Lock-down? So What You Gonna To Do?
Fri Apr 03 2020 22:19:00 GMT+0800 (Malaysia Time)
Namaste 
from day 8 of lock-down Bali.
Last week I was telling you about Tomas leaving me here and me finding out I couldn't go to China. Also a quick round up of AW people situations. You can read about it here.
Since then, I had to move hotel, where I was, was nice but too expensive for long term even when they offered me a discount. Anyway sooner or later like all the hotels in Bali they will close.
So I checked on Hotels.com and Booking.com to find something cheap, because like everyone else at AW I have to cut costs. Strangely no amazing deals showing up.. so I decided to just walk and ask in the other hotels nearby.. then I learned why..
"Sorry sir, new lock-down rules for hotels" .. oh what rules I asked? "No new check-ins allowed". OMG.. I suddenly had visions of me sleeping on an abandoned sun-lounger under a frangipani tree in a hidden corner of the beach.
So face mask on, observing social distancing (pretty easy because almost no people) I walked and walked asking in any hotel lobby that seemed open.. same story..
So what could I do.. I sat in an empty cafe (the only one open) and ordered a fresh coconut, and googled villa rental.. up comes a website, a villa letting agency.. A reach me by WhatsApp button.. oh joy.. minutes later I'm chatting with a nice Bali lady who is asking what my budget is.. so I start low.. "OK" she says.. "I can do that" and sends me pictures of potential places, but warns me all private villas are filling fast as hotels close.. She asks for my location and says she will pick me up in ten minutes and take me to view.. OK thanks.
Five minutes later she arrives on a funky Vespa and says jump on the back.. No!! I cry - I can walk.. that's not social distancing, and anyway I'll get a bad back doing that.. so I walk half an hour back the way I came. She is waiting for me on the side of the road with an elderly posh lady from Switzerland, who owns a plot with eight small villa's. I'm hot and sweating, from walking in the sun and quite conscious I must look like I have a fever..
Bali is closing.. hotels are shuttering up.. many restaurants write fond love letters to their customers.. others just say "We are Closed"..
Streets, closed up restaurants, closed up beaches.. Bali is closed.
So now I'm working from my new home, just like you and so many other people. And modern technology, it strikes me that before we were not so sure would work.. and guess what? It's working pretty damn fine.. Haha who'd have known? After this is all over - many things will change, for sure people will travel less, shaking hands will be replaced by Namaste, we will all chat and connect more online. It strikes me that lawyers, accountants and stockbrokers won't need expensive downtown offices.. retailers won't need expensive high street sites (as sales move online) and the world will need less airline companies and airports (and extra runways) - so commercial property prices will crash and burn.. with all the grim financial consequences that will bring. I'm sitting here trying to think how this might all play out longer term. One things for sure you have to be planning what to do about it now rather than later..
So what are you doing all day?
When you are totally binged and up to-date with Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and done all you Wim Hoff (awesome no?) breathing exercises.. then what? hey, what you gonna do them hu?
Here's what.. you can invest your time in: Your Future.. build more and better online stores.. (yes more than one) and channel your creative energy into creating something special.
And (I hear you ask) How the hell am I going dispatch orders when I can't even leave my bed? We have the answer: AW-dropship.com now in full swing. If you are thinking big you can even register with our Slovakia and Spain distribution centres and sell across Europe as well.
In Sheffield, Tomas and Katka are leading our minimum team in safely working to still pick and pack your orders. Rest assured every measure is been taken.. safety first. Just like the NHS Hero's we have our AW Hero's who are masked up wearing latex gloves and are keeping your orders flowing.
Of course signing up for our drop-shipping site is not the whole answer. I keep getting emails from people asking me what to do next? Well dear retailers.. you need to make retail sites.. you can sell on Amazon (if you want to give the evil empire all your stats) or ebay or many other similar emerging platforms. And yes you should, but ultimately you need your own online webshop. Sometime in the future there will be an AW (almost) free shop for our customers.. you can make and add AW products and your own to.. it is in the IT pipeline.. but for now.. here are my top website creating recommendations.
My advise: Forget Presta shop and magento.. those guys are old school and bogged down with their own self importance, there are more cool systems these days..
1. Shopify - probably the most popular these days and we are working on a plugin for this first to streamline AW dropshipping and Shopify. At $29/ month you pretty much get what you pay for but what many people don't realise with Shopify lite, (just $9/month) you can add order buttons to any site even facebook, and sell stuff everywhere.
2. Squarespace - I have had a little experience with this, and was delighted how easy it is to make a cool website quickly. An eCommerce site starts at £20 / month.
3. Bluepark - this I like because you can add your own payment method in the cart.. meaning your giving a cut of your sales to the platform. Gets good reviews. From £25 / month
4. Wix - this is cool but budget.. you can pretty much make it do what you want. I have played with it in it's early days and it was good then. From about £10 / month (or even free - but don't do that it's not a cool look)
NB: These are just my recommendations - full disclosure - AW nor me is getting money for your clicks so these are completely unbiased suggestions.
If you know any others that are good, let me know.. and we can share.
I don't want to upset you, but I'm reliably informed that here in Bali you can order a same day home service covid-19 test, a nurse will visit, take the test and message you two days later the result.. cost about £40.
I was thinking to get tested, for peace of mind. I have no worrying symptoms, so perhaps not. But if this service can be organised here by a private lab - why not in the UK?
Take care and stay safe.
More news from my kitchen table in Bali next week.
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