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I've given this same info on starting an official pet sitting business several times now, so it's all copy paste. Business name, logo: I used Chat GBT to give me a ton of name suggestions, and it made a logo for me. Good quality, simple, printable. Note that I got crucified on this since 'it steals work from legitimate artists', which yes - it does. But in this economy, fuck everyone else. Free Email: Gmail account Free Phone number: Verizon has a deal where you can add a second phone number to your phone, so you don't have to carry two phones around 10$ a month LLC: Registered my LLC through my state website 250$ ish City License: My city has an application on the website, but it took about 2 months to get this accepted. I had to submit a housing sheet that described my residence and what part and how much of my residence would be used for business. $110 annual Website: Squarespace, you can customize the whole site, set up scheduling, payments and other things there too for an additional fee if that's what you want. It also let's me customize how the website looks when viewed on a phone screen! Annual cost for website $192, annual cost to have your own domain $20 Insurance: Pet Sitters Associates, and I added a fee of $10 a year where I can advertise my business on their site. I know I won't get anyone from it, but it's nice advertisement and verification I am insured if someone searches for my business. $235 annual Budgeting: Hurdlr, I've used them for years when I did Doordash and now to track mileage between clients. It's crazy how cheap it is for how much you can do! It tracks, income, expenses, mileage, estimates everything, they also offer tax services but I've never used them. You can print out simple reports for your tax people at the end of the year. $100 annual Scheduling: Time to Pet, I've not used this since I keep track of everything on my calendar. But if I did need a scheduling service with alerts and what not - I'd probably use them since I've heard good things. You can also use Caledly since it's free. Cost unknown Banking: My tax guy is BIG on "not piercing the corporate veil", basically don't mix personal finance with business incase you get sued. I started a free Capital One account where all business money goes. I use a credit card with that same account to buy things for my business. Finally, I ordered business checks for myself through amazon so I can move after tax money to my personal account to use for whatever I want. Bank account: Free Checks: 20$ Remember, half of all income has to be paid into taxes Payments: I accept the following. I live in a college town so the kids all use different things and I need to be ready. All of these are business only accounts with my logo and business number, so I pay a fee every time I use them. Cash App Venmo Paypal Zelle goes to my business account Cash Personal check (no business) Business cards: Use Blinq, it's a free app. You can set up multiple business cards for multiple businesses. You only need to make it, set up your contact info, and then people can scan your card with their phone and it's added to their contacts! You can also add your website and social media too. You can also get a little keychain someone can tap to scan if you don't always have your phone or it dies a lot Social Media: I have business accounts for Facebook and Instagram for my business. There is an app called Business Suite that allows you to post and schedule posts on all Meta platforms up to 2 weeks in advance. I use this so I don't have to go into each app and I can enjoy vacations without randomly posting pictures at 2am. Advertising: I made a Google business page that pops up on Google Maps. After a few reviews from my regulars, I started getting traction. Warning on naming a business: Chat GBT found me a good business name that wasn't currently being used. The issue is that the business name was PREVIOUSLY being used and I had no idea! I'm only finding this out because people were finding the old business on the other side of the country via Yelp, going to her website address (now my website) and calling my business number! It's been fixed, but those 2am phone calls were wild.
This is partially from a post I copy and paste often for new sitters, hope it helps! Website: Squarespace, you can customize the whole site, set up scheduling, payments and other things there too for an additional fee if that's what you want. It also let's me customize how the website looks when viewed on a phone screen! Annual cost for website $192, annual cost to have your own domain $20 Business cards: Use Blinq, it's a free app. You can set up multiple business cards for multiple businesses. You only need to make it, set up your contact info, and then people can scan your card with their phone and it's added to their contacts! You can also add your website and social media too. You can also get a cute little keychain someone can tap to scan if you don't always have your phone or it dies a lot Social Media: I have business accounts for Facebook and Instagram for my business. There is an app called Business Suite that allows you to post and schedule posts on all Meta platforms up to 2 weeks in advance. I use this so I don't have to go into each app and I can enjoy vacations without randomly posting pictures at 2am. Google page: I also have a google page that shows up in searches, which has gotten me several clients now (after a few reviews from existing clients and friends). No one wants to hire a blank business.
Also, I have given this same info on starting an official pet sitting business several times now, so it's all copy paste. But I hope it helps! Business name, logo: I actually used Chat GBT to give me a ton of name suggestions, and it even made a logo for me. Good quality, simple, printable. Note that I got crucified on this since 'it steals work from legitimate artists', which yes - it does. But in this economy, fuck everyone else. Free Email: Gmail account Free Phone number: Verizon has a deal where you can add a second phone number to your phone, so you don't have to carry two phones around 10$ a month LLC: Registered my LLC through my state website 250$ ish City License: My city has an application on the website, but it took about 2 months to get this accepted. I had to submit a housing shet that described my residence and what part and how much of my residence would be used for business. The sheet was simple, but if you were lazy and didn't read it your application would get flagged since it tells you the limitations of how much square space of your home can actually be documented as used and what services you can provide. $110 annual Website: Squarespace, you can customize the whole site, set up scheduling, payments and other things there too for an additional fee if that's what you want. It also let's me customize how the website looks when viewed on a phone screen! Annual cost for website $192, annual cost to have your own domain $20 Insurance: Pet Sitters Associates, and I added a fee of $10 a year where I can advertise my business on their site. I know I won't get anyone from it, but it's nice advertisement and verification I am insured if someone searches for my business. 235$ annual Budgeting: Hurdlr, I've used them for years when I did Doordash and now to track mileage between clients. It's crazy how cheap it is for how much you can do! It tracks, income, expenses, mileage, estimates everything, they also offer tax services but I've never used them. You can print out simple reports for your tax people at the end of the year. $100 annual Scheduling: Time to Pet, I've not used this since I keep track of everything on my calendar. But if I did need a scheduling service with alerts and what not - I'd probably use them since I've heard good things. You can also use Caledly since it's free. Cost unknown Banking: My tax guy is BIG on "not piercing the corporate veil", basically don't mix personal finance with business incase you get sued. I started a free Capital One account where all business money goes. I use a credit card with that same account to buy things for my business. Finally, I ordered actual business checks for myself through amazon so I can move after tax money to my personal account to use for whatever I want. Bank account: Free Checks: 20$ Remember, half of all income has to be paid into taxes Payments: I accept the following. I live in a college town so the kids all use different things and I need to be ready. All of these are business only accounts with my logo and business number, so I pay a fee every time I use them. Cash App Venmo Paypal Zelle goes to my business account Cash Personal check (no business) Business cards: Use Blinq, it's a free app. You can set up multiple business cards for multiple businesses. You only need to make it, set up your contact info, and then people can scan your card with their phone and it's added to their contacts! You can also add your website and social media too. You can also get a cute little keychain someone can tap to scan if you don't always have your phone or it dies a lot Social Media: I have business accounts for Facebook and Instagram for my business. There is an app called Business Suite that allows you to post and schedule posts on all Meta platforms up to 2 weeks in advance. I use this so I don't have to go into each app and I can enjoy vacations without randomly posting pictures at 2am. Warning on naming a business: Chat GBT found me a good business name that wasn't currently being used. The issue is that the business name was PREVIOUSLY being used and I had no idea! I'm only finding this out because people were finding the old business on the other side of the country via Yelp, going to her website address (now my website) and calling my business number! It's been fixed, but those 2am phone calls were wild.