New Nebraska LLC: the first 30 days of getting found.

Nebraska logs on the order of two thousand new business applications a month, by the Census Bureau's count, and most of the trade businesses among them do the paperwork in a sensible order and the branding in a bad one: the logo before the name is cleared, the website before the Google listing, the truck lettered with a phone number that changes. This is the order that avoids paying twice. Every fee below is quoted from its source rather than as a number, because the numbers change; check the source before you file.

Search the name at the Nebraska Secretary of State's business search (opens in a new tab) before anything else. Then search it on Google, on Google Maps, and as a domain. A name another Nebraska LLC already holds can't be filed. A name a shop two counties over already uses will cost you a repaint and a confused customer. If the .com is taken, think hard about whether you want to be the second search result for your own name forever.

The Certificate of Organization is filed with the Secretary of State, online. Nebraska also requires a new LLC to publish a notice of organization for three consecutive weeks in a legal newspaper of general circulation in the county where the business is located, then file proof of publication with the state. The filing fee is set by the state and the publication cost by the paper, and the papers vary a lot, so get a quote before you file. A registered agent with a Nebraska street address is required; you can be your own.

1. 01

   Registered agent

   Your own name and a Nebraska street address works. A P.O. box does not. If you'd rather your home address stayed off the public record, a registered-agent service is the trade-off.

2. 02

   Publication

   Call the county's legal newspaper for a quote first. Some charge a fraction of what others do for the same three-week notice, and the state only cares that it ran.

3. 03

   Biennial report

   Nebraska LLCs file a report with the state every two years, with a fee. Put the date in the calendar now; it is the easiest way to lose good standing later.

The Employer Identification Number is free from the IRS (opens in a new tab) and takes minutes online; don't pay a service to fill in the form for you. Open the business checking account with it, so the deposit for your first job doesn't land in a personal account. If you'll sell anything taxable, apply for the sales tax permit with the Nebraska Department of Revenue (opens in a new tab). Trade licensing is separate: the state, the City of Omaha, and some Sarpy County towns each license some trades their own way, and none of it is covered here, so check with the authority for your trade before you take the first job.

Register the domain yourself, in your own account, with your own card, before anyone builds a website. A domain someone else registered for you is a domain you might have to buy back. Take the .com if it's free. Set up an email at the domain the same day; a business that replies from a personal address looks like a hobby, and the email is what goes on the truck.

Before the website, before the logo is final: create the Google Business Profile and start verification, because verification runs on Google's clock and everything else can be built while you wait. Set it up as a service-area business with the address hidden if you work from home. The full walkthrough, category choice included, is the Google Business Profile guide.

Now the name is cleared and the listing is in the queue, the logo can be final. It has to work in one color first, because the first place it goes is vinyl on the truck and the second is an embroidered shirt. Get the vector files and the one-color version; what a logo should cost covers the files and the price points.

A one-page site is enough to start: what you do, where, the phone number as a tap target, three real photos, the license number if your trade has one, and a way to ask for a quote. Then the truck, with the same logo and the same phone number, lettered by a local shop from the print-ready file. Same look on the door, the invoice, and the search result.

• The LLC, with the publication done and the biennial date on the calendar
• The EIN and a business bank account
• The domain and the email, in your name and on your card
• A verified Google Business Profile with the right primary category
• The logo as vector files, one-color version included
• A live one-page site and a truck that matches it

IGNITION IS THE LOGO, THE SITE AND THE LISTING TOGETHER, $375. THE PAPERWORK IS YOURS; THE REST IS THE JOB.