I’m going to walk you through how much it actually costs to start a business. With my kids starting their own business online, (have you checked out their youtube videos here yet?), I’ve been keeping track of how much we are spending as we get their business going. Yes, I am going to make them pay me back! I’m breaking it all down into 4 areas that you need to be aware of when you start a business.

1.Basics 

First, you really need a website. You can get pretty easy drag and drop sites from Wix and Squarespace. I don’t really recommend this route, though, because these sites don’t offer the same versatility as you get with a WordPress site. The problem with WordPress is that it takes a little bit longer to set up and you need to know a few things. But if you’re using your blog and site to get traffic to your blog with Pinterest, it’s easier to get better SEO with WordPress. If you already have a site through Squarespace or Wix, you are fine. Don’t stress about changing it right now. But for longevity and a site that can really grow with you and your business, I always recommend a WordPress site hosted with Bluehost. (Here’s how to get a blog/website up and running quickly.)

I love Bluehost for serving my websites.They’ve been great to me for a lot of years. Once you sign up with Bluehost, you automatically get a wordpress.com site. When you have your site, you need a theme to make your site pretty. I used Restored 316 for my kids’ website theme because they have great themes and they are really easy to use. She takes you step by step through what you need to do to change your colors and customize it. 

Basics Cost Breakdown:

Bluehost– $127

Restored 316 Theme– $99 

Restored 316 Framework– $45

Total Cost: $271

Another website building option that uses WordPress and is a lot easier to design is Showit. Showit.com will let you create a website and they will host it for you. It starts at $288 for a website with a blog. The great thing about this is that they still use WordPress but it’s easier to design your site through them. The difference with Showit is that you pay $288 a year. With the option above, you just pay the theme cost once. 

If you’re going to use your blog to get any type of traffic, use WordPress/Bluehost or Showit. If you aren’t going to be doing much with your blog, then you can use Wix or Squarespace. The good news is that both wix and Squarespace are getting more features that are making them more compatible with SEO searches.

Outsourcing Basics

After we set up the site, we went on Fiverr. It’s a great place to start if you want freelance work done really quickly. I tried to have them make one, but it just wasn’t turning out great. So I’m teaching them to outsource. (*wink, wink*). We paid $40 for an intro/outro video for their YouTube channel on Fiverr. 

I also recommend signing up for an email marketing system. If you have a little bit of money that you can spend, I recommend spending it on Flodesk. (Use that link for 50% off each month which makes it $19) It’s really easy to use, especially for beginners. It also allows you to send really beautiful emails. If you don’t have any money to spend on an email marketing system, you can sign up with Mailchimp. Mailchimp is free  up to about 2000 subscribers. It’s not as easy to use and it’s a little clunky. But it gets the job done and is a place to start. If you want to get serious about your email marketing and you want to invest in a more full and technical system, I recommend Convertkit or Ontraport. 

Total for the Basics:$330

2.Equipment and Tech

This is dependent on what kind of business you’re starting. If you’re doing a podcast, you’ll want a microphone. There is an app you can download that will allow you to record your podcast from your phone, Ringr. It’s fantastic. I have a microphone, it’s a Blue Yeti. And I use Camtasia to edit my podcasts and videos. 

My kids are using iMovie for their videos which is free, and it’s totally fine. You start where you are and do what you can with what you have the money for and access to.

You need to figure out what equipment you need and what technology you need to run a successful business. I realized I’m willing to pay a little bit of money to make my life a little easier. Camtasia was $99 which is totally worth it to me. 

Also if you are doing a digital course, then you might want to sign up for Teachable which will be a cost to you. Think about what you want to accomplish and what you will need to be able to accomplish it. 

Equipment I needed for my YouTube channel

When I decided to start my YouTube channel, I decided I wanted a smaller camera that I could film my YouTube videos with. I bought a Canon M6, It was some money. But you don’t have to do that. You can do YouTube videos with your phone! Don’t get too stressed about what you don’t have. Use everything that you do have until  you have exhausted those resources and you’re ready to move up. Don’t feel like you have to buy a bunch of equipment. If you have a cell phone you have a lot of technology already in your hand that you can utilize to start a business. 

I have a big DSLR camera that I use to take professional photos, but it wasn’t working well for filming videos because of how it is set up and how heavy it is. I decided to invest in a smaller camera that would make my life a little easier when filming. I’m always willing to invest in something that saves me time and helps me get the job done better.

3.Education and Legal

You’ve got to learn how to do this. You’ve got to learn how to start a business. You can always bootstrap your way to success. There are a million YouTube videos and articles on Google that will show you how to do whatever it is that you’re doing. I’m uploading a lot of how-to videos on my YouTube channel this month, too with Everything from starting a blog to starting a podcast. 

Eventually you may want to invest in some courses. I have my Business Academy. It’s a low monthly fee that gives you access to all my courses in one place. It’s great because it has everything you need to start a business. If you need coaching, I have a really great coaching group called Money Makers where I coach you every day through what you are working on. It’s a wonderful place full of hardworking women. Both of these are tried and true methods to grow your business.

The Power of Courses

Depending on what you are going into you can find people who are speaking to what you are trying to learn. Now, you can always search and find free courses to figure things out. But I know when I was first starting out with my business I invested in a photography course. It was $150. That might not seem like much but to me, a poor medical student wife, it was a lot of money. It was a life changing course.

Now, I could have probably found the information that was taught in that class online somewhere. But it was packaged and presented in a way that made sense to me and I didn’t have to search for what was next. Because I didn’t know what was supposed to be next. This is why I prefer to take courses. They are presented in a way that helps you to accomplish a specific task or to learn a specific skill by the end of the course. 

I have invested a lot of money in my education so I can be an expert in my field.

Another part of education is getting legal. This is setting up your business license and becoming an LLC. I’ll be sharing a podcast soon with Brittany Ratelle who is an expert in helping people get their online business legal. Get legal. I use Brittany’s templates and they are fantastic. I have a 10% off coupon code you can use for them, too: michelle10.

4.Extras

These are things that make my life easier and make my business better. They aren’t necessities but they can make a difference for you and your business. The first one I use is Tailwind for Pinterest and Instagram. I use Pinterest for a huge part of my business and Tailwind lets me schedule pins and content on Pinterest easily. It also helps me grow my Pinterest account. For Instagram it allows me to schedule my content.

Tailwind Cost: $107 a year

Haute Stock is a website for photos. It’s a stock photo membership site. When I’m building websites or doing blog posts, I use the photos on this site. I really like the photo choices they have because they are clean, modern, and you don’t see them as often as you see other free stock images. By using haute Stock, I’m able to stand out from the crowd a little easier.

Haute Stock Cost: $299 a year

Canva is a graphic design software that is free. You can also upgrade and get access to a lot more different templates. I have upgraded my Canva account and I have been so happy. It allows me to do a lot more with graphics. I really like their instagram story templates, and the ability I have to save my templates. 

Canva Pro Cost: $120 a year

 

That was a lot of information. To sum up, you have to have your basics, equipment/technology, education/legal, and the extras. It’s possible to start a business for not very much money. You can totally do this on the cheap. For less than $300 you can have a business up and going. We live in the best time ever. I want to hear all about the businesses you’re starting. Come talk to me on Instagram so I can cheer you on!

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