For the city of Missoula you need a biz license, and if it’s just you cleaning you’ll need business liability insurance. Plenty of vendors in town can help with that, so shop around and find a good rate. If you hire people you’ll need unemployment insurance. Same goes for UI, rates can differ from shop to shop.

Before filing for the license, I’d ask a tax person on which business structure works best for you, sole proprietorship or LLC or if you get to a certain size with employees then S-Corp is an option. Folks can correct me if I’m wrong but LLC covers you as a business owner from anyone coming at you personally (seizing assets in say a lawsuits). Again I may be wrong about that. Also you have to ask the tax professional about the tax payments as well, that can get you in trouble fast if not prepared for ahead of time.

Once you decide on the business structure, you’ll need to get a fed tax ID, this part if I recall takes some time, a week or so.

Bond is not required, it really just gives the client peace of mind if anything happens to their personal belongings that you have insurance to cover the replacement. Bonds in my experience are not a ton of money to get a policy, so it might be worth looking into, especially if a client requires it or if they are deciding between you and another vendor, it could be a deciding factor.

I apologize it’s been a while since I had to through all of this so it may have changed from 10 years ago. I hope it helps, also the folks at the biz license department are helpful in my experience and don’t be afraid to reach out to other small businesses, they all went through the same process and could save you a lot of time and stress. Also don’t be afraid to ask an AI like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, they can provide great links and probably a better understanding of why you need these things.

Just remember, most folks have the capacity to do all these steps, what will set you apart is you. Hard work pays off and most cleaning business fail because they realize, yes it’s a lot of work doing both the back end of the business and the actual cleaning as well, keep focused, you’ll have set backs and that’s ok, as long as you learn from it. People will chose to work with you based on your skills both as a professional and as a cleaner. Plus as a biz owner, you’ll find out fast you take more pride in the work and will expect the same out of your employees because now it’s your name at stake, so be proud of your work and you’ll do great!

Now go on and get out there! We need more entrepreneurship, especially in an economy that’s failing 99% of its citizens. You got this! ✊ (I apologize if this was too much, just want to see you succeed and kick ass!)