http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=ojbyrne built Digg for $10 per hour (and a total cost of ~$200) and was hired through elance...
http://digg.com/programming/Digg_com_created_for_only_200_00
...so you can get your ideas implemented well at a low cost, but what you do with it then and how you progress is really the hard part.