This perspective is based on the current situation in Madrid, which is probably representative of other parts of Spain such as Barcelona, and possibly other countries.

What is "Business English"?

Put simply, so-called "Business English" just English for business or professional purposes, as opposed to purely academic, social or tourism related activities. You could argue that there are all kinds of variants such as "Legal", "Financial", or "Sales and Marketing" English, and so on.

How does teaching "Business English" differ from other English teaching?

Whilst there are always exceptions, the following are generally true:

• Objectives: Students need to learn to use English at work, not to pass an exam.

• Focus: It's more important to focus on effective communication than accuracy. The need is to be able to communicate effectively in meetings, negotiations, etc. In those environments, nobody is checking your grammar, let alone telling you that it's wrong - effective communication is what matters.

• Students: Adults rather than children or teenagers. Usually professional working people, or perhaps studying a professional course such as an MBA where English forms part of the course.

• Content: Usually based on "Business English" course materials such as "Market Leader" or "In Company". Much of the learning is done through role play, and topics often include things like handling meetings, making presentations, financial negotiations, etc.

• Location: Not usually a "language school", university or other general educational environment. Classes take place in companies as part of their professional training programs for employees and executives. The daily routine usually involves travelling from place to place and working in three or four different locations.

• Geographical distribution: Highest levels of demand exist in the business centres - especially Madrid and Barcelona - and demand is relatively low in tourism-driven coastal areas.

• Required qualifications and experience: the typical TEFL, CELTA or similar qualifications are probably less relevant than in other types of English teaching, though the training you receive on such courses is certainly useful, especially if you have no prior teaching, training or similar experience. Having a reasonable level of general business knowledge is also important. See below for further information.

Is it a good idea to work as a freelance "Business English" teacher?

Assuming you have suitable skills and experience, working as a freelance teacher/trainer is certainly feasible, and relatively easy to get started. There is currently a lot of demand, so generally finding work is not difficult. You can earn a reasonable income and have a relatively large amount of free time. There are some important restrictions, mainly timetable related but also due to "market rates" - more information below.

What experience and qualifications do I need?

Except to teach at only beginner levels, you ought to know "Business English" yourself - if you're fresh out of university or still studying then you're probably not yet suitably experienced, unless perhaps you have something like an MBA or a degree in marketing, etc. Some field of specialisation such as IT, Marketing, Banking, Healthcare, etc. may help you to earn above average rates and/or more easily find work.

If you have already worked as an in-company trainer in some other field, you will almost certainly find it fairly easy to move into this role. The same is true if you have already worked as a teacher, trainer or lecturer in adult education and have sufficient general business knowledge.

You probably need to be educated to degree level, and A-level or equivalent English is an absolute minimum. If you have the English and general work/business experience but lack any kind of prior experience as a teacher/trainer, consider taking some kind of TEFL course. Teaching English is not as easy as many people think, and reading one or more good books on the topic would definitely be worthwhile, whether or not you also do a TEFL course.

If you do choose to do a TEFL course, make sure you get input from people who have done the same course in the same centre. This type of course is not cheap (around 1000 pounds for one month full-time) and there is a lot of variation in the content and quality from different centres. In particular, find out how many hours you will get to practise your English teaching with "real" students - that is the most valuable part of any such course - pretty much everything else can be learned from books. For the same reason, I would not suggest paying for an on-line course - read a couple of good books instead!

All that said, the level of demand is such that almost anyone with a reasonably high level of English can currently find work in Madrid, but that's not necessarily good for the profession as a whole, as I will discuss later in this article.

Do I need to be able to speak Spanish?

If you have a Spanish-speaking friend or partner and he or she is prepared to help with your administration, you can probably get by. Otherwise, if you have limited or zero Spanish you will probably have to work through agencies rather than with direct clients. You cannot rely on the client speaking sufficient English - even basic administrative issues could easily become a nightmare of communication breakdown! Their ability to provide a language interface is one of the reasons why agencies exist.

Is it a good idea to start my own language school?

I would question whether it would be a good idea to start any kind of language school or agency yourself, unless you have considerable prior experience. You would need capital to invest or external finance to support the start-up phase - initially no income (no students) then gradually building that up, but in the meantime paying rent and perhaps teachers and administration staff. I would suggest: keep that as a medium term objective - initially, work freelance (almost zero investment), learn about the market and the needs of students/clients, build up your contact base.

Is there a best time of year to start?

Things tend to be quiet during the summer, though sometimes companies decide to use the summer to have "intensive" courses of a week or so. In general, it's easiest to find work starting in September and October, but not difficult in January. The worst months are those leading up to summer, i.e. May to some extent and June to a greater extent - companies tend not to start new courses during those months, but there are always exceptions.

