Non EU citizen without a visa open a business in France?

I have been back and forth to France / EU for about 2 1/2 years and about 2 years ago started thinking of how I could be in France long-term. I do not have the money to come over as an extended tourist and I would love to continue working anyway. Recently, someone mentioned to me the auto-entrepreneur program as an option to come to France long-term. How do I do this? Do I need to return to the US and receive a visa? Or, can I apply for some sort of auto-entrepreneur carte de sejour here in Paris? If I have a one year visa and then am granted a carte de sejour, must I return to the US annually for renewal of the visa? I’m a bit lost in how all of that works. I just want to be able to live here in France and continue working for myself doing photography.

I was told that the competency and talents carte de sejour is difficult to receive unless you are already established, and I am not. Though, the renewable three year status would be ideal especially since I intend to live here the rest of my life, for all intents and purposes. So, as someone with extremely limited resources at present, what are my options? What are the appropriate steps to take? My 90 day stamp is finished in about 2 months.