Franchising is a viable business model to grow virtual business GIANTS in Second Life

[Phil Deakins]

1 minute ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

Where's the need, though? Why shouldn't I simply go to the original store and get the goods from the original artist?

Instead, I might risk falling for a fraud...

I didn't say there is a need In fact I said that there are a number of reason why I don't think it would work in SL.

[Phil Deakins]

3 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

But, to franchise other's stuff, LittleMeJewel posted above that is already possible but it's becoming a vendor of someone else's stuff for a cut.  That's almost always been here.

And I posted to point out that I don't think that that is what the OP has in mind when he says' franchise'. I wrote that I don't think that what he has in mind has been tried before in SL. If I've understood it correctly, I'm certain it hasn't. If he tells me that what I've understood is not what he had in mind, then I'll drop out

 

[Wili Clip]

11 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

 Free space to full perm dealers and open source scripts...well, you could become a building school.  Some scripts are available for free at certain building schools or one can ask a teacher what script they need.  There is also an inworld group called SCRIPTS for anyone who needs help.   But, why would you want to open your sim for free to full perm products only?  I'm just wondering?  If you have any low cost stores available for non full perm products, let me know.  

I set all the rentals at non profit per prim price as my goal is not making profit from rentals just to cover the tier/rent I pay for it and also I want to help other people. My sim has been fully rented out for months. Maybe now and then some store-front gets released as the renter gets overdue for too many days. 

Yes I actually built a an automated scripting machine / device that teaches people the very basics of scripting. My goal was to try to find a way to make it as simple as possible to progress through the basics. A 65 years old person was able to do it so I counted that as a success.. lol

Then the project progressed to an economy simulation game where people were getting paid for learning new things but then LL saw a problem with it and I had to stop the project and negotiated with LL with proposed new designs until they accepted 6 months ago and now waiting for additional confirmation before I'd start anything like that on such a scale.

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Wili Clip

[Rowan Amore]

7 minutes ago, Wili Clip said:

My motivation works in mysterious way

Nothing mysterious about this or the other 4 threads from the last week or so.

Most affiliate vendors cost next to nothing and you receive 50% of the profite.  

Franchises would require more upfront costs and if done correctly, RL legal agreements.  

 

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

I keep racking my brains here and just cannot see any upside to the creator, given that SL is a virtual world where one can TP anywhere instantly.

[FairreLilette]

4 minutes ago, Wili Clip said:

I set all the rentals at non profit per prim price as my goal is not making profit from rentals just to cover the tier/rent I pay for it and also I want to help other people. My sim has been fully rented out for months. Maybe now and then some store-front gets released as the renter gets overdue for too many days. 

Yes I actually built a an automated scripting machine / device that teaches people the very basics of scripting. My goal was to try to find a way to make it as simple as possible to progress through the basics. A 65 years old person was able to do it so I counted that as a success.. lol

Then the project progressed to an economy simulation game where people were getting paid for learning new things but then LL saw a problem with it and I had to stop the project and negotiated with LL with proposed new designs until they accepted 6 months ago and now waiting for additional confirmation before I'd start anything like that on such a scale.

 

I see, well I am currently "looking" so I mentioned it.  To me, scripting can be a literal headache but all I do is modify them to my liking.  An automated scripting machine, I'm not sure what it does because I don't like scripting from nothing as some I can get free or  have bought stellar ones on MP for very affordable prices.  Yeah, I probably could have searched out the free one but some on MP are just written better and work better for easy to understand modification that's why it's worth the lindens - it's not written in Mongolian and I'm paying for easier to understand.  Hmmmmmm.  I wouldn't mind a demonstration class of your automated device though.  

[Dragon Mommy]

I review dozens of business proposals a week for my day job from individuals seeking financing or support, and yes, some of those proposals are for virtual goods or for businesses tied to virtual spaces. 

You really need to change your approach to trying to start these businesses, Wili. If anything like your posts was the overview put on my desk, it would be in the shredder before lunch. 

A business will franchise because they have a successful business that had reached the limits of their market-- primarily their geographic market. If you go to Subway you're going to go to the one closest to you. You are not going to go to the one 6 hours away. Virtual space has no such limits and you need to demonstrate why someone would go to a secondary location when the primary one is literally a teleport away. 

[Janet Voxel]

18 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

I keep racking my brains here and just cannot see any upside to the creator, given that SL is a virtual world where one can TP anywhere instantly.

Because there isn’t one...

