The end of an era (for me)

[Phil Deakins]

I joined SL in December 2006. Very early in 2007, I started a business, which quickly led to another business selling low prim furniture in a store. (I never tried to sell anything in the marketplace). I did very well in that second business but, in less than 2 years, I decided to let the store fade away, and close it when it was no longer worthwhile keeping it open. From then on, I did nothing to promote sales, although there were 2 or 3 times when I fancied creating again, and I made some more bits just for the pleasure of doing it. Through it all though, I've been letting the store fade away.

It soldiered on for helluva lot longer than I expected it to - until today, that is. It's taken 7 or 8 years to fade to the point of not making a profit, but it finally made it, and today I deleted it all and closed down. My last customer was someone who came to find kitchen stuff while I was deleting it all, and I'd already deleted the kitchen area. So I rezzed some for her and she went away happy.

It's the end of an era for me. I'll hold on to the tier-free 512, plus the 10% group bonus, at least for a while. I have no desire to quit SL altogether, and I don't fancy being homeless here :)

[Pamela Galli]

Your store is a legend, Phil. You came up with some clever ways to make one prim furniture back when a prim was a prim.

[VanillaSunsets]

This makes me feel a bit sad. But I do get where you're coming from. I think every creator and merchant feels like trowing in the towel at times. Or let the store just be for a while. Yes, sales will go on for a long time and that gives you itches, from time to time create something just coz it feels good and coz you just did that for such a long time...

But ppl change, RL changes, for me at times I just cannot fit SL into RL anymore. Sometimes for a long while but it's still a bit like home. You always go back :matte-motes-big-grin-evil:

Glad to hear you have no plans of leaving SL tho! 

So... what will you do with all that free time on your hands?:matte-motes-delicious:

 

[Phil Deakins]

Thank you for the kind comment, Pamela

I probably won't do anything different to what I've been for a long time, Vanilla - log in and stand around while I do stuff in RL. But you never know. I might even take up exploring to see what's out there

[sirhc DeSantis]

Raise a pint to you - you legend

End of an era - and the start of a new one....

Cheers.

[Qie Niangao]

Congratulations Phil on a really long run!

May your SL future be even more interesting.

[Phil Deakins]

Thank you guys

Weirdly enough, Qie, even now I'm thinking about the possibility of creating and selling. Dunno what though. Maybe I'll just create stuff that really interests me. Or maybe nothing at all. I feel like I'm at a loose end.

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Phil Deakins wrote:

I don't fancy being homeless here

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It's not so bad, particularly if you don't log in!

;-).

[SkillsFurrystorm]

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Madelaine McMasters wrote:

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Phil Deakins wrote:

I don't fancy being homeless here

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It's not so bad, particularly if you don't log in!

;-).

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First sensible post in an otherwise standard attention seeking SL thread.

[Blot Brickworks]

Ditto me as well Phil, our paths crossed a few times in the early days. I joined in October 2006 and have done Ok. but have not bothered as long as the parcel paid for itself. I abandoned my Plot just before the November tier and have set up on a 512 as well. The marketplace will more than pay for my premium for the short term so I will sit back and watch the slow decline. I had a great time while SL was still fresh to me and have great memories. I will continue to lurk here and SLU and keep up with the goings on. Cheers Blot

[Phil Deakins]

LOL. You misunderstood Maddy's post

The thread isn't attention-seeking though. I get plenty of attention here - often unwanted lol.

You're relatively new so you wouldn't know that some longer-serving people here have known the store pretty much throughout its existance, and I posted it to inform them of its closure, just as an out-of-interest thing, and not for those like you, who it doesn't mean anything to.

[Phil Deakins]

We sound like twins, Blot lol. I wish you all the very best for your future SL.

Btw, I tend to forget most of those who I "cross paths" with, and I don't recall us doing that, but I don't doubt it. I have to forget who they were or I wouldn't be speaking to anyone

[Blot Brickworks]

Thanks for that, when I wrote " cross paths" I didn't mean in a nasty way LOL. I recall we both rented stores on a small Mall years ago to help out an American female avatar who sold air chimes..  Cheers and i hope you continue to enjoy whats left of  Second Life.

