I Started My Online Business With £16: Here's Exactly How

My online business has just turned four years old, and it all started with £16 (just over $20). Short of a bank loan or an investor, it's hard to start a business with almost no money these days, but it can be done.

I walk you through exactly how I started my online business with £16, the three platforms I used, and how I made my first online sale within the same week. I'm showing real transactions and dates, so you can see precisely what happened and in what order.

Key Takeaways

• I started my online business with three platforms: a free YouTube channel, a £16 business bank account and a Kajabi free trial.
• I made my first sale before I paid for any software, by talking to a real person who needed my help.
• Start by helping one person, then two, then a group, rather than building a course before you know who it's for.

Why Staying in Business Matters More Than Starting

Most businesses don't make it past two or three years, let alone four, and online businesses fare even worse. The way I see it, anyone can make money online. There are 101 ways to do it.

What matters is how you manage that money and how you stay in the game for the long haul. The people who stay in business longest are the ones who win.

The three platforms I used to start my online business:

1. A YouTube channel (free)
2. A business bank account (£16)
3. A Kajabi account (on a free trial)

Platform 1: A Free YouTube Channel

This wasn't my first online business, so I had a clear idea of how I wanted to operate. I opened my YouTube channel on 25 April 2022, a month before I opened the business bank account.

YouTube is free, and I wanted it set up properly from the start because it would be how people discovered me. I grabbed the @timpeakman handle to match my personal brand. Since then I've created a few hundred videos and grown to almost 5,000 subscribers.

But I didn't start making videos straight away. That came later, once I had a reason for people to take the next step.

Platform 2: A £16 Business Bank Account

On 3 May 2022, I opened a business bank account with Wise. It cost £16. I knew I wanted to be a limited company and start trading straight away, so I loaned the company £16 to pay the fee. That was the only money I put in.

Wise works well for me because I serve people globally. I sometimes take payments in US dollars and pay myself in pounds, as I live in the UK. If you'll be handling more than one currency, it's worth a look.

Whichever bank you choose, keep your business account separate from your personal one, so it's always clear what's business and what's personal. If you're in the UK, I cover setting up a limited company in my guide to incorporating your company, and the money apps I rely on in the 3 finance apps I can't do without.

Platform 3: A Kajabi Account on a Free Trial

The very next day, 4 May 2022, I opened my Kajabi account on a free 30-day trial, so there was no money upfront. Kajabi is the platform I built my whole website on.

I only opened it then because I already had someone who wanted my help. They wanted help setting up their website and online business on Kajabi, so I wanted an offer out there as soon as possible to get money in the door.

If there's no money coming into your business, it isn't a business. It's a hobby. Sales are the lifeblood of any business, so build everything around getting that first sale.

What I Set Up First in Kajabi

1. Connected my domain.
2. Set up a payment processor.
3. Built a simple landing page to capture email addresses.

I walk through the first two in my Kajabi guide for beginners.

A Simple Landing Page and a Free Guide

I already had a process for setting up online businesses, so I turned it into a free PDF: my five-step system for building an online revenue stream. It lives at timpeakman.com/5steps.

The page is simply a form embedded in a landing page. An email autoresponder delivers the PDF, and the thank-you page can say whatever you like, including positioning another offer. The main goal is capturing leads and building an email list.

How I Made My First Online Sale in Week One

With that system in place, I went back to my first potential client, had a proper conversation with them, and offered to help in exchange for a fee. I made my first sale before Kajabi had charged me anything, because I was solving a real problem for a real person.

I started as a service provider, building out that client's entire online business for them. Implementation work like that lets you charge a higher price.

Start With One Person, Not a Course

From there, I moved into one-to-one coaching with less implementation. Group coaching and courses come after that, not the other way round.

The order I'd follow:

• Done-for-you services: help one person by doing the work, at a higher price.
• 1:1 coaching: guide people through it themselves.
• Group coaching or courses: only once you know exactly who your ideal client is.

People regularly tell me they've spent six months building a course and ask me to help them sell it. To me, that's back to front. I explain this approach in more detail in my post on creating your first digital product.

Adding YouTube Content to Grow the Email List

It wasn't until about three months in that I started making YouTube videos. The main reason was to link people to my five-step guide, so I could grow my email list and get in front of more potential clients.

Every video links back to a landing page. People discover me, watch the content, and download a free guide in exchange for their email address. Then I can follow up over time as I release new products, offers or services. It becomes a cycle: more people, more offers, more people helped. I break down how this works in my post on turning YouTube viewers into email subscribers.

Conclusion

I started my online business with £16, a free YouTube channel and a Kajabi free trial, and made my first sale in the first week by helping one real person.

If you're starting out, keep your costs close to zero, find one person you can help, and get paid before you build anything bigger. For more ways to start lean, see my guide to starting an online business with $100 or less.