The self-employed are people who carry out an economic activity on their own account, bearing the risk of this activity and appropriating the potential profits that it can generate. They are autonomous in the organization of their work (schedules, dates, means implemented ...), and are not, unlike salaried staff, in a situation of legal subordination with regard to the person with whom they contract. They also fall under a specific social protection scheme, separate from the general scheme.

It is of course very common for companies to use self-employed workers in a wide variety of fields (services, artistic services, etc.), whether they are traders, craftsmen or members of the labor force. a liberal profession; they then remunerate them in the form of fees, with or without VAT according to the applicable regime, without having, unlike the employment of an employee, to pay social security contributions (these are paid directly by the self-employed worker the social protection schemes to which he belongs). In itself, the use of such professionals does not raise any particular issue.
 
The company, for the realization of an action, can buy the services proposed by a company (Company in name, Sarl, Société Anonyme ...). The services provided can be of any kind: provision of a property, an intellectual service.