L'Auto Entrepreneur Guide in English

Setting up a business in France used to be a daunting challenge.

The initial outlay of social charges and taxes meant that many people were deterred from becoming business-owners, sole-traders, freelancers or from realising their potential as entrepreneurs, because the social charges and taxes imposed on them were just too expensive.
Members of English Ltd may now be interested to know that on January 1st this year, an important business practice reform came into effect to ease the financial burden and make it less difficult to set up in France, namely l’auto-entrepreneur system. This development is aimed at reducing the huge bills that businesses can face upon start-up and before they have had a chance to generate any money themselves.

With the new reform, it is possible to pay tax and social charges each month, based on individual business turnover, which seems a fairer method than that based on government projections used previously. No doubt this will help to inspire and liberate many to follow their dream and set up their own business in a more cost-friendly environment.

For those so inspired, the official French website of the auto-entrepreneur system (www.lautoentrepreneur.fr) is the first point of enquiry and registration, containing comprehensive details of the new scheme.

The auto-entrepreneur system is only one way of starting a business and may not be suitable for everyone.

Fiona Restall.

Download the guide (PDF, 422 Kb)

Catching up

Well, I can only ask for forgiveness for not having kept this blog updated over the past... 8 months!!

Managing English Ltd. in my free time (yes, I know a lot of you think it is my only job. Between you and me, I would not have afforded this PC to write with if it were so) sometimes just adds up to too much and I have to drop some ballast.

Since April 2008, a lot has happened:


The English Ltd. association

Further to keeping up the beat of two English Ltd. events per month with presentations and all, I have gathered a team of five faithful and particularly active members who now make up the Administration Board of the English Ltd. association that was founded in June.

The administrators in the photograph are, from left to right, Guadalupe Ramirez, Roderick Darby, Carine Rigaud, Corinne Guiose (Treasurer), Philippe Jauréguiber (Secretary / Vice President) and myself (President).

After setting up a new logo and getting the Membership Charter and Membership Forms set up over the Summer, we were ready to go in September with a new venue (as the Cinecita changed owners), new graphical guidelines and real memberships which generate a little finance to keep the thing going and buy a video projector, sound system and the possibility to bill and be billed (it sounds silly, but you cannot do much with having to just transfer member's cheques to the hosts of our dinners and events).

Presentations

Roderick Darby opened the ball in September with his intriguing presentation on Freemasonry, followed by Sandrine Follère who hosted a special Artistic Expression evening in her workshop in October. Then Flemming Funch gave us a most enjoyable presentation on NLP. Sandra Goodall and friends gave us some spectacular insight into the Bristish Pantomime in November (one we shall remember!). December saw the first Pub Quiz of the season, made up and animated by Kirstin George and Dinah MacArthy.

Tuesday Arpil 15th - Frog & Rosbif Quiz

Where franglais meets frenglish!

Pascal Martin and Elizabeth Freeman drew up and animated a mega 46-question quiz all based on intercultural minglings between Anglo-Americans and the French. Good fun and very instructive!

Who where the three French James Bond Girls and in which films did they figure?

Special thanks go to both for once again being the hosts to such an enjoyable evening.

Tuesday March 18th - Which yoga for you?

In an enjoyable and interactive dialogue with the audience, Amie Mouneimne gave us some insight into the whys and hows of yoga: why you might want practice yoga, which type of yoga you would want to choose according to your ambitions and overall condition.

You can download the presentation document here (PDF, 68 Kb)

Amie is having an open afternoon on Saturday, April 5th from 3 to 5 p.m. at

Asana Yoga Studio 31
5 rue J.F. Kennedy
31000 Toulouse

Feel free to go and see how yoga may help you lead a better, healthier life!

Check out Amie's Web site at www.asanayogastudio.com

Tuesday, March 4th 2008 - Global Navigation Satellite Systems

Where are we? Where we are from and where are we going?

The replies to these fundamental questions lie in... GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems).

GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, EGNOS, PND may ring a bell in a lot fo people's minds as there is a lot of buzz these days on global positioning systems.

In this presentation, I have tried to put things simply and clearly so all may understand the huge potential and some of the flaws in these navigation systems.

Download the presentation here (PDF, 1 388 Kb)

Tuesday, February 19th 2008 - Club Quiz II

Kirstin George wrote the set of 40 questions and answers to our second edition of the very popular "Club Quiz".
No we know what "alibi" actually means in latin and how many glasses of beer you have to drink to not care what you write down so long as it sounds good!

