Lavender Life

A Farewell Notice

2009-12-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

After three years in Second Life®, I’ve decided to take a break. There are many factors contributing to my decision, both real life and second life.

Without going in to a lot of detail, suffice to say that I have become disillusioned with Linden Lab® and the way they operate creating what I consider a difficult forum in which to operate a Second Life® business. I’ve also become more and more discouraged with the Second Life® platform as it stands. But I’ve blogged about my feelings toward Linden Lab®, so I’ll leave it at that.

My real life has become much busier and I have found lately that I just don’t have as much time to devote to operating within Second Life®. Real Life will always come first and as such, SL will have to be put on hold.

Second Life® has served its purpose for me. It was a welcome therapeutic adventure at a time I needed one. I learned so many things here that can only help me in real life. I’ve also met so many wonderful people beginning with my life as a newbie right up to today. So many people have helped or encouraged me along my journey and I am appreciative of each one of them. I also like to think that I had some help in the lives of others.

I’ve been discouraged with a lot of things that make it frustrating and lately I’ve become bored with my Second Life®. I no longer spend the time I once did nor feel the creative juices and excitement that once encouraged me.

I am proud of everything I’ve done and accomplished and feel satisfaction that the goals I set for myself early on have been met. With no new goals that interest me, I leave with some satisfaction.

So over the course of the next couple of weeks, I’ll remove my items from XStreet, dismantle my stores and malls and store away my inventory.

At the present time I will keep my account active as I plan to log in once in a while and who knows, I may decide to become more active again in the future.

Thanks to everyone who has made my journey a pleasant one and good luck in your future endeavours.

Jenny

Goodbye XStreet®

2009-11-24T11:13:00.001-08:00

It’s no secret that I’ve never been impressed with the way Linden Lab® has managed Second Life® and XStreet®. The inability to function or market effectively has always been an issue and Linden Lab® never seems to address the concerns of the residents or merchants. Most recently, changes to the way fees are imposed in XStreet® and a survey sent to select merchants are prime examples of how they do not communicate effectively with those that have most at stake. But I’m not going to get into that; you can read the forums to find out how that is progressing.

What I am going to talk about is why Linden Lab® doesn’t listen and don’t seem to care. How they go about business and what they are attempting to accomplish is probably more of a mystery. They certainly don’t seem to operate the way most of us think a business would.

As I have said previously, I think their prime objective is to increase the value of Second Life® and now XStreet® to a point where they would realize a sizable profit upon the sale of both. I think this would explain why they ignore some things and concentrate on others. Most of what they do is to add new features without addressing problem areas in an attempt to make this world more attractive to potential buyers.

Why would they ignore existing problems? Quite frankly, I feel that they don’t really care about how we conduct our in world business and whether or not we are able to be successful at it. By us profiting, doesn’t necessarily make them profitable. As long as concurrency remains where it is, the in world problems appear to the outside as having little effect. Unless population drastically changed, which it is unlikely to do in the near future, the Lab sees no urgency in dealing with our issues.

The same holds true in XStreet®. While there is quite an uproar, it’s not likely to affect any major Linden Lab® decisions. There’s an old saying that any advertising is good advertising and I feel the Lab considers this to be true with the forums as well. With the high number of posts and participants, it appears to the uninformed that the forums are in high use regardless of what is said in them. The fact that merchants are voicing opinions leads well to potential investors even if a lot of the comments are negative. Negative comments would only be seen adversely if concurrency was dropping. But it is unlikely to either in world or XStreet® as seldom do groups leave here en masse. Unfortunately, some will go and others will come.

In addition, the business of large corporations bodes well for a potential sale. It’s no secret that Linden Lab® has sought these types of businesses and caters not only to their attraction but to those in world that could be considered large as well. The participation of these businesses is attractive to buyers who see more interest in large sums being contributed by these groups than by the smaller amounts contributed by merchants and residents.

The recent fee changes and those proposed in the survey support this theory as only those with sustainable business will be able to operate, at least profitably in the confines of XStreet®. The smaller merchants will be forced out of being able to compete effectively as they have been in world.

Linden Lab® caters to these types of businesses. They give special consideration and opportunities to them particularly with notices on the welcome screen and in mass emails that have been sent by the Lab to merchants and/or residents.

I don’t want to deny Linden Lab® the opportunity to do business and realize a profit. Although they have said this is a world imagined and created by the residents, it was and is not owned by the residents. If they simply set or changed their fee structure, they could do so with less criticism. What gets most people is that they explain their increases and changes by saying it’s what the residents/merchants want. It seldom is. They take a small sampling from select groups or individuals and claim it’s the voice of the majority, when in fact it is the voice of the minority. They can put out surveys and other forms of opinion getters, but unless there is an independent tally, we never know for sure if the results are as they say.

Satisfied customers and trust are keys to most business, in world and out. Unfortunately Linden Lab® can skate around that trust as they deal in a multitude of languages, cultures and countries and an organized opposition would not withstand. If they acted like a real life business, they might care a bit more and not run a dictatorship like they do now.

Unfortunately, whether you believe Second Life® will die, it won’t happen soon. For the many different reasons people come here, they will stay. Some won’t and they will be missed by those who knew them, but to most, it will make little difference.

As for as myself, I’ve been struggling with that decision for the past year. The changes to the XStreet® forums have left me to not participate in them. I refuse to and it’s a personal decision. I’ve removed my free items from Xstreet® and if the proposed changes occur, I’ll delist and not participate in XStreet at all. This predicated by the fact that where XStreet® once contribute about 10% of my total sales, they have dwindled to almost nothing since the take over by Linden Lab®.

As far as Second Life®, I’m still pondering that and keeping a watchful eye on what happens in the coming months. I like what I’ve accomplished in Second Life® but as they continue to make it more difficult to operate, market and compete, a decision about my future will be imminent. I know there are people who have and will call for boycotts or similar actions or those that feel their removal of items will make a point. Unfortunately it may make a point but has little effect on Linden Lab® decision making. This community is too diverse to have a unified effective voice. We need to make our own decisions that effect our operations and lives here and stand by them. We don’t need confirmation.

If It Ain't Broke .........

2009-09-14T11:16:00.001-07:00

Seems Linden Lab® has taken a different twist to the old saying. My feeling of late is that they operate with “If It Ain’t Broke, Break It” in their approach to Second Life® and of late XStreetSL®. While I have long been critical of the lab, their latest changes to XStreetSL® are downright annoying.

From the old forums before the merge, it appeared most were happy with XStreetSL® and aside from a wish list of improvements, no one really wanted the whole thing to change. I find the whole thing a little irresponsible to ignore what your users are saying and do what you want, but as has been played out in Second Life® so many times, the powers that be just don’t seem to care.

The forums used to be an easy read, and I looked forward to perusing them daily and throw in the odd reply. It usually made my day and often I could pick up on little bits of advice or offer some of my own. I don’t find that anymore. With the forums gone to the blog style of the rest of the Second Life® web site, I find it a little more annoying and of late do not seem to browse them anymore. Especially with having to relog in order to post, it’s frustrating. These days, I take care of my products on XStreetSL® and aside from the odd services post, I stay out of the forums. Too bad, it was a good thing.

Actually the whole layout of XStreetSL®, while debatable as to whether it functions better, didn’t need to be done. It worked well before and as I said, the lab seems to love destroying what is working well.

There are many changes throughout XStreetSL® and the Second Life® web site and most I won’t comment on because well, it just doesn’t seem worth it any more. The lab has proven time and again that they ignore what the residents have to say and instead cater to the high volume sim owners, corporate accounts and a few others in favour with the lab. Again, too bad.

I will say that my interest in this whole thing has dwindled lately, so much so that I don’t spend as much time in either site. It’s just not as much fun anymore, particularly in Second Life® where it’s now almost a daily occurrence that you are prevented from doing what you want to do. Those annoyances include textures not loading, note cards not opening, scripts not working, clothing not downloading, avatar showing up as a ball of gas and so on. While they don’t all happen at the same time, you can count on one of them showing up on your visit. Add to that the times we are all locked out while the boys at the top try to figure out what they screwed up and it makes for a less than enjoyable time.

I do love Second Life®. It was a cure for me at a time I needed it. It was therapeutic and gave me some direction and hope. Over the years I’ve built relationships, businesses and enjoyed what I’ve accomplished. Lately however, I find the thrill is gone or at least dissipated.

While I don’t plan to leave Second Life®; I’ve built and created so much including the businesses I love, I do find it necessary to make some changes. While I loved having my own sim, the cost of maintaining it became difficult and therefore I’ve given it up and moved to smaller, more affordable and hopefully more efficient locations. I plan on keeping most of them operating as I do love creating and operating them, but unfortunately a few will not continue.

Most notably, Gia’s Fashion Cabaret and Gia’s Second Life® Music Hall of Fame will no longer operate. The cost of running a club are exorbitant with not much in return and to try to fund it on your own, well, is just plain crazy. There was little interest in the Hall and again with the work involved to keep it up to date, made little sense to keep it running. I loved both places and am sorry to have to close them, but under the circumstances I see no other option for me.

While having your own sim gave a lot of freedom to do what you want, the problem is that you used a lot of space for things that really didn’t have a purpose other than for aesthetics. Moving to smaller areas means those things get left out, but working within your prim limit, you can still make things pleasing. The biggest draw back to moving away from your own sim is those big ugly red ban lines that seem to pop up on neighbouring properties. I tried to find places that don’t let ban lines be used, but couldn’t completely.

Also, part of the reason I spent so much time in Second Life® was partly due to the fact that there is so much to do when owning and operating your own sim. It creates work, work however that I enjoyed but did take a lot of time. With that part out of the way, maybe I can concentrate my time directly to what I need to do and maybe limit it overall.

As I said, I do love Second Life®, the friends, business acquaintances, musicians and all of the residents, the creations, the wonderment and yes the therapy are all things that keep me coming back. Unfortunately as more and more gets broken, it gets more frustrating to try and accomplish what you want. Maybe someday, they’ll leave well enough alone.

Lindens In Our Bedrooms (Move To Zindra)

2009-06-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well big brother has done it again. Although they claim not to be the government here nor act as the police, Linden Lab® is again proving they are by banning more activities. On the heels of bans against gambling and banking, the Lab’s most recent foray into our bedrooms is to ban adult activity on the mainland. While on the surface that may sound appropriate lets take a closer look. First here’s their official position:

5. Adult Regions, Groups, and Listings Second Life is an adult community, but 'Adult' content, activity and communication are not permitted on the Second Life 'mainland.' Such material is permitted on private regions, or on the Adult Continent, Zindra. In either case, any Adult content, activity, or communication, that falls under our Adult Maturity Definition must be on regions designated as 'Adult,' and will be filtered from non-verified accounts. Other regions may be designated as either 'Mature' or 'PG.' For more information on how to designate land, events, groups, and classified listings, please carefully read the 'Maturity Definitions.'

The scary part of this is the communication part. I’m not sure exactly what they mean by communication nor how they plan to police it but it certainly leads for some weird possibilities. First, if I own land (and yes, they do use the term “own” as well), shouldn’t I be able to act as I deem fit on that land as long as I don’t break any laws. (and adult communication is not against the law). If I speak to my partner about sex, never mind have sex, am I in violation? Can I and my friends not have a frank discussion about sex? Is anyone with a Sex bed required to move or dispose of the bed?

I don’t think so. While I think their intention is to do away with open and blatant forms of sexual content, their wording leaves that determination of what is sexual content open. In fact, in some comments made by the lab, they imply that they will focus primarily on the advertising of adult material. That's fine, but that's not the way the policy is worded. Since it will be Linden Lab® making that decision, we will be at their mercy. Surely my partner and I having sex in our home can’t be viewed as adult content. But in the eyes of the Second Life® government, common sense as usual is thrown out the window.

Moreover, what this is really about is not adult content specifically but control excercised by those who can exert it. While this community is on the surface about its residents and their creations, it has been obvious to those of us who spend time here that it isn't so. It is about Linden Lab® excerising their control and will over the Second Life® inhabitants.

Communication is crucial in relationships, personal or business and once again, Linden Lab® have forgotten that. While they claim to seek input from residents, as they have in the past, seldom do they take the residents concerns to heart and go ahead with their plans anyway. Their little fiefdom of Second Life® while a novel concept in the beginning has become less about the residents and more about the control over it by the Lab. Acting like a government in any other form, they continue running Second Life® through favouritism, nepotism and without common sense.

"There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation." Those unforgettable words made famous by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1967. Linden Lab® in their zeal to attract corporate investors, big time players and to drive up the value of Second Life® have again ignored the residents and instead force their will upon them.

Sex is a big reason why a lot of people venture in to Second Life®. While not all of us do nor is it a sustained theme, it is an attraction and what a good many (maybe even majority) of the people in Second Life® participate in. Here in Second Life® they can act out fantasies, role play and do a lot of things they either don’t’ have the courage to do in real life or are not able to. Many communities in Second Life® have sex as an integral part of their existence.

What we have now, aside from private sims, is those groups and activities will now be forced to relocate to the adult continent. Again, on the surface, that probably doesn’t seem like a bad thing. However, it looms like a cloud over the non adult mainland where surely land prices will drop and some remain vacant. Business, not only adult oriented business, will suffer as adult business is forced to move and take their traffic with them. The hygienic mainland left behind, void of casinos, banks and adult content can carry on its merry way doing whatever it does.

It’s not that I’m against adult content being in your face, but censoring it completely by banning it to its own continent is not what I would call effective. Linden Lab® could have put controls in place, as they could have with casinos and banks and regulate what can be public. It’s done in real life. But since the Lab continues to claim they aren’t the police, they won’t do that. Instead they ban and segregate. I wonder what is next.

Here are a few quotes that I feel are appropriate:

"Those are governed best who are governed least."-- Thomas Jefferson

"The sheep are happier of themselves, than under the care of wolves."-- Thomas Jefferson

"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."-- Barry Goldwater

Lindens vs. Dollars, debate continues.

2009-05-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

There’s long been discussion and opposing views on what is a fair wage in Second Life® and the discussions usually lead to whether someone should work for a few dollars. There are those that suggest real life wages should be paid and those who don’t. Deciding what is fair is difficult but requires looking at a number of things, the value of lindens vs dollars, the buying power of both and the economics in world and out.

If you ever post an employment opportunity in XstreetSL®, you’ll find out what I mean. You’ll see a lot of responses questioning the value offered. I recently saw a couple of posts by people who said they expected to be paid approximately $L 8,000 per month. Is that fair? How was that number arrived at? What should be the in world wage scale.

To determine these things, I look firstly at the buying power of the linden and dollar. Simply put, I have found that what one dollar buys in real life, can be bought in world for a linden. Men can buy a shirt in real life for 25 dollars and up and here, they can buy a shirt for 25 lindens and up. There are always exceptions of course and barring freebies and dollarbies, the comparison stands. I can pick up a gorgeous outfit in real life for about 600 dollars and do the same in Second Life® for about 600 Lindens. All said what your dollar buys you in real life; the linden will buy in Second Life®.

The exchange rate of lindens to US dollars is approximately 240. What does this mean to the economics and wages? Well the exchange rate determines the value and consistency the currency has and equates the in world prices to real world prices. Simply put, what something is worth in real life is worth 240 times less in Second Life®. Back to the shirts, a 25 dollar shirt in real life would equate to a 10 cents in Second Life (25.00/240).

When considering wages, you have to consider the earning power of those you work for. A retail clothing store in Second Life may be charging 300 lindens for a dress as compared to its real world equivalent of 300 dollars. That clothing store could not pay its employees real life wages of 500 dollars a week or so. The clothing store would soon be out of business as its wages would probably exceed its revenue.

So what should wages be and in particular, what would be a minimum wage here. I think the answer is quite simple. Minimum wages should be the same as in real life, currently ranging from 6.55 to 8.06 per hour. Therefore I would think that a Second Life® minimum wage should mirror that and probably be in the range of 8-10 lindens per hour (350-400 per week). Since I’ve said that the wages here should mirror those of the real world, look to what comparable positions would pay in real life to see what their value is in Second Life®.

In spite of the above, there are those who will still say “Why would someone work for $1.45 a week?” Personally I don’t think that’s a fair question. I don’t know anyone or think anyone would come to Second Life® strictly to work or find a job. I believe they come for other reasons and then find that a source of in world income would help them with their purchases. Since they come to Second Life® for a variety of reasons, an employer is not paying them to be here. They are here anyway and simply want to use some of their time to earn money to use to purchase or invest. So again, look to the value of their purchasing power with what they earn.

An example of what I have been paying to my employees will probably further fuel the debate. Dancers in my club receive $L 150 per hour worked. That kind of is off from what I’ve been saying but considering they work 2-4 hours per week, their weekly income is 300-600 lindens. That gives them the buying power to purchase two quality outfits, which is exactly what you can do with 300-600 dollars in real life.

I haven’t gone in to the value of Land and tier but the little I have compared seems to follow suit with my theory. Land prices vary significantly but generally 20-40k will get you a nice parcel, same as real life.

This debate on real life vs Second Life® wages and payments will continue and certainly there are those on both sides who will never be swayed. But in my opinion, a dollar is a dollar is a linden and the earning and buying power are the same. If someone is asking for 8000 lindens a month, look to real life and ask if you would make 8000 dollars a month doing the same thing. Unless it’s a profession, I seriously doubt it.

Quite frankly, I think a reasonable starting salary in Second Life® is 500 lindens per week. With experience and knowledge, that number can certainly go up but 2000L per month goes a long way to purchasing what you need here as it does in real life. Anything more is simply unrealistic.

The Island Looks Great

2009-04-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Mutley and I have been busy for the past month making some changes and improvements around the Island. Here’s a summary of what’s been done.

Lavender Building:
A new building has replaced the old one. My office and workshop occupy the third floor; Thump Magazine and a boardroom are on the second floor while reception and resource center are located on the main floor. At the reception area is a pager to contact me, my schedule, a mailbox for myself and one for Thump Magazine. The resource center currently has three kiosks to give out information to visitors. There is a kiosk giving out information on the stores on the island by category, one on the businesses, and a third kiosk that provides manuals to help newcomers to Second Life®.

Thump Building:
The Thump building was imploded to make room for the new Lavender Building and Thump Magazine relocated to the second floor.

Blush Bridal:
Blush Bridal is a new boutique situated next door to Gia’s Fashion Cabaret. Wedding dresses, Bridesmaid dresses and Prom dresses are available here as well as garters and bouquets. There are some free poses and gift wrap in the store.

Gia’s Fashion Cabaret:
A new building courtesy of Mutley Latte replaces the old building. Most of the contents remain and over the next while we’ll be tweaking it a bit.

Lavender Isle Downtown Market:
The main shopping area of Lavender Isle has been renamed to the Downtown Market. Most of the builds have been updated to fit the theme and the central square surrounded by a lake remains. All the same great stores are still in their original locations.

Pawsome Pets Playcare Center:
Mutley has designed a playcare center for Second Life® pets on the south side of the island next to Subtle Couture. While details have yet to be finalized, the idea is to offer a place for residents to let their pets roam and be cared for when they can’t.

