Build a Business. Anywhere in America.
A practical education hub for people ready to turn an idea into a real business. Explore an industry, understand your numbers, and find the official resources for your location.
Start with a plan, then check your location
Business fundamentals travel across state lines. Permits, licensing, zoning, taxes, and home-business rules often do not.
- Choose an industry: Understand services, customers, equipment, and operating challenges.
- Test the numbers: Estimate startup investment, working capital, labor, overhead, and a sustainable price.
- Verify requirements: Contact the appropriate state, county, and municipal agencies before signing a lease, advertising regulated services, or buying major equipment.
National Business Startup Guides — 26 Industries
Explore free step-by-step guides for trades, home services, professional businesses, hospitality and online businesses. Each guide helps you understand startup costs, pricing, licensing research, insurance, operations and the official agencies to contact.
Browse all 26 National Business Startup Guides →Skilled Trades · Property & Home Services · Automotive · Professional Services · Food & Hospitality · Online Businesses
Explore a national business guide
Choose an industry to study startup costs, pricing, operational challenges and official research resources. For employment projections and regional context, first visit the Trade Business Forecast Center. Employment growth is not a forecast of the number of new companies.
Lawn care & landscaping
Plan routes, recurring contracts, equipment and climate-dependent revenue.
Explore the complete guide →HVAC service
Examine training, certifications, service agreements, labor pricing and seasonal demand.
Explore the complete guide →Electrical contracting
Review licensing, estimates, job costs, electrical safety and service models.
Explore the complete guide →Plumbing
Compare repairs, installations and recurring service; plan materials, labor and cash flow.
Explore the complete guide →Roofing
Learn estimating, safety, weather delays and deposits versus job expenses.
Explore the complete guide →Remodeling
Evaluate job scope, change orders, subcontractors, estimating and cash flow.
Explore the complete guide →Commercial cleaning
Build contract pricing around labor, supplies, travel time and quality control.
Explore the complete guide →Automotive repair
Consider shop versus mobile operations, diagnostics, equipment and bay productivity.
Explore the complete guide →These eight are featured guides. View all 26 free national startup guides → Each guide provides general U.S. business education. Check applicable state and local rules before offering regulated services.
Try a startup capital estimate
Enter your own estimates. The result adds one-time expenses to the number of months of operating reserves you select; it does not forecast sales or guarantee that the reserve is sufficient.
Include deposits, registration expenses, insurance, inventory and other relevant costs in your estimates. Personal living expenses and taxes are not automatically included.
Explore the Foundation's existing Business Calculator Center →Make sure revenue can cover the work
A busy business can still lose money when prices ignore indirect expenses and owner compensation.
Labor rate
Calculate billable hours realistically; include wages or owner compensation, payroll burden where applicable, overhead, and desired profit.
Job estimates
Account for materials, travel, setup, disposal, equipment wear, callbacks, and administrative time.
Cash flow
Consider when customers pay versus when rent, payroll, suppliers, and taxes come due.
Break-even
Estimate how many jobs or sales are needed to cover fixed and variable costs.
Find your state and local requirements
The foundation supplies a research path, not a blanket list of permits. Rules depend on your business activity and precise location, sometimes including special districts.
Choose a state to label your research checklist. The official directories below cover every state.
Your state and local research desk
Use these official directories to locate the responsible agencies. Select your state again on the government website where requested.
These links are government directories, not automatic search results for the selected state. You can also open our separate State Resource Directory.
Keep track of your local research
Check each step as you complete it. Checkmarks are kept only while this page is open; copy your checklist to keep a record.
Your business startup and compliance roadmap
Work through these stages in order. This is your on-page educational guide—not a substitute for licensing or zoning decisions by the agency responsible for your exact location and activity.
Decide what you will sell
Write down the services or products, target customers, service territory, work location, and whether you will hire staff or use subcontractors. These decisions affect permits, taxes, insurance and costs.
Check demand and startup capital
Estimate equipment, transportation, deposits, supplies, insurance, fees and operating reserves. Use the startup capital estimate above; compare prices and cash flow before committing funds.
Choose a legal structure
Compare sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC and corporation based on liability, taxes, ownership and administrative obligations. Formation is not the same as receiving permission to perform a regulated trade.
