Having watched a few of Alec Steele's videos on the topic, I'd say get some tongs. You'll need an anvil, a set of tongs, a way to make a brick of metal almost runny with heat, and a hammer. But the tongs are kinda specific, you find out after gripping many things with one of two sets of tongs, and so you find yourself expanding yourself into more and more specific sets of tongs.
Get some iron ingots, and you can make your own tongs, too. Good practice and if they look like crap literally no one cares. And he says, over and over again, when you start out into blacksmithing, you're going to suck at it. Get used to that, and you can focus on getting better.