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30/09/2010Book Review: The Secrets to Working and making a Living in Spain by Nick Snelling

Book Review: The Secrets to Working and making a Living in Spain by Nick Snelling Expatica’s book reviewer Vanessa Rocchetta digs into The Bootstrapping Book: The Secrets to working and making a living in Spain by Nick Snelling.

In his book The Bootstrapping Book: The secrets to working and making a living in Spain, Nick Snelling reasons that earning a living in Spain is possible but requires planning, thought and hard work.

Nine years after coming to Spain I have never been without work as an English teacher having followed Snellings’ advice. I took a TEFL course (Teaching English as a foreign language) before I left the UK and found a niche market: I teach adults in businesses.

Conventional work for working-age Brits in my area has dried up. Bars and shops are closing; estate agents have gone out of business. And due to fluctuations in the exchange rate many retired Brits would like a part-time job to supplement their income.

Snelling gives us some answers. In addition to teaching Snelling covers conventional work such as letting, the possibilities of legal work and problem solving from plumbing to construction (but concentrating on a specialist field). A large part of the book is devoted to making money by working on the Internet.

Firstly, I would say you need to ensure you are computer literate. I am 57 years old and reasonably computer literate, but many of my older compatriots are not. If they want to follow Snellings’ very concrete suggestions they need to enroll in one or two basic IT courses and, as he recommends, set up the Internet at home with a high-speed connection.

The first thing you need to do is research for a company with a product that's in the market and offer to promote them. It could be garden maintenance or English courses for adults with a technical background. Alternatively, you could launch your own product or service.

Snelling explains how Facebook, Twitter and other social network media are interdependent on websites and blogs marketing your product or the product you will promote. Do you know how to set up a blog, how do you obtain page one and position one results when someone searches for your product? Snelling gives you the links to many sites that will help you with these tasks.

Another area that interested me personally was the opportunity that exists to write articles as public relations for businesses. I have made a note of the sites and intend to follow them up!

As always in Spain networking is key, and you need to maintain contacts in the gardening clubs as well as put in time on the computer. Above all you need to be a good connector, or enchufe, as the Spanish say.

To order The Bootstrapping Book, or to learn more about Nick Snelling and his former published books, visit his site at www.culturespain.com.

Vanessa Rocchetta / Expatica



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