My business startup journey here in the Algarve

Starting a business in another country where you don’t even speak the language was an interesting journey. The business is about to start with a multi-lingual team from different environments, different countries but with the aim to succeed.

2 years ago when we moved to Algarve. It was soon after that, that I realised the information for tourists was provided only by a few websites that could not be contacted, ticket shops, or the property management company who provided the property for rental.

“Algarve Lifestyle” was just a concept at that time, just some scribble on some A3. Due to the lack of a concierge service, a person to call or of a proper office that you can enter in, we found the need of a business that can provide all of these. The best moment to start gathering the copious notes, was when our house was being refurbished late last year, and the scribble turned into a presentation. We were confined to a small area of the house with no television in the evening, so I started to explore the idea further.

“I put together a plan and went to a local consultancy for my ‘free’ advice, most of which I disagreed with and ignored. They wanted me to start the business alone, and build up slowly. But I agreed that the service should cover the whole Algarve region, not just a part of it.”

The biggest challenge has been the bureaucracy. Some of the practices seem Victorian. It took more than two months to get the company in a fully active state. We found that we had to be registered and licensed as a tour operator. When forming a company all the shareholders have to sign in front of a notary. I jokingly asked my accountant if I did a crowd funding campaign to raise investment, would the additional shareholders all need to turn up at the notary and sign a document. He said ‘yes’. I nearly collapsed. I’m told that in Portugal it’s very unusual to take payments over the phone. I’ve even been given a company stamp. I also need to take a salary when I do not want one.

In order to build the team I used Linkedin, Erasmus and some local recruitment sites. The priority was to meet with businesses, introduce the concept, discuss commission rates and get agreements. To start things were slow, a lot of businesses needed convincing. We quickly learnt companies were very protective of their ‘brand’, and we had to show we would not impact that.

Initially we had planned to launch in April. We may just make it, although the launch party will now have to be in May (date to be announced). Like in any other small company, some people come and go. However, we now have a good core team we can build on, which is very important.

The setup has taken a long time as we wanted to be professional, have a good spread of partners across the region, and know what we are talking about when we open the doors. It also took some time to find the right shop in the right location with a good amount of footfall. We are just waiting for furniture to arrive this week into the office. To date everyone turns up at my house and we work around the dining table. That will stop soon, just as the weather is getting warm enough for the team to use our pool.

Our focus has been on building partnerships, starting social media, building out a web site and speaking to local magazines / newspapers about advertising and press releases. We have a marketing video coming soon. Marketing on a shoestring is a challenge and there appears to be no ‘non-digital’ marketing agency here to help us. We’ve managed to get sponsorship of a hole at a celebrity golf tournament in June at Vale do Lobo and we are discussing other potential sponsorships. As we start to get known, the conversations are getting easier. Companies are introducing us to other companies.

Something that a few months ago was just a plan on a paper, now we can proudly say that we succeeded to find the shape that was missing. Today we received our tourism license from the Turismo de Portugal. “Algarve Lifestyle” will soon open its doors, waiting for the customers to come. Our next phase is about to start.

We will announce dates for our Launch Party soon, but if anyone is thinking of coming to the Algarve (that’s in Portugal), we have a professional team who can organise everything. +351 289 057 448 www.algarve-lifestyle.com