the same here, especially since the Paris embassy is not cool.. Two years ago they refused me a tourist visa because the expiration date was hard to see on the passport scan, I didn't even have the option to upload another one and I lost 40 euros, I don't want to lose 350 this time. Also the one in Paris announces 1 month of processing while the others take a week and the others also answer emails in less than 48 hours. In short, it's annoying.
I don't know what they want exactly, I'm an entrepreneur, I have shops etc but I'm afraid they won't understand, I also do freelance work as a dev but what do they mean by portfolio? A screenshot of a Fiverr / Upwork profile? Anyway, if you have a lead, I'm interested :)