Jesús Concha (J. CONCHA Consulting of Madrid) “Nowadays being an entrepreneur is pure struggle”
Jesús Concha is manager of Asesoría J.CONCHA. With offices in Colmenar Viejo and Madrid capital, since 1999 it has been serving a wide portfolio of companies and self-employed workers in Madrid and the province, in accounting, tax and labor issues, as well as in the incorporation of companies.
After working four years as an employed tax advisor, you take the leap and set up your own consultancy in Colmenar Viejo. And in 2007 you opened a new office on Paseo de la Castellana. What do you remember from the beginnings of your business adventure? And about your expansion in the capital?
It was not easy, as in any business venture, but I did not lack enthusiasm or the desire to work hard. My expansion in the capital occurred as a result of the economic crisis of 2007 and 2008, which mainly affected the construction sector and as a consequence of the business closure of many of my clients in Colmenar Viejo. At this moment we decided to open an office in Madrid and that is where our expansion in the capital began. Currently almost 80% of our clients are from the capital.
___You have participated with your own stand in entrepreneurship and franchise fairs, giving conferences to help set up companies. What is the biggest challenge faced by an advisor who decides to start his or her own business?
___The biggest challenge that an advisor has when he starts his project is to get clients, get them to trust you and come to your advice. To attract clients we decided to start by having our own stand at different entrepreneur fairs, at the franchise fair at IFEMA... There was no other way. We advertised in print, in newspapers, on the internet, and in-person advertising at these fairs.
It is a very nice experience, giving lectures to future entrepreneurs and serving people at fairs
Logically, entrepreneurs have changed their profile, before entrepreneurs were a person of 24 or 25 years old and now they are people of 40-50 years old.
Of all the services you offer, which one is the most requested by your clients, and which one do you think is the reason?
Our advice is focused on tax, labor and accounting, these are the services that are really in demand: incorporation of companies, registration of self-employed persons, everything related to labor issues and the hiring of workers, mainly. We have been focused on these services since we started in 1999.
Let's talk about the recent labor reform, what has this radical change in the types of employment contracts meant for your group? Do you think it is appropriate and necessary?
___The labor reform is like all reforms, they are always conflictive.Nobody is completely happy: workers are not happy, business owners, self-employed workers and SMEs are not happy either... A labor reform in which practically all contracts become indefinite is conflictive. The clients I work with, who are self-employed and small businesses, when I tell them that from now on they have to make indefinite contracts...
The majority of the self-employed and SMEs I work with are in survival, they are struggling
Every day there are more freelancers and companies leaving, more businesses close every day, it is true that others also open, but the situation is not easy and when you tell clients that contracts have to be made indefinite, they throw up their hands. In the end they will give him an indefinite contract and the worker will be there for as long as the small entrepreneur and self-employed person can endure.
___What do you think of the reform of the self-employed contribution system? Will it serve to encourage entrepreneurship and business creation?
The change in the self-employed contribution system is going to benefit a part of the self-employed and will harm another part: those people who earn less than €600-700 as self-employed are going to benefit because their quota is going to be lowered, from paying €294 they are going to pay €200 or something like that. On the other hand, a person who is earning around €2,400 is going to pay around €400, we are talking about 30% more than what they are paying now.
In addition, the new system opens a new era, since a fixed fee had always been paid, regardless of the benefits
I'm going to give a practical case: a person who earns €2,300 as a self-employed person... if he has to pay around €400, of those €2,300 he will have €1,900 left. If you take away the 20% that they have to pay to the Treasury quarterly for personal income tax, we are talking about that person going to earn €1,300. Is this going to encourage the creation of companies and self-employed workers? I don't know, I just analyze the data, and the data and the numbers are what they are.
How is your deal with mutual insurance companies? And with Fraternidad-Muprespa? What would you ask the Mutual Fund so that you can improve the service to your clients?
95% of my clients belong to Fraternidad-Muprespa, the other 5% come from other consultancies and come with their mutual insurance company. The truth is that we are very satisfied with the service that Fraternidad-Muprespa provides, it is unbeatable.
We have had great help from the Mutual Fund during the pandemic, it has been a relationship not only professional but also personal
Calling us at 11 at night to see how the newsletter changed, letting us know the day before, etc. In short, our relationship with
___The Advisor's Corner is a tool integrated into the Mutual Fund's Digital Office, can you tell us about the advantages that this tool brings to your advice? And the Discussion Forum as a tool to share a specific topic with other advisors?
I find it very interesting to have a site like the Advisor's Corner where we can make inquiries, it adds another level to our profession. The Debate Forum is very interesting since logically there are always discussions about legal issues, especially in the interpretation of a norm. From my point of view, I think that advisors should debate a little more, it is important that there are many participants in this forum.
To finish, among your hobbies are martial arts and magic. How much struggle and magic is there in your work? How do you make it compatible?
Nowadays being an entrepreneur is pure struggle. I started martial arts since I was a child and I still do them two days a week, taekwondo and aikido. It allows you to disconnect and helps you prepare for what life is about. I started the topic of magic many years ago when I was a teenager.
It is always nice to create a little hope in times of crisis
It is an absolutely supportive topic, I was there professionally many years ago but currently I do it at charity galas and hospitals, once or twice a month.
