Luna Bliss

@Mad -I don't think the Dash Deal was created as a way to decrease our income. I think the new Lindens in charge here are trying to help, but I fear this is going to make things worse for us if our content gets devalued through too many people participating in the program so that a huge amount of near freebie content is available at all times. Once it gets known (and a lot of people do shop on the MP these days) then shoppers would know to look at the Dash Deal to find any category of merchandise they want at a greatly reduced price. Regarding your observations on how the economy works, I'm not too good with numbers, but it seems if we got less of a 'paycheck' that we cash out each month (real money going to our banks) then LL would keep more money. It would benefit LL's bottom line if we were happy to create here without taking too much real money out of the game. However this would be a big mistake if implemented, and as far as I know it's not the plan - a big attractiion for SL is the idea that one could make some real money here through hard work and talent. However as content creators we do need to keep mindful of decisions that affect our income and try to make our preferences known among all the other voices trying to control the development of the 3D internet.

It's a mystery in many cases why some businesses succeed here and others fail. There are so many actions we can do to increase our chances (be the best we can be as well as the 6 other factors described in the cr*p article). However we can't control everything, and many things remain a mystery. I have often wondered why many people so much better than me in nature design have fallen and why I keep sailing on. And I have wondered why those as good or better in structural design compared to Pamela have fallen. I can only conclude there are some unknown factors and many things we can't control. I write this not to discourage people from trying - there's a good chance if you're failing it's because you haven't worked hard enough to make your content great, or that you haven't marketed effectively or followed other important business practices. It's just good to keep in mind there are some variables out of our control, and to keep in mind that you can be the best content creator SL has ever known and follow great business practices but still fail (and it does not mean your stuff is cr*p as the cr*p articles advocates). _________________________________________________________________ Factors enabling success or inhibiting it that are out of our control (or in some cases we have minimal control over them): You are lucky enough to love creating and sell a type of content favored at a particular time. You are lucky enough to meet people who mentor you and give you an advantage as you develop your skills. People in management positions within SL give you an advantage, favor you in some way. A stranger comes along and fancies your stuff, places a lot of it in prominant positions, thereby snowballing your career. What you love to do is not really understood or valued by others (thinking of someone who paints plants that the masses don't appreciate enough). You were born with a certain kind of temperament, for example sensitivity, that enables you to see what people/customers want easier than those of a less sensitive nature. You had some sort of training or life experiences that gives you an advantage before you came to SL (training in psychology and landscaping for me, training in art for others). The ability to be organized and work very long hours. A strong need to succeed (for me, I better succeed cause I quit my day job and can't go back to it). The total takeover of the freebie mentality - this could become so much the norm that people will not pay for expensive content. Merchants imitating and undercutting the price of your content - forcing you to lower prices so much that your business fails (well unless you feel ok about making 2 cents an hour). The eternal mystery of Search. So much more that I haven't thought of.

@Suella - We're discussing the merits of the cr*p article over in another thread "The Best SL Business Advice Ever" so I won't go into it anymore in this thread that is supposed to be about the Dash Deal. I am still really concered about this Dash Deal thing and pray that it doesn't become the Kraken that Toy described. The freebie mentality has been a major contributing factor in destroying the value of our content in-world and would likely do that on the MP (if many merchants participated, and especially those in less niche markets).I'm going to remove my MM board and withdraw from a hunt I was participating in. Not long ago I accidentally left something at the default $L 10 price when updating, and the freebie hunters descended on my store to suck it up like locusts. I heard they scan stores to see if merchants accidentally leave an item set at $L 10 and then pass note cards to other freebie sucking groups. I felt invaded and taken advantage of. Finally a loyal customer messaged to tell me what was happening. I don't believe these kinds of hunts and freebie activities help a store at all...it only serves to feed the freebie frenzy where residents love the game of paying nothing for content.

Pamela wrote: "@ Luna -- did you read the article Luna? Right under the graph it says: "The graph may have been intended as a parody, but it’s still not that far off from the truth. You can hype the hell out of your product, get people through the doors in droves, but if your product isn’t good it won’t stay." It is making a point by being funny. No one has taken an actual survey of ppl's failing businesses to see if their stuff is crap or not. ______________________________________ @Pamela Yes I did read the article, and yes I understand parody, and yes the author of this article has many points I agree with, but I'm afraid I'm having trouble with the huge pie statistic that says if a business is not succeeding then it's most likely because their stuff is cr*p - somehow that makes me not want to hear what else she has to say.. Please take into account that although she explains this graph portraying how content creators creations are cr*p is a parody, she also states 'but it's still not that far off from the truth". In other words, she believes it's true - that creators businesses are failing primarily because their stuff is cr*p. Because of this, I don't feel it's a good article to link off to, or at least if one does a disclaimer would be nice. It's very hard for businesses in SL right now - most are struggling and hurting bad, being hit from all sides. I'm watching talented creators drop like flies, and most days I feel I'm barely hanging on by the skin of my teeth - nobody needs to log into the forums and read such untrue and blaming "help" (even if it has some truthful and informative tips within it). Furthermore new creators don't need to think that their creations are bad because nobody buys them. There are so many factors stacked up against succeeding financially now, and this woman with her pie chart is .....not a good teacher. I realize that you and Suella had good intentions though. And I really don't care about discussing anymore about whether this was or was not a good article - I just want businesses who are trying to succeed in SL these days to know that if their business is failing it is not 95 percent certain that the reason is because their work is cr*p.

