Okay Millionaires...Thoughts and Advice (Be nice!)

[Deanna]

I have had an idea for a couple of months rolling around in my head. Then I read TFM and realized all the other things I have tried, broke all the TFM rules. Basically I have owned my own "job" and my husband owns his own "job"...so, now we are mid-forties and putting down the slowlane. {sigh}

The whole time reading the book, Im thinking this idea really fits the bill and I like it more and more. So, I put my ideas and basic structure down on paper now. (After signing NDA's of course) We meet next week with a web design company. No, it would not be a simple design I could do myself...It will be a large database with privacy and security issues, none of which I can do. The phone estimate was 5-10k {gulp} but will know more after meeting next week.

Then just have to decide to MOVE. So, the big question is HOW do you know if its "of value". I dont see anything like it out there and lots of complaining that the info is necessary - But, how do I know if its available - they will PAY for it?

The website will make money several ways:
1. Monthly subscription service (primary income)
2. Affiliate Marketing program to be advertised on B2B sites
3. AM links for me to send my people to their sites
4. advertising space on my site

Exit strategy: If it does take off like I think, I would think a larger company would by me out at a sweet premium.

Thoughts? Advice?

 

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[JAJT]

Thoughts? Advice?

Less color in your posts

Seriously though - try selling it before you have it available. Setup a landing page offering exactly what you will ultimately be selling and ask people for their credit cards. When they click "buy now" (or your equivalent), count it as a sale and send them to a page that says "sorry for the inconvenience - we will notify you when the service is back available".

If that is too shady, you can do the same with a landing page that simply describes your product and asks for their email address to notify them of the launch/more information. You can't count these as "sales" but it absolutely shows genuinely interested prospects.

Also - go read "The Lean Startup". It emphasizes minimum viable products and launching without perfection in order to get immediate feedback so you can change directions based on actual feedback before spending a ton of money.

 

[Deanna]

Less color in your posts

Seriously though - try selling it before you have it available. Setup a landing page offering exactly what you will ultimately be selling and ask people for their credit cards. When they click "buy now" (or your equivalent), count it as a sale and send them to a page that says "sorry for the inconvenience - we will notify you when the service is back available".

If that is too shady, you can do the same with a landing page that simply describes your product and asks for their email address to notify them of the launch/more information. You can't count these as "sales" but it absolutely shows genuinely interested prospects.

Also - go read "The Lean Startup". It emphasizes minimum viable products and launching without perfection in order to get immediate feedback so you can change directions based on actual feedback before spending a ton of money.

Oh come on - just one color - thats boring...okay, just for YOU...

THANKS thats an awesome idea...(not the first option) but to get an email list going of everyone who wants IN.
SUPER IDEA.

Part 2...
The real value comes as the database is built, which its built BY them...over time...sooooooo
Is the END result good enough to get people going? Or another idea for that?
THANKS (bahaha couldnt resist)

 

[nation]

Nothing you mentioned there cannot be easily done with the rigth WordPress Plugins, and probably for about $500 total. If you hire someone who knows and has done it, then maybe closer to $3,000.

With that said, the question comes to mind is this - is there demand?

Is there really a tribe out there who will automatically and quickly flock to your site?

Your success or failure is not dependant on spending $100, $500, $3,00, or $10,000 ... it depends on building that community.

Here is a video the really struck me & it's what played in my head when I read your post:
The Secret Language Of Millionaires

 

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[Deanna]

Nothing you mentioned there cannot be easily done with the rigth WordPress Plugins, and probably for about $500 total. If you hire someone who knows and has done it, then maybe closer to $3,000.

With that said, the question comes to mind is this - is there demand?

Is there really a tribe out there who will automatically and quickly flock to your site?

Your success or failure is not dependant on spending $100, $500, $3,00, or $10,000 ... it depends on building that community.

