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

[Silent Mistwalker]

2 minutes ago, Wili Clip said:

If its not in your power to change it the alternative is to stress yourself out. If you're not a president or in position of power you can't do much about it and even if you are usually it takes whole generations for things to change (the old ways die and the new ones are let to emerge with the young).

 

What a load of hogwash. You're saying individuals can't make a difference yet that is precisely how change is brought about. It starts with the individual. If what you say were true, women in the US would not have the right to vote, black people would still be slaves, First Nations peoples would have been wiped off the face of the planet, not to mention what it would be like in the rest of the world. It does not take whole generations for things to change. It takes people getting off their butts and doing something about it!

[Wili Clip]

4 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

 

What a load of hogwash. You're saying individuals can't make a difference yet that is precisely how change is brought about. It starts with the individual. If what you say were true, women in the US would not have the right to vote, black people would still be slaves, First Nations peoples would have been wiped off the face of the planet, not to mention what it would be like in the rest of the world. It does not take whole generations for things to change. It takes people getting off their butts and doing something about it!

That is not what I am saying. All changes come about gradually and through time...

What you're talking about is the events and actions done by individuals when the energy for change was the highest and time was ripe.

In the times when slavery in US was rampant if anyone resisted they were killed. Time for changes was not right yet.

 🙂
You are right about people getting off their butts and doing something ^-^ but as long as they don't... its hard to change things.

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Wili Clip

[Silent Mistwalker]

2 minutes ago, Wili Clip said:

That is not what I am saying. All changes come about gradually and through time...

What you're talking about is the events and actions done by individuals when the energy for change was the highest and time was ripe.

In the times when slavery in US was rampant if anyone resisted they were killed. Time for changes was not right yet.

 

You really don't have a clue. That's sad.

[Qie Niangao]

7 hours ago, Caroline Takeda said:

One more thing.

There are at the moment around 5000 SL users who do make a reasonable amount of money  through or with SecondLife (I am one of them, if you are interested I tell you how). Compared to the amount of activ users (around 600.000 per month), that is not a lot.

Does that mean 595.000 User are stupid or not able to do create a substainable business/income?

No. 

Indeed. Let's imagine that all 600,000 SL users were infinitely ambitious, skilled, ruthless, entrepreneurial -- all that B.school crap, in spades -- all trading furiously with each other to MAKE TEH MONEYS and cashing out beaucoup US$s every month.

See the problem?

And it's much, much worse than that. We the unproductive masses not only need to bring in every dime that our little Gordon Geckos cash out, we also have to keep Linden Lab in salaries, taxes, overhead, AWS expenses, and toilet paper for Battery Street, and that all comes first before there are any spare US$s for anybody to cash out.

The very last thing our OP needs is more "productive" people cashing out.

[Wili Clip]

13 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

 

You really don't have a clue. That's sad.

You went way off topic. This topic is about discussing business models not cultural change. 🙃

It really always depends from what perspectives you are talking about things and what kind of change exactly you are talking about. If your intention is to argue you are always going to be able to argue about something with someone.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Wili Clip

[Wili Clip]

22 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:

The very last thing our OP needs is more "productive" people cashing out.

On the other side of production is consumption. And it is generally known that without consumption especially in capitalist world there is no production (Soviet Union centrally planned socialist experiments that lacked markets and efficient resource allocations failed). Usually where there is demand, supply follows (for example COVID and the need for vaccines). What people want the entrepreneurs produce. Some demand can be induced by advertising and marketing but on overall we primarily produce what people need/want for survival and secondary the goods for higher social needs (like luxury).

Anything that is produced in Second Life that makes more people (who register their SL account for the 1st time) to stay in SL and become regular users is good for general growth and economic stability of SL. This benefits everyone.

 

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Wili Clip

[Silent Mistwalker]

41 minutes ago, Wili Clip said:

You went way off topic. This topic is about discussing business models not cultural change. 🙃

It really always depends from what perspectives you are talking about things and what kind of change exactly you are talking about. If your intention is to argue you are always going to be able to argue about something with someone.

 

I wasn't discussing cultural change. If you were, that's on you.

You sure do have a lot of growing up left to do. I'd say come talk to me in about 20 years but I doubt I live that long now. If I do manage to live another 20 years on top of the over 60 I've managed so far, I'm going to run you over with my scooter if you aren't careful.

