Do I need a sole proprietorship for my freelance web business?

The fictitious business name is often how sole proprietorships operate. For instance, I can operate as Jeffrey Gwynn Attorney at Law, which is a sole proprietorship. I can also set up a fictitious business name, let's say Riverside Law Office. This too is still a sole proprietorship. You, like me, can go to the bank, and get a bank account with the name of the fictitious business name. So getting checks is no problem. This will, however, be an account that you own personally. So, you already are operating as a sole proprietorship FWIW. Now, if you want to set up an LLC or a corporation, that's an entirely different matter. An attorney can help with the LLC or corporation which I would recommend.

Mr. Gwynn provided an excellent answer - you already are running a sole proprietorship. If you have properly recorded and published a fictitious business name statement in the county of your principal business, you can use that to open a bank account and deposit checks written out to the fictitious name. This method would generally minimize costs of doing business, but does leave open personal liability more so than other types of entities. Good insurance may be fine for that concern, or it may be in your best interests to form a LLC as it generally does not impose overly burdensome costs, does not have a lot of administrative "upkeep" as compared to a corporation, and provides liability protection. May want to sit down with a business attorney to fully explore all options.

You are a sole proprietorship. You need a business license from Los Angeles. There is an office on Sawtelle from where you can get one. You need to obtain a dba, which you will have to publish in a paper for which you will incur a small fee. You should also get comprehensive general liability insurance to cover your work or form an S corp. Good luck.

As noted by my colleagues, you're already operating a sole proprietorship. As for your bank, that's where your problem is, not with your DBA name itself. You need to speak with your bank's branch manager to advise them about the different names on your payment checks and your personal checks sp they accept any check. It might be a good idea, for tax purposes, to open a new account just for your business so you can account for your taxable income most easily. If you need to register a DBA, that's a simple matter. It needs to be done in every county you're operating in, and is very inexpensive. It requires 4 weeks of publication of the name. You may also want to register the name for a trademark, and/or incorporate or form an LLC in CA. Depending on your legal budget, these are things you can discuss with your own lawyer.

I think your type of business requires more than a "DBA", which merely continues personal liability of you. Form a simple, one-person LLC ("limited liabillity company") with the assistance of legal counsel. That type of entity is taxed just like you as an individual but provides you protections of the entity-shield for actions by dissatisfied persons, like customers or trade creditors or third parties (if ever such a cause of action could arise). As an additional perk, the image, as you describe it, which comes with creating the entity (which is deemed a separate party under the law) will give you "legitimacy".

When you are engaged in a business and you don't create an entity ( an LLC or a corporation, or a Limited Liability Partnership) then you are already a sole proprietorship. In California all businesses that have a fictional name "Bob'a tacos" have to register with the county where they have their main place of business. https://www.lavote.net/home/county-clerk/fictitious-business-names/general-info