Starting a small business can open so many opportunities for you & I know that many of you are postponing this for tomorrow as you feel like you’re not in the right place yet. Do you think that starting a small business will take ages and cost you a fortune? Do you feel like you will need to invest into a lot of things just to get your business off the ground? Let’s talk about this.

Take me for example, I’ve started my first online business as a student. I had zero spare cash and was living in a foreign country back then. I needed to find a way to actually earn money, so investing anything other than my time was not an option for me. Luckily, I had my laptop and internet access. If you’re reading this, most likely you have both or an access to both too.

Here are some other things you will need to start a small business online:

#1 A website hosting + domain name

Now once you’ve figured out what device you’re going to use for running your blog, you will need to actually register a website. To do this, you will need to take care of your web hosting and a domain name. If you’re starting fresh, both of these words might sound like a complete mystery to you, so let me explain this.

What is web hosting?

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service. It allows people and companies to make their website available on the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server that is owned or leased for use by customers.

When it comes to blogging, you will need to get web hosting services if you decide to start your blog on self-hosted WordPress.org, you can read more about the benefits of going self-hosted over here.

You should be very careful when choosing a web host tho. Not only your blog security highly depends on the provider you go with, but it can also mean a great deal to your SEO. If you’re not sure which company is the best in the game, read my review here.

What is a domain name?

The purpose of a domain name is to create a name for your websites and/or email address. When it comes to self-hosted WordPress.org, you will already get a domain name when signing up for web-hosting services.

However, if you use free platforms such as wordpress.com or blogger.com, your domain name will contain a name of the platform as well, so instead of having www.yourblog.com, you will have something like www.yourblog.blogger.com.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look very professional and if you’re trying to grow a blog and hopefully land some sponsorship deals- you should think about getting a custom domain.

No doubt, web hosting + domain is a must investment, just make sure to use a trustworthy service that will make you feel secure and taken care of.

Necessary expense: $3.95/month (find this special deal for Kotryna Bass readers on Bluehost here).

#2 A Website Theme

You might think that the design part of your blog is something you will be able to take care of at a later stage of growing your business. However, when you think about it, your website design is the first thing people see when they visit your blog. You will be working hard on bringing the audience to your website in the first few months especially. You don’t want to risk and have people think that you’re not taking this seriously. Make sure to choose and install a professional website theme as soon as you have your website registered.

Lucky for you, this doesn’t require any technical skills and setting up a theme on your website is a fairly simple process. Choose your theme today at KOBA.

#3 Digital camera or a smartphone

You definitely don’t need to get fancy photography equipment for launching a profitable website. However, having some kind of digital camera or at least a smartphone can help you create personalized visuals for your online brand.

Social media is a big part of online success and Instagram can be a very powerful tool that will help you get those first clients. Many Instagrammers I know use nothing more than their iPhone camera to grab those mind-blowing shots and with the right editing and great light- everything is possible.

#4 CANVA subscription

Canva is a game changer. I use it for all of my businesses. If you’re looking for a tool to build memorable graphics for your blog’s or social media channels- this is the place to go. You can even create a logo of your brand using it! It’s that simple to use!

#5 Knowledge

Yes, you will need to get some expertise before launching a small business, but in all means, you should not allow your lack of knowledge to stop you from succeeding.

You will learn everything as you go and the best thing is – there are plenty of free e-courses, articles and communities you can join these days.