Guides
Staffing and staffing-franchise guides.
Straight answers to the questions people ask before they start or buy a staffing business: what Staffing Business as a Service (SBaaS) is, how payroll funding works, what MBE certification means, and how staffing firms actually make money. Each guide opens with a direct answer and lists its primary sources at the end.
Last updated · By ApTask Editorial Team
Every guide
What Is Staffing Business as a Service (SBaaS)?
Staffing Business as a Service (SBaaS) explained: payroll funding, back office, compliance and recruiting supplied so an owner can run a staffing agency.
How to Start a Staffing Agency (and What It Really Costs)
How to start a staffing agency: choose a niche, form the entity, fund payroll, build the back office and win clients — and where the real startup costs sit.
Staffing Franchise vs Starting an Agency From Scratch
Staffing franchise or independent agency? Compare capital, payroll funding, back office, brand, territory and control — with the FDD Items to check.
How Payroll Funding Works for Staffing Firms
How payroll funding works for staffing agencies: why the gap exists, the options (credit lines, factoring, funding partners) and how ApTask handles it.
What Is MBE Certification and Why Does It Matter?
MBE certification explained: the NMSDC definition, how it works, and why Fortune 2000 supplier-diversity programs buy from MBE-certified staffing firms.
Contract vs Contract-to-Hire vs Direct Hire: Which Fits?
Contract, contract-to-hire and direct hire staffing compared: who employs the worker, how each is priced, and when to use which for a role.
How Staffing Agencies Make Money: Bill Rate vs Pay Rate
How staffing agencies make money: bill rate vs pay rate, markup vs gross margin, employer burden and direct hire fees — with a worked example.
How Much Does IT Staffing Cost? Markups & Bill Rates (2026)
IT staffing costs explained: contract markups, bill rate vs pay rate, direct-hire fees, conversion fees and what senior developers bill by state.
Definitions
Need a term defined?
The staffing glossary defines bill rate, markup, MSP, VMS, EOR, W-2 vs 1099 vs C2C, the FDD, Item 19, MBE and more — one sentence each, answer first.
About these guides
Who writes the ApTask guides?
The ApTask Editorial Team. No guide carries a named author unless that person is verifiable on this site, and every guide lists its primary sources at the end.
Where do the numbers in the guides come from?
Only from two places: ApTask’s own published terms (the franchise FAQ and FDD floors, service-page SLAs, state-page rate bands) and linked primary sources such as the IRS, FTC, SBA, NMSDC and the American Staffing Association. The guides state no industry averages they cannot source.
How often are the guides updated?
Each guide shows its last-updated date under the title, and the same date is emitted as dateModified in its structured data. The set was last revised when the comparison tables and the IT staffing cost guide were added.
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