Beginner question - where to start

First of all I searched on "begin" and got 1500 hits and this is my first post, hope I got things right.

I want to set up the multi-vendor shop. I assume someday I will have to hire help but I want to get my feet wet and install it and try it out.

I assume (but I could be wrong) :

- install Joomla first (my host has this under cPanel) Any good books on Joomla (if I need to install it)?

If this correct, what is the second step? I see three things: style, template, and multi-vendor
What would be the order of these three to install?

More more question - are there any books on Hikashop?

thank you
Roger

Thanks - I am studying Joomla now.

Another question regarding:

Joomla > HikaShop > HikaMarket

Looking at Hikashop Extensions, I see two "Hikashops": -> "Hikashop Essential" and "Hikashop Business"

My goal is to set up a mulit-vendor shop. I will have to hire someone to customize the checkout because I want some special things. This is my main concern.

So which Hikashop should I get, Essential or Business ? Keep in mind I will have to hire someone to customize the check out.

thank you
Roger

Thanks I am getting there and here is what I have so far:

Joomla -> Hikashop Business (it gets 3 stars on check out customization) -> Hikamarket Multi-Vendor

The styles and templates listed on the Hikashop site under Download - say they are optimized for Hikashop - Are these also suitable for Hikamarket Mulit-Vendor?

I got started on Prestashop which has 1,000s of themes and I contacted a popular multi-vendor for Prestashop and asked what Prestashop themes would work with their multi-vendor software. I expected a dozen or two themes, I did not expect the answer --> NONE (only the default) ! So I will be very happy to hear that I can get some themes (templates) that work with Hikamarket. I plan to hire someone to help me pick a template so if there are none this person will not have a job.

Another question ->

I thought that I came across a list of paid support consultants on this web site but I cannot find it now. I would like to know that I can pay for support for someone to modify the php and css code, if I need to do so (and I am sure I will).

I would hate to spend months setting up the multi-vendor store and come across one thing that I want to do and not find support (code modification). I will learn to configure the store so I need someone to modify code not setup the store. I would like to make some contacts before I start on the shop. If there is a list, can you give me the link otherwise I will have to go to Freelancer or Odesk.

I plan to set up a store to sell a product that no one else sells (a new product along with a new service) and this will require a different check out, because no one nor store sells this product. So I am trying to sell a new product along with a new service and this will require a new style of check out. Thus I will need some CSS and PHP modifications to make the changes. I want to find someone that has made code changes to Hikashop and familiar with Hikashop triggers.

This is the way I look at this:
Opencart and Prestashop will get me 90% of the way and Hikashop will get me 99% of the way - I just need to hire someone to get me the 10% or 1 %. This is from watching 100's of hours of YouTube videos.

thank you
Roger