Suella...Pamela..that website link you posted (with the pie showing the reason most businesses fail is because their stuff is cr*p) is mean and untrue. I know lots of creators who make fantastic stuff but have no marketing skills and their stuff doesn't sell very well...their stuff IS NOT cr*p. I'm not sure how big that category should be (let's call in content that is not so high in quality rather than fellow merchangs who make stuff that is cr*p)...but I would venture it should be 1/3, and that marketing should be another 1/3, and that the final third should be a stagnate SL that doesn't bring in enough customers and causes excessive competition.

Ami...I don't think this will devalue stores that have a niche or create products that take a long time to make. Just remember that eventually your market will have more competition..and they will be participating in this 'deep discount' fiasco...and your store will suffer some serious crumbling. Suella...Pamela..that website link you posted (with the pie showing the reason most businesses fail is because their stuff is cr*p) is mean and untrue. I know lots of creators who make fantastic stuff but have no marketing skills and their stuff doesn't sell very well...their stuff IS NOT cr*p. I'm not sure how big that category should be (let's call in content that is not so high in quality rather than fellow merchants who make stuff that is cr*p)...but I would venture it should be 1/3, and that marketing should be another 1/3, and that the final third should be a stagnate SL that doesn't bring in enough customers and causes excessive competition.

Go ask Alice When she's ten feet tall.......... /hugs Darius

I'm very concerned when I see RL business concepts applied to SL and its unique features, because more often than not it just doesn't work. When individual businesses decide to make one of their products a 'loss leader' it is for ONE item and not their entire line of products, but the effect of management determining the 'loss leaders' means that as more and more creators participate the entire market will become valued at the 'loss leader' price. Why would any shopper pay a decent price for anything when the market is flooded with an abundance of 'loss leaders' just one click away? I'm afraid this will just cheapen our content even further, and in a way that lines LL's pocket even more. If there are few merchants participating in this type of advertising I'm sure they will have an increase in sales, but the more who participate the effect will be, in the end, that they earn far less.

I know it's advised to let LL take care of the matter lest they go underground...but I would message the guy with a threatening wall-o-text (if you have the theft well documented). I did that once and my content on the MP was gone in a matter of minutes. At least nobody else would get your full perm stuff (if he is selling it with full perms).

Pamela wrote: "I filed the DMCA, I filed an AR three times, I have a copy of the copybotted item with the copybotter's name as creator on every prim -- and he is still here. Why is this now? Whose side is LL on?" Maybe they switched to the Sesame Street channel where everything is free.

I realize you are trying to sort out the boundaries of how to package your freebies, but I am suggesting something else...and that is to stop obssessing about freebies altogether....the freebie mentality is cheapening SL, driving away many people to other grids, and making it very hard for content creators to earn compensation for their efforts. While some comparisons can be drawn between SL and RL in many instances I don't think this is a case that works (your recycling analogy)...the economy in SL is just too different from RL in many respects so a valid comparison can't be drawn here for the most part. Not that long ago if a person such as yourself worked hard they could earn a decent amount of money. Not so anymore, and a major factor contributing to this is the freebie frenzy...people are starting to expect everything to be free. I don't believe we are really doing anyone any favor by giving out things for free - human beings by nature place value in what they earn through their efforts - we are made to grow, to learn, to achieve - and to then earn compensation for our talents. So when people are given free things they generally don't appreciate them. If they value getting everything for free they either have a criminal mentality and/or are remaining at the level of a suckling infant without capabilities - and we are fostering that mentality when we contribute to it through freebies. I don't want SL to be known as a cheap, trivial freebie sucking game as opposed to the multi-faceted immersive world it once was. And I want content creators here to be able to earn some compensation for their efforts. Please take into account that people who can afford the type of computer and high speed internet needed to access SL generally have SOME money. It is not uncommon for me to encounter people earning 100,000 dollars a month with their RL jobs yet some of these same people have expected me to work for them for pennies an hour on their projects. I'm not saying the rights to give things away should be taken away - it's just good to remember that people generally don't appreciate something they didn't put their energy into (earning money through their efforts and subsequently buying what they need in life). They may say they're appreciative if you give them something free, but deep down few are. I've noticed this with the sims I've created for others - the first ones to go were the ones that people paid me the least to create. There are people who genuinely cannot afford much, and all the above does not refer to them. I donate entire sims to charity here and offer support in other ways as well, and we should all help people truly in need. But time and time again I have seen that it's more often us creators/merchants who are poor and not our customers.

