I don't have the budget for a market research firm, how much would it cost to conduct my own?

Bill,
First, you have to ask yourself what the objectives of your market research study are, and determine if focus groups are right for you in the first place. Are you looking to test marketing concepts, messages and designs, or simply gather feedback on what your target audiences are thinking and feeling on a variety of topics? If there's nothing you are physically showing them to elicit feedback on, and you don't need to probe on a tremendous amount of topics, I would go with much more cost effective online surveys and/or telephone research. This will just run you the cost of the surveying software and/or the services of a telephone research firm (I know a good one if you need a referral).

If you want to go the focus group route, you'll have to do all of the recruiting yourself (recruit 15 to make sure 10 show up for each group), develop the discussion guide, moderate the focus group, source catering, rent the actual facility, pay for the video and audio recording, provide the subjects with incentives of $100 or more apiece, pay for materials like pens, pads, flipcharts, markers, etc., and write the report yourself. The out-of-pocket costs alone will run you about $3,000, plus you'll have to spend your valuable time conducting all of these activities that you're probably not all that comfortable with anyway.

If I were you, I'd bite the bullet and hire a research firm, or do an online or telephone survey if you want to save money, plus you'll get feedback from a lot more people.
Thanks,
Jared
www.canyoncomm.com