Off The Seawall:
The Off The Seawall Business area welcomes a new tenant in Shammy’s sionEggs. White Dahlia Photography has a new building and has updated the GS photo studio.

Marina Plaza:
The marina area is still intact as before, but now a new building occupies the dock area. Stalls are available for rent inside and kiosks outside with a few rented already by some of our tiny friends. Ad boards are available to promote your business. There is ample room to sail and boat with free boat rentals available inside. Autoreturn has been set to 20 minutes to give you time to sail the seas. Marina Plaza serves as the Marina Station for the Lavender Isle Rapid Transit (LIRT) system.

Lavender Beach:
The beach has remained intact but has had a few more amusement rides and games added and designated as an amusement park.

Lavender Isle Touring Balloon:
A hot air balloon ride giving a tour of the island has been set up next to Off The Seawall. The balloon seats four people and provides a sky high tour of the island with commentary.

Lavender Isle Rapid Transit (LIRT):
The old monorail system has been completely replaced by a new tram based system. This system covers 90% of the island with thirteen 20 second stops along the way. The underwater route remains after leaving Marina Station, and a new Sewer tunnel route has been added between Messy Bedroom and So Intimate. The trams seat four people and operate approximately every four minutes with a complete tour of the island lasting about twenty minutes. The track is invisible so as not to distract from the rest of the island.

Blogs:
Thump Magazine has been given a new look with a more user friendly menu. Upgrades to both blogs are ongoing. Lavender Corporation has pages for most businesses on the island.

Blog Vendors:
Newly designed vendors for Thump Magazine and the Lavender Blog have been placed around the island. In addition, a vendor for voting for the Hall of Fame has been added to various locations.

Prefab Chic Rezzing Platform:
The rezzing platform has been expanded and now has two rezzers to display the builds for sale. One rezzer is for residential builds, the other for commercial builds.

Advertising and Promotions:
I have redone a few of the classified ads and picks, as well as most of the parcel descriptions. I’m reviewing places and ways to do some more promotion off island.

We are constantly looking to improve things and plans are to replace the Messy Bedroom building and LIRT office building. It’s always busy on Lavender Isle but it’s never too busy to have you drop by. Do so and see what we’ve done. I’d love to hear your comments.

Ciao for now
Jenny

A Day In The Life!

2009-04-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Since I give out a lot of business advice and emphasize that a lot of time must be spent working on your business, I’m often asked how much time I spend on mine and what I actually do. In short, I spend a lot of time and whether I’m online, in world or not, I always have my Second Life® businesses on my mind and am constantly trying to evaluate and think of new things. That aside, here’s a typical day for me regarding my Second Life® enterprises.

I usually arrive at my real life job 30-45 minutes early and after starting up my computer and with a fresh cup of coffee, I venture on to the internet. My first stop is the Second Life® web site to check on my overnight and early morning transactions. At this point it’s just a quick look over of sales. I then tab over to the Showcase area to see if any of my submissions have been included (not so far).

Second up is my hotmail account to check on emails received and sending responses if needed following by a cursory view of my two blogs, checking the traffic counters and ensuring the blogs are showing up properly.

I then log in to XStreetSL to review sales and views. I scan both and make note of items that are viewed a lot and not selling, but also noting what is selling. I tab over to view my items to check on changes in ratings before I settle down for a review of the forums. I generally scan the forums for anything that looks interesting or may have significance to my businesses and if so, read the posts and respond if necessary. If I have something that concerns me, I’ll scan the forums for posts relating to those topics.

Done with XstreetSL, I head on over to SurveyGizmo to check on the surveys I have running. I scan the responses to the survey questions, making note of anything I feel requires action and also make a list of the respondents and the amount they will be refunded that evening.

At this point, I need to start real life work, so I log out and continue at lunch time. Generally I take a break at 12pm or 1pm and my lunch hour is spent on the internet again. I run the entire morning procedure again at lunch followed by the following:

A trip to Subscribe-O-Matic to view new members to my group and a quick check on the terminal activity then off to SL Blogosphere and SL Bloggers to check on my activity there. At this point I’ll scan You Tube and Flikr viewing my sites as well as doing a few searches to see what shows up (anything that interests me actually). I do the same at Picasso Web Albums and then scan a few of my favourite sites (Mermaid Diaries) and search a few of the fashion and music related sites.

Periodically, but not daily, I will check on my account at Statcounter just to see if it’s working correctly. I don’t need to check it often as the traffic figures do show up on the blogs, but this site gives me a little more detail.

For the balance of my break, I do a variety of things. I review the blogs page by page to see if anything should be updated or changed, review each business making notes of things that need or should be done and do some general internet searches for related business items and information. From this, I make my to do list for the evening.

I normally get home between 5:30 and 6 PM immediately boot my computer before changing and deciding on supper. Before beginning supper, I log into Second Life® to check on IMs, notes and notices received. I have a quick look around the sim and if my staff are on I’ll also have a short conversation with some of them.

Logging out and rebooting again (clearing cache) I break to have supper and watch a little television. It's usually about an hour or so and then I’m back on to Second Life® for the balance of the night. With my to do list in hand, I’m off to accomplish as much as I can. In addition to my to do list, I have a daily schedule of things that need to be done, so I make sure those get done as well. Fridays and Sundays seem to be my busiest, with new releases on Friday and Administrative functions on Sunday.

A lot of things come up during my time on Second Life® so I never seem to accomplish everything I set out to. As well, I get ideas while logged in that I either act upon or ad to my to do list. While in Second Life® I am constantly searching the net for ideas that do pop in my head, have paint.net and gimp open for anything that needs to be made and pop in and out of XStreetSL over the course of the evening. In addition, I try to visit all the sites again for updates.

Sometimes it seems busy and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s overwhelming and sometimes it isn’t. Add in trying to market your businesses and creating your products and it makes for a very full day. But I have to admit, I love it. If not, I wouldn’t be doing it. Remember, to be successful, you have to work on your business, maybe not as much as I do, but some.

Work ON Your Business, Not IN Your Business

2009-04-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

I once went to a seminar that emphasized the above (Michael Gerber - The E-Myth Revisited). A lot of business owners get caught up in doing the daily functions within their business and lose sight of the bigger picture, a picture needed to help your business grow. In Second Life®, owners spend most of their time creating and displaying their items and while that’s the fun part and what probably got them in to business in the first place, it’s not conducive to making the business flourish. They get bogged down with the mundane and overwhelmed by the needs.

While it’s a little tougher to do in Second Life® due to limitations of permissions, it is still possible to pass off some tasks and devote your time to making your business grow. You’ll still be the one to create but you can assign tasks to others and with a little time management, concentrate on the greater needs.

It’s important in any business to manage effectively, know your customer’s needs, your market, promote and understand what makes your business successful.

Passing off a lot of the daily tasks is essential to freeing your time. There are many things that can be done by someone else like group and event notices, xstreet postings, blog updates, ad board rental as well as building and maintenance of builds. It’s important to trust the people who work for you before allowing them to take over tasks.

Time management is a necessity as you and your business grow. As you try to do more and different things, the tendency is to be overwhelmed and do what seems to be crucial at the moment leaving behind other important jobs. I have set a schedule for myself and constantly prepare and update to-do lists. While the schedule can be modified, it generally sets time aside for me to accomplish what I need to. I have certain days set for creating, marketing, administration and the like. I do get creative bugs at different times, but that’s okay because as long as my other tasks are completed I can vary from the schedule.

A big downfall of business owners is that they confine themselves to a cocoon. They work on their creations and display their products, unaware of what’s happening around them. You need to know what’s going on in your market, with your customers and with Second Life® business in general. Take time to venture out and check out your competition, see what’s new in your field and others and be aware of what’s happening around the grid. You don’t want to miss out on something you should be a part of. It’s also something you can have your staff do.

Marketing your product is a big part of success. It’s not enough to simply advertise, you have to know what advertising is effective and where. Venturing out and doing a little research goes a long way and you need to have time to do it.

Participating in like business groups whether in Second Life® directly or on the net can be valuable. Knowing the concerns and hiccups of other business owners will help you to avoid the same things. While I dislike the term networking, associating with other business people can grow your awareness.

Sundays are my administration time. In addition to doing payroll, I update my sales ledger and visitor tracker. I know my sales weekly by category and my visitors by store location. You can go in to as much or little detail as you have time for, but it’s important to know what’s selling and if people are coming to your store. Tracking them on a weekly basis allows you to see trends. Knowing what is selling allows you to move out non-selling inventory and create what is selling.

Running a business is a full time job whether real life or here so making the best use of your time is essential. By owning a business, you have become a manager and manage you must do. But by preparing yourself and scheduling your time, you can still do what’s important for your operation’s success and keep time to do what you love, create.

Tipping Artists and Venues

2009-04-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Having been a Second Life® live music fan for practically three years and running a live event venue for the past year and a half, I have never understood the logic behind how and who people tip. On the surface, it seems logical to most. You see a performer you like and to show your appreciation, you tip them. The same with the venue.

However, what I’ve notice in my time is that performers seem to get the majority of the tips. Maybe it’s because we think that’s all they earn or maybe we just want to direct our money that way. While venues do get tips at the events they hold, during a live performance, they don’t seem to do as well as the artist.

Maybe it’s the constant IMs requesting the tips, however most artists do the same thing albeit not a frequently as venues.

Perhaps it comes from the open mic concept where artists perform and do not get paid. They only get the tips that are contributed. Granted some performers still operate this way but I feel it’s the exception to the rule. The fact is that most Second Life® live musicians do get paid by the venue to perform. It ranges generally from approximately 3000L to 6000L with the normal rate appearing to be 5000L. In fact, I know of one perform who charges 10,000L. Not bad in Second Life® for an hour’s performance.

In that hour performance, dependant upon the crowd size, tips are generally in the favour of the artist over the venue. I get the feeling that people who tip will generally tip the artist and as a second gesture and provided they have the funds, tip the venue. I have no hard data for the dollar value between the two, but in my club the artist seems to get about twice the tips the venue does. On some nights, the artist gets all the tips.

Now I’m not suggesting not tipping artists. There does seem to be a little inequity. Venues have numerous costs will little source of income. Obviously they have the cost of the artist, but also staff costs, advertising costs, and the cost of any equipment they need for their venue. If they are running multiple events per night or multiple nights per week, the overall cost can be exorbitant.

Now I know that venues seem to have shopping areas nearby in the hopes that patrons will visit the shops and drive up traffic. Rent from these shops goes to cover some of the costs of running the venue. And while this seems like a good option, I would think that very few venues derive much of an income through shop rental. Not many concert goers venture over to the shops as in Second Life® it seems to be that people go directly to a place for the purpose they are there. When they want to go to a concert, they teleport there, when they want to shop, they teleport to a store. It’s different from real life where you’ll check out a store because you are already in the vicinity and may not get back there. Here you can teleport back anytime you want.

The same goes for advertising revenue from ad boards and the like. Again and for the same reasons, I don’t think they generate much revenue toward the cost of operating a venue.

In the past, there have been suggestions of a cover charge to enter a venue, but that has never really developed more that passing comments. Even though we do pay covers in real life, the idea of it in Second Life® does not seem attractive. Unless it was a policy to charge for every event, venues would not attract customers, so the idea has kind of died.

BubbaC John made an interesting comment at his show this past weekend. During his performance, he put the usual comment forward about tipping the venue, but added not to tip him as he does get compensated for his performance and that he just wants you to be his friend. Noble idea.

I know that what performers get paid is not a lot in terms of real life money, but I’m not going to get into a comparison of real life vs. Second Life® costs and wages. The fact is they do get paid and by Second Life® standards, not too badly. I’ve changed the way I tip when I attend an event. I tip the venue, always. Sometimes I’ll tip the artist as well, usually if I know they are not being paid much or are playing only for tips, but I ensure that the venue gets theirs first.

If we want to see live music continue, there must be some way of compensating the venues and if tips don’t’ increase for them, I not looking forward to what the alternatives might be.

Location! Location! Location!

2009-03-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

That expression is very true for establishing a business in real life and it also applies to Second Life®. There are some differences in what to consider in choosing a location. I’ve done a lot of tracking (I’m a statistics geek) over my time here and following is my opinion and considerations in choosing a locale for your business.

There are a lot of spaces for rent at or near clubs in Second Life®. The idea behind this is that clubs will generate traffic and that traffic will benefit the stores located there. I’m not convinced this is so. People go to clubs for a number of reason, least of which is to shop. While shops may get some spin off from the club, I don’t feel it’s significant. I’ve had shops close to clubs and on my sim, I have a club located near most of the stores on the island. In my experience, I’ve found that approximately 1 in 30 people attending a club will venture out to view the surrounding shops. Of the people that do, approximately 1 in 10 will purchase something. Following suit, that means 1 in 300 people attending a club event will purchase something from one of the shops in the area. Not great statistics. That doesn’t take in to account anyone that remembers the area and comes back at another time. You decide, but I don’t think club traffic transforms into shop traffic.

Setting up a shop in a well established mall can be beneficial, but there are a number of things to consider. First, be wary of traffic numbers. Check those numbers periodically over a period of time to make sure they stay constant. As well, there are a variety of reasons for high traffic numbers. I won’t consider bots here although they are an issue. Traffic numbers may be high due to events in the area, an established well known shop in the area or any number of reasons. If there is a high profile shop, can u rent a shop in close proximity? Is your shop close to the landing area? Can you promote your shop within the mall (ie tp board)? Is there an easily seen directory to tp directly to your shop? Don’t jump into renting right away and perform your due diligence. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of the mall owner and other renters in the mall.

You can of course purchase your own piece of mainland and try to establish yourself there. That’s the route I went. The cost is relatively low depending on how much land you need. You can pretty much do what you like in terms of setup and design and really have no one to answer to but yourself. The problem with this is getting word out and as I’ve said before, you need to do a lot of advertising and promotion to accomplish it. Renting a parcel on a private sim will work pretty much the same way.

I feel that trying to piggy back off some else’s success (traffic) is not the route to take. It doesn’t always benefit you and if you do rent in a high traffic area, the cost can be quite high. Unless you’re willing to sink a lot of money into your business, it’ll prove fruitless. If you do want to spend money, do it other ways to advertise and promote your shop.

Consider the following when looking for a place for your business:
Can I afford the rent and will my sales generate enough to cover the rent?
Does the landlord do any promotion that will benefit my shop?
Is the traffic consistent day to day and week to week?
Is my shop visible to customers upon landing and is it easily accessible?

Other things to consider are:
Is there competing businesses in the area?
Are there successful businesses in the area?
Are there a lot of empty shops in the area?
How long has this mall/location been around?

While there are many factors in making your business a success, starting with a suitable and cost effective location is crucial. Don’t be swayed and take everything into consideration before you make a decision. Establishing yourself takes time and won’t happen overnight. It doesn’t in real life either, so be patient. We all make mistakes and be prepared to make a few yourself. Choose wisely and good luck.

As always, if you have any questions, I’d be happy to try to answer them.

Jenny

Tips For Starting A Business

2009-03-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

I've found many good articles and blogs giving tips on starting a business. I've taken the best of these and modified them to apply to business in Second Life®.

Choose a business you know. Choose a business you are familiar with and able to answer questions about. Don’t pick a business that requires a lot of work if you are limited in the amount of time you can spend in Second Life®. It might sound fun to do something you know little about, but if you sound that way to your customers or are unable to provide answers, doom is likely.

Get to know your customers. You must know who your customers are because all of your advertising, branding, product types and even product names must be geared towards them.
Know your customers’ needs. Pay attention to what people say and ask for. Knowing what your customers are looking for will help you decide what you should be creating and spending your time on.

Take your time. Start small and expand only as you have the money. If you aren’t making money, why would you want to expand? Expanding too quickly can be labor intensive and not cost effective.

Make things easy. Make the items in your store visible and easy to find. Provide easy to access information and a decent quality picture. In addition, don't make things too difficult for yourself.

Experiment! Mix up your products and constantly try new things. Sitting dormant will not attract customers. Be innovative and never afraid to experiment.

Promote Promote Promote. You MUST advertise. Find the best approach and places to advertise your business and keep trying. If one thing doesn’t’ work, drop it and try another. Never stop advertising.

Customer service is the key. Be polite and always give customers your time. Give refunds if required. Always be helpful and friendly. Ensure that when your customers leave, they feel satisfied.

Forget the competition. If you pay attention to your competition you are likely to imitate them. Be unique and you will attract your own customers. Have faith and confidence.

Running a Second Life® business is not that much different that running a real life business. Basic business principles apply. Too many people jump into running a business in Second Life® thinking it is easy. It's not.

***

Getting Feedback

2009-02-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

As a business owner in Second Life® it is sometimes difficult to obtain feedback from customers and to turn your business in a direction to satisfy or attract customers. We sometimes get tunnel vision working within our business and creating and promoting that we don’t see the needs and desires of our customers. We often think we know what’s best and that if we make a good product, it will sell. But what if it isn’t selling, your expectations were higher or you run into a roadblock about what to do next.

Well getting feedback from customers is crucial to running a successful business. You may be heading in a completely foreign direction to the needs and wants of your customers. But getting feedback is not easy. Generally you will not hear from your customers unless something is drastically wrong. You want to hear sooner so that you can avoid problems down the road.

I’ve tried to get feedback in many ways. I’ve included a short feedback form in my packages, have a comment section in the customer service center and keep a pager so that I can be contacted if a customer needs me. But none of these have had any impact. Seldom if ever do customers respond.

Generally, a customer doesn’t want to spend time giving feedback. It’s not that they don’t want to give their opinion, but time is important, here and rl, and while they may spend the time shopping, spending more time writing a response may not be desired.

While I want to know what my customers think and what suggestions they may have, I also understand that their time is as precious as mine is. I value their feedback and understand that I have to make it relatively quick, easy and rewarding for them to provide it.

I recently set up a Customer Satisfaction Survey for my customers to complete. While this doesn’t completely satisfy the time issue, I have tried to take a few steps to make the experience a little better.

First and foremost, there has to be some kind of a benefit for someone to complete a survey. In my case, I’m giving a 10% refund to anyone completing the survey. On smaller items, that may not seem like much, but if you are spending 300-1000 lindens, getting a refund of 30-100 is kind of enticing.

Second, keep the survey short. Again, it’s a time issue and you don’t want to ask your customers to spend a fair bit of time (even 5 mins) after they purchase to fill out a survey. I came up with 12 questions and it takes no longer than one minute to complete.

Keep the questions short and relevant and don’t ask for essay answers. Get to the point with each question, short, concise and keep them to what you want to know. Don’t’ get off track in your questions, but design them to give you the things you want to know. Provide them with ready made answers to choose from so that they can move to the next question easily. Having long essay type answers means they will have to do more thinking and spend more time with an answer and probably will lead them to not completing it. One of the questions, preferably at the end, can be a text answer for any comments or suggestions they have. That way if they feel like giving more of an opinion they can.

