My tools would be these: the internet, my telephone, and my email account.
Use those to find potential customers. Here's how...
I would talk to business people, get to know them, earn their trust, be helpful, all with an eye toward finding out what they urgently need + are willing to pay me to deliver. Next, capture their pre-payments, then build the thing using whatever (free and non-free) tools are necessary and palatable and/or reasonable within the budget parameters established by those pre-payments.
My tools would be these: the internet, my telephone, and my email account.
Use those to find potential customers. Here's how...
I would talk to business people, get to know them, earn their trust, be helpful, all with an eye toward finding out what they urgently need + are willing to pay me to deliver. Next, capture their pre-payments, then build the thing using whatever (free and non-free) tools are necessary and palatable and/or reasonable within the budget parameters established by those pre-payments.
No presales yet?
Keep talking to customers.
I like your approach :)