How do I become legally freelance?

You need to become an autonomo, a self-employed legal status. Assuming you're from the EU, it's relatively simple, if not you'll first need the necessary other permissions but thereafter it should be straightforward too. To become autonomo, you can do the paperwork yourself or pay a gestoría to do it for you - they will probably charge you some 40-50 euros. To do it yourself, you need to visit Hacienda and fill in a form, then Seguridad Social for another form. That's all, but as it can easily take a few hours if they're busy. If your knowledge of Spanish is limited or if you want to avoid the hassle, you may prefer to pay the gestoría fees.

What's the best way to advertise my services and find clients?

Probably the very best way to get known is by referral from existing clients. But of course that's a "chicken-and-egg" situation! Another way, and almost as good, is referral from other teachers, so it's a good idea to "network" with other teachers as much as you can.

One place that you can advertise cheaply (around 80 euros / year) and seems to work fairly well is madridteacher.com - This is a site that, for historic reasons, has a very good position on Google - that may change in the future but is currently the case. This means if you advertise there it's very likely that your advert will be found. My concerns about madridteacher.com include that it's too directed at private students rather than company classes, or at least that's the image that I get. The site itself is difficult to navigate too, and carries many adverts from third parties, giving a rather "Exchange and Mart" feel, in my opinion - not the type of publication I would want my advert to appear in. Nonetheless, it's a good resource, and on there you will find useful information and adverts from many agencies looking for teachers - working through an agency is the easiest (but lowest paid) way to get started.

You might also want to consider getting involved with Axlan - www.axlan.com - the page: www.axlan.com/team - will give you some idea of the benefits. Basically, Axlan offer a sort of "franchise package" to freelance teachers, including web presence, a very professional-looking business card, web-based resources, an email address at axlan.com and other benefits. Most of these services are entirely free of charge. The premise is that by appearing to be part of a larger organisation - "Axlan Communications" - www.axlan.com - you appear more established and professional, so companies are more likely to feel comfortable dealing with you. In addition, you have easier "networking" possibilities and other resources. Unlike madridteacher.com, the Axlan web site does not currently carry third-party advertising, so appears entirely focussed. Axlan also operates as a language and technology consulting firm, primarily offering the services of its founding partners, but also offering the opportunity of sub-contracted work to it's members.

Should I form a "limited" company - sociedad limitada (SL)?

You can invoice companies as autonomo - you don't need to have an SL company, which requires relatively high investment. To start an SL you need to invest capital of around 3000 euros (although you can just leave it in the bank, as long as it's the company's account.) You will also need to pay fees (e.g. notary fees) of several hundred euros. Some corporate clients my prefer to deal with an SL company, in which case working through Axlan or an agency may be a good alternative to starting your own SL company.

Some important general factors:

• Market rates

As of 2008, market rates have been increasing fairly quickly over the past couple of years (some 15-20% per year) and I suspect they will continue to do so for the next few years, due to high demand and a relatively short supply of suitably qualified and experienced teachers. Other factors come into play, including the client's perception of "value", but the fact is many companies here need quality language training and there are limited quality teaching services available. In any market, a state of high demand and limited supply almost invariably causes prices to increase. The situation will stabilise and self-regulate once the increased financial opportunity draws more suppliers into the field. In this case that includes more freelance teachers and specialised language services companies (of which there currently are relatively few.)

I believe the market rates need to (and probably will) increase to a level around 50% higher than currently to effectively support the "industry" and allow quality of service. But a big problem is that "cheap" teachers are often put out by "cheap" agencies and that lowers the perceived value from the client - these "cheap" teachers may be students, often inexperienced, sometimes not qualified in anything at all, often not actually native speakers and/or with limited English skills themselves, perhaps not even legally able to work. In addition, Spanish school teachers are relatively poorly paid, so that doesn't help with setting the client's expectation of how much good quality "Business English" teaching should cost.

Some agencies seem to be having a tough time surviving, and perhaps that's true of many of them. I suspect this is because those companies don't have a suitable quality/price model and lack any genuine sales and marketing ability. So, they try to compete on price alone and then find that they can't attract enough quality teachers for the level of remuneration they're able to offer. Average quality slides downhill, clients receive poor service and become unhappy. This then provides an excellent opportunity for quality freelance teachers to move in!

If you work through an agency they will typically offer between 22 and 25 euros an hours, occasionally slightly more. Whilst that might seem good at first glance, it's not as good as it seems - the problem is timetable restrictions and time lost moving between different locations or simply waiting for the next class to start. Perhaps it goes without saying that in general, the better quality agencies will offer better rates - 25 euros/hour or more probably indicates a good quality agency.