Here is a video the really struck me & it's what played in my head when I read your post:
The Secret Language Of Millionaires

I realize I COULD do it myself, but it would be cost prohibitive with the learning curve. I could do it cheaper yes, but I could be up and making money long before I could have it done. (make sense?)

Yes, I believe there IS a great demand - proving that is what i dont know?

 

[nation]

I realize I COULD do it myself, but it would be cost prohibitive with the learning curve. I could do it cheaper yes, but I could be up and making money long before I could have it done. (make sense?)

no, sounds like you did not understand.
There are thousands of people who specalize in WordPress.
If you go with StudioPress theme (as an example: REMOVED BY MOD ), and hire someone who knows that for lets say $2,500 ... my bet is you could be up within a day or two. The biggest thing to slow you down with it is creating content & learning the little bit of managing a WordPress based site.
If you spend $2,500 on the setup & educaiton guy, that leaves you $500 for any premium plugins you might want to be involved (like the other stuff you mentioned).

Now say someone will setup & teach you for $1,000 ... ok, you get it all done in 2 days for $1,500.

The costly part of web development is customization. If you can find a great theme you like & the software that is already established and picked up off the shelf, the thing you have left is someone who knows how to do that.

I'm not saying learn it all yourself - I'm saying, a person + open sourced WordPress + some premium/paid plugins/theme will get you up and running faster & for far less.

I hope that is more clear.

 

[Mike39]

no, sounds like you did not understand.
There are thousands of people who specalize in WordPress.
If you go with StudioPress theme (as an example: sketchy link ), and hire someone who knows that for lets say $2,500 ... my bet is you could be up within a day or two. The biggest thing to slow you down with it is creating content & learning the little bit of managing a WordPress based site.
If you spend $2,500 on the setup & educaiton guy, that leaves you $500 for any premium plugins you might want to be involved (like the other stuff you mentioned).

Now say someone will setup & teach you for $1,000 ... ok, you get it all done in 2 days for $1,500.

The costly part of web development is customization. If you can find a great theme you like & the software that is already established and picked up off the shelf, the thing you have left is someone who knows how to do that.

I'm not saying learn it all yourself - I'm saying, a person + open sourced WordPress + some premium/paid plugins/theme will get you up and running faster & for far less.

I hope that is more clear.

Whats with all the links bro, not digging it...

To link dude: WordPress is great for creating mock up pages and simple websites, but if you need custom functionality for a more advanced website, WP is not the best way to go IMO.

To color girl: You can make a mock up page to test sales in a day or less: buy a domain, get hosting, install wordpress, just make a simple page with a buy button and some graphics/text. Then, run an adwords campaign or facebook campaign and see if the fish bite


PS: Thank you mods

 

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[Deanna]

Whats with all the links bro, not digging it...

To link dude: WordPress is great for creating mock up pages and simple websites, but if you need custom functionality for a more advanced website, WP is not the best way to go IMO.

To color girl: You can make a mock up page to test sales in a day or less: buy a domain, get hosting, install wordpress, just make a simple page with a buy button and some graphics/text. Then, run an adwords campaign or facebook campaign and see if the fish bite

well great - already been nicknamed "color girl" lol

Yes, Mike Thanks - thats what im saying too - the website will be more complicated than these cookie cutter type templates.

I think you are saying about the same as JAJT and i LOVE that idea...(maybe I need to download wordpress and give it a test drive at least for this purpose.)

oh great - more learning curve; adwords and fb campaign...books or links? I have the gist but not enough to DO. 20 years of owning my "job" didnt prepare me for all this. At my age - gotta hit the ground running...and not break a hip...bahahaha

Nation, I am watching the video link now.

 

[Deanna]

Also - go read "The Lean Startup". It emphasizes minimum viable products and launching without perfection in order to get immediate feedback so you can change directions based on actual feedback before spending a ton of money.

You mean by: Eric Reis, right? (Just wanna get the right thing). THANKS

 

[Mike39]

well great - already been nicknamed "color girl" lol

Yes, Mike Thanks - thats what im saying too - the website will be more complicated than these cookie cutter type templates.

