Here! Here!
The few rules I have followed here are, with no surprise, similar to yours albeit with a few variations:
- Do only business that you can control YOURSELF from A to Z. Basically, it means that you should stick to small or mid size business. Still, a lot of money can be made, more than enough to live very comfortably in Indonesia. The most important thing is how manageable is your business, way before how much the turnover is.
- Keep a low profile whatever you do, whatever you make. No flashy office, warehouse, business name, vehicles. Never allow unauthorized people in your premises. Remain discreet on what you are doing, who your clients are, who your suppliers are, the number of employees you have...etc. Don't give unnecessary information about the company to your staff if you believe they don't need it. Only minimal controlled advertisement of your activities. Stay humble, do your money, take it and most importantly, shut up about it.
- If you think that one person is needed to do the job, hire a minimum of two to do it and make sure that you yourself can do said job. More often than you think your two guys won't show up to work in the same time. I have done business for 15 years here and this rule has been verified so many times that I've lost the count.
- Never, ever, for any reason and even if you think it is easy money, do business/involve in your business/talk about business with any chap in uniform marked POLRI or TNI. You will be screwed. Badly. Only fools believe that Police/Army Officers are here to Protect and Serve and would make ideal business partners.
- Never, ever think that your alleged connection would be of help to take you out from a difficult situation at no cost. In most case it's wrong. If you think you can't get out of trouble by yourself from a situation which may arise, run!
- If you do business with the government, forget the idea that you can win a tender without getting your hands dirty. I mean, real dirty. If you think otherwise, think twice. Been there, done that.
- Take with a truck of salt resume, letter of reference, professional experience, title and diplomas. Many are certainly genuine, held by highly qualified people who have worked hard to get them, but about as many are total jokes.
- Learn the language, understand the Culture and realize that you won't change it. You are not here for that anyway. The management methods which may work in your native country may not work here and may lead you to a severe depression and a lot of discouragement and disappointment if you refuse to/can't adapt.
- If you believe that everything is sh1t here, don't even think of doing business in Indonesia. You couldn't start more wrongly.
I love doing business here to be honest. Where I live doing business is definitely an adventure. Many times, when alone in my office in the evening, I think about my day and laugh about situation which have arisen and were totally unexpected and often hilarious if seen through the lens of my native Culture.