Tuesday February 5th 2008 - Nominative determinism

What's in a name?

Jean-Claude Trichet being the President of the European Central Bank does not conjur up much for most Europeans, except when you realize that Trichet is pronounced the same way as "tricher" meaning "to trick" in French. Pure coincidence?
What about Steven Butcher who runs the delicatessen down the road? Fluke?

Chris Galley gave us a humorous presentation on nominative determinism also known as aptonyms.

His introductory sentence illustrated well the topic: "The British New Scientist, in its "Feedback" column, has since tackled this enigmatic phenomenon many times. Nominative determinism was introduced first in 1994, when it was remarked that a paper on incontinence in the British Journal of Urology was authored by J.W. Splatt and D. Weedon!"

Wikipedia contains a good article on the subject for those wishing to know more.

Tuesday January 22nd 2008 - English Ltd. and beyond

Making English Ltd. what you want it to be.

At our last evening, the topic was, for the first time in just over two years of existence: English Ltd. itself.
Our watchword is "English Ltd. is what you make it". However, as I pointed out, English Ltd. bering run and evenings organized single-handed, it may not be coinciding with what members expect of it.
It turns out that, unanimously, the members present found there was not much to change, except for inventing new ways of getting people to meet and interact. Ideas of games and Web site management tools popped up. The only real holdback was then left bare: time.
English Ltd. being free, having drawn 600 members in its two-year existence and run by a single person means that time is the resource that is most lacking.
In turning English Ltd. into a non-profit organization with a legal existence and a structure, the main aim is to detach it from myself and let it take on its own existence and develop resources to ensure its long-term perenity.
All voluntary participations are welcome be it in Web site content management or setting up presentations or events.

Tuesday, January 8th 2008 - Freemasonry and a short play

2008 has started with a bang, and our first session opening with two major presentations:

Napoleon Est Mort à Waterloo - Pascal Martin

Pascal Martin, accompanied by Philippe Jauréguiber, enacted his short play based on the elements drawn from the boxes in which members had dropped their slips of paper on which they had written the ingredients of the play (cf. Tuesday November 13th 2007).
Seated on two stools, both actors gave us a memorable performance.

You can find the short play on the Le Proscenium Web site.


Freemasonry - Roderick Darby

What better way to have the history and principles of Freemasonry presented than by a Freemason?
Roderick gave us a very interesting overview on why and how Freemasonry came into existence, what are its underlying principles and objectives.
If you missed out on this presentation, or would like to find out more on the topic, then I suggest you meet Roderick Darby at one of our English Ltd. evenings. He is well worth the visit!

Tuesday December 11th 2007 - English Ltd.’s 2007 Great Autumn Feast

A nice-sized group of members thoroughly enjoyed our first try at a full-blown dinner a the Cinecita. To sum things up, here is some feedback: "thank you very much for a most enjoyable evening yesterday. Entertaining and interesting company and an excellent meal....what more can one ask!"

No photos I am afraid while we wait for the "Associtaion Loi 1901" to be set up and have the cahrter with image rights and such signed by members. What a world we live in!

All those who missed out may feel reassured to know we shall be repeating dinners the Cinecita over 2008.

Tuesday November 13th 2007 - A time for work and a time for play. Act One.

Pascal Martin

While Pascal works in the IT industry, his hidden passion is writing plays. In yesterday's presentation, he unveiled how to become a playwright and have your work played in theatres through practical and interactive examples.
Pascal also took the opportunity to have all member present lay the basis of what will be Act Two: a short play to be enacted before members based on characters, phrases, circumstances, atmosphere and a place written on slips of paper and drawn from boxes by an innocent hand.

The results are:

Characters:

• Claude Nougaro


• Napoleon Bonaparte


• Mickey Mouse sur sa moto

Line:

• Qu'est-ce que je fais là ?


• J'ai vraiment envie de toi


• The moon is full tonight

Place:

• Traffic jam on the Merville ringroad

Situation

• Depressive thoughts about relationship

You can find more about Pascal Martin and play writing on: www.pascal-martin.net

English Ltd. on Tivi!

Double click on the picture to play the video.

English Ltd.’s First Club Quiz

Organized and animated by Kirstin George and Dinah MacCarthy English Ltd. held its first pub quiz, renamed for the occasion "Club Quiz"!

Members of the improvised teams made the most of the occasion to get to know each other and share their general knowledge.

An experience we are sure to repeat!

