anyone own a (sucsessful) business in spain?

[spanish_lad]

i´m just wondering how many people here have started their own business or do you all work for other people ?

[poshtotti]

After not working at all for 2 years (lazy mare that I am) I would find it very difficult to work for someone else again.

I have 3 businesses, all under one SL. I don't want to work 24/7 but earning a bit of pocket money is a bonus & choosing when I want to work is the biggest benefit. I subcontract people, they turn up, do the work & go home. I do the paperwork, manage the diary, the marketing & finance......sometimes I work 14 hours in a day sometimes I don't work for 3 days.

[spanish_lad]

what do you do miss poshtotti? i mean, what type of business?

[chrisuk]

I'll let you know how it goes, Im going back into being self employed again after a 6 year break, why I didnt go do it when I got the UK I will never know, guess it was cos of the communist red tape that put me off but Spain will be a different story as they are more geared up for it there, so my research tells me

[mark]

Spanish.....are you picking peoples brains so that you can have a bash at starting your own company??????

[frank]

guess it was cos of the communist red tape that put me off but Spain will be a different story as they are more geared up for it there, so my research tells me

I know nothing about setting up a business, but from a lot of what I have read, Spain can more than equal us when it comes to red tape. Seems quite simple things can be really slow and protracted. Think you could be in for a surprise if you think it will all go smoothly! A quote from andalucia.com site,

Spain is a fairly bureaucratic country, with a red tape tradition going back centuries. Part of the problem stems simply from the number of public "servants" who need to generate work for themselves.

It's wise to embark on any bureaucratic adventure with the clear expectation that it could take much longer than you would like to think it will.

A Good Book
As you never know how many hours you might spend in queues, it is always a good idea to bring some good reading material with you.

[fincalospinos]

Hi Spanish - I am lucky enough to be self employed, mainly renting out holiday villas ( which we own ourselves), and by servicing and maintaining them.
Frank is quiet correct in what he says about red tape, however we have not found it any worse than when we had a business in the UK.
My advise to anyone starting up is to get themselves a good Spanish lawyer ( yes they are around), and accountant. They will make sure that you have the correct licenses, advise on what rate of IVA you should charge, and sort out your quarterly taxes, and let you get on with running the business.
If you get them involved at the start you can avoid many of the pitfalls, and if you think that they are an unnecessary expense, then maybe you are looking at the wrong business.
The other thing to consider is National Insurance ( Tesoria) which is currently around 230 euros / month. This is payable by all self employed people.
Having said all this, it is still easier to be in business over here, and the tax system is such that you can actually keep some of the profit you make !!
If you have an idea for a business, have a go, but dont go in underfunded, and keep it legal.

[katy]

The most successful Brit businesses out here seem to be the ones who are not overtly British. I know some who have million pound plus ones out here and you wouldn't realise they are Brits. On the other hand of nearly all the businesses I have known here most of them don't seem to be around for more than a few years.

There is a Brit bar in Fuengirola, same people for 15 years and a lot of their clients are spanish, prices cheaper than the spanish one next door, good cheap food and spanish speaking staff.

I used to think would like to open a womens clothes shop as here they only seem to cater for the very young or old. You have a choice of showing your tummy button or wearing eighties padded shoulders if you are in the middle age bracket. Couldn't be bothered though, bit time consuming.

[spanish_lad]

Spanish.....are you picking peoples brains so that you can have a bash at starting your own company??????

nope, taking over an existing one. well, my parents are looking at it. the owners want to retire, its a fairly sucsessful place..not a bar lol.. i´m just thinking is it possible for a brit to run a decent profit making company.

[spanish hopes]

Invite chrisuk in as a consultant. It doesn't really matter what the business is because by reading through his postings he is indeed multi-talented.

[katy]

Spanish Hopes, funny I've been thinking that myself.

[mark]

Good luck then SL. My only advice is....be fair, honest and open. Your reputation is the most important thing.

[fincalospinos]

Spanish wrote

i´m just thinking is it possible for a brit to run a decent profit making company.

Richard Branson does

[Beachcomber]

... My only advice is....be fair, honest and open. Your reputation is the most important thing.

Yes, forget commercial advertising in any form. Personal reputation and word of mouth is the only form of worthwhile advertising and it is free!

[Midnight Rambler]

what do you do miss poshtotti? i mean, what type of business?

I'd like to have the same kind of job, I work about 14 hours every day, what DO you do Poshtitti??

[Midnight Rambler]

I swear to you that was a typing error, look at your keyboard!!

[nevada smith]

'forget commercial advertising in any form'... is
somewhat of a weak generalization -
as a former owner of an advertising agency i will acknowledge that
1. advertising is not for everyone or business, however
2. i never failed to deliver agreed upon results to any client i signed, nor
3. did i 'win' every project i bid on, nor
4. did i sign every client who wanted to hire me...
a lot of people take pictures, print brochures and write paragraphs. but
very few have any idea what advertising is or is supposed to do -
that includes agencies as well as clients...

[chrisuk]

forget commercial advertising in any form. Personal reputation and word of mouth is the only form of worthwhile advertising and it is free!

mmmmm dont agree with this to be honest, I had my own business in SA for along time, I too thought I wont advertised, there is however alot of stratigic placing of adds, depending on what you do you can win it over big time, here's a good one, lets say I wanted to go into pool maintenance, ha ha, there's so many do it already....is that so, now this tells me alot, keep an eye on the adverts, the company who is doing pool repairs is either going to re advertise a few good times and then ooops, he's gone, if you see alot of these then its not worth the risk, however if a lot of adds sem to be repeating them selves for months on end yor're onto a winner, it indicates there is business to be had, one of the most important business palns to have when you go for it, another is to go see people, offer discounts and be truthful and remain that way, I did and I went along time, never ripped off anyone, I leave that too the big companies as some people tend to like being ripped off, oh its a brand thing and the name they say.....sadly the people doing the repairs or making something are like you and I, changing jobs is the norm.
Word of mouth is critical, if you make a screw up offer to sort it out, if you cant do it right away, seek advice, even if it means cap in hand, d othis and you will go along way, also you need to be able to adapt rapidly and think about adding onto your business, ok so lets say I do pool cleaning, ever thought about approching companies that have these luvly water features, be it big or small, no it doesnt end there, " you know some colour changing lights would look nice in tha tfeature over there" thats what I would do but its not my field. in in doubt research research and again research, like they say location location location,

Cheers

[kevin77]

Look forward to seeing you on the TV, Chris in about six months time. You know one of those 'we escaped the rat race and lived happily ever after' type programmes.
You sound like you have got it all worked out, can we buy shares in your company yet?

[Beachcomber]

Advertising is a bit like the King's new clothes. Everyone does it because they feel they ought to.

OK, I admit to being prejudiced. I am neither an advertiser nor a consumer. I have a Flash blocker and ad blocker on my computers and on the odd occasion that I want to watch anything on a commercial television channel I record it so that I can fast forward over the adverts. I would never, ever, even consider picking up a freebie advertising magazine and I would never employ anyone or buy anything because I had seen it in an advertisement and as far as I am concerned the whole advertising industry is built upon deceit, exploitation and indoctrination.

My wife and myself both built up successful independent businesses from nothing when we first came here just over twenty years ago without ever advertising. I sold mine for a considerable sum about ten years ago but my wife still runs hers and is so in demand that she is in the happy position of being able to turn away people she would prefer not to accept as clients.

Hence my 'weak generalisation' of forgetting commercial advertising in any form.