Aug 2020 - What a year to start a business in a foreign country!

Setting up a business in Spain may seem like an idyllic opportunity but it is NOT for the faint hearted. How the Spanish love paperwork...

If this is something that you are interested in doing, the best advice I can give you is: learn Spanish - you ARE going to need it!

In the beginning of 2020, I had saved enough money, and summoned enough courage, to move to the beautiful seaside town of Puerto de Mazarron. I was already living in Spain, but was set to relocate and had agreed to rent an empty space to turn into my gallery. Unfortunately, just as plans for the opening evening were being finalised, COVID19 hit Spain with its full force and all municipalities were placed into an extremely strict lockdown. I immediately lost money on advertising and printed publications, and spent my first ten weeks in a strange new town unable to leave my home.

Fortunately, I am surrounded by some really ‘salt of the earth’ Spaniards. The people I have been lucky enough to meet and form strong friendships with have gone above and beyond in order to help me, and I am so grateful for that.

The big planned opening night of April 3 didn’t happen, so we sort of limped into existence, stumbling through each day as we went. I had never done anything like this before, and except for my beloved rescue street dog Pancho, I was doing it all alone!

For the previous thirty years of my life, I had been a teacher - and so, I fell back into what I knew… I developed a few four week art courses and as soon as I was able to hold lessons in the gallery I started, taking feedback and improving the courses as the weeks went on. I am eternally grateful for the first students, who gave me hope, whose support became a sounding board, and who are now true friends.

So now, eight months on and COVID19 has still not gone away - we are currently in full force of the second wave. It is not so locked down as before, since we are now allowed to leave home, but freedoms are severely limited. There is an eleven o’clock curfew and you are not allowed to travel to the next municipality. You also have to wear a mask ALL. THE. TIME. Everywhere. (Even if you are walking outside alone in the middle of the countryside with no-one to be seen for miles) 

So you can imagine my terror when I was teaching in my gallery and the Spanish police pulled up right outside… and I was MASKLESS!

The Spanish police are very formidable and not to be messed with - they hand out hefty fines if you break the rules. They have a card reader in the police car or will escort you to an ATM to make sure that you pay the fine immediately.

At the time, luckily my student had her mask on but since I did not I remained seated and pulled my, now empty, mug of coffee tentatively closer.  The burly and hirsute officer entered, looking from person to person and asked for me by name. Shit!

“That’s me…” I said with a weak smile. He handed me an A4 document all written in Spanish and told me I had ten days to present myself to the Mazarron town hall. I became a small puddle of water… I panicked and, much too late, grabbed my mask like some sort of safety device.

The policeman left, and I made an extra strong cup of coffee.

I photographed the document and sent it to my number one go-to person in Spain. Javier, the son of the premises owner from whom I rent the gallery space. Javier speaks fluent English and is a very kind young man. He is not just the salt of the earth, he is a whole salt lamp! 

He advised me not to panic and suggested I hand the document over to my very efficient Spanish accountant, who is two things: totally an efficient account and totally Spanish. No English at all! 

Fortunately, she sorted it all out for me and I avoided the trauma of actually having to go and be subjected to the bureaucracy of the Rottweilers over at the town hall. For now, atleast…

Hasta la próxima mis amigos!

Rose