Ishtara...what? It's early morn here...maybe I'm still dreaming...or is this an early April 1st joke? The new viewer doesn't allow you to purchase ?

Hi Marcus It's great that you're doing so well right off the bat. I agree with most of what has been posted here regarding how to grow your business. I thought of one more thing though to emphasize strongly...you might want to specialize in some aspect of your plant business. Not that you wouldn't have a wide selection, but from observing the way SL is moving I think most businesses need to find their niche and make themselves unique in some way (if your goal is to be profitable). You commented on classifieds, and it can be really hard to figure out if these work. At some point you might try experimenting a bit, but like you said, when an ad is so far to the bottom it doesn't have much value. I experiment by placing an ad and then removing it, but I really can't tell for sure if it makes a difference due to so many variables, but I know some creators are sure it does or does not help. I've heard talk about classifieds not working well in the new viewer and wonder if that's fixed yet. One way low priced classifieds could work for you is to take a 50 $L ad out for something you specialize in like 'vines' or 'shrubs' or 'desert plants'. These types of plants might show up higher in Search even with an inexpensive ad. I once needed a particular type of vine for a custom job that I had no time or talent to paint and it would have been nice had it shown up in Classified Search. I finally thought to message a friend who luckily had it. I can't emphasize enough, as Toy did above, the importance of marketing these days. I have a friend who makes high-quality sculpts as does Toy.. However it's usually Toys sculpts I buy because Toy is always out there showing off his new stuff while I have no idea what my friend is creating - and I even talk to my friend on Skype from time to time. One more idea is to make a little book (a fake one where you click it and link to your MP store) and send that to your customers ever so often. This idea was given to me by a gardening store friend, and this reminds me that I need to get busy right now and do it...thanks for the reminder

Marcus... I would definitely get a signature going in here. I create sims for others, and often I refer various parts of these (homes, scripts, furniture) to other people I've discovered in these forums. I can't do that if I don't know what you make.

While this isn't ethically wrong, for me it causes your store to seem a bit tacky.

I would hate for those encountering stores charging group membership fees to be thought of as 'jerks' or as so corrupt that one should never buy at their store (as was suggested above). Reality is seldom so black and white and one most must undergo a more careful scrutiny of each store to determine what's right or wrong. When encountering groups that do ask group members to shoulder costs I try to determine if what they provide is above and beyond selling merchandise for profit, and if so I don't mind contributing with a group fee. It's good to determine, for example, if they provide a public space such as a park, live concerts, art galleries, or other public services alongside their store. We need to support these communities before SL degrades into a world of boring stores and sandpit rentals. Or worse, not an immersive contiguous land at all, but instead simply isolated rooms of bobbleheaded cartoon characters content to chat and have a space to change their purses.

@Vania Sure it's my choice to have my store show in Search and accept the costs, but that choice benefits others too, and it would be nice if so many stopped having such a freebie mentality - this is destroying in-world businesses. Communities aren't valued anymore - people come in and expect to attend concerts and roam land for free...land that sim owners pay a lot for, and pay musicians a lot to play at. And new people expect content to be free too, further eroding in-world businesses. In the old days of SL there was more a sense of community on group owned land. Participants in the group were willing to pay some to get the benefits of the land. With help from the community support, and sales from content sim owners could afford to provide great spaces for SL residents. Most sim owners can't afford to provide beautiful gardens and live music anymore....it's making SL turn into a boring mix of stores and rental land. It's sad.

I don't think we should pay to have our land show up in Search, for group creation, or even for texture uploads. In fact, with Search being as messed up as it is and so many businesses failing, and with LL making 75 million in profit, I think they should pay us to stay here. And now that the gas has been turned on in Zindra they should get a refund for their land. Groups are about more than 'advertising' George....they are about community - something I doubt you understand much given your hostile attitude. I've never been sure if the weekly fee we pay (closer to 12 dollars a month for our 4 sims and 1 Homestead rather than 20 as I thought before) is tied to the land or the amount of people in the group. $12 a month is a significant cost though, and if those in the group feel your offerings in SL are good enough it's not unfair to ask them to help. I created a 5-sim nature area under my store for the public (one of the most beautiful in SL so I'm told) and I think areas like this especially deserve some support. I really didn't mind paying it when my earnings were so much greater, but I'd rather have some support with the park than condense my store/gardens and X most of the park (using it for store prims instead). I do have a donation box set up, and am appreciative of those who do contribute.