I think you are saying about the same as JAJT and i LOVE that idea...(maybe I need to download wordpress and give it a test drive at least for this purpose.)

oh great - more learning curve; adwords and fb campaign...books or links? I have the gist but not enough to DO. 20 years of owning my "job" didnt prepare me for all this. At my age - gotta hit the ground running...and not break a hip...bahahaha

I could throw out some links but I have read very few of them myself, unfortunately my experience has leaned on the side of trial and error. Maybe someone else on here might have some referrals of PPC books for you.

On the side of budget: Determine the need first, budget second. If you test the waters and get a great response, 10k should be the best investment you ever make, and if you test the market and it looks doubtful, 10k may be the biggest mistake you ever made

 

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[JAJT]

You mean by: Eric Reis, right? (Just wanna get the right thing). THANKS

Yes, correct.

 

[Deanna]

On the side of budget: Determine the need first, budget second. If you test the waters and get a great response, 10k should be the best investment you ever make, and if you test the market and it looks doubtful, 10k may be the biggest mistake you ever made

Well said - exactly right. IM ON IT!

 

[dknise]

Then just have to decide to MOVE. So, the big question is HOW do you know if its "of value". I dont see anything like it out there and lots of complaining that the info is necessary - But, how do I know if its available - they will PAY for it?

Thoughts? Advice?

If you really see no competitors, it sounds like you would have a great market. Do you have "close" competitors, or a pre-existing system that is being dramatically improved upon in a new way? If so, you may be able to see the demand from that.

 

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[Gold777]

What feedback have you gathered? Do people tell you it's a good idea? Have they said they would use your service or could see other people needing it?

 

[Deanna]

Dknice, I don't really see anything close enough to compare...but I KNOW there's a huge need for it.

Gold, I haven't been asking around because its B2B and figured I need something to show first...like the landing page idea above...that's what I'm going to do.

 

[Deanna]

Working on landing page to see interest (mentioned above)

Meet with web designer on Thursday

Giddy up

 

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[BrucetonGuy]

Working on landing page to see interest (mentioned above)

Meet with web designer on Thursday

Giddy up

Taking action!! Anxious to hear your progress! Keep us updated

 

[moonjun]

I have had an idea for a couple of months rolling around in my head. Then I read TFM and realized all the other things I have tried, broke all the TFM rules. Basically I have owned my own "job" and my husband owns his own "job"...so, now we are mid-forties and putting down the slowlane. {sigh}

The whole time reading the book, Im thinking this idea really fits the bill and I like it more and more. So, I put my ideas and basic structure down on paper now. (After signing NDA's of course) We meet next week with a web design company. No, it would not be a simple design I could do myself...It will be a large database with privacy and security issues, none of which I can do. The phone estimate was 5-10k {gulp} but will know more after meeting next week.

Then just have to decide to MOVE. So, the big question is HOW do you know if its "of value". I dont see anything like it out there and lots of complaining that the info is necessary - But, how do I know if its available - they will PAY for it?

The website will make money several ways:
1. Monthly subscription service (primary income)
2. Affiliate Marketing program to be advertised on B2B sites
3. AM links for me to send my people to their sites
4. advertising space on my site

Exit strategy: If it does take off like I think, I would think a larger company would by me out at a sweet premium.

Thoughts? Advice?

Hi, first of all, find PAYING customers for your business.

2nd, don't spend too much money before you even have people paying, you aren't even sure if there's a demand for your service or product.

3rd, you said you don't see anything like it, it can be a good thing because you're the first mover. but it can also be a bad thing, because one would wonder why no one is already doing it.

One thing I learn is that if there are competitors around, that means there're money to be made.

Lastly, above all, find 3 PAYING CUSTOMERS before you even pump in huge money of money.

my 2 cents.

 

[Deanna]

Hi, first of all, find PAYING customers for your business.

