Hi JrKob,
I'm answering because I' be sad to see a compatriot left with no answer. But I actually am a salary man, hence, take my words for nothing more than just a starting point.
The question seems to sum up to a fiscal question :
Either you register as an individual, and you'll be taxed on your income basis (0% to 40%, depending on how much you earn in a year), or you create a company, and you'll be taxed on the companies taxes basis (33.33% after 38120 ⬠15% before).
In both cases, if it's your main income source, you'll have to maintain a professional accounting, make all legal declarations, etc.
(If you choose the "company" side, you'll be able to build a simple "EURL" (Entreprise unipersonnelle à responsabilité limitée) in some simple steps (minimum starting capital = 1euro, a single shareholder is enougth, etc.).)
You may find some informations and/or contacts by googling a little the web, like for example there :
http://www.mataf.net/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t881.html
As for the social protection part : google returns many valuable answers :
http://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&q="protection+sociale"+tns&meta=
I hope it helped a little, welcome back home,
(Amusant de devoir écrire en anglais quand nous sommes tous deux francophones...)
Olivier.