[Mercedes Avon]

I  kind of sort of understand the basic sentiments of what you've been saying in these recent threads. My takeaway from your posts is that you want to make SL bigger, stronger, better and attract more people to the platform. You want to encourage greater creativity and reach new boundaries. I appreciate how much you want to improve and support SL. I respect your drive and ambition.

Although I appreciate your energy, the problem with a lot of what you've posted lately is based on the fact that I am looking at it  from the viewpoint of the average SL user. The vast majority of SL users are here as consumers. You are pitching to a niche market. You are driven and smart, but you view SL through your own perspective; that of a businessman. Most of us are not looking to make SL our careers because we already have those. SL could disappear tomorrow. I personally would never risk my RL financial security on the back of someone else's business.

3 hours ago, Wili Clip said:

To reply to someone else..

I am not participating on this forum to look for love or approval from fellow forum participants. I have love and support from a community of 37 000+ people in my group and from over 400 000 people who experienced my products in SL in last 10 years.

What you have is a service/product 37,000+ love and support. They are there because you produced a fun worthwhile pastime - one I have enjoyed for years (and would like to keep enjoying if only you would ever answer my IMs). You should not confuse that with love for you personally.

[Arielle Popstar]

8 hours ago, Caroline Takeda said:

One more thing.

There are at the moment around 5000 SL users who do make a reasonable amount of money  through or with SecondLife (I am one of them, if you are interested I tell you how). Compared to the amount of activ users (around 600.000 per month), that is not a lot.

Does that mean 595.000 User are stupid or not able to do create a substainable business/income?

No. 

It means they are not interested. At all. They are interested in other things. Socialising, creating, meeting people, do fun things, slex. It is a hobby for most, not a source of income or a business opportunity.

That already kills the idea of becoming a franchise GIANT.

You need more than your own motivation and vision to do business. You need to find enough others with the same motivation and vision.

That is just not there. There is no big enough market for franchise concepts.
 

Then again, not everyone of the 595,000 is against the idea of a part time career in virtual affiliate/franchise marketing. A number of the posters in this thread seem to be looking at it from the perspective of someone wanting to make a full time income but that is not right. I would be quite happy with doing a little affiliate marketing to make even 10,000 L$ per month. Enough for a decent sized parcel and a few Lindens left over for personal shopping without having to pull out the credit card every six months to top them up. I've looked at it before back when I was still picking money off trees and it certainly seemed a more worthwhile endeavor but unfortunately many of the Business in a Box setups were not well explained and had old content even back in 2010. Had there been a Group one could have joined, wherein there were other marketers who shared of their expertise, it would have been quite a boon. Maybe there were but I just never found them. In my own experience with several r/l  multi level marketing schemes, regular group meetings to share tips and tricks and just general chat was a great way to keep up the motivation as well as learning about new avenues for marketing.

From a creator perspective this would seem to be a great idea for getting more exposure of one's products. Aside from a few high profile creators, there are oodles of one's who are all but unknown. At best they get some word of mouth advertising or perhaps offer some loss leaders at Events or Saturday sales to get some regular customers but I bet plenty don't even do that and basically make little for their efforts due to a lack of marketing. What S/L lacks is the idea of a Wal-Mart/ Department store where one can find products from many different creators. I did find a few that were all freebie stores but none that had affiliate vendors for different creators. Maybe they are out there but I've just not found them. 

Again though, this affiliate/franchise thing doesn't have to be about making a full time income. Even a few thousand L$ per month would be a worthwhile thing for some of us.

 

[Silent Mistwalker]

3 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

What S/L lacks is the idea of a Wal-Mart/ Department store where one can find products from many different creators.

Sounds like you just described the MP to me. 

The freebie stores have mostly outdated items. Some date as far back as 2005 that I have seen with my own eyes in the past year.

There was a time when I would go shophopping* around the grid and I would see many stores that were nothing but affiliate vendors from different creators. Those have been long gone.

 

*Hopping around from place to place window shopping until I find what I'm looking for or something I like.

[FairreLilette]

37 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Sounds like you just described the MP to me. 

I agree, and I wanted to add but cannot find Arielle's quote right this minute, too much to read, but also EVENTS.  

As far as what Wili wants to try, he should try it alone and see how it goes, imo, but he sounds like he's trying to make a help island of which there is already.  Plus, I don't have any more time right now Wili to catch up on the thread.  But, if you try something new...good luck to you.

