I’m back in Bali for the month of August … loving escaping Melbourne’s winter, slowing down, and spending a bit more time with the family. Back in May 2009 I brought Trish here for the first time – and wow, a lots happened for us since then.

Four years ago I was running a coaching business. There were ten business coaches around the country, a beautiful office, and things looked good (the finances weren’t that great, but that’s another story). I was working hard and deserved a holiday.

We came away for a week because that was as long as I could be away from the business without the wheels starting to fall off. I remember one very specific moment, we were staying in Amed on the north-east coast, and I was watching the fishing boats come in as the sun was coming up – here’s a photo I took at the time.

And I thought to myself, this is nuts. When I was at uni I could go overseas for two months. Now that I had a “successful” business, I could only be away for one week. So I made a decision that I was going to set up my business so I could run it from anywhere – and come back to Bali for two months.

I didn’t language it like this at the time, but the decision I made was to run a practice (based around just me and my expertise) rather than a business. Over the next six months I let everyone go, got rid of the flash office, and kept half a dozen clients that I loved working with.

Later that year we did come back to Bali for all of December and January. I’ve been running a practice rather than a business ever since, and haven’t looked back.

Love to hear your thoughts – what do you make of the practice vs. business decision? You can leave them below.