English Eccentricity & Entrepreneurship - The Life of Henry Winstanley

The 17th Century is well known for Newton, Leibniz, Louis XIV. It was also the time of great inventiveness and enterpreneurship that would lead to the Industrial Revolution.
While England and France waged war, one man, little known to most of us, incarnated the true entrepreneurship and eccentricity that was to characterize British culture: Henry Winstanley.
Starting his career as a simple servant, he rose the social ladder to finally go down in History as the builder of the first Eddystone lighthouse which was also the first offshore lighthouse in the World.
Even Louis XIV, who summoned him after he had been kidnapped of the rocks by French privateers, recognized his devotion and ability to achieve a project that would save lives on both sides.
Discover the life of Henry Winstanley in the PDF (18 Mb !) presentation I drew up for the English Ltd. evening of October 9th, 2007.

Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 - The Cinecita welcomes English Ltd.

The Cinecita is one of Toulouse's bets known venues as a trendy restaurant-cum-night club for those looking for quiet and appeasing settings.

This Tuedsay was our first time there and it certainly went down well will all those who came.
Every other Tuesday, English Ltd. will now be having its evenings dedicated to business networking and cultural exchanges on the mezzanine with a bar and a sound system all to ourselves.
So members can now lounge in the armchairs and enjoy good service while exchanging with other members and listening or taking part in the presentations.

Public Letter Writers and Home Services - Tuesday September 25, 2007

I am sure all those who attended last Tuesday's event will join me in giving a round of applause to Rosine Lang for her in-depth presentation on the history of the profession of Public Letter Writer (or scrivener) and to Sébastien Le Folgoc for the great work he did in presenting Home Services and the lesser known of Borloo's laws.

Download the full presentations:
The Profession of Public Letter Writer by Rosine Lang (PDF, 576 kb)
Home Services by Sébastien Le Folgoc (PDF, 48 kb)

Moving on up, moving on out...

English Ltd. is becoming an association "Loi 1901", meaning it is to have juridical existence and will be a non-profit organisation. That is one up on the deficit organisation it has been so far!

Members, be prepared for a big move in October!

Yes, the time has come to move on up and out... I like to keep the suspense, so stay tuned.

Eating can be as easy as ABO - Tuesday September 9, 2007

For our first English Ltd session of the new season, warm thanks go to Aine O’Meara (pronounced Onya Omeera, by the way) for her very clear and instructive presentation on Dr D’Adamo’s Blood Group Diet theory exposed in his book “Eat Right 4 Your Type”.

You can download Aine’s presentation (PDF, 150 kb) and here is Dr D’Adamo’s Web site: http://www.dadamo.com/

What I recall is O stands for "Original", A stands for "Adapted" and B stands for "Beaujolais, Bourgogne and Bordeaux". Is that right?

The Summer Banquet - June 19th 2007

A good share of members joined what will stand as our last evening at the Lounge for our Summer Banquet.

Emmanuelle Urien gave us the pleasure of a reading of one of her works called "Rêverie". Despite the title, it was in English as are most of Emmanuelle's texts.

Feel free to visit Emmanuelle's Web site and discover the dark, yet humourous atmosphere of her writings.

Note that Emmanuelle, intially a project manager in the telecommunications industry, has won several litterature prizes over the past few years, namely the Prix Littéraire of the Salon du Livre 2007.

I was also glad to see the Mastering English "Missing Link" went down well. For those who did not join us, perhaps you could say what link there is between "galet" and "wallet"?

Language learning in Toulouse - Toulangues - Tuesday May 15th

Marion Quenut, Webmaster and founder of Toulangues.org gave us (in just one of the six languages she masters!) some insight into the project and the association behind the Web site www.toulangues.org.
A lot of you send me requests for ressources to practice English. Toulangues.org is THE reference for learning languages in Toulouse.

Bilingual Books and Far Infrared Clothing - Tuesday April 17th

Manu Causse, who is the author of Romeo@Juliette gave us an interesting presentation on writing and publishing bilingual novels.

To find out more on Manu Causse, you can visit his blog and view a summary of his novel on the Talentshaut Web site.

And you wondered what FIR was? Well, now you know: Far Infra Red.

Alexandra Biod gave a very interesting presentation on something most of us had never heard of, i.e. far infrared clothing and the benefits it is declared to bring to general well being and health.

Download Alexandra’s presentation (153 Kb, PDF).