[Polenth Yue]

7 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

From a creator perspective this would seem to be a great idea for getting more exposure of one's products. Aside from a few high profile creators, there are oodles of one's who are all but unknown. At best they get some word of mouth advertising or perhaps offer some loss leaders at Events or Saturday sales to get some regular customers but I bet plenty don't even do that and basically make little for their efforts due to a lack of marketing. What S/L lacks is the idea of a Wal-Mart/ Department store where one can find products from many different creators. I did find a few that were all freebie stores but none that had affiliate vendors for different creators. Maybe they are out there but I've just not found them. 

Again though, this affiliate/franchise thing doesn't have to be about making a full time income. Even a few thousand L$ per month would be a worthwhile thing for some of us.

When I had more store space, I set up a little market with affiliate vendors from various brands. I rarely sold anything from it. I also tried running my own affiliate scheme. Other people rarely sold my stuff through it. This wasn't because I didn't have traffic to my market (it was right next to my shop, at a time when more people visited inworld shops) or that my own products don't sell (I had no problems selling stuff from my vendors). People just weren't that fired up about buying through an affiliate vendor.

I've also rented mall space before and I never found one that earnt back the rent. People talk about liking malls more than they actually visit them to buy things. Events are a different issue, as customers do get excited about those and spend, but those aren't usually open to affiliates.

You might be able to make an affiliate scheme work if it directly ties in with another business. Like you make textures for a widget and you're also an affiliate for that widget. A lot of the time though, people end up spending more than they make.

All this is why you don't see a lot of classes about it or groups or anything like that. It's not that people are hiding the secret to making money... it's because they know you most likely won't make money this way.

[Rowan Amore]

7 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Then again, not everyone of the 595,000 is against the idea of a part time career in virtual affiliate/franchise marketing. A number of the posters in this thread seem to be looking at it from the perspective of someone wanting to make a full time income but that is not right. I would be quite happy with doing a little affiliate marketing to make even 10,000 L$ per month. Enough for a decent sized parcel and a few Lindens left over for personal shopping without having to pull out the credit card every six months to top them up. I've looked at it before back when I was still picking money off trees and it certainly seemed a more worthwhile endeavor but unfortunately many of the Business in a Box setups were not well explained and had old content even back in 2010. Had there been a Group one could have joined, wherein there were other marketers who shared of their expertise, it would have been quite a boon. Maybe there were but I just never found them. In my own experience with several r/l  multi level marketing schemes, regular group meetings to share tips and tricks and just general chat was a great way to keep up the motivation as well as learning about new avenues for marketing.

From a creator perspective this would seem to be a great idea for getting more exposure of one's products. Aside from a few high profile creators, there are oodles of one's who are all but unknown. At best they get some word of mouth advertising or perhaps offer some loss leaders at Events or Saturday sales to get some regular customers but I bet plenty don't even do that and basically make little for their efforts due to a lack of marketing. What S/L lacks is the idea of a Wal-Mart/ Department store where one can find products from many different creators. I did find a few that were all freebie stores but none that had affiliate vendors for different creators. Maybe they are out there but I've just not found them. 

Again though, this affiliate/franchise thing doesn't have to be about making a full time income. Even a few thousand L$ per month would be a worthwhile thing for some of us.

 

I could show you at least 1/2 dozen places/clubs that have a large area set up with affiliate vendors and some small obscure stores.  I've never checked the rental prices but it would have to be cost effective or they wouldn't be there.  It does kind of remind me of a flea market. But again, I've never once purchased from such a vendor nor would I.  If I did see something I liked, I'd probably find the actual creator in the case of an affiliate vendor and shop at their main store/MP store.

[Ceka Cianci]

Anytime i hear the word franchise, french fries come to mind..

Hey wanna franchise?

Sure, I'll take a medium..

 

hehehe

[Wili Clip]

I don't think affiliate selling products really work unless its for example a role play sim and the products on the affiliate vendor tie in nicely with the RP theme.

[Arielle Popstar]

21 hours ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Sounds like you just described the MP to me. 

The freebie stores have mostly outdated items. Some date as far back as 2005 that I have seen with my own eyes in the past year.

There was a time when I would go shophopping* around the grid and I would see many stores that were nothing but affiliate vendors from different creators. Those have been long gone.

 

*Hopping around from place to place window shopping until I find what I'm looking for or something I like.