[Phil Deakins]

Ah. I'd forgotten about the wind chimes, but yes we did. She's still around and on my friends list too but I haven't spoken to her in ages.

[eyeye Afterthought]

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Phil Deakins wrote:

Thank you for the kind comment, Pamela

I probably won't do anything different to what I've been for a long time, Vanilla - log in and stand around while I do stuff in RL. But you never know. I might even take up exploring to see what's out there

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I don't know you, or what you used to sell in SL, although I've seen you post on the forums. 

I've always rented in SL and never get homeless, only somewhere dead cheap like.  

But you sound sad. When really you might be starting a new SL.  

 

Exploring is great!!!!! My favo thing to do ever. 

Welcome to new SL!

[Prokofy Neva]

I think it's an important admission that you have not really been in business for years.

You had a peak moment when you made some money some years ago, but then it was all downhill from there, yet you continued to act on the forums as if you knew better than anyone else and anyone who criticized your or had a different experience than you was a lesser form of being.

What was particularly obnoxious was your YEARS of whining about search and how it was somehow harming you, when the Lindens changed it.

You were so obviously gaming it, not only with your constant complaints and hopes the Lindens would "do something" but of course your "models" or "mannikens that you claimed were needed for illustrating poses or something -- when they were so clearly just traffic gimmicks.

 Years ago -- 10? -- I, too, could make "real money" in SL because it was there to be made when the population was so large. Today, I'm lucky if I have a bit left over to pay some RL bills and of course I have not one but two RL jobs as many do since the recession. I don't pretend to have any deep business insights of the sort that people who own 100 islands might have -- and who don't have time or inclination for the forums (what tales they could tell us!)

You've pretended to have some knowledgeable and wise opinion based on experience when really, you didn't because you haven't really been in business. So I think this is an important acknowledgement coming from you, and I don't think your store closing means the end of the SL economy because now there are more prims, and you made primsavers.

Other creators adapt to these harsh circumstances and learn mesh, or develop a niche, or close stores and go to the MP, or do what they have to do. No one is required to do this. Bult that's been the trend rather than trying to get action from the forums.

[Phil Deakins]

You are so predictable, Prokofy

You know you shouldn't risk getting into an argument with me because you should remember what happened the last time you tried it. In case you've forgotten, you were shown up by me in your own blog, simply because you didn't understand how SL worked, which made you assume that something was true when it wasn't. Perhaps you'd like to read that old blog and refresh your memory. You might like to post a link to it   Responding to your post though, which is full of inaccuracies...

1. You are right about the earnings from the store having peaked years ago, but wrong that it was a "moment". It was a lengthy period.

2. You are right about it all being downhill from there, but wrong because you imagine that it wasn't intentional, and that I'd have preferred it to not go downhill. It was totally intentional.

3. You are right about me continuing to be active in the forum, but wrong that I acted as if I knew better than anyone else. Just like everyone else, we know what we know, we often have differing opinions, and we post accordingly.

4. You are wrong that I considered those who had different opinions as "a lesser form of being". I don't even see you as that, although you are one of the very few people - less than a handful - who I do look down on.

5. You are wrong that I whined about search. In fact, you couldn't be more wrong. Before the GSA came along, when places were ranked on traffic, I took successful action to make sure my store was at or near the top. There was no whining from me because search worked for me. There were loads of arguments in the forum about the action I took, but no whining on either side. Perhaps that's what you're remembering. Then when the GSA came along, it was right up my street - my professional experience in RL - and I taught people in the forum what to do to get high rankings in it. Those posts are still archived if you want to check. Heck, when LL announced that it was coming, I told them, in their blog, that it was a foolish thing to do, because it would be so easy to 'game' - and it was. I literally controlled most of the top 10 rankings for my main searchterm. I even put other people's places high in the top 10, without them even knowing. I bet you've no idea how I did it though lol. You see? There was never any need for me to whine about search, or hope that LL would change it, because it always worked very well for me. You would have known all that if you'd followed this forum through the years.

