Expats frequently worry about money. But the good news is that there’s never been a better time to generate income on your terms – just make sure it’s you running the business and not the other way round.

Here are some tips on how to monetise your talents…

What is the biggest mistake expats make when choosing a business?

Traditional expat ventures - B&B, restaurant, bookshop, boarding kennels, property management – tend to be fairly labour intensive and have low profit margins.

They also require your physical presence, so, eventually, your lifestyle becomes just like the one you left behind – but warmer! These businesses are also subject to local supply and demand, leaving you open to competition from other expats doing the same thing.

What’s the alternative?

Rather than copying what everyone else is doing, the secret is to start from what makes you unique. Work from your strengths and choose something you enjoy doing anyway.

The real value of any work lies not in man hours but in the creative input. As an expert in your field, you offer more value. You get to do what you love, and you will attract like –minded clients, ready to pay for your services. People buy from people they like!

But how? What can I sell?

You can create your own products or sell other people’s products. Whichever model you choose (and you can do both!), you should ask the following two questions:

Q. How do I add more value to people’s lives?

(Money represents an exchange of value. Add more value = make more money.)

Q. How can I make the product or service reproducible?

This is best illustrated by an example. If you teach a First Aid class for one hour, you get paid for one hour of your time and you add value to the lives of a handful of people. If you record that class and sell the video online, you have a product you can sell, and add value to the lives of hundreds or thousands of people.

The potential is only limited by your imagination: think puppy training, hairstyling, motor cycle maintenance, fishing, guitar lessons? You get my drift.

Today you can get your book published on Amazon in a couple of weeks, on your specific area of expertise: rambling routes, history (of anything!), collecting (anything!), photography, investing etc.

If you prefer to sell other people’s products, there are plenty of vendors looking for new affiliates. You only need a piece of text on a website or Facebook page – no need to worry about storing stock, billing, shipping – the vendors take care of all that, and one of the biggest is Amazon!

The highest profit margins are on information products, such as “Cure Diabetes”, “Lose Weight”, “How to Install Solar Panels”.

How does it work?

Build a simple website or Facebook page around your specialist subject and write short information articles or reviews.

For example, your interest is in animals, set up a pet website, such as Pets in Spain or Natural Remedies for Pets. Write an article about a good pet carrier or grooming brush, insert a line of text from the supplier in your article – and they do the rest. The customer clicks on the link and, if they buy the product, the company handles the payment, ships directly to the client, and deposits 20 per cent commission in your bank account.

The possibilities are endless; I haven’t even covered freelance websites.

What message to take away?

Stop thinking about income in terms of selling your time for money. Learn to think in terms of adding value and serving others; your customers are waiting for you!

Oh, and make sure your dream property has a good internet connection!

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

Article by Ruth Sullivan, Originally published in the A Place in the Sun magazine - Issue 126

My favourite French recipe, the one I use every week, if not every day, is deceptively simple. But once you begin using it, you’ll never be able to go back. There aren’t any precise measurements, but that’s what makes it special: add a little bit of this, a pinch of that, to adjust the recipe to your preferences.

I never knew how to make a delicious vinaigrette à la moutarde until my mother-in-law showed me. Now I never buy the store bought stuff, because it just isn’t as tasty.

All you need is: quelques gousses d’ail (several garlic cloves), du vinaigre balsamique (balsamic vinegar), du vinaigre de cidre (apple cider vinegar), de l’huile végétale (vegetable oil; olive oil is often too dense/heavy), des échalotes (shallots), de la moutarde de Dijon (Dijon mustard), du miel (honey), du sel (salt), et du poivre (pepper).

Mettez quelques gousses d’ail (entières ou coupées) et des échalotes coupées dans un shaker ou un bocal hermétique. Mélangez le sel, le miel, et la moutarde dans les deux vinaigres dans le shaker. Ajoutez doucement l’huile et le poivre. Mélangez.

Put several garlic cloves (whole or chopped) in a salad shaker or a closed container. Mix the salt, honey, and mustard in the two vinegars in the container. Slowly add the oil and the pepper. Shake.

As I said, the exact measures can be determined by your own preferences (taste as you go). Typically, you want double the amount of oil to the amount of vinegar (divided equally between balsamic and apple cider). If you want your dressing a little spicier, add more mustard (if you can find the French brand Maille, use this!).

If, however, you like it a bit sweeter, add a little more honey. Make sure you make the dressing in a large enough container where you can store it for the week. As you keep the dressing with the garlic and shallots, the flavour will mature over time.

Bon appétit!

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Pucker Up! Bises vs. Bisous

It is always a sure fire blogging success when you title an article 'French Kissing' but here we are looking at the difference between two words, just a nice little post that does not include the word 'Brexit', darn it I have said it again! to clear up any confusion you may also be having with some similar confusing pairs.

If you have mastered c’est vs. il est, dans vs. en, and encore vs. toujours, let’s explore another pair.

Grab your rouge à lèvres (lipstick) because this post involves your soup coolers!

Image courtesy of Céline Mosnier on Flickr.

Ah, lips. They’re the first things to crack in the winter. They’re your first line of defence to cool down your food. They’re what you use to whistle. They’re needed to make the French U sound. They’re also required for the famous French introduction known as la bise.

La bise has been discussed before – what it is, how to do it, how many to give… all that good stuff. In the same post, the word bisous pops up, and we’re told they both mean kiss. I didn’t go into detail there, so let’s delve into that now.

