Well 9 days, 5 hours combing the internet, and 10 phone calls later I’ve come to the conclusion that there is very little incentive in France to get out there and create your own business.  My goodness you have to be a lot more than Superwoman or Einstein. I imagine you have to be that rabid dog foaming at the mouth with teeth biting the bone for dear life, while being dragged through hoops on fire.  I knew this all along but I just kept thinking it’s the 21st century and things are going to be better.  I realize more and more it’s a cultural mindset.  I’m not French, so really I can’t relate and I don’t want to; that would be the end of who I am if I started to.

So what should I start with – the good news or the bad?  The bad news is I can’t teach in companies and do personal tutoring as a self-employed teacher.  I have to choose.  The civil servant on the phone suggested I could start two separate companies, then I could do both.  Silence prevailed because I thought I was going to scream.  It’s really unfair how they try to control how much you make and how much business you can do.  The agrément I need is the basic one called the agrément simple.  Each job has either the simple one or a more complicated one which has lots more checks and paperwork.  These agréments are for various types of jobs like, child care, tutoring, giving classes in a clients’ home, transporting young children(handicapped or the elderly), etc.

Good news I don’t have to go to the Préfecture d’Evreux to get my agrément file, I can do it on the internet.  I have to provide lots of paperwork, like diplomas, brochures, etc(more on that later).  I will send all the information in by  internet and then I have to wait two months for the response.  Before I make this demand I have to change from my auto-entrpreneur to a micro-entreprise.  I was told this takes about fifteen days.  That means I must have all my paperwork to change statutes before I apply for the agrément.  Don’t forget this is France and July and August are the months where the fewest knowledgeable and helpful people work.  The French are usually away here on extremely long summer vacations about  2 – 4 weeks.  Everything works at snail pace – dreadfully slow.  If I can respect this schedule I should know when the summer school holidays are finished at the end of August or in September.  Hi ho, Hi ho, I’m off to work,  I go…..