Official SBA structure guide ↗Register the business correctly
Verify entity formation, assumed or fictitious names, registered-agent rules where relevant, and state tax registration. Registration varies by jurisdiction and type of business.
Use the Foundation's state directory →Determine whether an EIN is needed
Some businesses require an employer identification number for tax or employment purposes; others may obtain one even when not required. Apply directly through the IRS, never through a fee-charging imitation site.
IRS EIN guidance ↗Verify zoning before signing
Check the exact street address with city/county planning or zoning staff. Ask about home occupations, signage, parking, storage, customer visits and special districts; do not rely solely on the property's mailing address.
Identify licenses, permits and inspections
Ask whether your particular work requires an occupational or professional license, local business tax receipt, building or fire permits, health approvals, environmental permits, or other permissions. An LLC does not replace these.
Find the proper government offices →Plan insurance and safety
Review general liability, commercial auto, property coverage, professional liability, workers' compensation and bonding as applicable. Rules and coverage depend on jurisdiction, employees, work and contracts.
Set up tax and business records
Separate personal and business transactions, select a bookkeeping system, monitor cash flow, track receipts and understand applicable income, sales and employment taxes.
IRS small business tax center ↗Launch with a renewal calendar
Before advertising or taking regulated work, confirm approvals. Record filing dates, license expirations, insurance renewals, tax deadlines, equipment maintenance and required training.
Which government level handles which requirement?
| Authority | What to research |
|---|---|
| Federal | IRS EIN and taxes; federal employer duties; federal industry rules when applicable. Federal registration does not replace state or local approvals. |
| State | Entity filings, state taxes, professional/trade licenses, employer registration and state-regulated activities. |
| County | County business taxes or registrations, unincorporated-area zoning, permits, property-use restrictions, health or environmental approvals when applicable. |
| City or town | Municipal business taxes or registrations, zoning, signage, occupancy, building and fire requirements when applicable. |
| Special district or regulator | Water, sewer, fire, environmental, transportation or other specialized approvals depending on location and operations. |
Record these answers before you spend money
- Business activity: Exactly what will you sell or perform—and does the work require a license?
- Address and jurisdiction: City limits or unincorporated county? Which office controls zoning?
- Written agency confirmation: Who confirmed the rule, when, and where is the official instruction?
- Initial and recurring costs: Filings, permits, inspections, premiums, taxes and renewals.
- Opening conditions: Which approvals must be issued before operations begin?
Educational content, updated October 2026. This roadmap is general U.S. guidance, not a statement that any particular license applies in every location. Confirm current requirements with the appropriate agency.
Already starting a business in Florida?
Your foundation has separate Florida-specific launch resources. They remain the place for Florida registration and trade-focused guidance; this national page does not replace them.
Florida launch guidance
Continue with the foundation's existing business launch resources.
Open Business Launch Guides →General business help
Find additional education and industry materials already on the foundation website.
Open Business Help Center →Explore trade business outlooks by region
Select your Census region to compare operating considerations and find state-specific occupational outlook links. Employment projections describe workforce changes, not the number of new businesses expected to open.
Northeast trade outlook
Heating seasons, winter scheduling and local service demand.
Explore Northeast state forecasts →South trade outlook
Cooling, storm exposure, recurring service and local conditions.
Explore South state forecasts →Midwest trade outlook
Heating and cooling seasons, freeze-related repairs and cash reserves.
Explore Midwest state forecasts →West trade outlook
Coastal, mountain and desert climates; local operating requirements.
Explore West state forecasts →Each page has its own state selector, eight industry guide links and government or government-supported employment data resources.
Build the skills behind the business
Before you buy or open
Review the decisions to research before committing money.
Open resource →Marketing
Study customer acquisition, positioning and retention.
Open resource →Technology
Explore technology and systems for operating a small business.
Open resource →Customer service
Build consistent service and stronger customer relationships.
Open resource →Leadership
Develop management and leadership skills.
Open resource →Business Resource Library
Explore Business Supporter Membership resources. Protected tools and templates require member access.
Open resource →Explore national trade employment forecasts and regional planning →
Choose your next learning step
Explore all 26 National Business Startup Guides →