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I just want to have my own website where I sell products that I manufacture using CAD software. I'm trying to look three ahead because that's supposedly how long it takes for a business to start earning. I've only saved a few thousand dollars. Should I be looking into loans and grants? Where are some good places to get started? It's a for-profit business, and all I have is the design for the website, my drill, and my skill with CAD. I'm terrible at making websites, so one of the main things I worry about is the expense of having someone build the site. Another thing I am worried about is that I will be selling almost exclusively online. I already sell out of my house, but it hasn't been very profitable because I haven't been advertising.

If I'm to take out loans, I feel like I should have more prepared than what I already have. I'm worried about being denied or getting a really bad deal.

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Who ever told you that it takes 3 years to make any money isn't aware of the new 'start up' mentality. If you have your CAD software, drills, and knowledge (you) your expenses should be relatively low unless you need no rent space, buy tons of materials, do lots of expensive marketing.

You should be able to start making money right away if you can find clients and are willing to do some selling. Try to think of some companies you can partner with who could benefit from reselling or promoting your services to get a broader reach to prospects immediately.

Regarding your web development question. Check out : Tumblr for $0/mo you can get a website. You can pick a theme on there and spend a couple hours writing your content for some pages. It's more of a blog, which would be perfect for you. Take shots with you mobile phone and upload them of cool things you are working on.

Go to godaddy.com and buy a domain ~$10/yr and then follow the steps on Tumblr to point it over to your Tumblr website. Then you'll be able to have www.wolfpackCAD.com

A couple years down the road once you are rolling in some coin you can seek some professional website services to recommend changes you can make or a new website that can help you reach a broader audience, or give you more features like selling online etc.

No reason to spend a crazy amount initially, start off saving your money for the essentials (bootstrapping) and focus on making money early to be sustainable.

Banks like to loan money to successful companies who need it to accelerate growth. Not risky start-ups unless you have plenty of collateral. So you may need to use credit cards or something with terrible interest if the banks can't help you out.

Good luck!

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I would also recommend wordpress for cheap and professional website builder. It is very flexible and there are some great premium themes around. – Joel Friedlaender Oct 10 '11 at 4:24

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