The 18th comes round and there's nothing to hunt for.
In-person course in Madrid, in English: Verifactu, the handover to your gestoría (your accountant) and your numbers, set up in a day.
Verifactu – Spain's new rules for invoicing software – is coming, and signing up to a compliant app is the easy part. What it doesn't fix is the usual: still hunting for invoices in your email, downloading them by hand and, on the 18th, sending a message with twenty attachments.
A full day, from 10:00 to 19:00, in groups of three people at most, to get the whole process set up. Invoicing configured and compliant. Invoices collecting themselves from wherever they are. Everything going to your gestoría without you lifting a finger. The list of what you're not deducting. Your email and folders sorting themselves. And your numbers: your salary, your spending limits, your twelve-month forecast and how much you need to invoice each month to take home what you want to take home.
I'm not your gestoría and I don't give tax advice. The deadlines and obligations that apply to you are for your gestoría or the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) to confirm. What we do here is the work around it, the work that eats up your afternoons.
It's a full day and it stands on its own. You don't need to have done the other day first. If what you need is to get found and get enquiries, that's the other day.
When
One full day
10:00 – 19:00 · weekends or weekdays · until places run out
Where
Madrid · calle Prim
Exact address by WhatsApp
Places
3 places max
On your own, in twos or in threes · until places run out
How much
From €400
On your own €850 · in twos €500 each · in threes €400 each · + VAT · Claude subscription extra
Part 1 · The day
What we do
The day doesn't run by the clock, it runs by need. We do everything here if it's needed, but the order and the weight of each section are decided by the group, not the programme.
That's why I send you the Questionnaire beforehand. With your answers in front of me I decide where we start and what we spend most time on. If the group arrives with Verifactu looming, the day leans towards invoicing. If you arrive without knowing how much you need to invoice to pay yourself a salary, it leans that way.
0
Start · Setup and connections
Non-negotiable
Creating your account and choosing a plan. We start from zero: you don't need to bring anything set up
Installing Claude and getting it properly working on your computer
Connectors, plug-ins and skills: what they are, which ones are useful to you and which aren't
Linking it to your Chrome browser, so it works where you work
Linking it to your email, your documents and your invoice folders
Loading your business into it: who you are, what you sell, at what price and how you write
You take away
Everything connected, with your business loaded in. Without this nothing else works: it's the only block that's never skipped. And it's the foundation for both days, so it's set up once, not once per day: if you come to both, on the second day you start straight on your own work.
1
Your invoicing · Verifactu
What Verifactu is, who it really applies to and from when, without the noise around it
Your invoices issued from a system that complies, without changing software every year
The invoices you receive: collecting them from your email and filing them automatically
Numbering, series, corrective invoices and the things that cause trouble later if your books are ever checked
Getting paid and reminders: who owes you what and since when, without having to check
You take away
Your invoices going out in line with Verifactu, and the ones you receive filing themselves.
2
The handover to your gestoría
What exactly you have to send them, and in what format they want it
Sending set up to go out on its own every quarter, in order and on time
No more “I'm missing this” emails two days before the deadline
One single place where everything lives, for you and for whoever does your accounts
You take away
Sending to your gestoría sorted and working without you setting it up every quarter.
3
What you can deduct
A review of your bookkeeping: what you have, what's missing and what's filed wrong
What you could deduct and aren't deducting, reviewed expense by expense
Your list of deductions in writing, to review with whoever does your accounts
You take away
Your accounts reviewed and your list of deductions, ready to go over with your gestoría.
4
Folders and email
Tidy folders: a structure that holds up and files you can find in three seconds
Your email organised into folders, automatically and on its own from now on
Writing and answering emails automatically, in your way of talking and not a robot's
The hard messages: chasing a payment, saying no, raising a price
You take away
Folders and email in order, and replies going out on their own.
5
Your financial plan
How much you really earn: income minus expenses, your cuota de autónomos (your self-employed social security contribution) and taxes
Paying yourself a salary: how much you pay yourself each month, fixed, and what stays in the business
Spending review: what goes out every month, and the subscriptions and recurring costs you don't need
Budget limits per category, and your safety cushion
Claude as your CFO (your finance director): every month it rereads your numbers, recalculates everything and warns you about anything that drifts
You take away
Your salary set, your limits in place and a twelve-month forecast that recalculates itself.
6
Sales targets
How much you need to invoice to take home the salary you've set yourself, with the numbers in front of you
Split by month, with your high and low seasons, not one flat number
How many clients that means in your business, and at what price
The automatic alert when a month falls behind, in time to do something about it
You take away
Your monthly invoicing target and the system that warns you when you're drifting.
✓
Wrapping up the day
We go back to the list of hated tasks from the start of the day, to see how many are still there
We review what's been set up and is working
Whatever's left comes out in order of importance, so you know where to go next
Part 2 · The result
What you take home
It depends on where the group takes the day, but this is what comes out of it.
Claude installed and connected to everything you use
Your invoicing in line with Verifactu, up and running
The invoices you receive, collected and filing themselves
Automatic sending to your gestoría, set up
Your accounts reviewed and your list of deductions
Folders and email in order and automatic
Your salary, your spending limits and your twelve-month forecast, recalculating themselves
Your monthly invoicing target, with alerts
I'm not your gestoría and I don't replace it. What we set up here is your numbers system and your paperwork routine, working. Whatever you decide with it, you check with whoever does your accounts.
Part 3 · Before you come
What to bring
Read this in good time. The day starts by connecting your accounts, so if you're missing a password you'll miss that part. And that's a five-minute fix the week before, not at ten in the morning on the day of the course.
The two things that can't go wrong
1
A credit card
We create your Claude account together at the start of the day, so you don't need to arrive with anything set up. I recommend the €90 subscription: with the cheapest one you run out of usage by mid-morning and lose half the day waiting.
2
All your passwords
We start by connecting your email, your WhatsApp, your LinkedIn, your Instagram and your website hosting. No passwords, no connection.
Essential
Laptop and chargerA laptop, not a tablet or phone: you work with both hands
A credit card for the subscriptionWe create the account together at the start
Google Chrome installed on that laptop
Your phone, with WhatsApp and InstagramLogged in and fully charged
Passwords for everythingYour email, your website and domain, your hosting, your LinkedIn, your Instagram and your Google Business Profile
Your work folders, locatedWe'll work with your real documents: invoices, quotes, photos, texts. Before you come, gather everything under one single folder – on your Desktop, in Documents, or in whatever cloud you use (Drive, Dropbox…). It doesn't need to be organised inside: you just need to know where it is.
The Questionnaire filled in before the courseIt's how I decide where we start
Your lunchEveryone brings their own – we eat quickly on site to make the most of the day
Also bring, if you have them
Your logo, in the best-quality file you can find
Ten to twenty good photos of your work
A recent quote or proposal you've sent
Your prices, even if they're only in your headWrite them down before you come
Your invoices and expenses from the last quarterIf you want us to audit your bookkeeping
Your gestoría's contact detailsYour accountant – so we can set up automatic sending
Your bank transactions for the last three monthsThe bank export, if you want to set up your financial plan
Your fixed costs and subscriptions, even if they're only in your headWrite them down before you come
About lunch: we stop around two. Everyone brings their own lunch – we eat quickly on site to make the most of the day. Bring something you can eat with one hand.
See you there
Anything before the day – a question, a problem with your account, a password you can't find – message me on WhatsApp and we'll sort it out. It's much better to fix it the week before than at ten in the morning on the day of the course.