Always look at the top ten businesses in your field. Have a look how they structure everything and then try and see if you can use any of their systems. Make your business unique and identifiable, but never forget they are the top 10 because they are the best. You may be able to get a lot of ideas and it is easier to code when you have examples of what you want.
Sorry to hear about your loss, But am sure you learnt so valuable lessons, if it is any consolation I learned the same way, I guess I just lost a lot more.... If you want to brainstorm on some ideas to see if there is any hope I would be more than glad to do so, you never know when you might strike a good idea. As for me thanks to bad programmers and coding.. one thing i definitely learned was how to do the coding myself. Anyways, take care and dont worry too much...