* Have an account that's smart enough to tell me what they can handle and cannot handle, and refer me to someone else if I get to that point
* I'm not renowned enough for the self-name approach (and there is an unrelated collision with a known figure in the field). I had also gotten advice that single person shop names were a filter for some potential employers. I'm not trying to misrepresent myself, but want to make it past a filter
* I thought spreadsheet for receipts until there's real revenue sounded like a good plan (and happy to hear this)
* I like the friends + 1099s idea
* Something like fidelity.com - Self employed ?

I had the same feeling about S corp conversion. Starting out that way didn't make sense, and I price my time and tolerance of complexity sufficiently that I'd have to be doing pretty well on consulting to go through the effort. If I end up having to do so, it will be a happy problem.

Thank you.