stop is Berlin, where he has friends from college. He was there for three months on a tourist visa between the couches and friends’ dorms.

When Gbenro left the United States, he had “nearly zero savings and no plans.” He quickly grew his Instagram after posting travel tips, dance videos, and other stuff. Gbenro decided to monetize his hobby: He would message other creators and businesses on Instagram and offer to help them improve their social media strategy for a fee (usually $250 ).

Gbenro recalls starting a remote business as “really difficult at first,” but soon he had enough clients and enough income to turn social networking into a full-time job. mine. He took an online course in social media marketing that helped him structure his business, and an old friend in San Diego introduced him to his first two clients.

After his visa expired, he traveled to Mexico for four months, then returned to San Diego. “But I realized that I’m still not happy living in America,” he said. “There’s something about living in America that makes me feel like I don’t grow up.”

He continued: “As a black man, I had a trauma and the pressure of living there, especially as an immigrant, I felt like I didn’t fit in.”

Gbenro officially launched his social media marketing business, Olumide Gbenro PR & Brand Monetization, in 2018 while he was still in San Diego, collaborating with celebrity chefs, real estate agents, and real estate agents. , business coach and more. Despite his success at work, Gbenro still yearns for a change.

One afternoon, he was scrolling through Instagram and stopped on a photo of a friend of his traveling in Bali. She is relaxing on a beach, surrounded by lush palm trees, with a coconut in her hand.

“It looks like the perfect place to live,” says Gbenro. online, looking really happy and like they spent a lot of time in the wild. “

In 2019, he found an apartment in Bali through an Instagram acquaintance, booked a one-way flight and never looked back.

‘I’m living a lavish life’

Since moving to Bali, Gbenro has been able to spend more on traveling, dining and other hobbies as well as increasing his savings. “I never worry about money anymore because Bali has a much lower cost of living than the US,” he said.

For the first nine months in Bali, Gbenro used a tourist visa. Indonesia offers tourists a single-entry visa valid for 60 days and allows for four extensions of 30 days, plus a six-month stay. Gbenro will fly to Singapore or Malaysia for short-term trips after his visa expires, then renew on his return.

Soon he switches to an investor visa, asking for proof that you are contributing to the local economy. Gbenro expanded his marketing business to help people advertising their properties in Indonesia qualify for a visa he renews with the local government every two years.

As an entrepreneur, Gbenro earns about $140,000 a year. In addition to his consulting business, Gbenro hold some conferences for digital nomads, including the Digital Nomads Summit, which attracts thousands of people and will be held in Bali this September.

His biggest expenses are rent and utilities, which add up to about $1,010 per month. Gbenro lives in a one-bedroom apartment in a building with its own gym, swimming pool and restaurant downstairs.

He spends about $600 a month on takeout and dining out, often ordering food from local restaurants on a popular app called Gojek. Gbenro’s other larger expenses include health insurance, commuting (he rents a motorbike) and commuting.

Gbenro loves to travel at least once a month and often ventures to Uluwatu, a small region on the southwestern tip of Bali known for surfing.

“I could spend the same amount of money every month if I lived in San Diego, but my quality of life is much higher,” he said. “I’m living a lavish life.”

Here is Gbenro’s monthly spending breakdown (as of January 2022):

Olumide Gbenro average monthly spending

Gene Woo Kim | CNBC Make It

Rent and utilities: $1,010

Dish: $600

Carriage: $98

Phone: $28

Health Insurance: $137

Travel: $300

Laundry: $60

Total: $2,233

Love Bali

Gbenro said the most challenging part of building his new life in Bali was fighting loneliness. He explained: “I went to the beach every day, drinking coconut water and watching the beautiful sunset, but I live alone and have no friends here.

After starting to visit co-working spaces in Bali and attend live networking events, Gbenro said it became easier to build close friendships with expats and locals a lot of. He knows conversational Indonesian, but said a lot of people living in Bali also speak English.

“I am truly loved and welcomed by the Balinese,” he said. “Everybody’s always smiling – there’s a really genuine, heart-centered tone here that you just can’t get anywhere else.”

Olumide and a friend went for lunch in Bali

Ruda Putra for CNBC Make It



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