Legal, Licenses & Insurance

The Setup Run-Through Checklist

Companion to "Your setup run-through & going deeper" and "The license hunt."

Eight steps in order, one weekend. Each step hands something to the next, so do not start in the middle.

Business being set up
Run-through date(s)

The eight steps

☐ Decide the name. One you can live with, available in your state's registry, domain matching closely enough. Hours, not weeks. Name:
☐ Price the entity. Filing fee, annual fee, penalty amounts on one line, next to honest first-year revenue (use the Entity Cost/Benefit Worksheet). Sole proprietor by default, or the LLC if the risk or a contract justifies the bill
☐ Get the EIN. Free from the IRS, online, minutes. Direct from irs.gov, nowhere else. One per day is the limit
☐ Open the business account. Separate money from day one, whatever entity you chose. Bank wants your EIN and formation documents if you formed one
☐ Sweep the state layer. Entity registration if you formed one, then the revenue department for sales tax and employer accounts
☐ Call the county, then the city. The script below, twice: general license, assumed name, home occupation permit, renewal dates
☐ Line up the insurance. Know your policy, your carrier, and your number before the first contract asks. Buy the day the risk starts (Insurer Question Card)
☐ Build the folder. Every filing, license, and COI in one place, with renewal dates on a calendar the day they arrive

The county / city script

"Hi, I'm starting a one-person business operating from my home in [your city], doing [plain-English description of the work, for example residential cleaning or lawn care]. What does the county require: a general business license, an assumed name filing, or anything else? What does each cost, and does it renew annually?"

Write down the answer, the name of the person who gave it, and the date. Then the follow-up that catches the gap every time: "Is there anyone else I should be asking, at the city or the state?" Clerks know the map better than the map does. Do not substitute a search engine for the clerk.

Call log

Office	Who answered	Date	Required / cost / renewal
County clerk
City hall / finance
Trade board (if one exists)

Renewal calendar

Licenses lapse, annual reports come due, insurance renews at a price you want to see coming. Set one recurring calendar reminder per renewal date, the day each document arrives. Late penalties, in every state that has them, are a memory tax.

Document	Renewal date	Calendar reminder set
		☐
		☐
		☐

Revisit this run-through at three moments: the first employee, the first commercial contract, and the first work in a new state. Each reopens exactly one line of the map.