Ok so just a couple rough shots....
First, the $300 kit:
And a self portrait shot from my $5k kit:
Both shots using 3 strobe heads (two umbrella'd on the backdrop and one softbox on the main subject). Simple simple setup.. not even using any blocking of light or anything. You can see that:
1. Either way you are going to get a softer more even light than you will with "shop" lights and..
2. After a bit of photoshop to even out lighting, color etc., you may as well start off with a minimal investment because quite frankly, you can achieve very similar results.