I started my Charter company as a "single pilot, single aircraft" cert, then once we got that, upgraded to a "Full 135". I can tell you just waiting in the FAA que to get considered/looked at can take over a year. We had to hire a lobbyist just to get pulled out of it. Like everyone else said, it depends on your FSDO, but from what I hear, there is a long list of people in line, and ours isn't accepting new operating certificate applications. "Single Pilot / Single aircraft" operations can make money, but also holds you back just that one pilot. I'd look at having someone manage you until your our of the que or purchase a cert at a decent FSDO.