Where it usually goes wrong
Three things account for most of the delays and most of the wasted money. None of them are obvious before you are already committed.
The licence follows the building, not the business
Uso de suelo is decided at municipal level, and a premises that suits your business can turn out not to be zoned for it. Signing a lease before that is confirmed is the most expensive mistake I see, and it is usually discovered months later.
Owning a company is not the same as being allowed to work in it
Forming a company gives you ownership. It does not give you the right to work in the business. That is a separate immigration process running alongside the formation, and for regulated activities your qualifications may need validating by a Mexican agency before a licence can be issued at all.
A specialised licence changes the whole picture
A basic company registration with no specialised licence costs 60,000 to 90,000 MXN all in, notary and government fees included, assuming you already hold the relevant documents. COFEPRIS, alcohol, and other regulated activities sit outside that figure and are measured in months rather than weeks.
How I work
Foundation Audit & Setup
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Company formation through a notary, tax registration with SAT, and the licensing your specific activity requires at both state and national level. Includes banking guidance and a review of your lease before you sign it.
60,000 to 90,000 MXN, notary and government fees included. I will not quote a specialised licence before I know the premises and the activity.
Full Build & Manage
For a business being built from nothing. I handle the legal and licensing foundation, the operational systems, the work permits, the banking, and the property or lease negotiation, and I stay on it until the business is running rather than handing over a plan.
This is what I did at Satisana Medicine for two years. Scope and fee are set after a discovery call, because they depend entirely on the activity and the state.
Ongoing Advisory Retainer
For a business already operating. 18,000 MXN per month covers your monthly SAT declaration, your annual declaration with Hacienda, and two hours of call time. Anything beyond that I quote before I do it, so a business running on a good system does not pay for support it is not using.
What this has produced
Satisana Medicine, Puerto Vallarta
440,100 MXN in sales in 2022, on 324 bookings. 1.5 million MXN in 2023. 2.1 million in 2024. 2.6 million in 2025, on 1,465 bookings. Nearly six times the revenue in three years, built on a licensing, compliance and operational foundation that did not exist before.
The growth has continued past the end of the engagement, which is the part that matters.
Merch y Más, China to Mexico
Over 5 million MXN in B2B sales, built on full container shipments managed door to door, including customs clearance and compliance, with a team member in Hong Kong controlling quality at source rather than on arrival.
