Becoming a micro

Becoming a micro entrepreneur We chat to micro entrepreneur Sophie Green, who is based in the Dordogne. Sophie works for Leggett Immobilier International as a sales agent in Dordogne as well as in neighbouring department Haute-Vienne. How did you come to be living in France? I lived in Northamptonshire in the UK, trained as a Legal Executive and as a Financial Advisor and Mortgage Advisor working within Solicitor practices. When I became pregnant with our first son Louis in 2008, my husband had an idea to open a sandwich shop in our village so instead of going back to work fulltime for someone else, I could be my own boss. I have to say, I have never worked so hard in my life. Then three years later I became pregnant with our second son, Freddie, and the thought of getting up at 5am to butter sandwiches lost its allure! We bought a caravan and decided to go on holiday to France. We fell in love with France from the minute we got here and immediately started house hunting. Just before this, my lovely mum had passed away. She had lived in the same village as us and life didn’t feel the same without her. We didn’t know exactly where we wanted to live and spent holidays travelling around Brittany and Dordogne. When we stayed in a very small rural campsite in Dordogne, we both knew this was it, our dream area. We found our house and moved to France in July 2013. My eldest was just about to start school in the UK so it was perfect timing for a move. He went straight into the local school in our village. How did you become a micro entrepreneur in France I was too young to retire, and I wanted a new challenge. In addition to our house, we bought some lakes nearby, run as GoGreen Holidays, and I looked after the rental of the onsite cabin and gypsy caravan. But I needed more from a job, I wanted to learn more French, to get out and meet people and explore the area. I have a love for property, and I love looking around houses. Working as an agent for Leggett Immobillier seemed a perfect fit. Leggett offered everything I needed and was flexible, so I could work around looking after the lakes and the children – by then we had another child, Francesca. What’s it like working as an agent for Leggett Immobillier in France? Leggett have exceeded my expectations. I joined them in 2018, after meeting with an Area Coordinator and chatting through the role which helped me to decide whether it was right for me. I completed a training course at Head Office which is in Dordogne. I really like that you get the benefits of working for a family-run business so you’re not just another number, but it’s also an award-winning, big international company so there’s a massive multi-lingual support network available to all agents. There’s a fantastic Sales Support Team who help organise all my visits, the Marketing Team do a great job promoting all the properties I list for sale, and the IT team have developed a fantastic back-office system to make life easier to manage the admin. There is also a terrific Legal and Contracts team to help with all the admin requirements and we are regularly updated with changes in laws. We have access to a lot of online training which is great and saves time with not having to travel. Plus, we’re assigned admin support, my fabulous assistant Zoe who is a fountain of knowledge, works in the Contracts Team and does all my compromis de vente work (sales documentation), and helps me manage all my sales. As an agent, it’s essential to be organised and flexible. You need to be able to manage not only your own time but also that of your vendor’s and clients. What’s it like being selfemployed? I run everything as a stand-alone business. I set up as a micro entrepreneur and it is quite a simple regime. I pay cotistations (French National Insurance) monthly, based on what 98 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 99