When you do review the answers and give a refund to someone who completed your survey, do so promptly. This doesn’t have to be within a few minutes, but check the survey on a regular basis and don’t keep your customers waiting for their refund. As well, send them a note thanking them for their comments and advising them that you have sent the refund.

So far, I’ve had a little better response than I have with other methods. It’s interesting to find out what your customers think and what they do or do not expect. The information you receive from these types of surveys is valuable and can benefit your business if you cater to your customers needs.

I have a sign in every store advising of the refund and a link to the url. There are many free survey sites on the net, just search and you’ll see. I am using SurveyGizmo, but feel free to search and choose the one of your liking.

Remember, keeping the status quo and remaining stagnant in business means your earnings will remain the same or more likely drop. Keep up with the wants and desires of your customers and give them an opportunity for feedback. Take the feedback seriously and follow up on suggestions.

You can view my Customer Satisfaction Survey here:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/99781/jhd-survey

Good luck!

Jenny

So Long XStreet

2009-01-21T10:23:00.000-08:00

I find it very sad that Linden Lab® has purchased XStreetSL although not unexpected. Linden Lab® in its zeal to make Second Life® more attractive to a potential buyer has proved over the past few years with its actions that it cares more about the appearance of the virtual world than it does about the residents and performance of Second Life®. You would think that with the host of issues over the past weekend that the lab would have gotten the message to fix what is already here rather than add new features. I guess not.

But as I have said in the past, I really feel that Linden Lab® wants out and are trying to realize as much as they can from a potential sale. They have added features frequently (voice, windlight, Slim etc) in the hopes that the outside world will be amazed at what is offered and increase the offer. So too with allowing an inordinate number of bots to increase concurrency. Why else would the lab ignore the pleas of the residents and continue in the same path?

The purchase of XStreetSL (and ONRez) is the latest step in Linden Lab® securing everything Second Life®. With control of the two biggest marketplaces along with the virtual world itself, they are sending a strong message to potential buyers, competitors and especially the residents. Linden Lab® controls all things Second Life® and you must deal with them and play by their rules. It’s unfortunate, as healthy competition generally leads to better pricing and improved quality, but alas, we all know that is not high on the lab’s agenda.

What do the acquisitions mean for Second Life® residents? Well, contrary to what the lab will say, it means we now have little option but to do and say what the Lindens would like us to. We will have no option but to purchase and exchange through them and to pay commissions and rates they set. While we still will have forums to post our thoughts, we will be looking further away to do so. Criticism of the lab has always been high and I’m sure they would love to squash it. Control over forums like the one in XStreetSL would eventually limit those criticisms. And while we can still voice our opinions through blogs like this one, the lab still has control over my in world account and should they choose to do so, they can reprimand me for my opinions.

I don’t really care about the future of XStreetSL now because I know the lab will eventually teach the Street’s staff how to be incompetent and to do the bidding of the lab. Integration of the marketplace and the virtual world is likely and with that a host of issues we see daily in Second Life®. Along with a frustrating in world experience, will come an equally frustrating marketplace experience.

There are a lot of bright and capable people in this world that do not have the last name Linden. Let’s hope that out of the ashes of a functioning marketplace comes a new a brighter alternative. Even though Linden Lab® will always be out to squash the competition by flexing its virtual muscles, I’ve learned over the years that there are people who are trying to make things better and provide alternatives. Fortunately they don’t work for Linden Lab®.

I, along with a lot of other people who enjoy the concept of Second Life® will strive to either find a way to continue or simply move on to something better. Right now, there is not much of an alternative and Linden Lab® is trying to keep it that way.

When it comes right down to it, business is business and Linden Lab® can choose to operate however they feel is effective. They want to be successful and turn a profit. So do I!

It's The Law!

2009-01-14T11:49:00.001-08:00

One of the problems existing in Second Life® is resolution of disputes as well as basic laws within the virtual world. While Linden Lab® provides “Terms of Service” and “Abuse Reports”, these primarily deal with issue between residents and LL and griefing and from various inworld reports are usually ineffective. There is no way of dealing with basic laws or disputes between residents other than to work it out yourself. Linden Lab® has had a hands off attitude with regard to resolving disputes and more so, do not get involved at all with issues between residents and private sim owners.

In particular, when renting land from private owners, tenants are at the mercy of the owners. While there are good owners, there are certainly a number of unscrupulous ones as well. A tenant can be evicted and have their land reclaimed for no reason or just because the owner wants the land back. The tenant has no recourse and no legal system to protect them.

In addition, business owners conduct their affairs with the understanding that the parties they are dealing with will uphold their part. I use contracts quite a bit in my dealings especially with booking performers for events at my nightclub. However, a contract does not carry any weight as there is no way to enforce it or receive damages should it not be honored.

While there are lawyers in Second Life® they are for the most part helpless. They can contact another party on your behalf and attempt mediation however if the other party is unwilling, they can simply ignore the lawyer.

There are a lot of disputes occurring in Second Life® everyday from landlord/tenant issues, dishonored contracts, issues between customers and merchants, and I’m sure you can come up with more. Virtually everyone has been affected somehow.

I think there does need to be a legal system within Second Life®, one with bite and power that would be supported and backed up by Linden Lab®. Linden Lab® has already stated they don’t want to be involved and are not here to police, so I think the residents should take up the challenge albeit with the full support of Linden Lab®. I would like to see a council created from the residents whose purpose would be to design a simple straightforward legal system and dispute resolving mechanism.

I am not proposing a policing system as I don’t really feel policing would be effective and to have officers visiting or investigating for the most part would be fruitless, not to mention the time and effort involved in training individuals. As well, this would lead to more RP which has its own set of issues. No, just a simple legal system with an eye to resolving disputes. Lawyers could be involved to make sure that it works fairly.

While I’m not sure of the intricacies of such a system, I do know that it can’t be run or chosen by the Lindens, as it would then become a reward system for their cronies. I am surprised; with the number of attorneys in Second Life® that such a system has not been proposed. Or maybe it has. Laws are created to protect individuals and their property and it’s time Second Life followed suit.

It’s the law.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas is one of those strange holiday times. For many people it is a joyous occasion, a time to be with loved ones and to reflect and rejoice while for many other people it is a lonely, depressing time. For those of us who are close to our family and have friends to spend time with, it can be a wonderful time of year. We get to see people we haven’t seen in a while and share some special moments with those close to us. For some people, seeing family is not an option either because they have no family, or cannot afford to see them, or they may be in a financial crisis that certainly limits their joy with the season. In these times of financial concern throughout this country and the world, this Christmas is probably going to be one that is more somber for most people. Please be kind and respectful to everyone, no matter whom it is and let’s try to make everyone’s Christmas a little bit brighter.

I am one of the lucky ones. I live in New Orleans and will be flying home to Spokane on December 24 to spend Christmas with my mother and a few friends that I have not seen in quite some time. Being able to spend four days with family and friends is something I haven’t been able to do a lot of in a while. I’m looking forward to being home and I know the little kid in me will come out once I’m there. I’ll grow back up when I return.

Christmas in Second Life® is a little different than real life. Actually it’s probably a little more sincere. While we can do the same kinds of things like give gifts and attend get togethers, Second Life® is more about the relationships you have built over time. I won't get in to why we all come here, there are a variety of reasons, but for the most part we come to escape something or to fill a void. The people we meet, become friends with and respect aid us in satisfying that void.

My friends list has certainly grown over the two years I’ve been in Second Life®. I’ve tried to be the best friend I can be as I know everyone one else has been to me. While I won’t mention everyone’s name here, a few of the closest people need to be mentioned.

First and foremost are the wonderful people who work with me at Lavender Corporation and Gia’s Fashion Cabaret. Without them, my second life would have been much more difficult and certainly more frustrating. They all started as employees but became good friends and I cherish their friendship.

Merry Christmas Tracy Serra, Mutley Latte, JulieAnne Rau, Sarah Irling and Jensen Belfire. You are the greatest.

To my very good friend and confident from the outset, Merry Christmas Erinn Jefferson.

Merry Christmas Trella McMahon, for being by my side and holding me up when I felt like I would fall.

Merry Christmas to my very good friends Kamala Hesse and Satir DeCuir.

Merry Christmas Jojo Cusack and Tsuanami Rickenbacker for helping me along the not so paved road.

Merry Christmas to the musicians of Second Life for keeping music (A)Live and to their managers for sending them out for this virtual world to enjoy.

Merry Christmas to everyone who has shopped in my stores, attended Gia’s Fashion Cabaret, visited the Hall of Fame or just ventured onto Lavender Isle. I appreciate you.

Merry Christmas to all of Second Life® for providing me and so many others with a world we can call our own and feel so much a part of.

And yes, Merry Christmas to the Lindens.

See You After Christmas

Jenny

I'm Here ... Now Keep Me!

2008-12-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

You’ve done your marketing and promotions and people are teleporting to your store. But they aren’t staying. Most are leaving within a few seconds of landing and are definitely not buying. What’s the problem, why are they leaving and how do you get them to stay and ultimately buy from your store.

I’ve done a lot of shopping in my time here and have left stores within a couple seconds many times. I’ve reviewed why I do that and tried to correct those problems in my stores. Let’s look at some of the problems encountered and how to correct them.

One of the more annoying things for customers is when it takes a long time for things to rez. Standing around looking at a bunch of grey items is not much fun and I find if the products and displays don’t rez within 30 seconds, most people will tp somewhere else. While you want to make your store and displays as attractive as possible, they won’t be noticed if they don’t rez quick enough. Keep your textures at a lower resolution to aid in rezzing, generally no more than 512x512. The larger the resolution, the longer it takes for these textures to rez completely. This goes for product textures, display textures and the textures used in your store walls as well. Try to keep them to a minimum in addition to the size. Having your items rez quickly will give your potential customers the full view and begin shopping much quicker.

When displaying your items for sale, have them organized to make it easier for shoppers to find them. Keep like items together and have a clearly visible sign or other indication of where they are. Most shoppers don’t want to hunt around throughout your store in a vain attempt to find what they are looking for. While a lot of shop keepers think having other items visible will make customers inquire about them, quite the opposite is true in Second Life®. Customers here want to get directly to what they came for and if they then have time, they will browse some more. Keeping happy customers is a key to having them return and giving them an easy way to find what they came for is one way of keeping them happy. In my clothing store, I have four sections, one each for new releases, mini skirts, dresses and gowns. This way, my customers can easily get to what they want.

. If you advertise a particular time either in events or by way of a notice to your group, make sure that items is easy to find. I’ve done searches for a particular kind of shoe and found them listed then unable to locate them when I tp to the store. I will search for a short time, but if I can’t find them quickly, I’m back to search to try somewhere else. This ties in to the previous point, but if you feature items, make them highly visible or noticeable when someone does tp to your store.

Lag is another big issue. Trying to shop at a store and being unable to move or moving very slowly will lead anyone to leaving. As with textures, keep scripts to a minimum. In most stores, you shouldn’t need to be running a whole lot of scripts.

I've noticed a lot of stores have their autoreturn set to return items and while I understand that you don't want to have customers leave items around or have griefers drop objects, customers need to be able to rez their purchase and try it out. Setting autoreturn to five minutes seems to work good for me. Five minutes is plenty of time to rez a purchase and copy it to inventory and yet it allows unwanted items left behind to be returned in five minutes.

I’ve covered greeters and notecards in previous posts, so I’ll keep this one brief. Having numerous notes and messages upon landing in a store is annoying. Most of us don’t mind being greeted, but keep it to a minimum.

The tendency in Second Life® is to recreate what you would have in a real life store. For the most part that is okay, although Second Life® has limitations that real life doesn’t. Try to concentrate on what makes shopping easier for your customers. Well organized, categorized items, visually appealing but limited on textures will go a long way to keeping people around. Try tping into your store and see how long it takes for things to rez, if too long, change some textures.

Keeping your customers happy upon arrival is one of the first things you need to do to be successful. Make sure their experience is a good one. If they like what they see and experience, they will look around and hopefully start buying. Then you can concentrate on getting customers to return.

Ciao For Now

Jenny

Our Biggest Competitor

2008-12-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

So you own a business in Second Life® and face challenges from your competitors. That’s fair. Competition is generally healthy and with a little common sense you can make the most of facing off against your competition. And normally, it doesn’t matter who your competition is. You can compete with other inworld businesses and even real life businesses entering the virtual market. While they may have money behind them, money doesn’t necessarily drive the marketing world in Second Life®.

But as a business owner here, you have one major competitor you cannot compete with. One who holds all the cards, calls the shots and ultimately determines who does and doesn’t succeed. That competitor is “Linden Lab®”

“Second Life® is an online 3D world imagined and created by its Residents” is the tag line Linden Lab has used for Second Life®. While we may have imagined and created it, it is Linden Lab that has control over it and its economy. Fair competition is thrown out the window and Linden Lab uses their muscle and influence to choose who succeeds and who doesn’t. How and why do they it?

A good portion of the businesses and residents of Second Life® hold events throughout the week. These range from live music at clubs to fashion shows to meetings to sales and more. Most of these events are planned well in advance and are crucial to the survival of a Second Life® business. It brings in welcome traffic and potential customers.

Linden Lab holds events as well. Usually much larger than ones created by residents, these events have the ability to draw a significant portion of the population away from smaller events. The problem with Linden Lab holding events is that they have numerous sims at their disposal and the ability to market to everyone in Second Life®. Linden Lab is able to announce their events on the start up screen and have their announcement stare at you while you are waiting for Second Life to load. They can also announce it while you teleport and numerous other places that the rest of the residents do not have access to. Keeping in mind that inworld businesses plan their events months in advance, it seems a little unfair to suddenly have Linden Lab announce an event at start up. And quite frankly, why is Linden Lab hosting or promoting events anyway? Shouldn’t this be what the residents do?

I’m sure Linden Lab would not agree that non-scheduled maintenance or downtime is their doing. They would probably claim they are doing what they should be by attempting to resolve viewer and other problems. Well, part right. If Linden Lab would have spent their time making this platform run more effectively and efficiently instead of adding new features like voice, windlight and SLim (which also cause a whole new set of issues), maybe the downtime would be diminished. The efforts of Linden Lab to make Second Life® bigger and better seem to be concentrated more on the bigger and more attractive than on better.

Scheduled downtime is no better. It would be if the schedule was updated more frequently and well in advance so that inworld businesses could plan around it. Generally they only have maintenance dates showing for the next two or three weeks. As I said earlier, events are planned months in advance and how disastrous is it to find out an event you’ve been planning falls on the same day as scheduled maintenance. It would have been nice if Linden Lab set a day and time aside for maintenance and let us know that is the time they will do scheduled maintenance if needed so that business owners could avoid that day and time for events.

One of the newer features in Second Life® is “Showcase”. Showcase replaces the former Popular Places tab in search. While the idea behind Showcase is interesting, to showcase places of interest to new and existing residents, the way Linden Lab handles it doesn’t work. First, they are the sole deciders of whom and what gets listed in Showcase. There are no impartial criteria for establishing an entry. Second, it rarely changes. A good majority of the showcase listings have been there since its launch. The odd listing changes but not significantly. It’s a case of same old, same old. Look at the listings and while some may be interesting and unique, most are just long time businesses that are obviously in good favor with the lab. Hardly an improvement over Popular Places.

Linden Lab in its zeal to make Second Life® more attractive, are tampering with the fair business competition within the virtual world. More business would thrive and more would be attracted to this world if competition was on a level playing field. If this is truly a world imagined and created by its residents, then its fate should be determined by the residents. Linden Lab needs to back off on the daily happenings in this world and get back to the technical issues of keeping it running smoothly. The residents are quite capable of running the inworld functions.

I’ve long felt that Linden Lab is simply concerned with increasing the sale value of Second Life® so that they can attract a buyer and realize a significant profit. The features they add and the disregard they have for residents point directly to them attempting to do this. It’s unfortunate that they seem to care little about the second lives of the people who supported them and helped this world grow.

Ciao for now..

Jenny

Being A Responsible Employee

2008-11-27T07:09:00.000-08:00

It seems to be a consensus with Second Life® business owners, good employees are hard to come by.

Sure, a lot of people here want a job; put out a classified and you get a lot of responses. But do they really want to work, or just looking for cash without having to earn it?

Second Life® is no different from real life when it comes to the job market. I know a lot of people think it is and that there really is no commitment, but that’s unfortunate, because entrepreneurs need people who are dedicated to giving their full attention and owners are willing to compensate them accordingly.

It starts with the interview process. Just like real life, you need to be prepared. It helps to know something about who you are being interviewed by and the company you will work for. In my ads for employment, I always provide a link to my blog where anyone could find out an enormous amount about what I and my company do. As well, you can look at my profile to find out some more information about me. I always check profiles of people I’m about to interview and together with their resume, have a good idea about them and am able to formulate questions around that. Of all the people I’ve interviewed lately, only one or two even knew I had a blog and most knew nothing about me or my business. As an interviewer, it makes you wonder how serious they are about the job.

Salary is another issue. I know there are a lot of jobs that pay strictly by tips and I feel that’s unfortunate. While I do split tips with my staff, each gets a regular wage, some weekly, some hourly, but something they can count on getting. The issue of salary and how much to pay in Second Life® has always been sticky. However, as a prospective employee, keep in mind that employers are not going to offer you the top wage from the start. Generally they want to see how you perform, can handle the job and live up to their expectations. Asking for a lot of money up front is not going to get you the job, here or real life. Be prepared to start a little lower and work your way up. It certainly is not unfair to ask a prospective employer about having a review of your performance and wage. I tell all interviewees that a review will be done after 30 days and both of us have input into performance, issues and salary. Certainly if you perform your job well, there would be no reason not to increase your salary.

While salary is a concern for most employees, don’t relay in or prior to an interview that it’s a major concern. Generally if salary is your focal point, employers will look past you. I recently received a resume from someone and in it they stated they were not happy with their last job because it only paid a specific amount and they wanted to make more. Well the job being applied for paid less than that amount, so I declined an interview.

While Second Life® is about fun for a lot of people, it is also serious business for some. Taking a job in second life means that someone is relying on you to perform your assigned tasks. After all, their business depends on work getting done and whether you realize it or not, it is real money that is injected into this place.

Taking a job here means taking the responsibility along with it. Make sure you are clear with your employer about your duties and then perform them. If you are unsure or unclear about something, ask. Employers don’t get offended if you aren’t sure how to do something, it is more annoying when something isn’t done right or not done at all. Be clear about when things should be done, if you can do them at your discretion and how often you must accomplish them.

Being reliable is very important. The reason businesses hire is so that the owner/manager can remove tasks from their plate and not have to worry about them being done. They want to count on someone doing them without having to check. So if something has to be done by a specific time or a certain day, make sure it is. There is nothing worse that an business owner logging on and finding out notices hadn’t been posted for an event and has to rush to get some posted otherwise end up with no one attending.

