Most "cost to start a business" articles either quote enormous numbers meant for a storefront or franchise, or vague ones that don't help you actually budget. Here's a real breakdown for a service-based small business — the kind most first-time owners actually start.
The unavoidable costs
- Fictitious name / DBA registration: Typically $25–$150 depending on your state, plus a small newspaper publication fee in states that require it (Florida is one).
- Basic liability insurance: Often $300–$800/year for a small service business, though this varies a lot by industry.
- A place to take payment: Free-to-start options exist (Wave, Square) with per-transaction fees instead of monthly costs — a real advantage when you're just starting.
The costs people forget to budget for
- A basic website: Free-to-cheap if you build it yourself on something like GitHub Pages; a few hundred to a few thousand if you pay someone.
- Business cards and basic print materials: $20–$100 for a small print run.
- Tools and supplies specific to your trade: This varies the most — a cleaning business needs different gear than a bookkeeping business.
The costs you can skip entirely at first
- An LLC — a sole proprietorship with a fictitious name registration is legally sufficient to start in most states. An LLC adds liability protection, but it's not required to legally operate, and you can form one later once you have revenue.
- Paid advertising — word of mouth and a Google Business Profile (both free) get most local service businesses further in month one than a paid ad budget would.
- Custom branding — a clean, simple look beats an expensive one nobody's compared it against yet.
A realistic starter budget
For a typical solo service business: $50–$150 for fictitious name filing, $0–$50 for a basic website, $0 for a free payment processor (fees come out per-transaction, not upfront), and whatever your specific trade requires in tools. That's a real, legally operating business for well under $500 in most cases.
The bigger cost, honestly, is usually time — the paperwork and setup steps that nobody explains clearly the first time. That's the part worth paying someone else to handle, if any of it is.