2nd, don't spend too much money before you even have people paying, you aren't even sure if there's a demand for your service or product.

3rd, you said you don't see anything like it, it can be a good thing because you're the first mover. but it can also be a bad thing, because one would wonder why no one is already doing it.

One thing I learn is that if there are competitors around, that means there're money to be made.

Lastly, above all, find 3 PAYING CUSTOMERS before you even pump in huge money of money.

my 2 cents.

Hi moonjun,
Thanks for the input.
1-2 since this is a subscription based service where they would be paying for info...until the info is there I'm not sure what I could charge for...other than the website start mentioned above to see if interest and compiling a email list of people who WANT to subscribe when it's ready.
3. Had my son walk me thru keywords searches and found a handful doing similar things, mostly other countries but a couple in the US but only available to certain a certain county or association. I'm sure there is interest, other keywords for "related" items, had huge interest.

I really appreciate all the input.

 

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[Lgallion]

Here is some general technical advise:
* Check out the subscription plugins available for WordPress, they may get you closer to the site you want than you think.
* Remember you can combine a WordPress and other forms of pages on the same site, it isn't one or the other. This means you can have a Wordpress 'front end' and a data driven 'back end' on the same site. Having a standard system like WordPress means the 'pretty' part can cost a lot less because you can use a theme/cheap designer while the data driven part can be uglier (put your money mostly into functionality, looks don't matter so much after they buy).
* Interview multiple developers, I use places like oDesk and eLance and they can be dramatically cheaper BUT more of the burden is on you for good design and testing.
* Choosing Windows based hosting (like ASP.NET) vs Linux based hosting (like PHP) can make a huge difference in hosting costs & scalability (unless this is a low volume site).

I am in the software development business (among others) and I am taking business away from a firm right now because their ongoing development costs should be 10K but it is 100K because they don't know anything about development. If this is the core of your business, make sure you do this part right.

 

[The-J]

Don't ask the Fastlane Forum to be nice. Instead, ask us to help you. We don't know you: why should we care about your feelings?

Anyway...

You're spending too much money. I'm telling you this right now. Wordpress has database and security plug-ins. BigCommerce has shopping carts that will store customer information privately.

Also, NDA's are dumb. Nobody wants to steal an idea that doesn't have a paying customer.

How do you know if it's of value? Simple: if someone pays you for the service, it's valuable. All you need is one customer to validate any idea. Once you do that, your chances of failure go down from 100% to 99%.

My recommended course of action: Research Wordpress plugins and try to plan a way to build the site from the ground-up. Then, once you have figured that out, set up a landing page (landing pages do not say 'COMING SOON' or 'UNDER CONSTRUCTION', instead they tell people what your product is and why they should buy it. If need be, spend some money on a copywriter.). This landing page needs an order form to join your service. The order form can tell people that your service is still being built, and will ask to collect their e-mail address. So you're validating your idea and building an e-mail list at the same time.
:
Once you have a single person give you their e-mail, you can go ahead and build, keeping the people on your e-mail list updated about the whole process. You can make an assumption that people on your e-mail list are potential customers: keep in touch with them. Talk to them personally so that they know the service they will be receiving is top-notch (SUCS).

Tell us a little more about your idea. How does it fit the CENTS? (You don't have to tell us what your idea is, not even what industry it's in)

 

[Deanna]

I'm loving all the feedback, keep it coming.

Don't ask the Fastlane Forum to be nice. Instead, ask us to help you. We don't know you: why should we care about your feelings?

J, I realize your awful young (my sons about your age)...but weather I know you or not, I wouldn't intentionally hurt your feelings...we should "care" about each other, that's just human kindness. There's always more than one way to say something, we can choose the nicer way. I put that there for 2 reasons, one, I've seen some really nasty posts...some had it coming, some not and also because I prefer not to read the cussing that some feel is necessary in their posts, not professionsal...and I DID ask for help...the advice and thoughts at the bottom.

