# How to start a trade business: the first 90 days > Three months in, the shops that make it did the dull work early. Legal, money, systems: where the hours pay off when everything feels urgent. Source: https://toolbagcrm.com/blog/how-to-start-a-trade-business-first-90-days/ Author: The Toolbag Crew Updated: 2026-10-13 Do the boring stuff first. It's what keeps you open. You quit the job. Bought the truck. Now what? The first three months on your own run together into a blur of paperwork and second-guessing at eleven at night. Most of it feels urgent. Most of it can wait. Below is where the hours actually pay off in the first ninety days, and what can sit for now. ## Days 1 to 30: get legal and get findable Register the business first. Pick a structure, and yes, phone an accountant, though plenty of trades open as an LLC and switch to an S-corp later once the profit makes that worth the paperwork. Get your EIN. Open a business bank account. Then keep every business dollar out of your personal account starting day one, because mixing the two is the single most common bookkeeping mess new owners make for themselves. Get insured before the first job, not after. General liability at a minimum. The moment someone helps you on a job, workers’ comp too, which in most states stops being optional the day you have an employee. Pull whatever license your trade and your state require. Skipping any of this to save two weeks is how an owner loses everything over one bad afternoon. Now get findable. A Google Business Profile costs nothing and it’s the first thing a customer checks before they call. Fill it out all the way, post photos of real work you’ve done, and ask every happy customer for a review while you’re still standing in their driveway. You don’t need a website in week one. You do need a phone number somebody answers and a way for people to find you when they search your trade and your town. ## Days 30 to 60: make the money work By now you’ve run a few jobs. Good. This is the window to fix the money plumbing before it turns into a mess you can’t untangle. Work out your real prices. The number that keeps you in business is your own cost plus the margin you need to live on, and it has almost nothing to do with what the guy across town charges. Most new owners price too low because losing a job scares them. Winning cheap work will bleed you slower and surer than losing an expensive one ever will. Set up a clean way to quote and bill. A handwritten invoice on a paper pad looks exactly as rough as it is, and it gets paid slow. Take card and ACH from the first invoice you send. The processing fee stings a little, and it beats chasing a paper check around for three weeks. Send the invoice the day the work is finished, not the day you finally remember. Every day you sit on it is a day longer until the money lands. Start watching where the money goes. You don’t need real accounting software yet. You do need to know what came in, what went back out, and what’s actually yours. A shoebox stuffed with faded receipts come tax time is a bad night you can just skip by writing it down as you go. ## Days 60 to 90: build the systems before you're buried If it’s working, you’re getting busy. This is the part that catches people. Busy feels like winning, so it hides the cracks right up until one of them costs you a customer. Stop dropping calls and leads. A missed call is usually a job that just went to whoever picked up second. Decide now how every call gets answered or returned fast, whether that’s you, a real person, or a service that catches the overflow. Answering quickly wins more work than being the cheapest name on the list ever has. Write down how you actually do the job. How you quote it, how you get it on the calendar, how you handle a callback when something goes sideways. It feels silly to document a one-person shop. It stops feeling silly the morning you hire your first helper and realize the whole operation lives inside your own head. Then sit down with your numbers for the quarter. Not for the IRS, for you. Which jobs actually made money, and which ones just kept you moving? Ninety days is enough to start seeing the pattern, and the pattern is how you steer the next ninety. > The dull stuff keeps you in business long enough for the fun stuff to matter. ### The first-90-days checklist - **Business registered**: Structure picked, EIN in hand, separate business bank account open. - **Insured and licensed**: General liability, workers' comp if you have help, and your trade/state license. - **Found online**: Google Business Profile filled out with real photos and a few early reviews. - **Priced right**: Prices built from your costs and margin, not the competition's numbers. - **Set up to get paid**: Card and ACH turned on, invoices sent the day the job's done. - **No call dropped**: Every call answered or returned fast, however you cover it. - **Written down**: Rough notes on how you quote, schedule, and handle callbacks. - **Numbers reviewed**: A look at the quarter to see which jobs actually made money. ## What to ignore for now Plenty of things will shout for your attention that can sit quiet a while longer. The perfect logo. A full truck wrap. A CRM stuffed with features before you’ve got ten customers to put in it. Truck number two. A website you keep tweaking instead of shipping. Do the dull stuff first. Legal, insurance, real prices, getting paid, picking up the phone. The shiny stuff is more fun and it feels more like progress, but it’s the plumbing that keeps you open long enough for any of the shiny stuff to matter. Start customer and job records in ToolbagCRM Free with no monthly subscription fee and no card required to sign up. Scheduling, invoices, and the pricing catalog are included. Payment processing fees apply; optional plug-ins cost $14.99/month per standard slot on Free. Free and Founders include unlimited users. [See plan terms, plug-in slots, and payment fees.](https://toolbagcrm.com/pricing/) - [HVAC CRM](https://toolbagcrm.com/crm-for-hvac/) - [Plumbing CRM](https://toolbagcrm.com/crm-for-plumbers/) - [Electrician CRM](https://toolbagcrm.com/crm-for-electricians/) - [Landscaping CRM](https://toolbagcrm.com/crm-for-landscapers/) - [Roofing CRM](https://toolbagcrm.com/crm-for-roofers/) - [Cleaning CRM](https://toolbagcrm.com/crm-for-cleaners/) - [Pest control CRM](https://toolbagcrm.com/crm-for-pest-control/) - [Handyman CRM](https://toolbagcrm.com/crm-for-handymen/) ## Frequently asked questions ### What do you need to start a trade business? At a minimum: a registered business, an EIN, a business bank account, general liability insurance, and any license your trade and state require. Get those in place before you take your first paying job. ### How long does it take to make money in a new trade business? Many trades book paid work within the first month since the overhead is low. Steady, predictable income usually takes longer, often a full season, as you build up reviews and repeat customers. ### Do I need an LLC to start a trade business? No, you can operate as a sole proprietor, but many trades form an LLC for the liability protection and switch to an S-corp later once profit makes the extra paperwork worth it. Talk to an accountant about your situation. ### What should a new contractor do first? Register the business and get insured and licensed before anything else. Then set up a Google Business Profile and a way to take card payments, since those two get you found and get you paid. ## Related resources - [How to price & quote jobs for profit](https://toolbagcrm.com/blog/how-to-price-and-quote-jobs-for-profit/) - [How to market a new trade business with zero budget](https://toolbagcrm.com/blog/how-to-market-new-trade-business-zero-budget/) - [Spreadsheet vs CRM: outgrowing the spreadsheet](https://toolbagcrm.com/blog/spreadsheet-vs-crm-outgrown-the-spreadsheet/) - [Founders pricing](https://app.toolbagcrm.com/)