If you work directly for a client (no agency) then you can charge what the agencies charge - 30-35 euros/hour fairly easily, and even more depending on your skills, expertise and other factors.

So, how much should I charge for my services?

Working direct, you might in some special circumstances be able to charge as much as 40+ euros or even 50+ euros per hour (35 is fairly easy in the current market). But it's very important to optimise your timetable (so that you don't lose potentially chargeable time travelling or simply waiting for the next class to start. Example - I have one location where I do a two hour class at 50 euros/hour, but the total time (with travelling) is around 3.5 hours - so it equates to 28 euros/hour in real terms (less travelling costs) - I'd be better off instead with 2 x 1.5 hour more local classes at 35 euros per hour.

Even if you work through agencies, they're unlikely to give you more than maybe 10-15 hours per week each and probably less, so you'll need to be in touch with several agencies. If an agency offers a block of hours - e.g. 14:00-20:00 (not normal but might happen) then that's really worth going for even if the hourly rate is relatively low. If they offer you single classes (far more usual) then I would suggest telling them that your minimum rate is 26 euros (or 27, 28) otherwise they'll probably try and pay you 22 or 23. But again, location and timetable are more important than exact hourly rate.

If you're short of work (e.g. when starting up) it may be tempting to reduce your prices. That's probably not a good idea. Any client looking for "cheap" classes is probably not the type of company you want to be working with. A client who is looking for a good quality service may even be put off by an offer which looks "cheap" compared with market rates. If you do decide to offer lower rates during your start-up period, then make sure the client understands that this is a "special offer", and that your rates will therefore increase substantially in the future. This in turn will lead you to a situation where they'll want you to fix your prices for a period of time, perhaps a year, which you can use to your advantage and maybe gain a level of commitment from them for a full year of classes.

There are two valid reasons in some cases for offering lower rates or a "discount" - a block of back-to-back classes in a single location, which allows you to make more efficient use of your time, and classes outside of the normal hours, e.g. a discount for a slot at 10:00 in the morning.

• Timetable and time limitations

Company classes tend to be 1.5 hours in duration and during specific time periods to avoid lost work hours - early morning (typically starting 8:00, 8:30 or 9:00), lunchtimes (starting 14:00, 15:30) and later afternoon or early evening (maybe 18:30 or 19:30 starts.) In addition, it's normal to want classes twice per week - Mon+Wed or Tue+Thu - this means finding work on a Friday isn't easy. In my case for example, I currently have Fridays reserved for "administration and projects". There will always be some work preparing classes and materials, answering emails and of course raising invoices, not to mention checking you've been paid and chasing up the client if not! You may also need to deal with your gestoria, Hacienda, Seguridad Social, etc. on an occasional basis. You certainly need to reserve several hours per week "in the office" for these activities.

So, it's not easy to fit more than 4.5 hours (3x 1.5 hour classes) into a day. At a push you can do 6 hours (four classes) but then you have a working day of something like 08:00 to 21:00, no time for lunch and a lot of wasted time during the morning. And, at only four days per week, something like 18 to 24 paid hours per week. A personal example: I have one day per week of 12:30 (leave home) to 23:00 (get home) and that's 7.5 class-hours with no breaks at all - I am either teaching or travelling all of that time - I have to have lunch at home at 12:00 before leaving. It's not much fun, but obviously the more hours you work the more you can earn.

Private classes are possible too, especially if you are prepared to work on weekends. Rates are generally lower but payment is usually in cash, which may offer tax advantages. On the whole though, company classes are better paid and more reliable.

• Seasons and holidays

New groups tend to start after the summer break, typically in mid-September or October, then pause for Christmas and Easter (a week or more each) and stop for the summer (one or two months), but often with a firm plan to re-start after the summer. Then there are public holidays, puentes, occasional cancelled classes, or even cancellation of the course which might lose you a month before you find a replacement. In total, this means that to be working for more than about three quarters of the year is probably not feasible - I use a basis of 36 working weeks per year for my own budgeting, and I can't realistically imagine working more than 40.

• Costs

Costs are mainly transport - cheap if you stick to the centre and move around by metro, but if due to your home and/or work locations you need to use a car, transport costs can add up quickly. If you work outside the centre, in industrial areas etc, using public transport and walking can lose you too much time, which, given the restricted timetable, you can't afford to do.

Other deductions - Seguridad Social is around 245 euros/month, and it's easier (though not vital) to have an ongoing deal with a gestoria - maybe 50 euros/month for really good service, but probably less.

Do I need to have a formal written contract with my clients?