Anyway...

You're spending too much money. I'm telling you this right now. Wordpress has database and security plug-ins. BigCommerce has shopping carts that will store customer information privately.

Also, NDA's are dumb. Nobody wants to steal an idea that doesn't have a paying customer.

How do you know if it's of value? Simple: if someone pays you for the service, it's valuable. All you need is one customer to validate any idea. Once you do that, your chances of failure go down from 100% to 99%.

My recommended course of action: Research Wordpress plugins and try to plan a way to build the site from the ground-up. Then, once you have figured that out, set up a landing page (landing pages do not say 'COMING SOON' or 'UNDER CONSTRUCTION', instead they tell people what your product is and why they should buy it. If need be, spend some money on a copywriter.). This landing page needs an order form to join your service. The order form can tell people that your service is still being built, and will ask to collect their e-mail address. So you're validating your idea and building an e-mail list at the same time.
:
Once you have a single person give you their e-mail, you can go ahead and build, keeping the people on your e-mail list updated about the whole process. You can make an assumption that people on your e-mail list are potential customers: keep in touch with them. Talk to them personally so that they know the service they will be receiving is top-notch (SUCS).

Tell us a little more about your idea. How does it fit the CENTS? (You don't have to tell us what your idea is, not even what industry it's in)

So, ya, anyway...

For you and Lgallion...the website databases will be large and I know nothing about developing a website. I was a programmer before you we're born, but haven't done in years, and it sure wasn't related to websites...COBOL actually, lol.

I get that you guys are saying its easy and I'm sure it would be if I had time for the learning curve. My husband and I have 3 businesses together, 2 of which I run. We are older so already well entrenched in the slow lane, we have responsibilities there we have to keep up...WHILE doing this.

Besides the large databases, there is personal private info that will need protected, not just credit card processing.

I'm not dismissing what you guys say AT ALL...I know I don't know everything and AM here to learn...I spent most of yesterday (when not taking care of my mom who just broke one foot and had other hip replaced)...looking at and fiddling with Wordpress...all I saw was more about blogging...that will not get me where I need to be...however, I will continue checking it out...maybe I'm missing a major point about Wordpress...

It may be "easy"...IF you know it...and I do not.

Still appreciate all the feedback.
Thanks guys.

 

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[nation]

looking at and fiddling with Wordpress...all I saw was more about blogging

That is one of my biggest frustrations with the group who does WordPress ... it's so much more powerful then just a piece blogging software. At this point I run or manager about 28 businesses, few have a blog style home page, most do not.

It's all about the them you choose.

If the theme is a blog style home page then yes, it's not what you want ... if it's a business, magazine, or other style then it might or might not be what you want.

I would share a bunch of links to plugins and themes that I use, but all of them are affiliate links & apparently that's a big no no (and I'm not going to look each up just to copy & paste clean links) - if you really want them then PM me and I'll put them together. In really, you probably will want three:
- a good them
- a particular system for doing landing pages & membership sales/management
- a great form system

Total price is about $300 one time, then I think one of them has a yearly of $60. That plus a simple webhost (which you might already have) and you with your knowledge and skills could be up and running in a couple hours.

 

[BostonH]

Just to clarify for OP - I don't think anyone is suggesting YOU develop the Wordpress site (or that you have to), they are saying that you can still have someone develop one for you, but going in know that you want to go with Wordpress and you should be able to get a cheaper development price.

 

[Deanna]

Just to clarify for OP - I don't think anyone is suggesting YOU develop the Wordpress site (or that you have to), they are saying that you can still have someone develop one for you, but going in know that you want to go with Wordpress and you should be able to get a cheaper development price.

Ohhhhh well that's not how I read it at all...I WAS reading it that I should do it all...which seems like a major daunting task

 

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[Deanna]

Tell us a little more about your idea. How does it fit the CENTS? (You don't have to tell us what your idea is, not even what industry it's in)

J,

Need: it will help my customers solve problems and make things easier. For instance, they currently have to go multiple site to get multiple pieces of info to do their job, a huge pain...now, this will be a "one stop shop" and pull everything into 1 place.