6. You were right that I was gaming the search systems, and I was very successful at it. There were no complaints about search from me because I was very successful at it. The demo models you mentioned were not only useful, as confirmed by LL, but perfectly legal. When it changed, and bots had to be registered as scripted agents, the models became registered, but they still stayed because they continued to serve the useful purpose that they were there for.

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Prokofy Neva wrote:

You've pretended to have some knowledgeable and wise opinion based on experience when really, you didn't because you haven't really been in business. So I think this is an important acknowledgement coming from you, and I don't think your store closing means the end of the SL economy because now there are more prims, and you made primsavers.

Other creators adapt to these harsh circumstances and learn mesh, or develop a niche, or close stores and go to the MP, or do what they have to do. No one is required to do this. Bult that's been the trend rather than trying to get action from the forums.

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7. I certainly did have, and still have, some knowledge of business based on experience, both in SL and in RL. You may have seen it as "wise opinion" but, to me, it was just opinion based on my long-time business experiences in both arenas. You are wrong that I "haven't really been in business". Most of my working life I have been in business on my own, including my time in SL, although being so successful here was accidental and unexpected, and merely a hobby.

8. Here is one bit where you are totally right. It makes a change   Closing the store won't affect the SL economy in the slightest. I've no idea why you would even mention that, but you are right. Well done!

9. There were never any harsh circumstances for me and my store. You may have unwillingly suffered harsh circumatnces, and, as you said, they drastically lowered your profits, but I didn't suffer any. Again, if you'd followed the forum through the years, you would have known that there was a specific point in time, 7 or 8 years ago, when I decided to let the store fade away from then on. It had become boring and I simply stopped by choice. I've done the same thing through my whole working life. Mesh wasn't around then, so that didn't affect anything. I would have closed it at that time but it was making money and I'm not stupid enough to cut off a regular source of money when I didn't have to work to earn it, so I allowed it to fade away naturally. The astonishing thing for me is how long it took to reach this point.

All-in-all, you wrote a silly post, full of untruths, but it's what I'd expect of you

 

ETA: You mentioned the marketplace. I specifically didn't get involved in the marketplace on principle. It was an anti-LL position on my part.

[Phil Deakins]

I'm not sad, eyeye, although it does feel like something of a change of life, so I don't sound delighted either. It feels strange.

[Phil Deakins]

Suddenly a very vague memory is starting to make its way up from the depths. We did talk with each other over in Honey's mall, didn't we?

[Bree Giffen]

Well it's good you aren't totally quitting! Congrats on maintaining an in world store for so long. I'm sure you'll have the nicest 512 prim home in SL.

But really, maybe you should toss things up on the marketplace. 

[Phil Deakins]

563.2 sqm, Bree   I'm keeping the 10% group bonus.

I've never sold on the marketplace, on principle. When LL bought the two external ones to create the marketplace, I saw it as them trying to take a cut of sales, which is what it was. Then they promoted it to the specific, and intentional, detriment of inworld stores. You may remember the login page where the left half was the login form and right half stated in big letters, "Welcome Marketplace User". They intentionally worked against all store owners. They worked against their customers - something that they've been very good at through the years. That's why I've never used it for sales. What they did worked. For a long time now, the first, and prefered, place to shop is in LL's marketplace.

Also I'm not interested in sales. I haven't been since I decided to let it fade away 7 or 8 years ago.

[Rayanna Shelman]

Very sorry to hear your store has closed Phil     I joined SL in 2008 and bought numerous items from you, they were good quality, low prim (obviously) and not expensive.      If you are not 100% cerain what you want to do now, why not simply enjoy SL, meet new people, explore or even do what I frequently do, wander around aimlessly lol

Cannot imagine you being homless but if you ever are, I am sure there are many on here who have a "spare room" or even an empty garage or garden shed you could use lol

Wishing you luck in whatever course you decide to take

[Phil Deakins]

Thank you, Rayanna.

Emulating you by wandering aimlessly around SL sounds like a good plan to me   I won't be homeless though - at least not for some time.

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Phil Deakins wrote:

Thank you, Rayanna.

Emulating you by wandering aimlessly around SL sounds like a good plan to me

 

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It is a good plan. I do it in RL as well.

[Blot Brickworks]

That's right, good memory. honeybear.lilliehook was her name.