Now I know real life steps in the way a lot, and you can’t put Second Life® jobs ahead of real life jobs. That’s perfectly understandably and most employers would be accommodating as real life steps in their way too. But be prepared and even though you may have to leave for a short time or not be able to log in when you need to have something done, make other arrangements. If there are other employees, see if one can fill in or do the task for you, even get a friend to post an event notice if that was the task. And by all means, inform your employer. I really would appreciate an employee telling me they would not be able to get something done due to other issues, as long as I knew in advance so that I could make other arrangements. Even if you do make other arrangements on your own, let your employer know so they know what’s happening and they’ll appreciate your initiative.

Holding a job in Second Life® is serious and should be treated that way. Sure you can have fun, and your employer will be one of the first to agree. But make sure your employer feels he made the right decision in hiring you and that you can be relied on. Not only will it give both of you satisfaction, but will definitely make a difference when you do get that review and hopefully get the salary you desire.

Ciao

Jenny

Greeters ... Pros and Cons

2008-11-17T10:06:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of activity on various forums and blogs about the use of greeters in Second Life® stores and in particular the use of the profile viewer greeter. Some people feel they are annoying and an invasion of privacy and can’t understand why shop owners bombard them with notes and im’s when entering a store.

Shop owners are limited in their ability to market their stores (venues) and do not have the same tools they do in real life. Radio and television ads are non-existent and walk-by, drive-by promotion is fruitless as teleporting is the main form of transportation. In world advertising is ineffective unless you can spend hundreds of thousands of lindens and at best, you may be able to get people to your store but getting them information is difficult unless a greeter is used. If half the people who came into my store, clicked and joined my group, I’d gladly delete every other type of greeter/info giver I have. But sadly that doesn’t happen. Only a small percentage of people who visit a shop will click and join a group. I know when I shop, I don’t join groups. Perhaps it’s the limit, or the group chats and notices, I’m not sure. However, handing out note cards, popups or ims to people entering your shop is the most effective way a business person can get their message out. After all, it is a business and to be successful, you must keep your customers and potential customers informed. Group notices are probably the best way to do this, but getting people to join your group is the foremost problem.

And yes, greeters are annoying, almost as annoying as group chat and unwanted note cards we all get throughout the day. Sure we can mute them, or simply dismiss them, but I understand how frustrating it is to be in the middle of something when these notes or ims come in. It would be nice to visit a shop and not be inundated with information about the proprietor and the business. I’ve come to accept it as a necessary evil and liken it to the Wal-mart greeter. I don’t think we get extremely upset with the Wal-mart greeter as we enter the store, we just simply be polite and dismiss them. Wal-mart, being highly successful has taken the greeter concept literally and put it to good use.

So what real options are there to get a message out without using greeters? With small to medium size business owners facing stiff competition from real life companies with deeper pockets and of course the Lindens who compete with us every day, the options are few. The lindens have the advantage of posting messages to everyone entering Second Life® while they wait to log in and to give messages while teleporting. It would be nice if we could do the same thing, but I’m sure if it was, the Lindens would price it out of reach so that only the larger corporations would be able to afford it.

I did come across a very interesting concept the other day and I’ll be having my scripter work on it. I ventured out to visit a shoe store on the recommendation of a customer under the impression that I would be amazed with the shoes being sold. Well I never did look at the shoes, I’ll go back sometime to do that, but got completely caught up in something else. First, when I entered the store, I was surprised when I did not get the usual barrage of messages and note cards. In fact, nothing at all. Since I was waiting for the shoes to rez, I looked around the entrance of the store and noticed three highly visible kiosks. Always curious, I checked the name, found it was a customer service kiosk and clicked it to open a menu containing every option the customer and shop owner would want. You could choice from info on and joining the group, info on the store, refund policy, gift purchases and so much more. Everything was in one nice concise place and the kiosk simply said “Customer Service”. WOW. This is exactly what I want in my stores and it takes so little room. No group join signs, info cards, and greeters. Just one nice little kiosk, prominently displayed. I know you’d still have to rely on people clicking on it, but I think with the Customer Service sign instead of JOIN OUR GROUP or something similar, it just may happen. Well, I did.

Okay I had to find out if I could purchase it, so I checked the creator of the kiosk and script and went to his profile. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he has a store or is even in the business of selling scripts. No picks or classifieds and no mention in his profile. I searched throughout Second Life® and XSL but was not able to find anything similar. I’ll send him a note to see if he is willing to sell it.

There has to be a mix in this virtual business world. While I understand the customers and owners points of view, neither one can expect the other to give in completely. Customers need a reasonable expectation of privacy and owners need to get their message out. Personally I think the Customer Service kiosk is a good idea, but I’m sure there is more. Any suggestions?

Ciao for now.

Jenny

Employee Relations (Doing Virtual Business Part III)

2008-11-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

As a small business owner, you probably do everything yourself. While creating is what got you going, management and operating a business tend to take you away. There are many functions involved in operating a business and a lot of it can be handed off to employees to free up your time to devote more to creating while still being involved in management.

Finding and keeping good employees is always a tough thing to do and I think it is magnified in Second Life ®. While real life employees depend on their job to sustain their existence, here it is more about having some money to play with and not to support you. I’ve always been very serious about what I do here and I expect someone I’m paying to be at least half as serious. It rarely happens. So finding people who take their Second Life ® job serious is a huge task.

We seldom find out what someone is really like until after we’ve hired them. That’s not a problem. The same rules apply here as in real life. When you hire someone, don’t pay them the top salary as it leaves no room for them to be increased. As well, probationary periods give you the opportunity to evaluate and to end employment if it is not satisfactory.

During a probationary period, give your employees clear and concise tasks to perform. Don’t overload them initially. Have them report back to you on what they have and haven’t accomplished and take the time to sit and review their performance frequently. This may seem time consuming, but it will pay off in the long run as their supervision should diminish.

Make sure you meet after the probationary period has expired. Be constructive in criticism and make sure you praise work they have done well. If they have proven they can handle the job, then increase their salary appropriately and set another time line for a further review and possible increase. If you are not happy with their performance and doubt that it will get better, don’t prolong it, and let them go. It’s your business and you need to feel confident about your staff.

Happy employees will stay and if you can keep them happy and enjoying what they do, you will have a pleasant situation with your business.

Periodically give your employees more responsibility. Not only does it make them feel more worth while in your organization but it will ease the load on you. A little at a time though. Don’t overload them all at once. Prepare or even better, have them prepare a job description on what they do. Review it with them and make suggestions or changes to it as necessary. Use it as a tool for both of you to monitor progress.

Invite suggestions and advice from you employees. Sure it’s your business and you make the final decisions, but never be afraid to let your employees be involved in that process. There’s an old saying "two heads are better than one" and in this case it’s so true. More thoughts and ideas come through and if you encourage your employees to speak up with suggestions, it will help your business in the long run. And make sure you give them credit for their ideas.

Always give your employees clear instructions on what they have to do. Don’t assume they know and will ask if they don’t. Often people are afraid to admit they don’t’ know something. Therefore make sure you give them precise directions on what they will be doing. It’s nice to provide a written set of instructions for them to follow. Do go into detail when necessary. If they are to deal with customers, provide them with a way of dealing with customers and ready made responses to common problems. Having a customer frustrated by dealing with an uncooperative or uninformed employee is disastrous.

Be available. While you may try to provide all the possible outcomes for your employees to deal with, not everything can be. If they need assistance or advice, make sure they know how to contact you and that you are available. Don’t respond negatively if you are busy as you will just make them less likely to contact you next time.

Always be constructive. Whether its criticism or praise, offer reasons for each and say so without yelling or getting mad. Treat an employee the way you would like to be treated and they will appreciate it. Feedback is important as everyone wants to know how they are doing.

Rewards. Always reward employees for what you appreciate them doing. Remember if they are freeing up your time or taking stress away from you, they’ve accomplished a great deal. Rewards do not always have to be monetary, although money is always nice. Often praise or complements mean as much or more. A change in title is also very rewarding. In my dealings with employees, I’ve implemented tip splitting where all employees share in my venue’s tips in addition to keeping their own. As well, periodic bonuses are given out to employees based on their performance.

While it’s important to praise and recognize your employees’ efforts, don’t try and be their best friend. That never works. I’m not saying you can’t be friendly, quite the contrary. But keep your distance. The worst decisions are made by not wanted to offend someone or not being able to deal with someone because they are a friend. You treat friends differently and so it should be. Keep your friends as friends and employees as employees.

Which leads me to hiring friends and family. While it’s nice on the surface to keep things in the family, in business it seldom works out. Dealing with friends and family is different and as an employer more difficult. Friends and family gain certain exemptions and when it comes right down to it, can you fire a friend? If it’s necessary, it must be done, but often times it ruins the friendship as well.

For a business to be successful, all the parts must run smoothly and effectively. This is equally so for employees. Having happy and appreciative employees will contribute to your success.

Caio for now.

Marketing and Public Relations: (Doing Virtual Business Part II)

2008-10-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

Marketing in Second Life ™ works on the same principles as real life, however there are some limitations that affect the way you market. Conventional advertising like television, radio and billboards are largely ineffective as people in Second Life ™ don’t normally watch and listen the way they do in real life. While Second Life ™ radio is gaining strength and will become an effective tool, at the moment it is not in the same arena as real life radio.

So what can you do to market your product or service in Second Life ™? Let’s begin with the basics and things that everyone should do. They are not costly and in some cases not overly effective, but still a necessity.

Event Notices:
I’ve found that posting event notices is one of the more effective tools provided by Linden Labs. It appears that a lot of people search events to find out what is happening inworld. While commercial postings are not generally allowed, you can use event notices commercially to announce product launches, sales or to promote events. For this reason, it is always a good idea to have something happening whether it is a new product or sale or to have some sort of special event happen at your business. I try to announce each new product through event notices (weekly) and try to have a hunt or grand opening as often as possible. While you are limited to five postings a day, that should suffice to get your message out. As well you can have staff members post.

Parcel Search:
Parcel search is also fairly effective and for a fee of 30L per week, it is cost efficient. All you need to do is check your show in search box on about land and it’s set. Make sure you fill in the name and description areas with appropriate information and try to use full sentences as opposed to tags. I find it works better. In addition, the snapshot showing in search will be the one in your about land tab, so use more than just your logo. Use this as an opportunity to display an advertisement either showing your product or use an enticing snapshot.

Classifieds:
I have found that classified ads in Second Life ™ are not really effective unless you spend hundreds of thousand of lindens per week. Since that amount is out of my budget and probably yours, your classified ad will be pushed down the list. The difference between spending the minimum 50L and one or two thousand lindens is negligible, so don’t do it. All my classifieds are at the minimum price and there just to reinforce the other forms of advertising I do. Classifieds give you the number of tps and map views requested, so view those often and update your ads if the numbers are low. Using the words free, gift, and various forms of the word sex, usually attract more people to an ad, so use them, but be appropriate.

Adboards:
I find the use of adboards hit and miss and much like classifieds tend to only be effective if you spend a lot of money. Finding a high traffic area with adboards will either be expensive to rent or you’ll find that the traffic is not what it appears (bots or such) and you won’t get great response. I try to find a couple places that have moderate, inexpensive ad boards and boards that are close to the landing area. Also places with a multitude of adboards will just lead yours to get lost in the confusion. I tend to rent for shorter periods, one or two weeks at a time. If response is good, you can renew, if not you can move on to another location. Don’t be afraid to move around.

The above methods pertain primarily to inworld advertising and while necessary are not overly effective. Other methods need to be used to bolster your marketing and product.

Blogs/Websites:

If you can afford a website, great, but if not blogs are equally as effective. Blogs are free and nowadays you can do almost as much on a blog as on a website. Blogs were originally designed to be a sort of diary and while they still function that way, you can add video, pictures and a wealth of other items. Posts can be used to describe your business, introduce new products and to offer advice or instruction on your products. Since people can post comments, you can also use it as a question and answer forum. It’s a good idea to be as visual as possible so pictures or video is essential. As an additional form of revenue, you can even post ads from other businesses and charge for their placement. The number of pages you can have is endless and allows you to create links to each page so that you don’t have to cram a lot of information on one page. I have two blogs; one has over 12 pages that I use for different aspects of my businesses and for things like special events, my staff and so on. The important thing about blogs is to stay current. Don’t’ just create it and leave it. People won’t come back to your blog if they see that nothing has changed, so try to update it on a regular basis. Do this by posting a new article or introduce new products regularly. I have a new post weekly and toss in new items whenever I release them in a store.

XStreet SL/Onrez:

Both of these services are great places not only to list and display your products, but also to make announcements through their forums. XStreet SL’s forums have categories to announce new releases and events and to offer employment. Using the forums not only informs readers of your product/services/events, but also keeps your name in the public eye. Be creative and use links in your posts to your products listed for sale and to your blogs and store. Posting in the forums is free and is an essential part of promoting your business.

Aside from direct advertising, there are also a number of other ways to get your name out there.

Events:

Holding events can bolster you visibility. Some events can be directly attributable to your business, like holding a fashion show for a clothing business. Others can be a little less direct. Holding how to seminars or displays or even having a demonstration on how to use your product effectively may prove beneficial to potential customers.

Sponsorships:

While I don’t find sponsorships to be extremely effective unless you do a lot of them, you may want to try to see how it impacts your business. Try sponsoring an event at a club and get them to announce your business during the event and allow you to place a few adboards in the club.

Press Releases:

Many publications about Second Life ™ are looking for articles and notices regarding happenings in second life. While they won’t take something that directly advertises a product unless you pay for an ad, a press release regarding an event or happening will be accepted. Send a press release to as many publications about Second Life ™ as you can. Not all of them will print your release, but some will and it will increase your visibility on the net.

Promoting a business in Second Life ™ is a lot of work. If you simply place a couple ads and sit back and wait, you probably won’t survive too long. The key to being successful is visibility; the more visible your business, product, brand is, the more likely you are to attract business. Work at it and work at it constantly. Update frequently and if something doesn’t’ work, try something else. Well promoted businesses are the result of people spending a significant amount of time not only developing an effective marketing strategy but maintaining and tweaking it.

NEXT POST: EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

Customer Service: (Doing Virtual Business Part I)

2008-10-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

Customer service is crucial and where a lot of business people miss the boat. There’s an old saying in the real life business world “The Customer Is Always Right”. Whether you like it or not, it is true and it applies to every business in Second Life ™. Your customer is the most important aspect of your business. If you have unhappy, dissatisfied customers, it will be detrimental to your business’s reputation.

Over my time in business, I have always taken the approach of being extremely nice to my customers no matter what the situation. I’ve had to bite my tongue quite a few times. If they have a question, problem or idea, I take the time to listen and to try and help. If they have a complaint, I rectify it any way I can. I’ve had a couple customers who were very upset and after talking to them, they thanked me for my help and became repeat customers. It’s worth the effort.

Be very serious about your dealings with your customers. If they are angry or upset, calm them with words and action to show you are serious about doing something. Even if it is obvious the customer is wrong, sometimes it’s better for repeat business to take a loss and compensate the customer in some manner.

Always thank a customer for bringing a problem to your attention. No amount of advertising can repair damage done by failing to address a customer’s concern. Customers have friends, and their friends have friends and so on.

Avoid saying “Yes, but…..”. Customers do not want to hear excuses. They want to know that you are concerned about their problem and that you will take steps to rectify it. Whether they paid too much, didn’t follow directions, it doesn’t matter. Giving a more positive answer like “Sounds like you paid more than you expected” or “Do you think so?” keeps both of you focused on the issue and not offended. Offer solutions and if you have to, offer to explain how to use a product.

Be available. I can’t count the number of times I’ve contacted a business owner who replied with “I’m busy now” or simply “What?”. That’s not good enough. A customer’s issue is important to them and it’s important now. Not later, not tomorrow, now. If you want to be in business, you have to be prepared to answer your customers. That doesn’t mean you have to stop and give them an hour of your time while you’re at an important function you’ve been waiting to attend. But the way you answer goes a long way to show you are concerned. Responding with, “I’m sorry Jane, I’m at a concert at the moment, however if you send me the details, I’ll take a look at them and get back to you as soon as I am done”. And do get back to Jane. As soon as you are free, review what she sends and respond exactly as you said. Nothing is more frustrating to a customer than to be told someone would get back to them and then doesn’t. It would also help to have a way of contacting you available at your store and even to give a schedule of when you are available. It may not eliminate untimely ims, but it will stem a tide. And if you say you are available, Be Available.

A lot of time issues and problems can be avoided. Not all but some. Having clear, concise information available at your store sometimes will solve a problem before it happens. Note cards with sizing directions or tips on solving common problems can be posted so that any customer has access to them. And be concise. A customer doesn’t want to spend a whole lot of time reading instructions and figuring out how to do something. They just want to get home and wear or use it. It’s your job to make it easy for your customer. If you’ve had complaints, problems or issues in the past, make a frequently asked questions card and have it available as well. Providing help and solutions before a problem occurs can prevent a lot of headaches for you and your customer.

Remember, customers see you as the expert. Don’t respond with “I don’t know” or “Beats me”. If you really don’t know the answer let them know that it’s something you need to explore and get back to them. If you appear to be uninformed or don’t have the answers they are looking for, they will probably shop elsewhere.

Everything mentioned above, goes for your staff as well. Train and educate your staff about your product and how to deal with customers. Make sure they are not afraid to refer a customer to you if it is not something they can handle. Customers feel they are being taken seriously if a staff member seeks out the manager or owner.

NEXT POST: MARKETING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

Doing Virtual Business

2008-10-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

One of the attractions to Second Life ™ is that you can be whatever you want to be. Open a store, be a doctor, an agent, a lawyer, anything at all. You don’t need a degree, experience or background in the field, just desire, willingness, open shop and away you go.

It’s not enough to open shop and put your items on display or simply to provide your service. It takes so much more. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that’s all they have to do. Create a product or service, find a location, build or buy a store and bam, customers come streaming in to buy and you get very, very rich. Well, that’s not how it works. Just like real life, business in second life is a lot of work if you want to be successful and respected. Customer Service, Marketing, Employee Relations are but a few areas that consume a business person’s time.

When I first started my businesses in Second Life ™, I probably spent about 90% of my time creating. After all, that’s the fun part. But now, after over two years in business, my creating time is more like 30-40% and the rest of my time is spent running my businesses, marketing and dealing with staff issues. It sure helps having good staff, but with the limitations in permissions here, you can’t turn everything over to your employees.
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Running a business can be fun and rewarding, but knowing how to run it is foreign to a lot of business owners in Second Life ™. If you have followed my blog, you’ll know my problems with music agents, but it’s not just them. While some businesses are run efficiently, most are not. Most people who run businesses here do not in real life. That doesn’t mean you can’t be successful, you can.

Throughout my time in Second Life ™, I have dealt with every aspect of running a business and certainly have dealt with many other businesses here, both as a consumer and as a compeer. I’ve seen all the mistakes made, and used that to my advantage by not making the same mistakes. I’ve seen the pluses as well and always attempt to incorporate those ideas into my own business dealings.

