You have a laptop and a business idea. Most new owners get the IT setup wrong, not through bad decisions but because nobody tells them what order to do things in. This is the order.
1. A domain name you own
Your domain is your address on the internet and the part after the @ in your email. Buy it yourself. Do not let a web designer, agency or developer buy it for you. If the relationship ends, you may not get it back without a legal fight.
Register with VentraIP, Webcentral or Namecheap. Avoid GoDaddy for domains, email and hosting. That advice comes from years of resolving problems it caused for clients.
Buy yourbusiness.com.au, yourbusiness.au and, if it is available, yourbusiness.com. Expect $15 to $25 a year each. You need an ABN for .com.au and .au.
The account must be in your name, with your email address and your payment method. Turn on auto-renewal. Log in once a month for the first three months to confirm you have full control.
2. A professional email address
A Gmail or Hotmail address tells customers you are not fully set up. Email on your own domain costs under $10 a month and fixes that immediately.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic is $7.90 AUD per user per month and includes Outlook, Teams and 1 TB of OneDrive. Google Workspace Starter is $8.40 with Gmail, Meet and 30 GB of Drive.
For most Australian businesses Microsoft 365 is the better long-term choice. Either way, commit to one. Mixing both creates problems later. Never buy Microsoft 365 through a domain registrar. Set it up direct with Microsoft, in your name, on your card.
3. Cloud storage and file backup
A laptop hard drive is not a backup. If it fails, is stolen or is dropped, your files are gone. Your email subscription includes cloud storage. Save everything there from day one, and set OneDrive or Google Drive to sync your desktop and documents folders.
Follow the 3-2-1 rule: three copies of important data, on two different storage types, with one copy offsite. Cloud storage is the offsite copy. Your laptop is the second.
Sync is not backup. Delete a file locally and it disappears in the cloud too. As you grow, add a separate backup product.
4. A simple, maintainable website
For a new business with no IT experience, WordPress is the wrong choice. It needs plugin updates, security monitoring and technical maintenance, and ignored, it becomes a liability.
Use Squarespace for a brochure site, Webflow for a marketing site with more design control, Shopify if you sell products, or Wix for content and newsletters. All start between $21 and $49 a month. Whatever you choose, connect your own domain. Your address should be yourbusiness.com.au, not yourbusiness.squarespace.com.
5. Passwords and basic security
One weak password can cost you the business. You need three habits, not expensive tools.
Use a password manager. Bitwarden is free. 1Password is $3 USD a month and excellent for small teams. Never reuse a password.
Turn on multi-factor authentication, starting with your email account, then your domain registrar, then anything financial or cloud. Use an authenticator app rather than SMS where you can. Microsoft reports that MFA blocks more than 99% of automated account attacks.
Keep your device updated. A ten-minute update prevents far more than it costs.
Your email account is the master key to everything. Protect it before anything else. Every other account has a “forgot password” link that sends a reset to your email.
As your team grows
One to five people. Your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace licences cover most needs. The biggest risk is having no process when someone leaves. Before your first hire, know how to remove their access to every system the day they go. Budget $50 to $80 per person per month.
Five to ten people. Informal IT stops working. Someone needs to be responsible for it, even part time. Device management matters now: a lost laptop with no encryption and no remote wipe takes your data with it. Enforce MFA for all staff. Budget $100 to $150 per person per month.
Ten to twenty people. This is where unmanaged IT starts costing more than managed IT. Engage a managed service provider or a part-time IT resource, write a basic IT policy, test your backups and define what recovery means for your business. Budget $150 to $300 per person per month.
The most expensive mistake at every stage is not removing access when staff leave. The fix costs nothing. The oversight can cost everything.