The Business Setup Checklist

Last Updated

May 13, 2026 1:57 AM

Est. Time to Complete

About 15–20 minutes to read; 2–4 hours to complete the full checklist.

Lesson Summary

Everything you need to do financially and legally to set up your freelance business in the U.S. — broken down into a checklist you can actually finish in an afternoon.

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Note: This lesson is written for U.S.-based freelancers. If you're outside the U.S., the financial and legal specifics will be different — but the general principle of separating your business and personal finances still applies. Skip to whatever sections are relevant for you.

Nothing in this lesson constitutes financial or legal advice. When in doubt, talk to an accountant or lawyer.

Set aside 2–4 hours for this

This is probably the least glamorous week of the course. There's no creative brainstorm, no exciting strategy work. It's just... admin. Forms and bank accounts and spreadsheets.

But here's the thing: getting this set up right, early, will save you a genuinely painful amount of time and stress later. Tax season is not the time to realize you've been mixing business and personal expenses in the same account for six months. Do it now, while the slate is clean.

The checklist

Finances

Get your EIN

If you're in the U.S., your first move is getting an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. It's free, it takes about five minutes, and it protects your Social Security Number — you'll use your EIN instead of your SSN for all business paperwork, including contracts and 1099s.

Get it here: IRS EIN application

⚡️ Watch out for scam sites that look like the IRS. The official form is always at irs.gov — don't pay anyone to do this for you.

Open a business bank account

All freelance income goes here. All business expenses come from here. That's the rule.

Keeping your money separate makes bookkeeping dramatically easier and makes tax season much less of a nightmare. It also means you can see at a glance exactly how your business is doing without having to dig through your personal transactions.

I use Novo — it's free, built for small businesses and freelancers, and has invoicing built in.

Set up invoicing

You need a way to send invoices before you get your first client, not after. Most business banking tools have invoicing built in. Novo does. So does Wave (free) and QuickBooks.

Pick one and have a template ready to go.

Set up bookkeeping

Track your income and business expenses from day one. You'll need this for taxes. QuickBooks Solopreneur is what I use and recommend — it's built for people running solo businesses and connects directly to your bank account.

Make a tax savings plan

As a freelancer, no one is withholding taxes for you. That's on you. The standard recommendation is to set aside 25–30% of everything you earn for taxes — and pay quarterly estimated taxes to the IRS to avoid penalties at year end.

The easiest way to do this: open a high-yield savings account (HYSA) and move your tax savings there automatically after every payment. I use Wealthfront for this — it earns interest while it sits there, which is a nice little bonus for your discipline.

Quarterly estimated tax deadlines (U.S.):

April 15
June 15
September 15
January 15 (following year)

More info: IRS estimated taxes

Everything else

Get a contract template

You need a contract before you take on your first client. Not after. A good freelance contract covers the scope of work, payment terms, revision rounds, kill fees, and intellectual property rights.

You can find templates online, have a lawyer draft one, or grab the contract template inside the Freelance Resource Library — that's what I use and what most of my coaching clients start with.

Create a basic pricing guide or proposal template

Once you know your rates (that's next week), you'll want a simple document you can send to potential clients that shows what you offer and what it costs. It doesn't have to be fancy — a one-page PDF or Google Doc is fine to start.

There's a pricing guide template in the shop if you want a head start.

Make a simple onboarding plan

When someone says yes to working with you, what happens next? You need to know before it happens. Even a basic flow — discovery call, contract, invoice, kickoff — is enough to start. We cover onboarding in depth in the Freelance Resource Library.

Think about your website

If you don't have one yet, now is a good time to start thinking about it. The portfolio week already covered where to host it — if you haven't set something up yet, this is a good nudge to do that.