The start up for a service business is in most instances more likely to be a sole proprietorship rather than a limited liability mainly because of the advantage which is that it is comparatively easy and inexpensive to establish, operate, close down or to sell such a business.

There are no specific registration requirements for a sole proprietorship other than registration for GST if the gross value of goods and services to be supplied in any 12 month period exceeds $40,000.
One disadvantage that you need to aware of is that a sole proprietor has unlimited liability for business obligations and debts.

You need to keep good records of your financial transaction and a discussion with an accountant would give you an idea of what is required. This is not only to help with submitting a return to the IRD at the end of the year you also need to know where the business is heading on a day to day basis.

So the setting up of your service business is quite straight forward but as with any business you have to market the service you are going to provide. You need to market your service and one difficulty you do have is how do you convince potential customers you will do a good job because in most cases you have not had previous experience so that you are unable to provide a reference.

To convince a client you need to present yourself well, so that they will have confidence in what you can provide and this includes explaining your experience if you have had any and also go into detail by way a written presentation on the service you can provide. This presentation is very important because if the potential client does not have confidence that you will provide what you say you will they just will not do business with you.

Pricing is another problem because you may not be sure what you should charge because if you are too cheap you will get the business and not make sufficient money but if you are too expensive you will not get the work, either way you could go out of business.

Ask around to get a good idea of pricing. You may know someone that has had a similar service provided that you are considering so this will give you a good indication on what people are prepared to pay for this particular service.