How to Become an Entrepreneur While Working a Full-Time Job

Increasingly, we are seeing young entrepreneurs promoting start-ups emerging in various sectors of the economy. These entrepreneurs engage in independent business management not exclusively but additionally. In other words, they are employees but decide to invest. How to become an entrepreneur in these conditions?

What is an entrepreneur?

The question of what an entrepreneur may look like is totally obvious to some, and even stupid to others. At first glance, you must have an idea behind this question, if not an answer to that question. And yet to think more closely, the answer is totally relative and incorporates several significant elements.

An entrepreneur literally is someone who undertakes. But everyone around you is undertaking. You undertake to travel, to build your house, to cook a meal, to go to the fields, to go out in the country, to walk around, to make family and professional visits, to organize a party, to set up a business, expand your business into other cities or countries, create a product, make a real estate investment, and many more.

Thus, you may notice that everyone undertakes at some point something or activity. Is an entrepreneur defined by the fact that he undertakes an activity, or by the fact that he concretizes his idea of ​​undertaking? Is an entrepreneur defined by the fact that a person declares his activity or is registered with the relevant administrative structures? Is an entrepreneur also defined by the fact that a person runs an activity or company with employees?

Can you also define an entrepreneur as being an employee of a private structure, or a national or international civil servant or a person who has a liberal activity? Can the entrepreneur also be defined as an individual who makes non-commercial profits (NBC) or industrial and commercial profits (BIC)? Above all, to fully understand the concept of entrepreneurs mentioned in this article, you must distinguish between self-employed and entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship is about entrepreneurship. Each individual undertakes or plans to do something at some point in their life. There is no one who does not take in his life, even the smallest men. Entrepreneurship is much more focused on meeting individual or individual needs and the pursuit of the self-interests of the individual undertaking. Deciding to go on a vacation in Miami is like doing business in the same way as cultivating your fields in the countryside.

On the other hand, entrepreneurship always concerns the action of entrepreneurship, but here for the sake of economic and financial profitability. This is about creating your company or setting up a profitable project in the short and long term. Entrepreneurship involves the creation of wealth.

Becoming an entrepreneur in this article is about everyone who has decided to create wealth. The definition of the contractor depends on the sector of activity concerned. For the economist, you will be an entrepreneur if you create economic and financial wealth (reducing the unemployment rate, creating jobs, increasing income, increasing national income, etc.). For the lawyer, you will be an entrepreneur if you are registered in the commercial register, or registered in the trade system with all the conditions that go in that direction.

For an athlete, an entrepreneur is like a coach. According to MeltyGroup President Alexandre Malsch, “ the entrepreneur is a coach, who must do everything to put the best players on the field to win the game .” However, an entrepreneur must have the following characteristics: goals to achieve, passionate, continually taking risks, inventive and creative, patient, knows how to adapt to any situation, autonomous, organized, manager, perseverant and determined, visionary.

An entrepreneur, whatever the definition you give him, must have at least the characteristics mentioned above. They are not exhaustive, but at least they are main characteristics. In theory, there is a difference between the status of self-employed and the status of an entrepreneur. In practice, the self-employed person is generally considered to be a person who has an activity independent of his main duties, either as a civil servant or as an employee. The entrepreneur is considered as the manager of a company that is dedicated to this activity entirely and employs a staff.

But in this article, we must understand entrepreneur as any person who is subject to a particular social regime and whose legal structure corresponds to the administrative laws. As an entrepreneur, you can belong to a one-man limited liability company (EURL), a sole proprietorship, a limited liability company (SARL), a car company, a public limited company (SA), a SASU (simplified joint stock company), SAS (simplified joint-stock company), etc.

The status of self-employed is different from that of freelance and self-employed. If you are self-employed, you do not actually have social status because a self-employed worker is not subject to a special scheme in the same way as a freelancer. As against a self-contractor or to be just a micro-entrepreneur (designations adopted since 1 st January 2016) is subject to the status of micro-entrepreneur. Consider in this article the entrepreneur as the self-entrepreneur.

Therefore, how to become an entrepreneur while being an employee? Is it possible to be an official and employed or self-employed and entrepreneurship?

Become an entrepreneur by being an employee

The status of entrepreneur may be possible for you who are salaried. It is possible to combine the two functions or at least two statuses regardless of your activity (commercial, craft or liberal) and regardless of the type of contract (CDD, CDI, interim, etc.). however, there are exceptions for certain activities. First of all, you need to know how to become an entrepreneur before knowing the conditions under which as an employee you can make the choice of contractor status.

