I always thought I was going to be a reporter.
I went to journalism school, did all the internships, and chased a career where you talk to interesting people and tell their stories for a living. I came close to landing a job at the BBC, but it didn’t pan out because of visa restrictions.
That should’ve been my first clue that I wasn’t meant to follow a straight line. After college, instead of applying for local reporting jobs and climbing the traditional ladder, I packed a bag and started traveling. What I thought would be a short adventure turned into years of backpacking — Spain, Turkey, India, Central America, Southeast Asia.
I loved the freedom, but I was anxious all the time. I didn’t know what I was doing with my life, how I was going to make money, or whether I was secretly wasting my potential.
The anxiety really peaked in India toward the end of 2020. I had a panic attack and began spiraling about my future. I flew home right before Christmas, hoping it would get me some answers.
One night, sitting on my sister’s couch, I half-jokingly said, “What if I just sell something on Amazon?” I immediately followed it up with, “I’m not starting a supplement company.” Which, of course, is exactly how I started a supplement company.
The idea came from my own travels. I was constantly getting sick, anxious, exhausted — and I hated carrying a million pills or plastic bottles. I wanted something simple that could support energy, immunity, and anxiety while you’re on the road. I kept saying, “If I were to build a supplement, what would I need to do?”
That’s how Co-pilot was born — one hypothetical step at a time.
I researched ingredients and hired a pharmacist to make a formula. After calling about 100 manufacturers and getting turned down by every single one for having such a long checklist, I finally found a company happy to produce what I wanted. On my next trip to Central America, I handed them out to other travelers in unmarked bottles and asked them how they felt three days later. People loved it.
It took me two years to launch the product, and the business took ages to take off. For a long time, it barely worked at all. I lost money learning advertising and almost quit more times than I can count. The first time I made money — not profit, just sales — I remember thinking, eight people wanted this. Eight strangers. That felt huge.
Around the same time, I ended up in Bali, which is when things started getting better. I didn’t move there with a plan — I was just tired of backpacking and was feeling burned out about the business.
Experimenting with different advertising techniques helped my sales improve, and I finally turned a profit after six months.
Now I live in Bali full time. Co-pilot does around $8,000 to $10,000 a month in sales. I’m launching an electrolyte company inspired by getting way too sick here and realizing how depleted the water can be.
I spend about $2,000 every month. I don’t work all the time anymore, and some months, I barely touch my laptop.
I didn’t set out to be a digital nomad or an entrepreneur. Bali has its problems, like the water quality, how often we have to renew our visas, and being so far away from home. But my boyfriend and I like to say Bali is our forever — for now.
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