Sorry you're insulted, Hank, sincerely. No offense was meant. Just giving a different way to look at the problem.
I certainly don't expect you to convince me of anything. I'd still be interested in hearing what functionality you're talking about that you think you can only get from a really expensive outlay. It would be educational, at least.
And, btw, before I knew you thought I was insulting you, I was thinking about your quandry during my workout. My husband received millions in grants when he was a professor (building autonomous underwater vehicles for military purposes) and I can attest to the fact that having a working model -- something to show to those who approve funding -- is far more likely to move your forward than a plan on paper. So, I came up with a proposal. I'm still willing to do it if you want to try an experiment. Here's what I had in mind:
(1) I set up a site for you, complete with domain, hosting, cms, theme, etc. (My typical $100 setup.)
(2) I set up an about page (with your info) and a contact form (that forwards to your email).
(3) I add a shopping cart on the home page, the back page, whatever page you want.
(4) I do a couple of hours of customization that YOU choose. Maybe some colors or layout changes, some basic functionality, something like that. (More is negotiable.)
(5) I blog the entire process out here for you, so everyone can see what's going on and how it's progressing.
I'll do this for free.
Then I'll give you the login info and directions on how to load the cart, add updates, etc. You can try it for 30 days. See if it gives you what you want OR if it will give you a head start WHILE you are waiting for an investor or for a grant to come along. As I said, something to SHOW them: here is my current site, here is what we offer, I want to make it better by doing X and Y with money from your loan/grant.
If you decide to keep it, you pay me $250 for the site for the first year. (Annual renewal as per the terms on my site, which includes domain renewal and hosting.) If you decide not to keep it, you pay me $10 for the domain (which you keep) and the experiment is over.
You risk $10, I risk hosting package and theme costs, plus all my time.
This is one of those things that just gets me. So many people have hopes and dreams for their own business, but can't move toward it because of so many barriers. I truly believe that most barriers aren't as insurmountable as they seem. Often there are ready solutions if you know where to look. I'd really like to be the catalyst to get you STARTED at what you hope to achieve.
Let me know if you're interested.
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