Business in Second Life is not a lot different than real life. Sure there are some limitations, but the basic principles are the same. Attracting and keeping customers, promoting your brand, having competent, reliable employees and all the other dealings you would have are here for the Second Life ™ business person to deal with.

In this series, Doing Virtual Business, I’ll share my knowledge of what I feel is important in running a successful business here. For the next three weekly posts, I’ll deal with one area of running a business I feel is important. In part one; I’ll discuss customer service, why it’s important and how to improve upon it. In part two, I’ll look at Marketing and public relations, how do you get your product noticed. And in part three, I’ll deal with employee relations, how to deal effectively with your staff and to make them feel rewarded for what they do.

NEXT POST: CUSTOMER SERVICE

Spooky Update

2008-10-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

Plans are under way for Halloween across the Isle:

Spooky Halloween: A haunted display on the south side of the island set in a haunted house with a few scary surprises outside. Created by Mutely Latte, Sarah Irling and Jenson Belfire, it is best to set to midnight before you view. We are not responsible for increases in blood pressure.

Witches Hunt: During the final week of October, the island will host a witch’s hunt. Participants will be given a clue to lead them to a witch containing a gift offered by one of the Isle’s merchants. Each gift will contain a clue to the next witch. More details as we close in on the final week. The Hunt is being organized by Trella McMahon.

Monster’s Ball: A spooky Halloween event with live musicians, a dj, costume contests and spooky treats all taking place on October 31. Check the link on the right for more spooky details. (I’m currently working on my own spooky outfit for the Monster’s Ball)

Halloween Decorating: The merchants on Lavender Isle will be involved in a store decorating contest this month. One merchant’s Halloween display will be selected as the winner with the merchant receiving a great prize. In addition, Lavender Isle itself will be under the decorating knife for Halloween, albeit not in the contest. Visit Lavender Isle throughout the month of October to see the ever developing Halloween decorations and displays across the sim.

Executive Assistant: Lyla Merryman joins our Lavender Team as executive assistant. She’ll be working with Trella and me on a variety of projects. She’s a UK lass (our second) and seems to have the same spirit and energy as the rest of us. Welcome Lyla.

New Stores: Our growing list of merchants on Lavender Isle continues with the additions of JS Designs Fine Furnishings & Gifts For the Discerning Tiny and Human, Girls Night Out featuring fashionable accessories like belts, handbags, stockings, socks and bustiers and the resurrection Fashion Factory, an outlet store selling original designer clothing at discount prices. On the horizon is a texture store that Trella and I plan to put up, and a fashion show, but when we have a little more time.

Traffic is up across the island and Gia’s Fashion Cabaret is drawing a decent crowd to its Wednesday events. Tracy Serra, the hall of fame curator and our unofficial videographer has done her second video at Gia’s Fashion Cabaret. She just completed Rara Destiny to join her video of Alex Parsons, both performing at Gia’s and you can see both on utube or just go to the Gia’s link to the right.

With my constant business dealings over my time is Second Life ™, I’ve had to learn quite a lot about the business world in Second Life ™ and real life. To share what I’ve experienced, I’ll be posting a series of articles titled Doing Virtual Business over the coming weeks to offer my experience and advice.

Guess that’s it for now, stay kewl

Ciao for now
Jenny

Good Agents. Are There Any?

2008-09-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Agents for musicians have been around in real life for quite some time and have been in Second Life ™ for a while now. An agent can be very valuable to a performer. Agents, while looked at as someone who books artists shows, can promote and manage the artist in a number of ways. Since an agent charges fees for their service, artists should ensure their agent will accomplish what they would like them to. An agent can be a valuable tool to an artist’s career in terms of promotion and trade marking the artist’s name.

As I have run a nightclub in Second Life ™ for quite some time now, I’ve dealt with a number of agents and artists. Unfortunately my opinion of Second Life ™ agents is not very high. I find that most of them think their job is simply to book shows and maybe send a staff member to an event to promote the artist by chatting their website and info on joining their group. While these two things are crucial, there is so much more an agent and their staff can do to promote artists in Second Life ™. I realize that this is a lot of work and if an agent is by themselves, probably not feasible. But if you take being an agent seriously, you’d factor that into the fees you charge and hire enough staff to accomplish everything.

Following are tasks I think every agent should be doing and every artist should ensure their agent does:

Event Notices (Agents seldom if ever post event notices)
An agent should post event notices for a performer’s show. All too often only the venue posts event notices. Event notices are crucial in attracting people to an event and certainly more notices would garner more exposure. With a limitation of five per day per person, venues are limited. With that limitation, agents as well are limited as they would be posting for numerous events throughout a day. However having other staff members post notices would alleviate the situation. As well, the agent needs to post only one per show, more if possible. Since notices can be posted well in advance, agents can do all their posting at once for an entire week, month or any period they choose.

SLX Notices (Agents seldom if ever post SLX notices)
SLX has a forum to promote events in Second Life ™. Some venue owners utilize this forum. It’s free and you can post a limitless number of times. An agent should use the SLX forums to promote all their client’s events.

Website/Blog (Agents seldom manage websites/blogs)
Every Second Life artist should have a website or a blog. While websites can be costly, blogs are free and relatively easy to set up and use. Blogs keep fans informed and provide information on the artist. As well, a schedule of the artist’s shows can be included and this is valuable to fans who may want to plan to see the artist. Agents should ensure that an artist has a website or a blog and that it not only includes a schedule of their events, but that the information on the blog is up to date. There is nothing more annoying that going to a blog/website and finding the info outdated or even worse, very little information at all. An agent may not manage the website/blog directly, but should ensure an artist has one and that the appropriate information is contained in it.

Artist’s Groups (Agents do some)
Each artist should have a group for their fans to join and to keep up to date on in world happenings with the artist. Most performers do. A group is valuable because it allows direct communication to its members. Notices can be sent to all members informing them of upcoming shows or any other info the artist or agent would like them to have. As well, group im’s can be sent directly to the entire group. Management of an artist’s group should not be left to the artist, but rather should be the responsibility of the agent.

Staffing/Attendance at in world events (Agents do often)
As I said earlier, an agent should employ enough staff to accomplish the work that needs to be done to promote their clients. Good staff is valuable and can go a long way to helping an agent and the artists succeed. In addition to having staff perform the above tasks, a good agent will send people to in world events to help promote the artist to those in attendance, invite people to join the artist’s group, inform those in attendance of upcoming shows and to promote the artists website/blog. In addition, any staff sent by the agent to a show will help in populating the venue. There is nothing worse that teleporting to a venue and finding the place empty or having only venue staff on site. Having random staff members attend events alleviates this.

Classifieds (Agents never do)
In world classified ads are probably not as effective as other types of in world marketing. However, they do have some effect. Spending a lot of money on classifieds is not usually an option so a simple 50L classified ad can bolster the other forms of marketing an agent does. A classified ad with the performer’s picture, a brief bio and a list of upcoming shows would be helpful. The nice thing about classified ads is that they can be modified and updated whenever you like. Again having a staff member do the ads and modifying them would be the way to go.

Confirmations (Some do, some don't)
When we book a performer for our club, we always sent a confirmation via notecard to the agent or performer. All details including location, date, time and rate are included so that there is no disagreement later on. Sometimes we get a confirmation from the agent, sometimes we don't. We also send a note or im to the agent and performer close to the actual time of the performance as a reminder. We don't always get an acknowledgement of this. Agents should be confirming with the venue, just to ease the venue owner's mind that the performer hasn't forgotten and is still coming. A few times we've had a performer not show up for the event and weren't sure if they had problems or simply forgot about it. An good agent will confirm with the venue and the performer on the same day as the event.

I haven’t’ seen many agents do most of the above but if they really want to portray themselves as agents then they must do what they can to promote their clients. A successful artist means a successful agent. All too often, I find the agent’s I’ve dealt with to be disorganized and seldom doing much to promote their clients (artists), customers (venues) or themselves. A good working relationship between all three is a key to success in Second Life ™.

Remodelled and New Stores

2008-09-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

First, a big welcome back to Trella who was away for a week while braving Hurricane Ike. She's safe and home and we are all so happy she is.

While she was away, we did some remodelling on the island. The main shopping area has been revamped with a huge square in the center where you can relax and grab some java. The square is surrounded by a natural lake with ducks and fountains. The stores surround the square with AFS Flexiwear, So Intimate and Messy Bedroom still the prominent stores on the East side with Native Passions (Trella) joining them.

Across the square on the west side, we've added a row of stores and hope to have them filled soon. Tattoos by Jennifer, Prefab Chic and Pawsome Designs (Mutley) move there from their old locations and are joined by Tracy's Basement (Tracy) who opened this week. Sarah and Jensen will be opening their store beside Pawsome Designs very soon. That will leave one vacant store on the west side.

Over on the North side, a two store mall features Island Jewelry and room for one more. It will also be the landing point for our Halloween display (more later). Gia's Fashion Cabaret and the Hall of Fame remain in their old locations on the south side of the square.

Things have changed at the beach and marina as well. The marina shops are gone and in their place is Off The Seawall, a four shop upper end beach mall. White Dahlia Photography and Jenny Heying Designs move from their old locations with two vacant stores ready to inhabit. Coffee and patio seating is available on the raised boardwalk overlooking the beach and marina.

Thanks to Mutley Latte for all her help in the remodelling effort..

Gia's Fashion Cabaret welcomes Sarah Irling as our newest In Vogue CoverGirl and Jensen Belfire as our very first GQ CoverGuy. They were there this past Wednesday and fit in admirably. Angee Seetan put on a spectacular show that was well attended. Up this Wednesday is Etherian Kamaboko for a return engagement at Gia's.

Halloween is coming and we've planned a few things. First, Gia's will be having a Monster's Ball with Spooky DJ Tee Yao and Live entertainment from Etherian Kamaboko and OnlyHalfCrazy Gumbo. We'll be have a Best Male and Female Monster Contest and lots of goodies including Bloody Drinks and Dracula Shooters. The fun begins at 5PM on October 31 and keeps on rocking thru the night. It's also Gia's one year anniversary so we'll be kicking it up a notch.

Second, Mutley Latte is in charge of our Halloween display this year. She'll be starting soon and I'm sure will have a few surprises for us. She's enlisting the help of Jensen Belfire and anyone else that would like to lend a hand.

Trella is itching at decorating as well. She's up for a spooky transformation on the island and will begin pretty soon. Most of the Halloween decorations and displays will be up sometime in early October.

Traffic and sales have been up this week and with lots of activities, it should continue to do so.

Drop by the island and have a look around or come down to Gia's on Wednesday at 6 for some live music and meet the Gia's In Vogue CoverGirls and GQ CoverGuy.

Ciao for now.

Jenny

No Bitching This Week

2008-09-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

Even though I have a whole lot to bitch about, I’ll take a break and give you one too. No bitching about Second Life ™ and the crap they put us through. Enough said.

First, I survived the hurricane. Okay I didn’t’ have to survive much because it wasn’t as bad as expected but still, I had to evacuate and the whole city was in turmoil. Thank god we are all safe and trying to get things back to normal. Stay away Ike!!

A couple new people join our lavender team. Paris Esparza is our new administrative assistant and will be out and about Lavender Isle checking on things and helping Trella and me with attempting to keep things running smooth. Chartier Ballinger joins our team as a Thump reporter and will be doing reviews of live performers and venues for Thump Magazine. Look for his reviews to appear shortly.

The “CHER” recreation went very well with Trella appearing as Cher and Mutley, Tee, JulieAnne and myself as backing singers and dancers. About 45 people took in the show and it was wonderful despite the usual Second Life ™ issues (oops sorry, no bitching). I think another show will be planned in the near future.

Attendance has been down over the summer at Gia’s but with school back I hope that changes somewhat. This week the incredible Phemie Alcott will be appearing and she usually attracts a crowd. Plans are under way for our Halloween event. Tentatively called “Monster’s Ball”, it’ll be on Friday the 31st of October and we’ve booked Etherian Kamaboko and OnlyHalfCrazy Gumbo to appear. Incidentally it’ll be Gia’s first anniversary on the same day and co-incidentally Etherian was the first performer to appear at Gia’s one year ago. Our very own Tee Yao will be the Spooky DJ for the event and your Mistress of Ceremonies. It’ll be a “HOWL” and we’ll have a few contests and prizes. Don’t miss out and stay tuned for further details.

Speaking of Halloween, Mutley Latte has been given the responsibility of creating a Halloween display on the Island. I’m sure she’ll top last year’s haunted house and cemetery (I created it, so it shouldn’t be hard to do). LOL. I’m looking forward to seeing what she does because she not only has an eye for detail but a great imagination.

I can’t believe how time flies because it seems like only yesterday that we had special events for holidays and here they are again. I’m already thinking of planning something for Mardi Gras on February 24 too.

Well that’s a quick update for this week. I was evacuated for a while and that affected what I was able to do inworld. Lets hope Ike stays away.

Ciao for now

Jenny

Louisiana ... Louisiana

2008-09-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

I’m writing this from a hotel room in Little Rock, Arkansas having left New Orleans on Saturday.

Being a northern girl, I have experienced harsh and brutal weather. Living in North Dakota, winters were frequently cold and windy and we could usually count on a blizzard or two each year. Although I wasn’t here for it, in 1997 North Dakota was subjected to a devastating flood that left much of the area, in particular Grand Forks, in ruins.

This past spring, I was offered and accepted a position in New Orleans. I’d visited NOLA as a tourist and loved it but was somewhat unsure of what I’d think living in the Big Easy. I shouldn’t have worried. New Orleans is a great place to live. The food, music, nightlife, culture, scenery, and of course the people are simply amazing. There is a magic in New Orleans, and I don’t mean the Voodoo kind. People here know how to live. While life may be serious, life in New Orleans is easy. It’s a party at times, it’s laid back at times but it is always enjoyable and the people here make it that way.

I’ve never experienced a hurricane first hand but certainly saw the horror and devastation that Hurricane Katrina brought to the city three years ago. I, along with most of America and the world were saddened, shocked and helpless throughout the tragedy that befell the people of this wonderful city. It was something none of us would want to live through and the people here would not want to live through again.

At the first news of Hurricane Gustav, my feelings were mixed. Scared of course as the projected path would lead to Louisiana and possibly the city of New Orleans and excited to see first hand the experiences of a hurricane. But I’m not crazy, and neither are the people in this city. When the evacuation order was issued, I along with my neighbors in Algiers began to pack what we needed in anticipation of leaving home for a while. As the news of Gustav suggested its impact would be similar to Katrina, most New Orleanians did the same.

I left New Orleans on Saturday, early afternoon and headed north. I wasn’t sure how far I would get and with the traffic, I soon found out I wouldn’t get too far. It took me nearly eight hours to get to Shreveport, normally about a 4 hour drive or so. Along the way, I met many wonderful people, people I would not have met otherwise and the feeling from most was concern, yet everyone was upbeat and positive. As Shreveport was not exactly out of the way of Gustav, the next morning I headed north again, expecting to stay in Texarkana, but I continued on to Little Rock which is where I’ll stay until I can go home.

New Orleans and Gustav is all over the news and I am glued to the television for a good part of the day. Watching the hurricane today as it attempts to breach the industrial canal, the winds tossing debris and water, I worry about my home, my neighbors’ homes and the lives of so many who stayed behind. It certainly seems, however, that Louisiana and the governments are much more prepared than they were for Katrina.

It’s hard to watch the news with the interruptions on the RNC and the president and vice-president’s plans. I’m not really sure what the fuss is about with them. I know the president and all government officials are kept informed and are in contact with whom they need to be, but it’s not like they can come down and hold up the levees. Go about your business, just stay informed.

I love Algiers and the city of New Orleans. It’s my home now and I have been learning every day from my friends and neighbors about the culture here, the history and the people. I may not be a full fledged New Orleanian yet, but I intend to be someday. New Orleans recovered from Katrina with a new cautious outlook on weather challenges and disasters. But the spirit of the city remains and always will. New Orleans is unique, unlike any other city in America and it’s not only the culture and history that make it that way, it’s the attitude of the people. People make a city, and New Orleans was made wonderfully.

As I watch Gustav’s impact on Louisiana, I hope and pray that it passes with little destruction and that we can all return safely to our intact homes and lives. The people of New Orleans will persevere and the legends of the French Quarter, The Garden District, The Streetcars, Mardi Gras, Jazz and Blues and the Cajun lifestyle will flourish for everyone across the world to enjoy. I hope you come to see us someday.

Good Luck New Orleans. I love you and will see you very soon.

“Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez”

Ciao for now!!
Jenny

Live Music In Second Life ™

2008-08-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

So what’s happening with the live music scene and nightclubs in second life ™? Is continuing to be a draw? Is it popular? What’s the future for live music?

Live performances have been happening in second life for a few years now, but it’s been the past year or so that it’s become a noticeable draw. It started slowly with a few performers and has continually increased with more and more performers showing their talents in second life ™. Not only are there many performers, but the increase in performers has created an increase in live music venues as well as agencies to handle the performers and their shows. As well the price tag has increased as well. 2500L would get you a great performer for your venue a while ago, now the price tag is more like 5000 and in some cases much higher.

But what does this increase in numbers mean. Has the market become saturated? Have audiences lost interest?

One measuring stick is the number of people who attend these performances. When I first ventured out to see live artists, it was typical to average about 35 av’s in the audience, with a good night or performer drawing 40-50. It was kind of the benchmark to measure how you did as a venue owner or manager. When I started my club, Gia’s Fashion Cabaret, this was much the case. We began slowly with about 20 people as an average but in short time grew to that 35-40 mark. Yes we had a few shows that drew 50 and on a special event night, like Halloween we could expect that 50 mark to be pushed.

The past few months have show a drop in attendance. Not only at my club but grid wide. I first noticed at my club that attendance dropped substantially to about 15-20 on average and good nights pushing just over 20 av’s. I’ve been concerned and couldn’t see any cause for it as the entertainment was good, some new, some established and comments from people who attended were that they loved the place and had a great time. I ventured out to see how other clubs were doing and with the odd exception, it seemed to be the status quo. Most clubs I went to were drawing the same numbers. Yes on a rare occasion there would be 30 or so but it was very rare. I spent a fair bit of time checking out other clubs and could see no rhyme or reason for it.

Some people have suggested that the cause may be summer with less people logging in. At first I thought that made sense. However I haven’t really seen a drop in the number of people logging in. At any given time, the numbers on the welcome screen indicate 45000+ and usually close to 60,000. That has really changed since pre summer days so I don’t think it’s the cause.

Has live music hit a wall in second life ™? I tend to think this may be the case. There are so many performers in second life and is there anything really unique about them? A few yes, but most are playing to the same backing tracks, doing the same rehashed covers. I think people just get tired of hearing the same things over and over and if they do go out, it’s for other reasons, to see friends, to chat etc. Having your av standing around (okay dancing) in a club listening to a singer can be very uneventful (okay boring) and unless the performer adds something unique, people wont’ stay. Yes they get their followers and people who will always go to see them, but it’s the bulk of the others that don’t’ seem to go.

