Start Me Up

I joined Start Me Up Careers for the 2 months internship program in Bali where I worked remotely for a company in the UK.

I decided to join the program because I wanted to experience the digital nomad life and to gain work experience at the same time, to see if it was possible to create a balance between work, personal life, and travel.

The experience was great because I found exactly what I was looking for and it helped me to start my career straight after my graduation. The team is very supportive and they help you to get comfortable and to get used to the new culture.

The best benefits of the internship were to be surrounded by inspirational and open-minded people with different skills and to have the opportunity to develop your personal goals, enjoying amazing views in a tropical weather.

I highly recommend this unique experience to anyone who loves travel but wants to be productive at the same time and explore the entrepreneur life.

My internship through Start Me Up was incredible. The program coordinator was hospitable, friendly, and in tune with what we wanted to experience in the startup culture. I felt I was pushed out of my comfort zone and that defined my strengths as well as my weaknesses. Working with a startup forced me to think in a different way and opened my mind to new directions of conducting business.
The startup world is crazy in the best sense possible. Start Me Up did an amazing job pairing me with Travello (solo travel app). I really connected with the crew and founders but I also learned invaluable assets I can use for my future.
The founders and my supervisor understood my goals to learn more about coding, website design and programming, marketing, social media managing, and public relations. My internship focused on running a campaign for Travello so I witnessed the ins-and-outs of how to market, push, redirect, and analyze a campaign.
My typical day working for Travello was leaving an apartment skyscraper with my fellow housemates and heading to Travello’s home office. In the mornings the crew would discuss the daily goal and after lunch, I’d head to the workspace with other startup companies. My case was unique in that I got both an office and coworking space experience. After the workday ended I headed to an event in the evening which varied nightly: events included a pitch-off series, sessions on marketing techniques, AI, computer programming, medical research and technology, and so many more. The nightlife after the events was fun to observe as the city came to life.
Overall, this internship wasn’t your typical deal where you work for hours without supervision or goals to increase your skills. It was so much more in that not only were my desires to learn specific things catered to by my startup, but the relationships I built will last a lifetime.
It was more than getting information to throw on my resume. It was an opportunity to build myself as a person, create lasting relationships, and gain life experience that will take me toward the right career path.
If I had to go back and make the decision between internships again, I would choose the exact experience I did back in January upon hearing my acceptance to participate in Start Me Up’s program. After all the laughs, beach days, hikes, food tasting, live music, dancing, one of the best things is that in Queensland is you’re never far from nature. There are miles of beaches and incredible wildlife around every corner. As any visitor to Australia will attest, the highlight of a trip down under is getting up close to koalas and kangaroos and getting photographic evidence to prove it!

Overall this was a positive and enjoyable experience. I was put in an apartment building where students going to nearby colleges lived and i was placed with three other amazing women who were part of the same program, who I grew to care deeply about and are still friends despite being countries apart. The company I was paired with was amazing. It comprised of genuine, determined people who wanted me to succeed just as much as they wanted their company to succeed. Start-me-up itself was admittedly unorganized just because they are a startup themselves and so some of the excursions and other minor things were not easy to navigate but it didn't take away too much from the rest of the trip being wonderful. Brisbane was a corporate paradise, a fun mix between the typical business city and a modern metropolis full of young ideas. There were coffee shops on every corner and enough things to do that we never got bored. I would recommend this program to my peers.

During my time in Bali I worked on a project developing an app that helps collaboration in co-working spaces. For the first part of the project, I was responsible for the design and UX of the app, so going from the idea to exactly what we want the app to look like.

The experience was absolutely incredible and I would definitely recommend it. For me, it was more than just an internship, it was the opportunity to do something different. I’m really into traveling and this program allowed me to do that and further myself as an individual career-wise. This internship has definitely changed the way I look at work. I never really realised that the world of remote work from anywhere in the world was possible let alone existed and it was incredible to have some insight into how it works.

I learn a lot on this internship, not just about UX and designing, startups and anything any workshops covered but about a totally new lifestyle. Working the hours you want, taking a yoga class in the middle of the day or going for a walk along the beach as a lunch break.

If doing something unexpected and out of the ordinary is what you're after then I could not recommend this enough.

I spent one month in Bali on Start Me Up’s startup internship program.

Working for a Start-Up allowed me to get involved within all aspects of the business. I began completing competitor analysis and market research for an Australian E-commerce business and as the internship progressed I was able to research digital marketing channels, plan social media and design landing pages using UX tool, Sketch.

I started the internship with little practical experience, so many of my tasks involved quite a learning curve! One of the main focuses of my internship was social media, so I learnt how to conduct competitor analysis, plan social media posts and research into digital marketing channels- all new to me. I was also Tasked with designing landing pages and emails, so I learnt design thinking techniques such as wireframing and how to use UX tools such as Sketch.

I also learnt highly transferable skills such as time management and self-motivation – which I found to be essential when working remotely.

I worked from a number of co-working spaces in Bali, most frequently the nearby Dojo in Canguu. It had its own café, swimming pool and a lively beach just 5 minutes walk away. There are always events and workshops to attend, as Dojo encourage skill sharing – a great way to meet other members and learn about new projects.

The Startup scene in Bali is so fresh and exciting. I met such a wide variety of people from freelance photographers and artists to coders and FinTech specialists. It just goes to show how diverse digital nomads can be.

Working with Start Me Up has been a memorable and rewarding experience. I’ll miss working overlooking rice paddies alongside amazing people, it really has been an opportunity I wouldn’t have found anywhere else! If you’re stuck trying to decide between work and travel - you don’t have to!