Everyone says “it takes money to make money” – but that just isn’t true.

Not every business involves venture capital and investors (like what you see on “Shark Tank”).

All around the world people are starting what are called “micro businesses” – elegantly simple one or two person operations, typically based online.

I’m a great example of this as I started my business years ago for only $50.

If you break it down, there are only three things you need to get your business up and running. Let’s unpack all three!

Your Website

The most important part of your business these days is your website.

This is not only your virtual shop or store, but it becomes the hub for all of your marketing (i.e. attracting new customers and clients).

The great news though is that you don’t need to hire someone to build you a custom site for thousands of dollars – you can get going for as little as $3!

When it comes to a rock solid website for your business you need three things: a domain name, web hosting, and the actual site build.

Your domain name is generally your business name with a .com at the end. For example, my domain for main business is RecordingRevolution.com.

Web hosting is the space that you rent on a big computer somewhere to host (or build) your site for all to see.

And your site build is, well, the actual website that you build!

The easiest way to get started today is with a company like GoDaddy.com.

Simply head over there, type your desired domain name in the search bar at the top and see if it’s available.

If so you can start with their economy hosting package for as little as $3 a month and it even includes a free domain!

Then to actually start building your site you can use the mother of all website builders, WordPress, absolutely free!

Both this site and RecordingRevolution.com are built on WordPress (as are most sites you see)!

Another solid option for getting your domain name, hosting, and building elegant websites quickly and easily is SquareSpace.com.

For about $12 a month you get everything thrown in – including beautiful and customizable templates with drag and drop ease. I’ve built a few sites with this platform before and it’s great to work with.

And if you think that you can’t build a real business on cheap economy hosting – think again. I ran my business for 3.5 years on the cheapest GoDaddy plan and was doing multiple 6 figures a year!

Funny story, they actually shut me down at that point because I was doing too much traffic for my plan.

But hey, it kept my costs super low for almost 4 years!

Your Email Client

Once you have your website in place for all the world to see, you’re going to need a way to stay connected with your prospects and eventually sell to them.

The absolute best way to do this is by building an email list.

Simply stated your number one job will be to capture and collect email addresses of people who are interested in what you do, and then stay in touch with them regularly with engaging content, news, and eventually products.

Two tools to help you do this easily and professionally are: Google’s G-Suite and Mailchimp.

If you’re running a business, your personal email account won’t cut it. ([email protected] just doesn’t have that professional ring to it)

The quick and cheap solution is something like Google’s G-Suite.

For $5 a month you can have a custom email address that’s built on your domain name. For example: [email protected]

Secondly (and most importantly) you’ll need an email client to build your list, manage your email subscribers, and be able to send them regular updates. My favorite platform for new businesses starting out is Mailchimp.

It’s absolutely free to get started (up to 2,000 subscribers) and allows you to begin building your list. I ran my email list on Mailchimp for 7+ years with great success.

Now the big question you might be asking is: “Who in the world cares about email these days? Isn’t social media more important?”

And the answer is quite simple – growing your email list is the smartest thing you could ever do for your business and it’s FAR more important to you actually making money than social media.

Don’t believe me? Watch this video.

Your Payment Processor

Now with a website and email list in hand, you need one final tool to be able to actually make money.

You need a way to collect payment!

And of course the good news here is that you have multiple “free” tools at your disposal.

I say “free” with quotation marks because these companies actually take a minuscule cut of your sales, but the tool itself is free to use. In other words, you don’t pay anything unless you actually make money.

The two biggest payment processor tools out there are PayPal and Stripe.

PayPal is a great place to start because you can accept credit cards, send invoices to clients, and connect it all to your bank account of choice.

With either of these tools in hand you can quickly and seamlessly collect money online for your products, services, or subscriptions. It couldn’t be simpler.

In fact when I launched my first product in 2010 I used PayPal to create a simple “Buy Now” button on my product’s sales page, used Mailchimp to email out to everyone on my list about the product, and then while on a family trip I had my first ever sale online and $45 was deposited into my account.

All without me having to lift a finger! And all with free (and virtually free) tools!

Adding It All Up

That’s it. Those three elements – website, email client, and payment processor – are all you need to start making money with your business.

And how much should those tools run you these days?

If you go with my suggestions above you can run your business for 6 months and only spend $48!

How insane is that?!

I hope you’re encouraged. You should be, as there has never been a better time to start a business.

But – you might be wondering: “Graham – I don’t even know what kind of business I would start. I don’t even know the first thing about selling a product or service!”

Not to worry! I’ve got something that will help you.

Check out this free 45 minute audio training and learn the three steps to pivot into getting paid to do the work you love!