[FairreLilette]

43 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

And I posted to point out that I don't think that that is what the OP has in mind when he says' franchise'. I wrote that I don't think that what he has in mind has been tried before in SL. If I've understood it correctly, I'm certain it hasn't. If he tells me that what I've understood is not what he had in mind, then I'll drop out

 

I'm not sure what the OP means by franchise "giants".  I think it would make search nuts as has been mentioned already in this thread.  You mentioned Maitreya, Maitreya is certainly a "giant" but I doubt she would split her profit.  I don't really see any need for her to do that unless he's speaking about language barriers and having shopping sims in different languages.  

Now he says it's full perm stuff but I'm still not sure what his franchise is all about other than getting a bunch of full perm dealers all together on a sim for perhaps one shopping experience of a lot of full perm items at once.  

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by FairreLilette

[Wili Clip]

20 minutes ago, Bitterthorn said:

If you go to Subway you're going to go to the one closest to you. You are not going to go to the one 6 hours away. Virtual space has no such limits and you need to demonstrate why someone would go to a secondary location when the primary one is literally a teleport away. 

You really need to change your approach to trying to start these businesses, Wili. If anything like your posts was the overview put on my desk, it would be in the shredder before lunch. 

 

The fact is that many people in SL only visit or hang out at few of their favorite places and they rarely go to explore other lands. In SL if you want to bring something to attention of the people you need to find ways to introduce it at the place where they hang out - it is called product placement. But it needs to be subtle - trying to direct sell something to people never works. They need to decide to want something on their own or because they've seen others having it and they like it / want to be like others who they aspire to.

There are only specific types of products and services that the franchise business model is perfect for them. The type that can work and be packaged into a "business in a box" (marketing material, graphics, ads are all included) and needs to be scripted in a way so that when franchisee gets a sale then royalty fee is automatically paid (profit share). To create a franchise business model one has to design it into that way from the get go. 

With franchise model you get free marketing if your business marketing material can be found at many places - you can be almost everywhere. But the product/service also needs to be one that has a market for - it needs to be desirable and it needs to be such that the high traffic places in Second Life can benefit from it.  

 

None of my posts here on forum are business proposals and for this reason they'd never find their way on your desk. Most of my posts are call to action and invitation to other virtual businesses to cooperation in future. And some of the post I make are just because I am fascinated about something or intrigued and I write about it to see what other people think about it.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Wili Clip

[LittleMe Jewell]

12 minutes ago, Bitterthorn said:

you need to demonstrate why someone would go to a secondary location when the primary one is literally a teleport away. 

Or even if the creator wants extra locations, I just cannot imagine any sort of franchise setup being better for the creator over them just renting or buying a bit of space in other locations. 

 

Not to mention how much it complicates the fraud issues.  Trying to tell consumers that places A, B, & C are legit but places X, Y, & Z are not.

 

[RunawayBunny]

53 minutes ago, Wili Clip said:

I already started building an open source scripts library in-world and writing scripts in a way so that those people who don't know yet how to program can easily use them

Wiki already provides many examples with decent explanation, it will not only give source code but also explain everything step by step there is many decent examples exist.

 

55 minutes ago, Wili Clip said:

My model is such that the scripters create the basic open source scripts that everyone can get for free and then they create another one that they can sell for few L$ with step by step explanation how to use it and with added functionality (this way scripters who produce open source are rewarded a bit for their time and effort to build a script library).

Many scripters doing it for free at wiki also on forum: https://community.secondlife.com/forums/forum/305-lsl-library/

They will also often provide help when you stuck or lead you a new/better method: https://community.secondlife.com/forums/forum/304-lsl-scripting/

Wiki have example for almost every function, with detailed explanation: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Category:LSL_Examples

Wiki functions: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Category:LSL_Functions

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 minute ago, Wili Clip said:

The fact is that many people in SL only visit or hang out at few of their favorite places and they rarely go to explore other lands.

Bolded word -- where is your source?  

For shopping, I highly doubt that people only visit or hang out in a few of their favorite places.  The popularity of the Weekly sales events gives evidence to the contrary.

[Wili Clip]

Many = not all. But many is still considerable number.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Wili Clip

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Wili Clip said:

I'd be interested to provide free space to sell their full permission products at my sim.

 

49 minutes ago, Wili Clip said:

I set all the rentals at non profit per prim price as my goal is not making profit from rentals just to cover the tier/rent I pay for it and also I want to help other people.

 

Setting something to a "non profit per prim price" is not the same as providing "free space"

 

[Paul Hexem]

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 minute ago, Wili Clip said:

Many = not all. But many is still considerable amount.

Still --- what is your source for MANY?  And how many do you define as MANY?

