I noticed your post from 2020, and it's awesome that you were considering starting your own forklift business in Ontario, Canada. I hope you've made significant progress since then.

Just invest a little and wait for 6 months. Within 6 months, your investment will be covered and you'll start earning profit.

i Greg,
5 million is asked for at some large customers. You must check with their policies. Blue Giant was sued by Loblaws years ago for fire damage. They had one million coverage, but damage was 4.5 million. Also consider,
the one thing that prospective customers ask is "Can you connect to our lift?"
If they have codes, can you get them and communicate with their equipment?
If no, they wont talk to you. 90% of the time, we can fix a lift without special tools. But they get upset when you mention "Ill have to call dealer"
You cant always beat dealers price, as the are often subsidized by manufacturer. Toyota is king of this. They cover parts and labour, travel time. The dealer tech gets paid for travel to do a.7 SM 2 hrs away, but customer only gets billed.7
So, you are up against that. Stick with lifts you know, and can get parts for easily. Propane and Diesel are best bets. GNJ usually sticks to Electric
Website will not hurt, but customer wants quick service with little down time, and honest billng. Good luck out there!

Main dealers classed as experts, really? :) Its the man on the front line that you want to be the expert, expertise comes from experience repairing the trucks. I worked at a main dealer and I would not class them as experts, they know about there own "brand" of truck and that's it. I've worked on forktrucks since leaving school in 1988, I don't class myself as an expert in any way but I know enough to get by on most trucks. I recently went on my own, I should have done it years ago.

Totally agree with Uncle SI There is a lot of things that can be done that does not require a laptop. Just do quality work , keep the customer in mind when you bill out the job. A good customer will pay like clockwork and will keep you in mind when additional help is needed.

I am the forklift mechanic at a facility that uses a one man independent mechanic to assist me when needed.
When going down this road remember to consider, you have to do really good work, the benefits to phoning you over phoning a dealer MUST be very evident. This also means charging MUCH less per hour than dealers.... or why wouldn't I just phone the experts?
MOST large companies will only phone you because they "think" they are getting a deal.
Also, there are, as you know some VERY expensive electronics etc. on a lift that if something goes wrong.... you will be on the hook for the cost of those parts.
More and more forklifts today are using proprietary software and you need expensive - hard to get programs to diagnose and make adjustments. MOST OEM manufacturers are very reluctant to give out software at all.
Having said all that - there are a TON of things an independent can do like seats, tires, lights, horns etc. etc. etc. where if you get enough clients you may do very well.
Good Luck !!

Minimum 2 million in Canada and it depends what you consider cheap

Usually all you need is a 2 million liability insurance. It's pretty cheap in the U.S. Dont forget to pay your taxes and should be good.

Speak to an insurance agent. You will need general commercial liability insurance at least. If you are working out of your home as a base, your coverage on your home will have to reflect that as well. Errors and omissions, I am not sure.