Entry: not everyone is doing, I have only found a few people doing it...an isolated city or county and a couple in other countries...nothing like this in US or that covers the US. I'm not sure any entry is truly difficult, it just takes attention to a detailed process.

Control: I will be the one running everything (yes, control freak), I will be the one offering subscriptions and creating an AF program for others to advertise my site.

Scale: thinking primarily US, but no reason it couldn't go global. Monthly Subscription based, so money coming in each and every month.

Time: totally automated and operating independently of my time. Other than of course, coming up with upgrade or expansion ideas, which I'm hoping a bigger company provides me an exit, and this won't even be my problem anymore.

This what you wanted? How'd I do? Thought?

 

[nation]

Just to clarify for OP - I don't think anyone is suggesting YOU develop the Wordpress site (or that you have to), they are saying that you can still have someone develop one for you, but going in know that you want to go with Wordpress and you should be able to get a cheaper development price.

YES, WordPress has such a large development community that it's easy to find someone with the skills.
I mentioned a $2,500 price tag to get you set up ... that's high. I have seen places that will get you running for as little as $250 & really, if you use the right webhost, it's as simple as pressing one button then installing what theme & plugings you want.

Installing Themes & Plugins can be as simple as attaching a file to an email ... then reading through settings & clicking stuff you want.

The key, especially with your lack of clients, is to get going fast & see what the market gives as feedback.

 

[Deanna]

YES, WordPress has such a large development community that it's easy to find someone with the skills.
I mentioned a $2,500 price tag to get you set up ... that's high. I have seen places that will get you running for as little as $250 & really, if you use the right webhost, it's as simple as pressing one button then installing what theme & plugings you want.

Installing Themes & Plugins can be as simple as attaching a file to an email ... then reading through settings & clicking stuff you want.

The key, especially with your lack of clients, is to get going fast & see what the market gives as feedback.

Okay so you ARE suggesting I do the whole thing myself???
Are you saying do it ALL or just the upfront landing page like we discussed above to see interest?

I just don't see that happening...not that I couldn't over TIME...but the quality would suffer for my learning curve.

I also think terminology is part of the problem.

Is Wordpress web dev sw?
What are themes? Ex?
What are plugins? Ex?
Who are the developers? So, I would still be paying someone to develop the website? How is that diff than what I was going to do anyway?

Can you help clue me in a bit to new tech verbiage?

 

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[The-J]

J,

Need: it will help my customers solve problems and make things easier. For instance, they currently have to go multiple site to get multiple pieces of info to do their job, a huge pain...now, this will be a "one stop shop" and pull everything into 1 place.

Entry: not everyone is doing, I have only found a few people doing it...an isolated city or county and a couple in other countries...nothing like this in US or that covers the US. I'm not sure any entry is truly difficult, it just takes attention to a detailed process.

Control: I will be the one running everything (yes, control freak), I will be the one offering subscriptions and creating an AF program for others to advertise my site.

Scale: thinking primarily US, but no reason it couldn't go global. Monthly Subscription based, so money coming in each and every month.

Time: totally automated and operating independently of my time. Other than of course, coming up with upgrade or expansion ideas, which I'm hoping a bigger company provides me an exit, and this won't even be my problem anymore.

This what you wanted? How'd I do? Thought?

To your post about earlier: We don't want to hurt your feelings either. We've got better things to do. But we're not going to sugar coat anything. It's not that we WANT to hurt your feelings... it's just we want to help you transition from Slowlane to Fastlane and nothing that we offer is to 'protect' your feelings but guide you in the right direction.