What’s the difference?

We’ll start with la bise. After all, it is an integral part of faire la bise.

Une bise is a simple peck on the cheek. It isn’t romantic and this friendly gesture can be used between anyone. That being said, it mostly exists between males and females or females and females. Two males may do this if they’re family or very close friends, but most men still prefer to shake hands.

A letter or message can also be signed with “bises” (note the pluralisation) as a closer. I remember receiving a message on Facebook from someone I liked that was signed with bises. Naturally, I had to ask all my friends if there was any kind of romantic undertone there that I wasn’t aware of. Alas, it was merely a goodbye, and we both stayed single…

So how about un bisou? Bisou is more informal than bise, and it can refer to either a peck on the cheek or the lips. This is the big difference between the two words: because this can be on the lips, bisou can be used as a goodbye to either a friend or lover! When you see it written at the end of a letter or message, it’s generally always in the plural (who just wants one kiss?).

So there you have it! Not so bad. Une bise is a gesture of friendship only, and un bisou can be that or a little more.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

It’s Springtime! – Open Windows in French.

Le printemps est arrivé (Spring is here) and the longer days, changing seasons, and changing clocks bring up thoughts of le grand nettoyage de printemps et les fleurs épanouies (spring cleaning and blooming flowers). The end of the cold months means that people will start opening up their houses and letting in l’air frais (fresh air).

A great time of the year to Visit France to view some of the stunning houses Cle France have for sale across 80% of the country from Coastal Cottage to Countryside Chateaux and from Town Houses to Village Farmhouses, the choice is vast just click or call Cle France and we will lead you through the entire French Property Buying Process and beyond step by step.

I didn’t realise I had a big whole in my vocabulaire français until I was chez mon ami (at my friend’s place) and we were going to take a picture but le soleil (the sun) was too strong. I had an interesting conversation with mon ami:

Je peux fermer les stores.

Les stores ?

Oui les stores. Pour le soleil.

Et comment ça s’écrit ?

Les stores. S-T-O-R-E-S.

Ah d’accord ! Je ne connaissais pas le mot pour les stores !

I can close the blinds.

The shutters?

Yes the shutters. For the sun.

And how do you spell it?

The blinds. B-L-I-N-D-S.

Ah okay! I didn’t know the word for shutters!

I then realised that je ne connaissais pas many of the word for shutters, curtains, and other window related vocabulary. I started asking mon ami how to say all kinds of words, but left still confused about how to say some things.

Une fois à la maison (once I was home), I looked up the words I could remember, making sure I would never have trouble saying:

Est-ce que tu peux fermer les stores ?

Can you close the blinds?

One thing is for sure, I’ll be happy to profiter de (enjoy) the warmer season, possibly even enjoying une bière sur la terrasse (a beer outside)!

Voici un petit vocabulaire de la fenêtre :

La fenêtre – Window

Le rideau – Curtain

Les rideaux – Curtains

Les stores – Blinds

Le volet – Shutter

Le balcon – Balcony

Le patio – Patio

La véranda – Lanai

L’air frais – Fresh air

Le rebord de fenêtre – Windowsill

Le carreau – Window pane

La vitre –  Window glass

La terrasse – Terrace (or generally “outside”)

Le brise-soleil – Awning

L’appentis – Lean-to.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

It Comes In Pints! – Beer In French

I wonder how many people think "that's easy, ordering a beer in French" but after saying "Une bière s’il vous plait" it can get complicated, like most things if you say the first phrase so well the French person thinks you speak good French so lets enter into a deeper conversation! I know we can all speak better French after the first beer so here are a few tips on ordering your second.

When ordering something in a new country there are always surprises waiting in all the small differences from what you would expect and what actually arrives.

One of my first times dans un bar français (in a French bar), on top of not knowing how to toast, I didn’t know how to order a beer. I guessed that it would be similar to “un café s’il vous plait” (a coffee please), so I said:

Une bière s’il vous plait.

A beer please.

Then le barman (the bartender) asked me:

Laquelle ?

Which one?

I was not familiar with any of the bière, but I knew I wanted a stout. Cependant (however), I had no idea how to say stout in French! In my confusion, I just asked for whatever name I saw first, but then le barman asked me:

Un demi ou une pinte ?

A half-pint or a pint?

Le problème was that I did not understand what he said! I did not know une pinte was a French word, and I had no idea what un demi was referring to! So I said:

Une bière.

A beer.

My response wasn’t very helpful to le barman. I’m sure he was just as confused as I was. Looking for a solution I pointed at the glass of le client (the patron, the customer) next to me and said:

La même chose que lui.

The same thing as him.

That got me une bière, but once I told mes amis what had happened they had a good laugh explaining how to say different types of bière in French and also that une pinte is just a pint and un demi is a half-pint!

Voici un petit vocabulaire de la bière :

La bière – Beer

Le verre – Glass

La bouteille – Bottle

À la pression – On tap

Bière à la pression – Draft Beer

Une pinte – A pint

Un demi – Half a pint, A half-pint

Bière brune – Stout

Bière blonde – Lager

Bière blanche – White beer, Wheat beer

Bière anglaise – Ale

Le houblon – Hops

Le blé – Wheat

Le froment – Wheat

La brasserie – Brewery.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.