http://www.francethisway.com/wp/value-of-things/2009/03/ Living in France and daily life for a UK expat in the French blog! Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:42:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/value-of-things/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15458 Boris Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:39:06 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=706#comment-15458 John, sounds like a good idea, every 50 euros helps and if you have a house somewhere well placed it sounds like a great idea. Don’t forget to check with your insurance company before starting , and I think there are probably rules that apply to people serving food and drinks that you would need to check out – your local mairie will point you in the right direction. Does your local tourist office have a list of local chambre d’hotes for passing visitors? Most do and will be the one place almost all visitors will stop at. Is your property situated where a sign on the house would be seen? If there is a significant English community nearby put the word about to attract people that have family coming over for a couple of days and need an extra room. I’m not sure what websites people look on for chambre d’hotes – keep thinking we should start one on ftw but I never have time. If anyone knows please post a comment below. The rules for small businesses are much improved under the new auto-entrepreneur system (talk to your chamber of commerce or tax office), which allows social charges to only be paid on actual earnings (not estimated earnings) – pretty radical. Re kick-starting, I’d keep the charges low for at least the first year, offer great service, and try and get a group of people who recommend it and want to come back – these are much the best kind of visitor to get. Sorry I can't give more useful help, I never quite grasped the b and b business in France... Good luck with it, keep us up to date how it goes. ps you're right, recent experiences with running a business, buying a pc etc have turned me into a cynical old git. But now, the sun is shining, I've just finished a big project...things are looking up! John, sounds like a good idea, every 50 euros helps and if you have a house somewhere well placed it sounds like a great idea. Don’t forget to check with your insurance company before starting , and I think there are probably rules that apply to people serving food and drinks that you would need to check out – your local mairie will point you in the right direction.
Does your local tourist office have a list of local chambre d’hotes for passing visitors? Most do and will be the one place almost all visitors will stop at. Is your property situated where a sign on the house would be seen? If there is a significant English community nearby put the word about to attract people that have family coming over for a couple of days and need an extra room.
I’m not sure what websites people look on for chambre d’hotes – keep thinking we should start one on ftw but I never have time. If anyone knows please post a comment below.
The rules for small businesses are much improved under the new auto-entrepreneur system (talk to your chamber of commerce or tax office), which allows social charges to only be paid on actual earnings (not estimated earnings) – pretty radical.
Re kick-starting, I’d keep the charges low for at least the first year, offer great service, and try and get a group of people who recommend it and want to come back – these are much the best kind of visitor to get.
Sorry I can’t give more useful help, I never quite grasped the b and b business in France…
Good luck with it, keep us up to date how it goes.
ps you’re right, recent experiences with running a business, buying a pc etc have turned me into a cynical old git. But now, the sun is shining, I’ve just finished a big project…things are looking up!

]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/value-of-things/2009/03/comment-page-1/#comment-15457 john hfalkner Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:53:18 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=706#comment-15457 Hi Boris - As fun,interesting and informative as ever, but do I notice a slight undercurrent of trepidation in your recent posts? Don't let the doom mongers get to you. As an avid reader of francethisway for sometime before we 'made the leap' - and still so a year after the event - I find your musings quite a good indicator as to the state of things. We are thinking of having a little B & B business here in Bourges, Cher Centre. It wont be/can't be anything grand since we only have one spare en-suite bed / shower etc in the small house. The occasional 50 euros drifting our way would be nice , especially as for the last year the ( lots of of ) euros have been drifting in the other direction. You would have experienced similar when you were putting your venture together, and probably still are with storm induced maintenance etc. With your take on the current economic climate, how would you kick-start such a 'micro' business? Being an attractive medieval town in the middle of France it is a good stopping off place on the way to the Pyrenees /the Southern coasts , etc - as several migration prone friends have discovered. Your thoughts appreciated, John Hi Boris – As fun,interesting and informative as ever, but do I notice a slight undercurrent of trepidation in your recent posts?
Don’t let the doom mongers get to you.
As an avid reader of francethisway for sometime before we ‘made the leap’ – and still so a year after the event – I find your musings quite a good indicator as to the state of things.
We are thinking of having a little B & B business here in Bourges, Cher Centre. It wont be/can’t be anything grand since we only have one spare en-suite bed / shower etc in the small house. The occasional 50 euros drifting our way would be nice , especially as for the last year the ( lots of of ) euros have been drifting in the other direction.
You would have experienced similar when you were putting your venture together, and probably still are with storm induced maintenance etc.
With your take on the current economic climate, how would you kick-start such a ‘micro’ business?
Being an attractive medieval town in the middle of France it is a good stopping off place on the way to the Pyrenees /the Southern coasts , etc – as several migration prone friends have discovered.
Your thoughts appreciated, John

]]>