My butt looks cuter sashaying down an inworld shop aisle then my mouse does clicking on an advert in the MP. Call me vain. 😏

There are actually stores I much prefer shopping inworld as their MP are umpteen ads for the same style but in different colours. My finger gets sore scrolling past them. I can look through the store at the adverts there much quicker then I can through the MP, though I do check some of them in the MP for the description and possible reviews if an item is questionable. There also tends to be items inworld that are not in the MP.  I find too that when looking for a specific item in a store, area search is much better then the MP search function. So I suppose I prefer "shophopping" and assume others do too but perhaps the smaller inworld crowds I been noticing lately is because more are using the MP.

[Rowan Amore]

1 hour ago, Wili Clip said:

I don't think affiliate selling products really work unless its for example a role play sim and the products on the affiliate vendor tie in nicely with the RP theme.

Exactly and the only basic difference between an affiliate vendor and a franchise is the initial buy in price.  Where I can purchase an affiliate vendor sometimes for 1L and receive 50% of the profits, the buy in price for most franchises is considerably more

Yet, the same thing applies.  I would still rather purchase from the original creator as I'm sure many more people than not would.  So it seems the only person who would actually benefit in the long run is the original creator (YOU).

Edited March 11, 2021 by Rowan Amore

[HarrisonMcKenzie]

Here's the question I have. What do you franchise? Restaurants franchises work in First Life because we need to eat real food in First Life, and branding helps us make those choices. That wouldn't work in Second Life because we don't need food. Proximity, choice, and supply aren't concerns. So what else is there to sell? Clothes, furniture, and gachas. But here's the thing. If a creator is selling something, it's because they want to make money. Having some one else sell something doesn't really benefit you if you aren't making that money.

But then we already have something like franchising. It's called full perm. A creator is buying the mesh from another creator (or other assets) and repacking it as a unique creation. The original creator gets paid for the license rights, and the new creator gets paid because they are selling their thing.

[Coffee Pancake]

1 hour ago, HarrisonMcKenzie said:

But then we already have something like franchising. It's called full perm. 

Full perm and franchising is nothing at all alike.

A franchised McFood business operates under a strict license from McFoodIncorporated, not limited to selling the exact same McFood as every other McFranchise operator, but buying the same McIngredients, McCups, McPremises , McLiterallyEverything from McFoodIncorporated for McEver. Do anything McFoodIncorporated doesn't like and that McFranchise license can be revoked (or worse).

The bulk of the SL full perm mesh market is content originally purchased under license from asset libraries and then dumped into SL, often in explicit breach of the "don't upload this to SL" part of the original license. The rest is wholesale ripped copy pasta.

Full Perm in SL is like visiting McFood, stealing ketchup packets and then selling them.

 

[Sammy Huntsman]

Franchising is more like those stores that sell their vendor boards, and you make a tiny profit off of a sale.

[HarrisonMcKenzie]

On 3/11/2021 at 7:57 PM, Coffee Pancake said:

Full perm and franchising is nothing at all alike.

A franchised McFood business operates under a strict license from McFoodIncorporated, not limited to selling the exact same McFood as every other McFranchise operator, but buying the same McIngredients, McCups, McPremises , McLiterallyEverything from McFoodIncorporated for McEver. Do anything McFoodIncorporated doesn't like and that McFranchise license can be revoked (or worse).

The bulk of the SL full perm mesh market is content originally purchased under license from asset libraries and then dumped into SL, often in explicit breach of the "don't upload this to SL" part of the original license. The rest is wholesale ripped copy pasta.

Full Perm in SL is like visiting McFood, stealing ketchup packets and then selling them.

Except that franchising as a concept doesn't work in SL because you don't have factors like scarcity, location dependence, or branding. People franchise because the brand they are franchising comes with free advertising.

That's why I mentioned full perm sellers; that's the closest you're going to get to franchising im SL because you are licensing someone else's product for you profits. Outside of the mesh you have access to, branding means nothing in SL.

[Monique Bellambi]

On 3/10/2021 at 3:37 AM, Caroline Takeda said:

One more thing.

There are at the moment around 5000 SL users who do make a reasonable amount of money  through or with SecondLife (I am one of them, if you are interested I tell you how). Compared to the amount of activ users (around 600.000 per month), that is not a lot.

I'm actually interest in knowing more. I'm looking for a way to earn some spending cash.