As well, a lot of the numbers are inflated. I know that a lot of the agencies that represent artists send group members to venues to help populate the club for the performance. While this may make the attendance look good, it’s not really an indication of the draw of the artist or the venue.

And what of the venues? Why do they continue? Most venues operate on the premise that they will draw people in who will make use of the other businesses or stores that they have nearby. But I don’t think this happens very often. People tp in to a show and leave after. If they are not there to shop, they won’t. And if a lot of the people are either in the performer’s group or sent by an agency, they aren’t likely to use other services there either. With the cost of hiring performers and staff, I don’t see how venues can survive for long. In fact something you see quite often is that clubs open and then close a short time later. There are only a handful of clubs that have been around for more than a year.

So what’s in the future? Well I see the live music presence dwindling somewhat. Not completely, there will always be live performances but what I see happening is that more clubs will close as they feel the costs and lack of attendance mount and with people tiring of the same old same old as far as singers go, the attendance will continue to drop. I feel you’ll see fewer venues operating on a regular basis and sticking to more popular, more experienced and somewhat unique performers. There will always be a few clubs that open and then close and always be a few new performers, but it wont’ be the norm.

Live music hit a peak during the past year in second life ™ and I think that peak has passed. As a supporter of live music, I hope to see it flourish and that venue owners and performers can make get together and make things work. It’s hard to make it in any business in second life ™ especially when faced with rl money and companies venturing in. Second life like real life faces upturns and downturns and I feel live music is on a downturn. And I didn’t even mention cover charges.

Ciao for now

Jenny

New Viewer, New Problems

2008-08-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

I know the Linden’s do their best to make our Second Life ™ experience a trouble free one and the inevitable new viewer updates are supposed to make corrections to the problems that exist. If that’s all it was, it would be fine.

A new viewer does help with some of the issues and for the most part, I welcome new viewers and the relief from annoyances. However, I fail to understand why the Lindens feel it is necessary to change things with each upgrade that do not need to be changed and did not have any problems. It seems with every viewer upgrade, a few things we are used to and were working fine get changed and problems arise.

With the latest viewer upgrade there are the usual unnecessary changes.

The first change I noticed was with camera controls. Okay, they were not perfect before, a bit jittery, but I got used to them and could maneuver fairly well. They changed them. Now the camera controls are extremely sensitive, a slight touch and they move far more than you wanted them to. As well, they don’t’ stop immediately. When you let go of the control, it keeps moving and slowing down. Kind of like a train stopping. You end up going well past the point you wanted and then toggle back only to miss your point again. It’s extremely frustrating. I was taking photos of clothing yesterday and what would normally be a ten minute job took me well over an hour. Ouch!

The second change is the location of your friend’s. It used to be that when you clicked on communicate, your friend list would come up as a tab. Now that is gone and the only way you can see your friend list is to bring up groups to find a friend’s tab. I’m not sure what was wrong with the old location.

Replacing friends on your chat screen is a tab for gestures. Why we need gesture here I’m not so certain. I have never found the need to have my gesture list within my chat screen, but maybe I’m missing something. I found the gestures located on your bottom tool bar to be efficient.

As far as fixing things, I never noticed a thing. It’s not like I log on and go, “Wow they fixed that” or “They made that better”. No, after a viewer update, even though I read the release notes, I notice no improvement. Makes me wonder what they are thinking.

To top it off, it never fails, new viewer and a whole slew of problems for a while. You can count on it. This time, failed logins, unable to log in for hours, and when I did log in, I was resorted to a ball of gas. Yep, I had no body or face, just a ball of gas. Ecch.

Lindens, please please don’t fix things. Leave them broken

Well I’ve only notice those things, but it’s early yet.

Ciao for now

Jenny

Group Invites and Marketing

2008-07-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

I had a visitor to one of my stores complain this week about being sent an invitation to join our group. She called it spam, unwarranted and took up her time and threatened to complain.

Well to fill you in, here’s what we do at the store. We have a visitor tracker that we can access a list of who has visited the store in the last 24 hours. From this list, we send an invitation to anyone who isn’t already a member of our group. The invitation goes out and the visitor can either accept or decline. It’s a few second operation.

The reasons for doing this are many. The advertising and marketing opportunities are limited in second life and we use groups as a way of informing people of various activities and new releases. A notice is sent to group members only when new outfits are released, when we have special promotions and also to give away prizes randomly. It’s effective to a point as people will come down to check out new releases and they stay in the group to receive the prizes. We use a lot of information from the group such as numbers, turn over, frequency etc. It’s a useful tool in second life business. We can see how often people return to the store and if people are leaving the group. It’s a good way of staying informed.

It would be nice if we could ask people as they come in to the store, but since we can’t be there all the time, we use this method.

I don’t feel that group invitations are spam, because we don’t target everyone and send out a blanket note or invite. Only people who visit our store, and those who are not already members are sent an invitation. If you don’t want to join, it takes a split second to decline the invitation.

I get a lot of invitations to join groups and most are sent without asking me. I don’t’ mind as I am free to accept or decline. I often get invites and not know who the group is or why it is sent to me, but I don’t question that as I figure I must have been somewhere to trigger an invitation. I simply decline. If I recognize the group and wish to be part of it I accept it. I receive a lot of group invites in clubs. Almost every club I go to in my capacity as a reporter for Thump Magazine sends me a group invitation. Most of the time it is sent without my permission. But I realize that this is the club owner’s best tool and I accept that.

I can understand being annoyed if you receive a lot of group invites. But generally, invites are triggered by visiting places. Yes it may be frustrating, but understand that this is no different than real life in a lot of ways. We get unsolicited mail and phone calls in real life and unless they get abusive or repetitive, it’s not really a major issues. I can understand if we sent you numerous requests and you were flooded with them, but we do it once and leave it at that.

I’ve talked before about marketing in second life and the limitations it has. People don’t travel the same as rl, watch television or any of the other areas where marketing would prove effective. We can’t use tv advertisements; put billboards along the roadside hoping you’ll drive by or put up signs in buses and other areas. In second life the ways of advertising are limited to the following:

1. Posting notices in events search (fairly effective but is not supposed to be used as general advertising, just for specific events, product launches etc.)
2. Classifieds, not as effective unless you want to pay an exorbitant amount of money and even then I’m not sure how effective it is. I have ads for all my businesses, but the hits stay fairly low compared to event notices.
3. Parcel search, for the 30L fee, it’s not bad. It keeps you listed in search.
4. Ad boards – I’ve used a few in various places but I don’t find them very effective. They are usually set in out of the way areas of a club or mall and people don’t really seem to use them.
5. SLX- I do post notices in SLX regularly and see a fair response. It’s hard to determine how much of this transforms into actual sales or visits.

Aside from the above, we use events at our nightclub to promote other businesses on the island through announcements and sponsorship.

I’m not sure why people get so offended in second life. I hope we don’t, but it’s business.

Getting Things Done

2008-07-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

Okay so it was a pretty hectic week, but at least we got a lot of things done and my to do list is starting to shrink.

Silhouettes in the Dark was held on Friday and it went extremely well. Gypsy Wave did a marvelous job and attendance hit 44. With summer upon us, I feel that is a pretty good showing. I’m aiming for another fashion show in the fall and hope that number climbs at that time. Backstage photos can be seen on the Special Events page.

Alex Parsons played Gia’s this week and he really did a fantastic show. A small crowd, but he was very entertaining and rocked the house. Those who did show up had a fantastic time. This week it’s Frogg Marlow and Jaycatt Nico on Wednesday.

Without a Thump reporter, Trella and I have been trying to keep up with reviews and it’s been testy at best. This week however, I managed two reviews and Trella another. Grace McDunnough, Billy Mikoyan and Zed Essex all benefited from our pens. Check out the Thump Magazine link to read the reviews.

I started update my slx items and whew that is one big job. I managed to get a lot of old stuff deleted and have been updated the AFS link on all the others. It’s pretty time consuming and I’ve got a long way to go. Unfortunately you can’t update all of them at the same time, you have to do each outfit one by one. With approximately 300 items listed, it’s a hefty job. I did get newer stuff organized and in a separate folder in my inventory, but won’t list them on slx until I’ve edited everything else.

We only have two parcels of land left to rent, one 2048 and one 4096. Someone did drop by yesterday to look at the 2048 and seem interested. We’ll see what happens today.

I’ve gone around the island and tried to clean up and organize as much as I can. The fashon show site is down and I put up an amusement park ride area just before the beach. I added the Twister and Iron Fist to the skydiving and other rides. I’ll still need to find a place to put the new fashion center, but considering its size, I may have to put it in the sky and have a tp up. I’ll think on it a bit.

Prefab Chic has been added to this blog with its own page. Check it out for the prefab buildings we sell on the island.

With Louise Hiton on board as administrative assistant, I’m hoping my work load will drop. We still need a couple covergirls for Gia’s and a reporter for Thump.

I still have lots to do and plans for the Isle yet. Trella and I will be meeting before the end of the week to get a little more organized and to prepare for Louise’s first day on Monday. I’ll be working a little each day on the SLX inventory and once it’s done, I’m not going to get behind on it again. Hehe. I want to locate the fashion center and I’m also working on college, but there’s no rush on either one.

What I really want to do is get back to creating. I haven’t’ done swimsuits in a while and would like a few new ones out and then on to clothing as well. I enjoy building and would like to concentrate on that too. I know that I have a number of things to do in managing the staff and island which is fine, but I’d really like to devote more time to creating. Hopefully Trella, Louise and I can manage to split up the responsibilities and I’ll be able to do just that.

Well I need to get back to work. Ha Ha!
Soon.

Jenny

Fashion Show This Friday @ 5PM

2008-07-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

This Friday at 5PM SLT is the “SILHOUETTES IN THE DARK” Fashion Show.

I’m devoting most of this post to the fashion show. It’s going to be an awesome event and should run around 1- 1 ½ hours. Jojo Cusack from Gypsy Wave Modeling Agency has put together 12 gorgeous Second Life ™ models to walk the catwalk. It’ll be an amazing sight to see as the models will not only be on the catwalk individually but in pairs and foursomes and at some point all twelve together. Jojo has been working with the models for the past month and that part I know will be perfection.

Jojo’s partner Tsunami Rickenbacker will be the MC for the event. Not only introducing and describing the outfits but also playing some incredible background music. It will really add to the atmosphere.

The outfits will also be something to see. I’ve designed 24 outfits for the show and each has a little something unique about them. From a very short mini skirt, an absolutely cute cocktail dress, intricate gowns to skirts with unusual leggings. In addition to the skirts and dresses, the ladies will be modeling some tattoos, jewelry, stockings and scarves which I also designed. They are incredible to look at and should be a fantastic site to see.

I’ve also put together a few things for you when you arrive at the Janine Memorial Fashion Center in Lavender Isle. There is a gift package from both AFS Flexiwear and Lavender Corporation. Make sure you pick up both, available at the kiosks right on the walkway. As well, I’ve put out a guest book for you to submit your comments. I’d love it if you dropped a note in with your praise, criticism or just to say hi. I look forward to reading them.

The Janine Memorial Fashion Center, located in the middle of Lavender Isle (just a short walk down the red walkway from the landing point) is set up with a Lavender adorned catwalk and a red octagon model entrance. The catwalk floor is done in a psychedelic design, but you’ll need your movie button turned on to see it. There’s plenty of very comfortable seating along the catwalk and if it really fills up, there are bleachers across the walkway to use.

I’m hoping for a good turnout on Friday. Pulse Point Marketing sent out press releases and gift bags to most of the Second Life ™ media and the response so far has been good.
CNN’s ireport did a write up http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-39918 and I was contacted by Looking Glass Magazine http://www.slookinglass.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=468&Itemid=132 about an insert in this weeks issue. In addition, I’ve posted four event notices and used some ad space at various locations within Second Life ™. I’ll get Trella to post a couple more notices as well. Notices will go out to A Fashion Statement, Gia’s Fashion Cabaret and Pulse Point Marketing Group members inviting them to the show.

All in all things are looking good and I’m more excited than I have been about any previous show. I’m getting Goosebumps.

After a long search, we finally hired an administrative assistant. louise Hiten, from the UK, will be joining us officially on July 28th but will be around this week getting oriented. She’s a wonderful woman; Trella and I are very impressed with her. She’ll act as our fifth arm in trying to keep things running smoothly on Lavender Isle and with the way Trella and I keep coming up with ideas, louise should be quite busy. She’ll be doing group invites, notices, keeping track of things on the Isle and doing research for us as well as a multitude of other things. If you see her around the Isle, make sure you stop and say HI. I know she’ll be a great addition to our little family. Welcome to Lavender Corporation louise.

KevinMThomas Carpool played Gia’s Wednesday night and it truly was a spectacular show. He’s a great musician and vocalist and the crowd of 33 were kept in awe the entire time. We have to have him back. This week it’s Blu Drucot at Gia’s and from what I hear about Blu, it should be another great evening. Plan to be there.

Elsewhere, we’ve been keeping busy on the island. We’ve added a few more builds, new outfits were released at AFS Flexiwear, we named a few more streets and Trella put out a fishing venture at the piers in the marina. What that means is that aside from live music and shopping we have a whole lot of incredible things for you to see and do on Lavender Isle. You can now fish at the pier, take an inner tube ride from the pier through the canals, sky dive, use the waterslide, get on an amusement ride and to top it all off ride the LIRT (monorail) that actually travels underwater for a short stretch. There’s also a day spa to relax in a hot tub or try out some new makeup, a gym where you can actually exercise and lift weights and a restaurant where yes, you can sit down and enjoy a meal.

All in all your Lavender Isle experience should be an awesome one and we strive to make that happen. Drop down anytime you like and enjoy the facilities and if you feel like shopping, we won’t stop you.

Please don’t forget “SILHOUETTES IN THE DARK” fashion show, this Friday at 5PM SLT. Be there earlier because the sim fills up quickly. Click the poster for more information.

Have a great week and
Ciao for now

Jenny

Crazy Crazy Crazy

2008-07-08T09:42:00.001-07:00

Well it has been crazy here on Lavender Isle. My to do list has grown to three pages and it’s getting tough to calm it down. LMAO. It’s my fault, because I just keep adding new things and then that adds to the work load. Plans are to hire an administrative assistant to take away some of the tasks that Trella and I have to do. I should be down to spending time creating only, but I know that will never happen. At least I can free up some time.

Well the new stuff is kinda old kinda new. I resurrected Prefab Chic, the prefab building store. It’s located on Erinn Cove near the LIRT and has a tp up to a rezzing platform where you can rez all the buildings. I pulled out a few of the older buildings from my inventory and added some of the newer ones I’ve made since coming to the isle. I still have quite a few in inventory and I’m pulling them out one by one to see if they are of quality and where I want them on display. It should take a few more days to get that part straightened out. But in the meantime, the store is open and there are about 9 buildings to view. All at reasonable prices I might add. Also new is the LIFD (Lavender Isle Fire Department). I know, why do we need a fire department (police department, clinic); it’s my touch of realism that I can’t seem to lose. I like to have the services that you would have in rl displayed in sl even if they aren’t really functional. It adds to the experience for me and I hope it does others as well.

WildAngel Paine has left Gia’s as a covergirl to pursue other interests. She’s djing a lot and landed a job at a club that pays her quite well, so I don’t blame her. Good luck Angel. That leaves us with Tracy as host and Mutley and Tee as covergirls. We need a couple more covergirls and maybe a backup host so if you’re interested, sent Trella or me a note. We’ll advertise it soon as well.

I’m getting excited about the fashion show on July 18 (not that far away now). Gypsy Wave is now going to use 12 models in the show and we are getting some press on it. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be an amazing event and I’m itching to see it and get started on organizing the next one (slow down huh). When the show is done, I’m removing the runway builds as I’ve been working on a fashion center to use for shows. I just need to find room for it..hehe. I won’t say much about it except that it’s totally awesome and I’m naming it after my sister. “Janine Memorial Fashion Center”.

We’ve been picking up in all areas of business around the isle including renters. We now have three residential renters, two commercial at the marina and two in the shopping district. Still space left and I’m optimistic. Sales at the stores has increased since the slowdown that resulted from the move and it looks like we are back to normal again.

Gia’s is still a little down in the traffic department. We’ve had some amazing shows including Allister Westland who was fantastic this past Wednesday. This week it’s KevinMThomas Carpool who I hear will simply knock your socks off. I hope the slowdown at Gia’s was because of SL’s birthday party that lasted forever. Let’s hope the crowd picks up this week.

Okay, I got lots to do so I better keep this short. Always new things happening at Lavender Isle and I have plans for many new ventures.

Ciao for now

Jenny

Lavender Isle Rapid Transit (LIRT)

2008-06-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well guess what? We have a rapid transit system (monorail) on Lavender Isle.

I’ve been thinking about it for the past week and did some research on the project. I liked the idea and they weren’t all that expensive, but I was still undecided. I headed off to Skyrider Systems and met with the owner Krell Shinohara. He’s a really nice man and spent a whole lot of time with me showing various systems; I think I rode them for over an hour, and answering my onslaught of questions. I saw so many different types and even one that went underwater. So Kewl!

After talking to Krell and having him visit Lavender Isle to give me his thoughts and an estimate, I decided to go ahead and hence “Lavender Isle Rapid Transit” (LIRT) was born.

Krell spent most of Sunday building the cars and track and that part is done. He was back Monday to work on it and it looks like is should be complete today. Just the sub stations to finish.

We decided to go with a clockwise track running through the major districts of Lavender Isle and best part? Between the marina and business district, the monorail will travel underwater. Now that is kewl. From the marina, it heads towards the ocean and descends down underneath the water and travels along the beach. I put in a few fish and stuff to have a look at when you’re down there. Also, I added a deep water warning sign (because we had to make it deeper to accommodate the monorail) and a couple buoys. It comes up from the ocean just in front of the Lavender office before stopping at the first station (Thump STN).

I know, I’m jumping all over. Lol. Krell and I talked about theme and decided to continue with the Mexican/tropical theme of the sim. The monorail posts right now are peachy stucco and the coach you ride in is green, styled after a Mexican subway car. The coach is pretty kewl too. When you get in, the doors close before it moves and when it comes out of the ocean, the wipers start up to clean the windshield. Now that’s amazing.

From Thump STN, it’s a short straight jaunt down to GIA STN. This is the stop for Gia’s Cabaret, Hall of Fame and White Dahlia. From Gia’s, the LIRT makes a turn and angles across the canal toward the shopping district and turns to run along Lavender Drive, stopping at the AFS STN which is situated between AFS Flexiwear and So Intimate. Off to the end of the drive and a right turn along the edge of the residential district before stopping at the next station Tresses STN and across the street, the Lavender Isle Rapid Transit offices where you can purchase tickets (free) or look at the schedule (??). The LIRT then continues on before making a right turn into the marina area and finally a left turn and through a tunnel to end up back at the Marina STN. Quite a ride, huh!