In general, no, and having one is unlikely to offer any real advantage. Let's suppose that the client lets you down by cancelling a course after the first month when it had been originally agreed that the course would run for the whole year. Even if you had a formal contract, would you take legal action against your client? Probably not a good idea, and not worth the hassle. Better to keep a good relationship with the client which you may benefit from in the future - perhaps you will get further work from them, or perhaps they will pass your name on to someone else.

What you should do is ensure that the key points have been discussed and agreed, and confirmation by email is a good idea. This is to make sure that both sides know what has been agreed, and you have a record in case of any later dispute. Key points are things like price, your right to increase prices (e.g. annually in line with inflation), their right (if any) to cancel individual classes, etc. The duration of the course may be another, but in practise it's very often "ongoing" with breaks during the summer, etc. Another important point is when you will get paid, though to a large extent this is determined by their standard administrative procedures rather than any specific agreement you might make. See below.

It is important that both parties understand the process when classes are cancelled – as they inevitably will be. Generally, teachers insist on being paid if they are given less than 24 hours notice. It may also be possible to get paid a percentage for classes cancelled with plenty of notice.

I would say the best "contract" that you will ever have is the unwritten one that evolves from providing ongoing good service at a fair price to a worthwhile customer.

When will I get paid?

You might like to be paid at the end of the month for the classes during that month, but that's probably unrealistic. You'll need to raise an invoice first, that will probably need to be signed-off and then be entered into their accounting system. For greater administrative efficiency, many companies pay invoices on a batch basis, perhaps every two weeks - a lot depends on the size of the company. Some will have fully automated systems which pay you automatically on the specific day specified in your payment terms, so make sure that your invoice shows payment terms, whether that be immediate, 15 days, 30 days, etc.

So, whilst you probably can't do much to control when they pay you, you can at least find out at the outset what is likely to happen so that you can do your own financial planning. Find out if the person who "signs off" your invoice is one of your students or someone who you can easily go and see. If so, it may be a good idea to hand-deliver your invoice and get it signed off while you're there - that way you might save a few days delay, and perhaps get into an earlier batch in the payment process.

Obviously you'll need to have cash reserves or credit facilities to cater for the hopefully rare occasions when it takes longer to be paid than you were expecting. This might happen due to holidays, administrative errors, etc.

All the above applies whether working through agencies or direct. In general, working through an agency you will get paid fairly quickly, probably within a few days of them receiving your invoice. However, if you find that an agency is repeatedly paying you late, then I would say that probably indicates that they have cash-flow problems and so is a warning sign - it may be safer to work elsewhere! The same is true for a direct client, but could simply be due to policy rather than necessity.

The bottom line - how much can I earn?

If you run a few calculations based on sensible hourly rates and working week, you can see that an income of something like 1800 to 2400 euros per month is realistic if working through agencies - add about 30% if working direct. You could further increase this by working long days (maybe 08:00-22:00), or add maybe Fridays and Saturdays if you can find the work.

Take a mid-range monthly income, maybe 2500 per month if working a mix of agency and direct, and remembering that it's highly unlikely that you will have paid work for more than about two thirds or three quarters of the year, you might have an annual income of 20 to 25,000 euros (less costs, social security, and taxes.) Perhaps not exactly exciting but adequate for many people, and you do at least get long holidays (if you have any money left in the summer!) and can probably have some Fridays off and so work a four-day week. At a push and with hard work you might average 3500 per month so around 30,000 per year or even a little more.

So, you have the primary variables above - put them into Excel and you can play with the numbers and consider some best and worst case scenarios.

In summary

Freelancing as a business English teacher/trainer can allow a comfortable quality of life with relatively large amounts of holiday and other free time. A typical annual income is probably in the region of 23,000 euros before deductions. Whether or not you regard this is a "good" or even "acceptable" income obviously depends on your expectations, needs and objectives, but it compares reasonably well with other options.

If due to your specialist experience or skilled negotiation with your clients you are able obtain above average rates, or simply work much longer hours, an income of 30,000 is feasible, and a realistic upper limit is probably around 35,000.

In general, the market is buoyant and expanding. Average rates are increasing significantly faster than general inflation and so the 23,000-35,000 range given above might well be something like 30,000-45,000 in a few years time, which would make the profession very attractive, and fully comparable with almost any other which required a similar calibre of individual.

Probably the biggest threat to this profession is the ongoing supply of "low quality" personnel via many organisations, which results both directly and indirectly in customer dissatisfaction, reduced perceived value and a generally poorer image for the profession. However, the marketplace is gradually evolving and those lower quality providers are likely to be forced to either shape up or ship out, to the benefit of both the language professionals and the client base.