Maëlane Faure is a micro-business creation trainer and host of the podcast "Révèle-toi", which helps people create their own business and build a fulfilling professional life. She helps entrepreneurs build a business that lasts, is profitable and fulfilling. Portrait of a converted and fulfilled lawyer!
Maëlane Faure, a lawyer converted into a business creation trainer
Hello Maëlane, thank you for accepting this interview!
You were a lawyer, and you decided to make a complete career change to become an entrepreneur. Why did you make this choice? Were you afraid to take the plunge? How did the transition go?
After a Master's degree in Business Law and Taxation, and a Diploma of Corporate Counsel (DJCE), I worked as a tax lawyer in business law firms in Bordeaux. The idea was to enter a law school afterwards.
Even though I loved tax law and the diversity of the profession, there was something missing from my professional life: freedom, creativity, far from the codes of the legal world, which remains a very "traditional" sector.
Of course, you don't just leave a nice career in the legal world! Even if I had a precise idea of what I wanted to do (to turn to a more creative job in the web), I spent months researching and interviewing lawyers who had been retrained. I discovered that there were jobs that allowed me to combine all my skills and desires.
The training to create a company is not my first business on the web: I first worked for two years as a legal web writer and freelance content manager for legal and accounting professionals. A way to keep a good foot in the legal world, for a smooth transition.
Later, I became a trainer in business creation. My current job is finally the combination of my past professional activities... And the variety of skills that come with it!
Today you are an entrepreneurial trainer, entrepreneur and podcaster. How did your previous career path help you?
Even if my current job has little to do with my daily life in a law firm, I owe a lot to my former career!
On the one hand, because of my strong legal and tax skills. The creation of a company generally causes a lot of anxiety about the administrative side of things.
My legal profile reassures the people I train. This allows me to help them at 360°: on the administrative AND strategic level. The perfect package to undertake serenely!
On the other hand, law has taught me rigor, organization and synthesis of my ideas. When I create content, I still find my lawyer's automatisms. And this benefits my students, especially when teaching them complex concepts.
You host Révèle-toi, a podcast that helps people create their own business and build a fulfilling professional life. The concept: one episode every Wednesday morning, a short format, with concrete and easily applicable advice. Can you tell us why you created this podcast and how you choose your topics?
When I was still working in a law firm, I used to listen to podcasts about entrepreneurship: on my way to work, during my lunch break...
It is these podcasts that have allowed me to open up to other professional horizons. They inspired and motivated my professional reconversion. So, when I found my way, I wanted to contribute to the building.
The topics are directly inspired by my interactions with my audience and clients. What is bothering them? What are their fears? What are the most common problems encountered on the road to entrepreneurship? I try to make starting a business as simple and accessible as possible.
If we had to start with an episode of your podcast, which one would it be and why?
Difficult choice... My podcast episodes deal with a lot of issues related to the creation and development of a micro-business. The idea is that everyone comes to pick and choose according to their needs. It's the companion for beginner entrepreneurs!
Here are my recommendations:
What advice do you have for those who want to change careers?
First of all, listen to yourself and take stock, in an honest and profound way, of your desires. We sometimes tend to follow a marked out path (and therefore reassuring!) and/or a socially valued path, but which is not our own. Sometimes we even realize that we never really had the opportunity, during our studies and career, to question our real aspirations.
It is possible to call upon professionals in the field of professional retraining, who will offer a skills assessment and valuable resources on the subject.
I also advise you to contact people - in your entourage, or not! - who have also started a career transition. In general, they will always be happy to share their story and their advice. The web allows you to connect with thousands of people with little effort, so let's take advantage of it!
One important thing to remember: the studies we do and the career we have already built should not condition the decisions we will make tomorrow.
The Micropreneure Academy is the name of your training to become an entrepreneur. How is it structured and what do you learn in concrete terms?
The Micropreneure Academy is an intensive online training to learn how to create, manage and develop a micro-business. It is designed for service providers who want to build a sustainable, profitable and fulfilling business on the web.
The objective is to make my students completely autonomous in the creation and management of their business. Together, we tackle the strategic aspect: the positioning, the target clientele, the offer, the sales strategy... As well as the administrative aspect: the rates and finances, the protection of the activity (contracts, estimates...), or the current management (invoicing, declarations).
It is therefore a 360° training on the key issues of the entrepreneurial adventure.
You created your own business, halfway between law and technology. Do you think that the mix of the two has a bright future ahead of it?
The law is an industry in the midst of a major upheaval. It is gradually - albeit belatedly - opening up to new subjects, including technology.
We can see it very well with the emergence of legal start-ups ( Legaltech). Initially shunned or even criticized by traditional entities, they have in the space of a few years taken their place in the legal world.
Many lawyers and legal professionals have decided to use technology to advance their practice, modernize their profession, and save time. This is certainly a movement that will continue and intensify over the next few years.
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