Still lots to do with the addition of the LIRT. I've been working on platforms at the stations. Seating and space for advertising would be kewl, but I’ll have to see as it’s not that high and I don’t want to interfere with the look of everything else. But it is so kewl to have the LIRT.

Thank you so much Krell and Skyrider.

Trella has been involved with set up and organizing a new sim for the past while and it culminated with the opening this past weekend of Cherry Creek. It’s an equestrian type sim with horses and stables and a whole lot else along that line. I was there for the opening ceremonies and for EmberMoon’s performance. Traffic was in the high 8000’s, so great job Trella.

Silhouettes in the Dark plans are coming along. I’m pretty much ready, and Pulse Point sent out some press releases. We got a write up on ireport that you can check out if you like. http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-39918. Outfits have been delivered to gypsy wave and now just the waiting part. Lol. Since I got restless, I built a new fashion center to house fashion shows. It’s got a walk around runway, fountains, birds of paradise and looks simply amazing. I’ll wait till after this show before I put it up though. I hate to disrupt what is there now.

We have three residential tenants on the island now. Tracy Serra has a 2048 lot on the SE corner, Greta Dochery has a 2048 lot on the SW corner and Partyhard Dowd and Incognito Dayafter have a 2048 lot next to Greta. Welcome home.

This week at Gia’s is Allister Westland. He put on a fantastic performance last time he was here. It was live as live gets and had me jumping up and down. Make sure you pop on down because he is something to see. Also, we’ll be picking our winner for June in the Gia’s In Vogue fan of the month contest.

New clothes are going up weekly at So Intimate and AFS Flexiwear. I’m featuring the new items in the blog on the stores pages so you can see them here first.

Other than that, it’s a typical busy week in sl.

Ciao for now

Jenny

New Look Blog

2008-06-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t noticed, the Lavender Blog looks a little different. Actually a lot. I’ve spent the past week redesigning it and I’m happy with the result.

Instead of the one page blog with everything crammed into that page, there are now ten pages and possibly more to come. I set up a separate page for each business with more information on that business located on their page. Each page contains a short description of the business, a link to its location inworld, some pictures and in the case of retail, a few featured items. There’s also a staff page with their photos and bios.

The main page contains the blog postings. Here I’ll still do the same with my rants and raves, but if you notice to the left, all that’s there is links to the other pages. Click those and you’re taken to a page on that particular business.

I like this format because it gives me a few more options. First I can put a little more information on each page and what I really like is that I can feature a few items that are for sale. Check AFS Flexiwear and So Intimate and you’ll see what I mean. It also leaves me more room to add a few other things down the road. Got an idea for what else should be on the pages? Please let me know.

It’s been very busy around Lavender Isle lately. A couple residential tenants moved in, taking space on the south side. Plans for the fashion show are well underway. Gypsy Wave is handling the models and organization while Pulse Point Marketing is handling the promotion with press releases. They also designed a new poster for me. It’s on the blog now and I’m pretty impressed with it. The outfits are done, I’ve put together a couple gift bags, created a program and guest book and have been adding finishing touches to the catwalk and reception area. Can’t wait for the 18th.

I’ve sold two of my mainland parcels, but still have quite a few left. I split the Slipp land into four – 4096sqm lots and Wrasse has a 6144sqm and a 1024sqm.

This week at Gia’s is the fabulous Evamoon Ember. She was so awesome that last time she played here. We’ve booked acts through July and will start booking August very soon.

I’m still looking for a reporter for Thump Magazine. I’m a little pressed for time and have a little trouble keeping up with reviews, but so far I’m managing. I’d also like to interview a performer, but that’ll wait till I have more time.

AFS Flexiwear and So Intimate have a few new outfits up. One thing I keep managing to do is design clothing. I seem to be more than up to date with enough items in inventory to last a while. I’ll try releasing a couple items each week for the time being, at least until the fashion show when all 24 items from the show will be released.

Trella has opened two stores in the shopping district. Native Passions sells native art and collectibles while Juanita’s Cassa de Shoes carries you guessed it, shoes, as well as an assortment of hair.

Well that’s it for this week. Hope to see you at Gia’s or hanging around Lavender Isle. I know I will.

Ciao for now

Jenny

Silhouettes And Other Goings On

2008-06-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well I was back to a full week on Lavender Isle and I didn’t have a lot of free time. Lots of happenings and work to do. Here’s a recap of what’s going on.

We’re having a fashion on July 18 at 5PM called “Silhouettes in the Dark”. It’ll feature 24 outfits with 8 models. Models and pageantry courtesy of Jojo Cusack and Gypsy Wave. Her partner Tsunami Rickenbacker will MC. Click the poster to for more details.

I built a new catwalk, fashion show area along the walkway to the beach. I kind of copied the set for a show I saw in rl. I think it looks pretty amazing.

Partly because of the fashion show, and partly because I have a bunch of energy, I’ve been making quite a few outfits lately. I’ve stored them in inventory and will be releasing them periodically. There are some new items for sale at AFS, So Intimate and Island Jewelry.

Vienna James was in a car accident and had to cancel her gig at Gia’s, but Onehempcat Oldrich offered to fill in and did a marvelous job. He’ll be back at Gia’s this week. He’s an awesome guitar player so please check him out. Also, someone in attendance will be nominated for In Vogue Fan of the Week. You have to be there to be nominated.

Tracy Serra, our resident Gia’s hostess has taken on the position of “Curator” for Gia’s Second Life Music Hall of Fame. She’s an amazing photographer so you know there will be some amazing pictures. She’s got a free hand to do what she likes in there and I’m expecting some creative things. She’s got a very imaginative mind. She also rented some land on Lavender Isle and moved her holodeck there. Welcome home Tracy!

Our very own VP Trella McMahon has been busy as well. Aside from her usual duties in marketing and booking live acts for Gia’s, she’s also been working with Cherry Creek to develop their sim and organize their horse show. She also rented two shops on Lavender Isle selling shoes, hair and a few other things. She’s gotten into hair and shoes lately which is good because we need a shoe and hair store on the Isle. Trella is also runner InWorld Magic Music Management providing services to live performers. Slow down girl. Hehe.

Trella and I added some inner tubes to the water system within Lavender Isle. At the marina, you can click to rez an inner tube and the float around the waterways taking in the sights of the island. I need to improve the waterway system just a tad. You can float from the marina, along the ocean to Heying Drive then right down to Gia’s. Unfortunately you can’t access the waterway on Lavender Drive between the shops, but I’ll make that possible soon. I’d like to be able to go right around the island on the tubes. It’s a great way to travel, with movement and sound. Try it out.

Mutley has taken up residence beside the Lavender Office. She doesn’t need much space, but it looks pretty good. She doesn’t seem to think so, but she’s quite the builder. We have to develop that talent.

Since buying Lavender Isle, I put up my entire mainland for sale. The three properties in Camembert have sold leaving Slipp (4-4096’s), Wrasse (6144 & 1024) as the only mainland I have left.

I’m keeping quite busy with getting ready for the fashion show. I have the outfits ready and done a poster. Now I have to concentrate on getting the word out. I’ll be checking out some promotion firms to see what they can do. I’d like to get a press release out to all the fashion people in sl. As well I have to put together some gifts for a gift bag to give out at the show. Any ideas?

Traffic is good, sales are up and there’s lots of activity on Lavender Isle. There are so many things to see and do, so here’s an updated list of what’s there.

Lavender Corp Head Office
Thump Magazine Offices
InWorld Magic Music Management Offices
Gia’s Fashion Cabaret & Event Center
Gia’s Second Life Music Hall of Fame
White Dahlia Photography
Messy Bedroom
So Intimate Ladies Beachwear
AFS Flexiwear
Miguel’s Restaurant
The Gym
Island Jewelry
Juanita’s Casa de Shoe
Native Passions
Day Spa
T-Shirt Shack
Tattoos

The list keeps growing and don’t forget, there’s also a large public beach, marina with docks and boats and residential land and commercial shops available for rent.

That's it for now,

Ciao for now and have a great week

Jenny

Janine .. (1978-2008)

2008-06-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

"If tears could build a stairway
and thoughts a memory lane

I'd walk right up to heaven

and bring you home again

No Farewell words were spoken

No time to say good-bye

You were gone before I knew it

And only God knows why."

This past week I said goodbye to my sister Janine.
Janine was a warm loving caring woman who never hesitated to help me, console me or offer me advice. Though she was often in pain, she made me a priority. We were sisters but more importantly we were also friends. Throughout our childhood we spent our time together helping our parents with the running of a resort. We helped out a lot and as such did not have a lot of time for other friends.

When I left home for college, she gave me emotional support and through the lonely and homesick periods, her phone calls were my strength. During our parents break-up, she would console me and offer me explanations and reasoning. During my indecisiveness on moving for my career, my relationship issues, and in general, my entire life, she was the voice of reason and comfort.

Her life was not perfect, she had her share of pitfalls, but she always had a positive outlook and never complained. No matter what she encountered in life, she always saw the bright side and accepted things as they were. She cared about family and was proud of their accomplishments. She made a great choice in a husband and brought a wonderful son to this world.

She has left a part of herself in her son. I see that in him. She also has left a part in me. I remember that. She has touched so many lives and made many of our lives pleasurable. I looked up to Janine, and still do. I strive to be like her in so many ways. She was my mentor, my confidant, my friend, my sister.

I love you Janine.

Always

Jenny

One Great Week

2008-06-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

This was a truly amazing week.

Lavender Isle is pretty much completed and it looks gorgeous if I do say so myself. Many Many thanks to Trella for all she did in helping build and beautify the sim. We are open for business and drop by cause we have a lot there.

Wednesday saw the return of Frogg Marlowe to Gia's Fashion Cabaret and what a show. Frogg is an amazing performer and really draws in a crowd. Odessa Dagostino followed him and for only her second show in second life, she rocked the house. I look forward to both of them returning in the future.

On Saturday, we held our 1960's Beach Party. It started off with a So Intimate Swimwear Fashion Show. There was a small crowd, but that didn't deter us or the models. Tee Yao, Tsukkei Cao and Odessa did a stellar job. It was a great show, the models, outfits and everything were stupendous.

BubbaC John did two live performances 3 and 7 PM and his Elvis is unbeatable. He's an amazing show man and with a crowd of just over 30 for the first show, it's obvious he has a following. Odessa did a live show at 6 of 1960's songs and the crowd just loved it. Even BubbaC took her in and said he was impressed. Way to go Odessa.Our very own cover girl Wildangel Paine did the DJ thing for a 1960's beach party. Fantastic tunes, some I haven't heard before, but we all had a great time dancing to the oldies. Mutley Latte and Jack42 Meredith won the dance contest and Tee Yao took the second round. Congrats guys. All in all the Beach Party was a huge success and a whole lot of fun. This week at Gia's is Peltzer Hirano, Wed at 6. Be there or be square.

All The swimsuits from the fashion show are now available at So Intimate and I've just finished six new gowns for AFS Flexiwear that should be in the store very soon. A couple new items at Messy Bedroom as well, please check them out.

Gia's second life music hall of fame is now open, with pics and gifts from your favorite performers and we besides the Day Spa and Gym, we have Miguel's Restaurant, T-Shirt Shack, Island Jewelry and Tattoos. Look for more to come as I still have that building urge.

I'm getting the hang of my job in rl and it's a lot of fun as well. Great people down here in the Big Easy, but I have to watch, there's also a lot of strange ones. lol.

Anyway, have a great week and I'll talk to you soon. Check out Thump Magazine for music reviews, link on this page.

Stay kewl and Ciao for now

Jenny

Presenting "Lavender Isle"

2008-05-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

What a week? Busy Busy Busy!!

Trella and I have been working extremely hard developing the new sim. Here's a recap of what you'll find when you visit us in Lavender Isle.

AFS Flexiwear headlines the sim as usual and features a wide array of flexiwear including gowns, mini skirts and dresses. Two new outfits released this week. So Intimate Ladies Beachwear is just down the road from AFS featuring the finest in swimwear. New releases are ready for the fashion show on the 31st and will be in the store thereafter. Messy Bedroom completes the main street of stores and aside from it's regular low prim low cost furniture has a few newer items that were moved in this week. Body Jewelry and the T Shirt Shack (Marina) are new addition smaller stores selling just what they say.

We built an office area that houses Lavender Corp's head office, Thump Magazine and INWorld Magic Music Management. Gia's Fashion Cabaret and White Dahlia Photography head the entertainment district and there's a Marina for boats with small shops and a fantastic beach add a lil fun to the sim.

The sim looks fantastic, it seems that I build and Trella beautifies. It's an amazing combination and seems to work well. The place is pleasing to the eye and has a sort of south western/tropical theme.

Trella and I came up with an idea to honor second life musicians and performers and hence the Gia's Second Life Music Hall Of Fame was born. It's located above Gia's (TP in Gia's) and has photographs of each Gia's performer as well as their promo items and giveaways. Check it out, it's worth a look see. Speaking of Gia's, Mikelec Criss really rocked the house on Wednesday. What a performer. He was totally amazing. Odessa Dagostino followed Mikelec in her SL debut and she put on a great show. Up This week Is Frogg Marlowe for a a repeat performance. Drop by Wednesday at 6PM.

The Pink Floyd "The Wall" concert went as scheduled on May 18 and the hour and a half show was simply spectacular. We hit the max of 50 people and it stayed there the entire time. People were trying to tp in but couldn't get there. Next time they perform, get there early.

Coming up on Saturday May 31 from 2-8 PM is our 1960's Appreciation Beach Party. It's gonna be all 60's with three live performances, a dance party, swimwear fashion show, dance contest, games, rides and a whole lot more down on the beach. It'll be rocking and a whole lotta fun.

It seems whenever someone mentions something, i take it literally and run with the idea. Hence the Day Spa. Tracy, Trella and I work talking and mention having a spa, so i built one. I put up a gym too, with weights and workout equipment.

Miguel's restaurant is an idea that hit me one day when I had nothing to do (???). So there it is next to AFS and yes to can sit there and have a meal.

A Big Big welcome to Tee Yao who joins the Lavender family as a Gia's Covergirl. Say hi to Tee when you stop in at Gia's. BTW, she'll also be modelling at the So Intimate Fashion Show.

Real Life is just as busy. I arrived in New Orleans about a week or so ago and am just about settled in my new apartment. Food here is amazing and I don't think I'll every tire of oysters and Cajun food. (Can u say weight gain).

Well that's it for another busy busy week. Take care and make sure you drop by Lavender Isle and have a chat.

Ciao for now.

Jenny

New Sim; Same Lavender Gang

2008-05-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Lots of changes, exciting and enticing with the Lavender Group;

First, we'll be moving. We have our own sim now "Annamaria Malvado". It's an openspace sim but it's an island an nothing but water all around. Trella and I have been moving everything this past week. So far we've moved AFS Flexiwear (formerly A Fashion Statement), White Dahlia Photography, Thump Magazine, Lavender Corporation Offices and built a new store for So Intimate Ladies Beachwear and an office for INworld Magic Music Management. It's a southern/adobe theme and it really looks awesome. We've moved part of Gia's over and have been working on the beach area as well. We are in a holding pattern now until after the Pink Floyd Revue on the 18th of May. The Pink Floyd Show takes a lot of prims so we thought we might wait until it's finished before we load up the island with more. After the 18th we'll finish moving Gia's and complete the rest of the sim. Hopefully we can have our grand re-opening the following week.

Speaking of Pink Floyd, don't miss the show on Sunday May 18 at 2PM SLT. It's a specular tribute to Pink Floyd, well done, and don't you dare miss it. It'll take place on the new sim, check the events for a landmark to the show. It'll fill up fast so come early and have a look around the new sim.

Lots of spectacular shows coming up at Gia's including the incredible Vienna James (review on Thump). Trella is working hard promoting and booking live performers and week get quite a selection of the best SL has to offer at Gia's. We've talked about giving new performers an opportunity to play for tips, either before the Wednesday shows as a warm up act or possibly have their own night, kind of a new talent night. It'll be a great showcase for those trying to break into the live music scene in second life. Contact Trella McMahon or myself if you have an interest in performing.

On May 31, we'll be holding a customer and staff appreciation day. It'll be a 1960's Beach Party and we've got some exciting things happening. BubbaC John will be live on stage doing his tribute to Elvis, Odessa Dagostino will also perform live with a Tribute to songs of the 60's. Our very own lavender girl Wildangel Paine will be the host DJ for a 1960's dance party and there will be a 1960's themed swimsuit fashion show featuring my own designs. I've asked Bobby Fallon (the one and only) if he can do a 60's tribute revue and I'm waiting to hear back. We'll send out invites and notices to group members as soon as we have all the details lined up. Oh and there will also be a dance contest, games and rides and some pretty decent freebies for you.

On the real life side, I'm finally finished college and have landed a job in of all places, New Orleans. I'm driving down there right now to start work on Monday and am writing this post from my hotel in Kansas City. I'm pretty stoked and can't wait to get there. I won't have my Internet connected till Friday so I won't in inworld till then, but i'm staying updated via my notebook along the way.

Life is good, both real and second. You make things exciting or you die of boredom. LOL.

Hope to see you all Friday and drop by the new sim. You'll love it.

Ciao

Jenny

Coming Events

2008-04-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've done a lot of complaining about second life lately; It's time to update what's happening in the world of Lavender Corporation.

With so much happening in the stores, clubs and other businesses, I seldom have time to acknowledge the people who made everything possible: The Customers and the Staff. And with that, I'm planning on having a Customer and Staff Appreciation Beach Party probably around the end of May. It'll be on a Saturday, operate on a 1960's theme and run about five hours. Tentatively, we're planning on having a DJ with 1960's tunes, Two 1960's live performers, A 1960's swimsuit fashion show, a dance contest and a bunch of freebies and prizes. We'll hold it on the beach between Fashion Statement Mall and Gia's and the whole idea is to get the customers and staff out to meet and have a whole lot of fun. Trella and I are working on the details and booking acts, so as soon as we know, we'll pass the info on. I've also been working on some swimsuits and sundresses for the fashion show and so far, I'm impressed.

Gia's Fashion Cabaret & Event Center is booked through June and some amazing live performances are coming up in May. This Wednesday is Allistar Westland and you don't want to miss him. Trella is also working with a Pink Floyd Tribute and is booking them for mid May, again on the beach. Gia's has been updated with Men's and Ladies restrooms with a few kewl animations inside. Have a look.

I've updated some of the furniture in Messy Bedroom with anti-poseball. This means that a lot of the furniture comes without a poseball in sight, but with the same sitting animations. They look a whole lot better.

Thump Magazine continues very strong; I'm trying to do reviews at least once a week. I'm still looking for a reporter, so if you are interested, drop me a note.

In real life, I'm off to New Orleans on May 1 for a third interview. I'm excited and it's looking good so far. I'll be gone six days, so I won't be around next Sunday but I should be here for all the Gia's events.

Well that's the update for this week. Big hugs and kisses to all the Lavender Staff who do such a marvelous job keeping things running when I'm not around, and even when I am.

Ciao for now.

Jenny

Real Life Is Calling!

