Everything I’ve spent to start an online business: $51.71

This is the post everything else here links back to, so I’d rather it be checkable than inspiring. One invoice, one total, and the free tools doing the rest of the work.

The whole ledger
Hosting, 12 months after coupon$43.09
Tax on the invoice$8.62
Domain first yearincluded
Site softwarefree
Theme free tierfree
SEO plugin free tierfree
Total, year one$51.71

The only line that cost money

Hosting, twelve months, bought in August 2026. List price was $131.88; a coupon I found on a YouTube channel took $88.79 off it, leaving $43.09 plus tax. The domain came included for the first year.

Two things I’d tell anyone at this exact point. Look for a coupon before you check out — mine took two thirds off, for about ten minutes of searching. And read what the price renews at, which is on the pricing page in plain text and is a much bigger number than the one in the advert.

The constraint was never the $51.71. It is the time — and there is no coupon for that.

Everything else is free, on purpose

The site software, the theme, the SEO plugin, the email tool I’m about to set up — all on free tiers, not trials. A trial is a bill with a delay on it. I’ll write about each of them properly once I’ve used them long enough to have an opinion worth reading.

Earned so far: $0.00. I expect that to be true for a while, and I’ll publish the months where it is.

Next: the decision I got wrong before any of this.