I don't think there is an absolute yes or no answer regarding who should pay for group membership (well, except that LL should not be charging anyone for it). My partner and I pay LL for the group expense rather than charging group members, but I'm wondering if I want to set it so the group members share some of that cost. Our group is large so we're paying almost 20 real dollars a month to LL for our group, and if my sales continue to go down it's an expense I won't be able to afford. I think the question for each merchant with this decision is...what is your group for? What are the advantages or disadvantages regarding who pays these costs. For example, if you believe your groups visibility in others profiles is great advertising for you I would think your cost would be worth it. If your group is made up of people waitng for you to offer freebies or announce your latest release so they can try to copy it then it's best to let them shoulder some of the cost (probably most would drop out of the group though..lol). If your group is made up of people who really admire your work, want to support you, and want to know when you have updates they might want to purchase I would think they'd be willing to shoulder some of the cost. I'm thinking of moving to that last scenario. They all know I appreciate their business, and a few pennies isn't going to cause a crisis for them.

@ Foxy... If you make really good stuff here don't sell yourself too cheap Something I've discovered over the years...there's lots of people roaming these sims who make 6 figure incomes...I'm not going to work for 2 dollars an hour for them ! Unfortunately, many have expected this because it's 'just a game'. Of course many do not make in excess of 100,000 real dollars a year I know...pricing is not an easy thing to figure out. I don't just consider time spent on each item...I consider the time it took me to develop my skills and/or purchase my software too. Kind of like with a doctor...you don't pay them X amount for their labor for a 40 minute surgery....you pay them a lot for that 40 minutes because they know where to cut.

" Nice post, Luna. Phil, you were kind enough to share some advice with me about search last year. I have to echo Luna's advice in an attempt to return the favor. I also suggest you consider getting your items prepped for the Marketplace and get a presence there. Whether you agree with why we have to adapt or not, we have to or we face fading away. " Thanks Robert. Yes Phil helped me once with Search too, and was why I was more motivated to offer some support myself.

YW Jura Rene...thanks for the kind words the other month when my business was doing so poorly. I like those signs, but would be good to check for script time...a simple URL Giver script might use less time and cut down on script usage if you place a lot of them. Phil...yeah it can be a hard decision...when is any thing/person so corrupt or so troubling that you totally write them off. I would just hate to see you not do something you enjoy because of your bad experiences here.

Phil, I totally understand your frustration regarding all the changes that cause in-world stores to have less visibility. I love the store I worked so hard creating, with the gardens below, and to have the Marketplace shoved down my throat (if I wanted my store to survive) wasn't what I wanted....another huge task...it takes mega amounts of time to make those listings and get them up on the web. But the fact is, I don't think many stores will survive in the future that don't have a MP presence. The good news is that since I started getting more listing onto the MP my sales are finally improving, so ironically my best in-world marketing at this time is to have a good MP presence. And I"m looking at how it's beneficial in other ways too - for example, all these photos I take of my content and all the descriptions I write - all of this packaging can be taken to other grids. Who knows, maybe SL will even be connected to other grids one day and deliveries will go to multiple grids. So get that stuff packaged up Phil ! One best business practice I'd like to share regards how I make the connection between the MP @ my in-world store. I've started putting out an info cube with an URL giver in it next to my in-world store items so that shoppers can click this and go directly to the item at my MP store. I know, at first I thought this might be stupid since I'd be getting less money if they purchased it on the MP, but I believe it actually increases sales overall - you can see all the details of the item so much better on the MP - so much more detail than a note card can provide (and note cards often don't open). Plus, there is a certain percentage of people that seem to trust purchasing @ the MP store more than in-world. But back to the changes SL forces on us, it is very hard to keep going sometimes with so many changes. Many of them seem like errors in judgement, and probably some are and some aren't, but what can we do but keep adapting as best we can. This recent plan...the march to Sesame Street/Disneyland...seems like a big error to me at this time (I hope I'm wrong though). We are pretty much dragged along as SL tries to find fame and fortune, and most of the time they don't seem to see that the people already in the world are the ones they should be focusing on (well, the ones that are still left anyway). In other words, it's a niche market...but it's a big world and could create a big niche - can't this be enough?

Can you tell me how to get... how to get to Sesame Street?

Thanks Brooke...nice tip. And I really like the look/format of the new forums.