The Great Spring Fun Evening - Tuesday March 27th

Melinda and Jenny Aldous hosted the party once again and we all certainly enjoyed it at least as much as the last time.

Making the aperitif a time to remember.

Let your creativity go on a piece of pottery with the glaze colours, shapes and patterns of your choice. Pieces are fired twice a week, so you can come at fetch your creation within the week. Otherwise, Melinda will bring it to the next English Ltd. Evening.

May the force be with you.
After your creativity, now is the time to let yourself go in a frenzy of laser beams and flashing lights in which teams track down each other to launch assaults and fight the battle for survival in a galactic decor.

Tuesday March 13th - Express yourself

Self Expression by FranZie

Well, I wondered when we would first have this sort of presentation at an English Ltd. evening and now it has happened: a real singer gave a performance!
FranZie Jeanlouis showed us in a very enlighting way the benefits of constructive self-expression.

Lower stress, enjoyment in life and self-motivation were the watchwords for FranZie's presentation which you can download here.

Public Speaking by Flemming Funch

Flemming, who is one of the pillars of the English Ltd. network, illustrated his project of setting up a Toastmasters network in Toulouse with an enjoyable presentation on the daunting task of speaking in public.

To learn more on this initiative, I suggest you read the article on Flemming's blog.

Tuesday February 27th - Dietary recommendations to prevent cardiovascular disease

For all those who are candidates for future presentations at English Ltd. evenings, the top-level notch has just gone higher since Jean-Marc Ferradou (cardiologist) has set a new milestone in the quality of English Ltd. presentations.

Since Jean-Marc's presentation, I now know that CAD does not mean only Computer Assisted Design, but also Coronary Artery Disease and that cholestrol-filled plaques that can line our arteries, combined with fibrosis (the body's reaction to contain the cholesterol), are liable to rupture and cause a sudden blood clot (thrombosis) that sends you to Never Never Land. All that without notice!

Jean-Marc Ferradou is a cardiologist at Beaumont-Lomagne. Should you wish to get in touch with him, please contact me.

Tuesday February 6th - Business Creativity

Rémi Dumas of ACT Innovation & Management, once again gave us a lively and interesting presentation using his now famous Tibetan singing bowl, this time on business creativity or how to develop and use the synergy of groups and lateral thinking to develop new ideas.
Thanks go to Rémi, not only for his professional know-how, but also for his animation skills.
While Rémi has not yet sent me a summary of his presentation, you can still download and read the presentation he gave last year on “Management Techniques to Accelerate Business Growth” (PDF – 144 ko).

Tuesday January 23rd - Personal development & Rhyming Slang

Two completely independent topics were presented this evening.

Personal Development

Kate Chamberlain, our Qualified Practitioner of NLP and Hypnosis, gave us a very interesting presentation on how we can master our thoughts, feelings and ultimately our future through mental visualisation.

Rhyming slang

John Clarke taught us the ins and outs of rhyming slang. I take me tifor off me loaf to ya, John. Next time someone asks me if I could do with a few Britneys, I shall know that it is not some indecent proposal.

Download and read John’s presentation here (PDF – 49 ko)

Evening of January 9th

With over 60 members who attended our last session it just goes to show that pantomimes are not going out of fashion!Sandra Goodall, who, building on last year’s experience, has taken on again the colossal task of setting up this year’s pantomime in Pibrac.
I am sure all the members present who listened in will join me in giving warm thanks to Sandra for her very interesting and theatrical presentation on the main features, origins, evolution and organisation of the traditional British pantomime.
Pantomimes are a real part of British tradition at Christmas time and the Théâtre Musical Pibrac has caught on to this, offering us the enjoyment of a genuine pantomime in English: this year the traditional British Pantomime is set the rugged Wild West; Life is hard in Cactus creek. Hissing Sid, the Outlaw, is heading for town and the townsfolk are looking for a new sheriff; lots of music, romance and laughter is guaranteed. Come and join us in a rootin, tootin’classic! YEE HA!
Book your seats on the TMP Web site.

Mastering English

This is a catch-up on the series of Mastering English sessions given during our gatherings twice a month.

Download Mastering English Sessions to February 11th 2007 (PDF, 39 Ko)

English Ltd. Members Exchange Forum is open!

As an English Ltd. member, you now have access to the Exchange Forum where you can make announcements, organise events, post job offers, tell a joke... whatever you like.
When other members are connected, you can chat online.
The English Ltd. Members Exchange Forum is what you make it. Use it wisely.
Join the ELMEF

Christmas time!