Starting a Business is Easy

Title is an overstatement, but I wanted to lay out here what you need to start your own business. It’s not that hard, but difficult to understand if all you have access to is government websites with confusing layouts and pages. Of course things will vary - starting a restaurant may look much different from becoming a painter. This page will talk more from a contractor/cleaning person perspective.

Here is what you need:

  • Fictitious name or DBA (doing business as) depending on your state regulations and requirements. In my state, this is necessary if your business name does not include your full legal name. Costs $70 in my state and lasts until your business is dissolved.

  • Sales tax license. So that you can legally collect and pay sales tax. You can put this under your actual name instead of fictitious name. I forget how much this cost but it wasn’t much if anything.

  • Business bank account. Maybe not totally necessary if you are doing business under your full legal name. You can walk into a branch with a printed copy of your fictitious name and they’ll help. They’ll ask for your social security number, drivers license and all the other good stuff.

  • Business insurance. The price of this will vary a lot based on what you’re doing, the coverage of the policy etc. In my case I pay $600-$800 a year. It’s cheaper if you pay yearly, usually. If you’re doing anything contractor-y you should ask for “care custody and control” to be on the policy so that you are actually covered if you damage customer property while it is in your care, custody or control. This should be default on all insurance I have no idea why it’s not. I just walked into a local insurance agency and told them what I needed and they set me up. I would recommend calling ahead though.

  • Commercial auto insurance. This is non-optional if you use a vehicle to work, like moving equipment, product, etc. If you get in an accident and they suspect/prove you were doing work with a personal policy, they may deny coverage and you get sued etc.

  • EIN (employer identification number) only necessary in some cases or if you hire people. I got one but never use it for anything, I use my social instead. For filling out W9’s you would use either your EIN or social security number to identify you as a tax payer. Cooperate clients will sometimes ask you to give them filled W9’s so that they can report the transaction properly during tax time.

  • Payment processor. Not technically necessary if you only take cash and checks but nice to have for repeat work where credit cards are involved. Quickbooks is a popular one.

  • Phone number. VOIPs are not recommended. I tried and Google doesn’t like it at all. You can use your personal phone but you might get more spam calls. Most carriers provide an app or call filtering service which can help. Many smartphones can use two SIM cards or two virtual ESIMs at once so you can have a personal and work number.

  • Google profile. Not necessary but recommended. I hate Google but it makes a lot of sense to get one up ASAP to build age and reputation for your business. If Google suspends you and asks for your business license you need to give them your fictitious name registration or DBA. Don’t be surprised if you’re suspended as soon as you make it, Google is strict here. If you are a service area business do not display your address on the profile without proper business signage. Google will ask for photos. You can do it, and it will help service area businesses, but again, you need that signage, and you’re doxxing yourself really hard. On every job you should be taking before/after photos, asking for customer reviews, responding to those customer reviews gracefully, etc. Keep it filled out, keep it fresh, keep it accurate. Info should match with all your other web presences.

  • Website. You should have one but it’s less important than building a good business profile presence. There are a million different places to host a website so figure that out on your own. This is another thing that’s good to have even if not perfect as older websites may look better to search engines.

  • Social media. Post the same before/after or just after pics on here as well. Instagram has a setting which will automatically post to Facebook so you can have a FB presence without doing any additional work. Again, follow your friends, talk to people, tag your stuff with good locations, etc.

  • Customers. This is actually the hardest thing to get and maintain. I can tell you from experience nobody will call you just because you have everything above. Your only hope of getting calls is boots-on-the-ground networking. Talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends. Don’t quit your day job until you have this figured out.

That’s about it. There are a myriad of other things I could mention like someone to do your taxes/bookkeeper, equipment, but the rest I may not have enough experience to speak on.

Have fun!

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