If you guys have Slowlane businesses currently, what's keeping you from making them Fastlane? For most people, it's scale and time. How can you take your current businesses to the next level, so to speak? What's stopping you from hiring general managers to take your place (margins too thin, fear of losing control over the day-to-day, etc)? Are your businesses one man/one woman shows? Have you tried taking your businesses to the next level in the past, and did it work?

Your idea seems Fastlane from what you've explained.

A little bit about Wordpress: Take some time and learn about how it all works. Maybe set up a Web site using Wordpress, testing it out. Play with it on your spare time. Encourage your husband to do it, too. It's much easier to learn than HTML and CSS, and MUCH MUCH easier to learn than a standard programming/scripting language. Wordpress is all about testing and seeing what works and what doesn't, and making your site's plugins flow together. It's extremely useful.

As someone who is also learning the game of Fastlane business, I have more questions than answers for you and hopefully someone more experienced than I will be able to help you based on your answers.

I wish you and your husband luck. Hopefully he'll get a Fastlane started up, too.

 

[nation]

Okay so you ARE suggesting I do the whole thing myself???

No ... not really.

My idea is similar to others, with two paths you could take:

Path 1: you set it up
With WordPress & most hosts, you simply press a button & BOOM - you have a site done.
Then you will want to do some customization. I suggest a great theme that is designed as a business style (NON-Blog style) - so the site will look & feel like a non-blog site.
Then one additional thing to do is install a couple more plugins - think of them as apps for your smart phone. They do something special & you only really do this for plugins you need.
The cost to set up yourself is pretty low.

Path 2: Hire someone to set it up
Pick someone who sets up WordPress sites ... ideally they would have some video guides for running a site.
The time cost of this is lower, but the money cost is higher -- we are still taking very little compaired to $5k, or $10k.

The goal of this is just to get started & see what the market says about your idea.

Are you saying do it ALL or just the upfront landing page like we discussed above to see interest?

I am in the "just get a landing page up" camp, as many others are.
As far as I know, you have an idea, but no market research. I could be wrong, maybe people are pre-paying for stuff already & if that's the case take their money (giving them a discount on the future product) and go have a minimum viable product built out.

Is Wordpress web dev sw?

I don't understand this question.

What are themes? Ex?

Themes control the look & feel of a site.

Here is the official WP Theme Directory you can look through:
WordPress › Free WordPress Themes

I never use those, and would not suggest them, especally for you, because they are almost all blog style home pages. There are also lots of premium themes that you pay between $20 and $150 one time to use the theme forever. They are better suited for business sites.

What are plugins? Ex?

think apps on a smartphone, or programs on a computer.
Here is the official WP Plugin Directory:
WordPress › WordPress Plugins

There are also paid plugins out there.

On both themes & plugins, If it's a mission critical thing I sorta want it to be paid simply because I want them developer to have a business model where they will keep developing the theme/plugin.

Who are the developers? So, I would still be paying someone to develop the website? How is that diff than what I was going to do anyway?

Just for a story answer. Years ago I was looking at doing a website maintance site. I went to this site: WordPress Jobs and posted what I wanted. Within a day I had about 100 applicants.

There are litterally thousands of WordPress developers out there, that's one of the strengths. Some charge $5/hour ... one I was tempted by charged $30/hour because I loved his quality of work. I ended up going with a guy who really understood my vision and we had a sliding scale of pay depending on the number of sites he was managing. $115/month for the first few and went down to like $30 per site per month.

My vision would be you don't hire for "development" ... if you hire someone it's for "setup" and you purchase anything that you don't get for free or comes pre-installed in wordpress.

How is that diff than what I was going to do anyway?

Time:
WordPress: a day to having something up
Your Plan: Weeks, months, or years

Money:
WordPress: between $0 and $3k -- and $3k is way high side, my guess would be $1500 or less if you hire someone
Your Plan: $5k-$10k quote -- this is not the final


The goal right now is to take a little bet, fail fast (if you fail) and move on ... ideally you will find great success & be able to fund full development after you really know what the market will pay for.