 

[Rowan Amore]

I might only "hang out" at a few places but those are not shopping places.  Even if they have ad boards for other stores or venues, I seldom even bother looking at those.  A lot of places also set up affiliate vendors to rent space.  I don't look or shop at those either.  I don't know anyone aside from the new people that would even bother.    As @LittleMe Jewellmentioned, the plethora of shopping events in and of itself shows people will tp all over SL to shop.  I'd be wary of purchasing anything anywhere aside from the actual main store.  

But hey, good luck with your various ventures you've been hawking in the forums with your posts.

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Rowan Amore

[Wili Clip]

23 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

1 hour ago, Wili Clip said:

I'd be interested to provide free space to sell their full permission products at my sim.

 

1 hour ago, Wili Clip said:

I set all the rentals at non profit per prim price as my goal is not making profit from rentals just to cover the tier/rent I pay for it and also I want to help other people.

 

Setting something to a "non profit per prim price" is not the same as providing "free space"

You are quoting things out of context to make it appear as if I said something that I actually didn't say.

 

I have a creative area on my sim where I started creating a small script library (a prototype) and in future it can become an open source and hangout place for scripters and those who want to learn scripting by using open source scripts. Now there are wiki, forum and other things where people can already do that but what is different with this place is that it is in Second Life and you can meet other people there to hang out and script or solve problems together. It is more social and you can make friends - maybe even product - business partners.

It is just that area where I would be interested to offer free space for those who sell full permission items in future if the above open source hangout area takes off. Now in the other parts of sim I rent out stores at non profit price but its all rented out already for months. 

Now this open source project I described above has absolutely nothing to do with the franchise business model. 🙂

And about the full permission content makers that let other people use their designs in their own businesses I just wanted to express that I like this practice and want to support that kind of content creators because that is very good for content creation on overall in SL. I like to support people who create something that can benefit other people - just like open source.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Wili Clip

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 minutes ago, Wili Clip said:

You are quoting things out of context to make it appear as if I said something that I actually didn't say.

 

In the below, it was not apparent to me that your comments were only in reply to her very last statement:

1 hour ago, Wili Clip said:

1 hour ago, FairreLilette said:

 Free space to full perm dealers and open source scripts...well, you could become a building school.  Some scripts are available for free at certain building schools or one can ask a teacher what script they need.  There is also an inworld group called SCRIPTS for anyone who needs help.   But, why would you want to open your sim for free to full perm products only?  I'm just wondering?  If you have any low cost stores available for non full perm products, let me know.  

I set all the rentals at non profit per prim price as my goal is not making profit from rentals just to cover the tier/rent I pay for it

 

[PermaRuthed]

tl;dr

 

 

[Wili Clip]

9 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

In the below, it was not apparent to me that your comments were only in reply to her very last statement...

Not everything is as it appears to be. 😁

But some people believe that if you repeat something over and over again somehow it will become true...  its like with fake news🙃

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Wili Clip

[Phil Deakins]

24 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

 

In the below, it was not apparent to me that your comments were only in reply to her very last statement:

 

You are not arguing very well, Lil. His comment about free space and his other comment about covering tier costs are in different posts and he didn't equate the two, and yet you brought them together for criticism as though they were both about the same thing when they weren't. One is about how things are now and the other is about something he'd be willing to do in the future. It's grossly unfair to lump the two together the way you have, and then criticise him for them because they are not the same. It's pure fiction on your part.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Phil Deakins

[Phil Deakins]

40 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Still --- what is your source for MANY?  And how many do you define as MANY?

 

He already answered you with the correct answer ("a significant number"). You are giving the appearance of arguing just for the sake of it, Lil, and it's not very nice to see.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Phil Deakins

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Phil Deakins said:

He already answered you with the correct answer ("a significant number"). You are giving the appearance of arguing just for the sake of it, Lil, and it's not very nice to see.

Actually, what he said was that "many" was a 'considerable amount', which is not really any sort of proper numerical definition.  I was asking for a bit more clarity on that term.  Honestly, "considerable amount" is a very subjective term.

Though the important question, which he chose to ignore, was asking for his source on the claim that it was a FACT that many people in SL only visit or hang out at few of their favorite places and they rarely go to explore other lands. One cannot claim that something is a FACT without having a source for said claim.

The arguing of said FACT is important, because it plays into his assumption that franchises would work because people don't want to TP to places outside their normal hanging out area.

 

Side note -- I did truly 'laugh out loud' at the very idea of Mister Pedantic saying that I was giving the appearance of arguing for the sake of it, when the vast majority of your arguments on the forums over the years have seemed that way to so many of us.

Though I do think it might be time for me to ignore this thread for a while.

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by LittleMe Jewell