Having been down this path before, my experience is that you have nothing to worry about. I did have it come up once on a background check after accepting a jo

Having been down this path before, my experience is that you have nothing to worry about. I did have it come up once on a background check after accepting a job offer, because I had listed my startup on my résumé (but it no longer existed). The background check company asked for incorporation papers or a business license in lieu of paystubs, and was satisfied when I provided them. A city or county business license is typically under $100/year and can be obtained as a sole proprietor if you're not yet ready to form a corporation or LLC but want a paper trail of when you started the company.