Conditions to be fulfilled to be considered as an entrepreneur

To be a micro-entrepreneur is to be subject to the microenterprise regime. This scheme is itself subject to the tax regime of the microenterprise which stipulates that to be considered as an entrepreneur, it is necessary to achieve an annual turnover excluding taxes (CAHT) maximum of 82 200 € with regard to the commercial activities or 32 900 € for services or liberal activities. Among these liberal activities depend on industrial and commercial profits or non-commercial profits.

But since January 2018, these amounts have been doubled to € 170,000 and € 70,000 respectively for commercial activities and services. This condition relating to turnover is the sine qua non to be considered as self-employed. If your turnover is just one euro, the maximum amount will be changed immediately to the individual business plan and you lose all the privileges associated with self-employment status.

As another condition, you must also have a registration in the RCS (Trade Register of Companies) for commercial activities or trades directory (RM) for craft activities. These two regimes enter into the configuration of the simplified social micro scheme.

As an example of activities under the microenterprise regime, you have lawyers, ushers, accountants, restaurants, cafes, bakeries, scientific and literary activities, sports professionals, doctors, etc.

Requirements to become an entrepreneur as an employee

Two clauses are generally recommended to become an entrepreneur as an employee.

• Loyalty constraint

You do not have to mix your employee hours with the hours of your entrepreneur activity. This guarantees loyalty to your commitments to your employer. Many people use their hours of work to conduct their self-employed activity and find alibis and compromises to deceive their boss. It’s an unfair game.

Likewise, you do not have the right to take the material and equipment made available to you for your work as an employee for use in your microenterprise. It is “unfair “ your business in the eyes of the taxman and your boss. The equipment itself of your company as an employee should not be used for the purposes of your microenterprise.

In addition, you do not have the right to speak badly of your boss and even of his company where you are an employee neither to a competitor nor to his customers in order to win them all. It’s “ delocalizing “ your activity.

In addition, you are entitled to inform your employer of the creation of your micro enterprise that it touches the same sector of activities or not. In this wake, if you intend to provide your products to its customers, you must inform him in order to have his approval and support.

This duty of loyalty is not limited to just when you are an employee of your employer. Even after leaving the structure, you do not have the right to discredit or to exercise your business unfairly towards your boss at any given time.

• The constraint of the respect of the clauses of the contract

Some employers recruiting you will introduce into your contract a clause prohibiting any form or possibility of starting a business by employees until breach of contract. It is therefore impossible in this case to be able to choose to become a self-employed entrepreneur because it is pretending the clauses that you have signed. These clauses prevent you from engaging in any independent activity unless you decide to terminate the contract with the employer.

Of course, these clauses must respect the right to work, otherwise, you can withdraw from this signed contract.

For example, in exceptional cases, if there is no non-competition clause in your contract, you may at any time consider certain liberal activities. According to the law of August 4, 2008, you have the right as a self-employed entrepreneur with a salaried main activity to carry out a complementary activity with the customers of your boss without his agreement.

If you respect these two main conditions, you can consider becoming a contractor being an employee. However, there are limits and exclusions to this form of work. There are certain professions that cannot be accumulated as employees such as the professions such as lawyers, medical professions, auditors. The same applies to agricultural activities which have a special status and which are not authorized to exercise being subject to the self-employed scheme.

In addition, public servants and civil servants may choose to become self-employed under certain conditions. As a full-time employee, obtaining approval from your supervisor or line manager is required to conduct a self-motivating activity. But this should not exceed three years. If you are a part-time auto entrepreneur, you will always need to make your hierarchy aware of your ambition.

However, before deciding to be an entrepreneur as an employee, you must measure the advantages and disadvantages.

Benefits of self-accumulation and self-employed

By becoming an entrepreneur as an employee, you earn more money, you gain more personal experience, and even improve your productivity as an employee. In addition, you discover your potential and your know-how which makes you more efficient, more efficient and more organized in your tasks as an employee. Indeed, the time is allotted to you and every minute that you have is put to profit. Thus, you increase your diligence and the sense of responsibility which can earn you promotions as an employee.

Disadvantages of self-employment and employee self-accumulation

The main disadvantage is that your expenses in terms of social contributions and the tax on your income increase.

How to become a self-employed person when you are employed in bonds but who become more comfortable once you have mastered them. There are more advantages to combining the two statutes than disadvantages. So do not hesitate and get started!

Originally published at Entrepreneur News and Startup Guide.