2008-04-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

This past week I finished what has been a five year adventure for me, College. The past five years have had many great moments and some lows as well. For those who don’t know me, I originally come from Washington State and headed east to attend college. I was very active outdoors as a youngster as my parents operated a resort. I did the usual resort type things like canoeing, skiing, hiking, guiding and of course diving. I loved diving and got consumed with it. I became an accomplished diver beginning on springboard and was winning a lot of meets and regional championships during high school. At college, I eventually turned to physiotherapy and continued diving, albeit through a local diving club. I was quite good (lol). I still won a lot and even made it to nationals twice, finishing fifth the last time was there. But in early 2007, I tore my ACL and missed a lot of time recovering. Even though I recovered from that injury, I never really regained the status I had prior to that. That’s okay; I’ve come to terms with that. I still love diving, but more like a pastime now.

I’ve also been lucky enough to learn how to sail. My father loved sailing and taught me as much as he could. During my years at college, I have been able to take working holidays sailing in the Caribbean. I didn’t make a lot of money doing it, but it was an adventure, and paid my way there. I hope I still get that opportunity.

My sister developed kidney cancer and has had some tough times over the past year. She is doing reasonably well, considering she had undergone; surgery and suffered a stroke as well. This week she is having a blood transfusion and I am hoping and praying for the best.

Now that my college days are done, it’s time to look to my future. I’m still packing up my belongings here and am not really sure where I’ll be heading. I am flying down to New Orleans for a second interview there and if that works out, I’ll guess I’ll be moving there. If not, I’ll head out to see my sister and mother before exploring the rest of my options.

Second life has been very therapeutic for me over the past couple years. Many wonderful friends and I could probably write a book about some of the things that have happened. During my rehabilitative period, I was able to spend an enormous amount of time in second life, sometimes 14-18 hours a day for quite a stretch. With final exams and preparations for interviews and working, my time in second life has dwindled. I still manage to put in a couple hours each night, but I’m not sure how it’s going to work when I start working full time.

It’s been a wonderful, incredible five years for me, with so many amazing and kewl things happening to me. As I prepare to head out to the real world to make my mark (?) in life, I’m a little afraid of what is to happen and how I’ll handle things. I want these past five years to remain with me in some way, and I’m sure they will. I’ll be in a new city, develop new friendships and probably some new interests. Hey maybe I’ll even get a love life. HaHa. But I do know that the wonderful wonderful people, places and accomplishments of second life will stay with me forever.

OMG, this sounds like a farewell letter. LMAO. It’s not, just an acknowledgement of my life. Second Life has been good to me (once in a while it gets bad), but overall a great experience. While I’m assuming my time online will be cut down, I fully intend to keep up with my friends, colleagues and businesses that I have established.

Hugs, Kisses, and A Great Big Thank You to everyone I’ve met in second life and helped me along in my journey.

Ciao For Now

Jenny!

Lindens Sure Like To Party

2008-04-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well we all know about the increasing problems within second life. I won't go on about lag, crashes, missing inventory and host of other problems we've experienced with each new viewer upgrade. And have the Lindens really done anything to improve it here since last year's open letter? Well they haven't really improved things, but they do like a party.

Most recently, the Lindens staged a 24 hour live event party. Now, I'm certainly not against having a party, and you know I support live music in second life (oops forgot the tm thingy), but the Lindens throwing them? I thought this world was created by it's inhabitants, but here we have the lindens hosting live events. And a short while ago, they hosted a huge concierge party for all those who pay over 125 in tier. I guess there's not much doing on the fixing sl front, so time to organize a party.

Second life is full of entrepreneurs, some who have built clubs and host live events. Are the Lindens competing with them now? Are they showcasing talent to potential buyers? Just what are they doing?

My thoughts haven't changed over the past year. I really think that Linden Labs is more concerned with increasing the value of second life so that potential buyers will be more impressed with what is available and thus upping the price. I believe the folks at Linden Labs want more features, windlight for example to attract buyers.

The Lindens through their lack of effort in fixing what ales second life have proven time and again to the residents that second life inhabitants don't' count for anything except numbers. They tend to promote the population statistics and the wonderful features available here without any real concern for the problems we face. The experience keeps getting worse and what can we expect from Linden Labs? A Party? Probably. In fact, lets do away with all the clubs and venues in second life and let the good folks at Linden Labs run the venues. Hell, they can even make money at it, cause you surely know it they are the only stop in town, it'll cost us to visit. And what's next on the Lab's front? Maybe they'll start designing clothes and opening up stores and malls. Oh wait, that would interfere with their corporate friends.

With Philip standing aside (not completely, he's still the CEO) it's time for Linden Labs to step to the plate and do the right thing. FIX SECOND LIFEtm.

Cover Charges; Are They Inevitable?

2008-04-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

Thump Magazine recently had a poll on whether its readers would pay a cover charge in lieu of tipping to watch a second life live performance. The result was an overwhelming 71% saying they would.

The live music club scene in second life is a fragile one. The costs for staging these events are considerably high and the opportunity for revenue is low. Live performers typically charge 3000-5000 Lindens per hour and add in a host/manager and a couple other staff members and you can see the costs for the second life venues running at about 6000 lindens per hour. And that is just one hour. To have events every evening and sometimes two, three or four performers per evening and suddenly the overhead to run a live event venue climbs to over 125,000 lindens per week. Pretty pricey stuff. Even with people pooling their resources to run these events, it’s still a drain on pocketbooks.

I run a live music venue in second life and bear the costs myself. For that reason, I only hold a live event once per week and for an hour. My costs are typical of most venues, performers in the 3500L range, my manager and staff is approximately 700L for a total of 4200L for that one performance.

What revenue streams do live venues have? Well, typically most clubs rely on tipping. But to cover the 4000-6000 lindens needed every hour, tipping would have to be extremely generous. Assuming events attract about 50 avatars, each one would have to tip an average of 80L for the club to break even. And that is on top of tipping the performer as well. Now 80L is not a lot to tip, and most people who do tip do contribute more than that. I typically tip from 100-200 lindens when I venture out. But then, not everyone tips. Of the 50 av’s in attendance, only about 10 on average contribute to the venue (more contribute to the artist). Even if they tipped 200L each, the venue would only bring in about 2000L, creating a loss of 2000-4000 lindens for the hour.

Another form of revenue for live venue owners is advertising however from what I’ve seen at most venues, there is not a lot of advertising other than for their own businesses.

So why would anyone get into the live event venue business in second life? It certainly isn’t a money maker or a sound business venture. A lot of venue owners will say they do it out of the love of live music and to keep it strong in second life. That’s true, and I feel the same way. It’s great to support live music and to provide places for artists to perform and without the venues; second life live music would not flourish. But how long can this go on the way it is. Will owners eventually have to shut down because of the drain on their finances? Will they be able to find other revenue streams to support the venue?

Well, cover charges have been suggested before, and while I’m not totally in favor of them, there is some sense to them. Again, assuming 50 avatars at an event, the venue could charge a cover charge of 100L per person and make enough to cover their expenses and a little bit of a profit as well. And is 100L cover charge an outrageous idea? Well for a lot of people in second life it may be. New additions to sl would be shut out until they can afford the cover charge. Also, a lot of people would probably limit themselves and not drop in to see a lot of performers since they would have to pay the cover each time, even if they didn’t stay long.

I don’t know which way it will go. I really don’t want to see cover charges in second life because I think it is far to limiting in our ability to see and experience everything here. But I also don’t see tipping at venues increasing. A lot of people won’t or aren’t able to tip and the ones that do, do consistently, but not enough to make live venues successful?

Sorry, I don’t have the answer? Do You?

Jenny

Ramblings After Upgrade Day

2008-04-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well this past week was a nightmare. The required viewer upgrade was a complete wash. Not only is everything dramatically worse, but the whole world of second life came crashing down on Friday. It took the lindens until late Saturday to get it up and running again. I really don't understand what they are doing. Six months ago, eight months ago, things were running fine. I had no problems and could manoeuvre quite easily. But with every viewer upgrade, the second life experience gets worse. And with every upgrade, I get closer to quitting second life. I'm so close this time.

With the latest upgrade, I lost a good portion of my inventory, paid for things and didn't receive them, am in a constant world of greyness and oh yes, I crash. I seldom crashed before. Sure every now and then especially if I was logged on for an extended period, but nothing too awful. Now I crash immediately upon logging on and can be guaranteed to crash a few more times. It also takes forever to rez items, and the quality of the surrounding scenery and objects is unusually poor. When will the Lindens get it right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Enough about them. The new building for A Fashion Statement and So Intimate is up and I'm quite proud of it. A whole new line of flexi clothing too. I even put up an announcer that shows your picture when you enter the mall (at Gia's too). Drop by and check it out.

Last weeks EvaMoon Ember show at Gia's was simply amazing. She's a great entertainer. This week is a special two hour event with Frogg Marlowe and Jaycatt Nico. It's also a princess theme night so grab your favorite princess gown and drop. Should be lots happening there.

It's gonna be a busy time in real life for me. I have two exams coming up on the 14th and 17th of April (wish me luck) and then I'm off to The Big Easy for round two of my interviews. I'm so stoked.

I'm keeping it short this week cause I really do have a lot to do and probably will cut down my second life time for a bit. Good thing Trella and the girls are there.

Ciao for now

Jenny

Renovations and Changes

2008-03-31T09:43:00.001-07:00

As streamlining continues, it's time for an update on what's been happening with the Lavender group.

The Fashion Statement Mall has been completed renovated. I bought a prefab and then modified it for the look I wanted. I had to make it much larger, but I think overall it looks much better than before. The front is much more open with windows so you can look out over the beach and there is lighting throughout the mall. It's divided into cubicles with each cubicle holding nine outfits. The front half of the mall is A Fashion Statement and the back half is So Intimate Beachwear. Drop by and see the new look.

Along with the renovations, i cleared out all my old stock at A Fashion Statement and introduced a completely new line of clothing. I'm concentrating solely on flexiwear, mini-skirts, evening wear and gowns with each cubicle containing one group of clothing. I'm taking more time to make outfits these days, with more detail, and as such I won't be releasing new outfits daily. As I complete outfits, I'll put them up and notify the group.

So Intimate will feature swimwear only. I remove all the lingerie including pantyhose and stockings and will concentrate solely on swim and beachwear. At the moment, the stock is the same but I will be adding some more shortly. By the way, the price remains the same. All beachwear is priced at only $L 75.

Fashion Factory and Trash and Treasure are no longer. I removed both stores and put the land up for sale. Neither store was that busy so not having to work on them is a bit of a blessing.

Thump Magazine continues. I don't have a lot of time to do reviews, but I'm trying. I still would like to hire a reporter or two.

White Dahlia and Messy Bedroom thrive as usual and no changes in the works.

By the way, there are new free gifts available at both Fashion Statement Mall and Messy Bedroom. Just walk in and the greeter should give them to you. If not, let me know.

We lost a couple people in our little family, Lexiey Jamieson and Alaza Romano have moved on to other projects, leaving with our Lavender family of seven.

This week at Gia's is EvaMoon Ember. Don't miss out Wednesday cause she is absolutely awesome. Check out the VIP room while you're there.

As always, the girls of Lavender Corporation are busy planning things. Trella and I are trying to keep up with booking acts at Gia's and Mutley and Trella are coming up with some ideas for a 60's beach party.

Well that's it for now, I'll keep you updated on things as they progress. Take Care!

Ciao for now.

Jenny

Balancing Sl and Rl

2008-03-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

I’ve been in second life for sixteen months and now find it difficult to balance my real and second lives. Back when I first came here, I had time on my hands and along with the fascination of creating within second life; I ended up devoting a lot of my time to my creations in second life. I started a number of businesses, built many buildings and it wasn’t unusual for me to spend 12 hours a day in second life. But I loved doing what I did here and it was therapeutic for me as well.

A few months ago, real life came calling. I am now at the end of my college life and in the process of finding a job. This will involve a move to a new city and all the distractions that come along with it. Add to that family and friends who I need to spend time with and a few other activities I’m involved with and it creates a schedule that is difficult at times.

A couple months ago I came up with a second life schedule for myself, limiting my time on weekdays to 5-8PM and scheduling tasks I need to perform on particular days. That has worked well as at least required things get done. Lately however I find that my time on second life is reducing. I tend to log on, get my tasks done, and then log off. Weekends I tend to spend more time here, but log on and off frequently.

So now the dilemma. What to do about my time in world and out? I know I can’t spend as much time here as I used to. If I reduce my tasks, I don’t need to spend as much time here. A lot of the tasks I perform are things that I can’t let someone else do, simply because of permissions and ownership. Also, I don’t think as many people are committed to some sort of second life career and take it as seriously. The staff I have are wonderful and committed to our success, but like I said, I can only give them so much and what I have given them has reduced my load considerably.

I used to spend a lot of time designing clothes and released a new outfit everyday. That part I’m changing simply because I can’t commit to making clothes as frequently. I still love designing but will do it as I have spare time and don’t have to keep to a schedule. Therefore I will no longer release new outfits daily and in fact will not have a schedule for releasing clothing. I’ll release them as I create them. I also built a new store to house A Fashion Statement and So Intimate. It’ll hold less clothing overall and the current inventory is on sale and I’ll remove it this weekend. It’ll still be available on slx.

I closed Fashion Factory, as it wasn’t drawing a lot of business. The land is for sale. I’ll do the same with Trash and Treasure. Neither business was very successful and I might as well sell the land or find another use for it. Not having to keep these two stores stocked will also free up some of my time.

Gia’s Fashion Cabaret is a whole lot of fun on Wednesdays and I do like doing my part to support the live music scene in second life. Trella has been more than a great help with planning and running things at Gia’s. I plan on letting her take more control of it, well I guess she has to a point. If I can keep myself out of running Gia’s, that will also free up some time.

The same goes for Thump Magazine. I think it’s a great idea and again supports the live music scene. It’s also something that I don’t have to keep a rigid schedule to and if I could find someone to be a reporter for me, the two of us could keep up with reviews. Plus I do need to be doing something here.

Messy Bedroom oh Messy Bedroom. Probably my most successful business overall. It requires so little time now and it keeps performing. I spent a lot of time at first creating furniture, but now it’s fully stocked and only when I feel in a creative mood do I make something to add. Messy Bedroom stays as is.

Hmmm. I think I’ve got this all worked out now. LOL. Here’s my recap and an estimate of time.

A Fashion Statement and So Intimate: new store, new line of clothes is ready. New outfits only as I feel inclined. Time involved would be inviting group members. Therefore probably only an hour or so each week.

Gia’s Fashion Cabaret: Let Trella run it and give her a budget. I’ll still probably dabble a bit and want to help if I have time so probably again an hour a week plus two hours on Wednesday to attend the events.

Thump Magazine: Find someone to do some reviews, but with or without someone would only require a couple hours a week at most.

Messy Bedroom: Leave it alone Jenny, it works fine. No time required.

Aside from that, I still like to run around and check on the businesses and come up with ideas. Probably a couple hours a week. There you have it. I’ve cut down my required time on second life to eight hours a week. Not bad. I’ll revamp my schedule and see if I come close to that.

Thanks for listening

Jenny

Times They Are A Changing!

2008-03-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

I've been in second life over fifteen months now and over that time, things have really changed. Two of the biggest changes are the development of the music industry and a leaning towards making things yourself rather than buying them.

The music scene has come a long way. Back in 2006 there were very few live musicians and most clubs played music streams and dj's were the big thing. Having a dj in a club attracted crowds because there was a live voice, you could request songs and the dj's acknowledged you and the rest of the people in the crowd. One of the clubs i frequented when i was new here was the Parthenon. A great two level club with numerous dj's playing great music and running contests and theme nights. Sadly it is no longer in existence.

Clubs have always had difficulty in second life. It is very hard to make money. In the early days, costs were not quite so high, as dj's typically charged very little to work. The costs in running a club were small with dj's and prize money being the two highest amounts paid out. With live music hitting second life in a wave, clubs without live music are slowly disappearing. There still are a few around, but with people wanting to see live acts, I can't see them lasting much longer. And can clubs survive with live music. I wonder. With musicians charging a minimum of 3000L per hour and most charging 5000L and up, it is very difficult for clubs to make enough to cover their costs. Clubs have very little opportunity to earn revenue. Tips have typically been the main source, but with audience members tipping both the musician and venue, the clubs don't seem to bring in enough to cover the cost of the singer let alone any other costs they may have. Other revenue streams like allowing businesses to advertise in your club should have made the club a little more attractive, but advertising lindens don't seem to flow out the way they do in the real world. A lot of business owners use clubs as loss leaders, hoping to draw in people to the club and either promote their other business or have the landing spot near the other businesses so the crowd will be aware of them. It's hard to tell how effective that type of promotion is.

Zed Essex states the following in his blog: "If you are a live music enthusiast, please remember to tip the venues." and "Every so often I even hear rumblings about cover charges". Unfortunately, Zed is bang on. If clubs can't survive through tips and the minor sources of revenue they have, cover charges may not be far away. Charging 10 or 20L to enter the club would go a long way to cover the costs and although I feel it's inevitable, I don't welcome it. Please tip the venues.

I run a club and have help from a great team working with me. However, I am the only owner and bear all the costs. That's why we only have live shows once a week. I suppose if you have a group of people covering the costs, it would make more sense as each person could cover a night or a time period. It's probably what happens at the clubs that do have continuous live acts.

The other noticeable difference over the past fifteen months is in the retail industry. When I first came on and during the time I started my businesses, most people in second life purchased what they needed whether it was clothing or furniture. As second life grew and people stayed, they learned how to do things for themselves. A lot of people make their own clothes and furniture. I've noticed in my stores, that most of my customers today are relatively new to second life. And since most new members don't have a lot of money to spend, they aren't willing to drop their money quite so freely. It's great that people take the initiative to create as that is one of the great points in second life. It just means that retail business in second life has to focus on a different market and adjust pricing accordingly. My first year in business was extremely successful and I am grateful to everyone who chose to shop at one of my stores. I think it's time, however to change my focus and the target I'm aiming at.

During the early days of second life and as late as six months ago, businesses flourished in second life. So many people opened shop and you could buy almost anything. Still can. However, today I see successful business as more specialized. Things that may be more difficult or time consuming to do would still sell well. I purchase hair simply because I don't have the time to make it and the same with animations. Real Estate has always been fairly successful and some people have made a lot of lindens selling land. I did fairly well at it too. But with prices climbing again, even real estate has slowed down some.

Well, what does all this mean? I guess the times they really are a changing. Second life continues to evolve and change and what's successful today may not be successful tomorrow. Kind of like real life, right?

That's it for today, please remember to tip venues and have a great week.

Ciao for now.

Jenny

Soul Searching

2008-03-09T09:46:00.001-07:00

The past two years have been an incredible roller coaster ride for me. I’ve experienced many highs and lows in that time and along the way have met some incredible people. My life as it is today is chaotic in the sense that I have many different things going on and find myself having to choose between many of them. This goes for both rl and sl and changes will be necessary if I expect to have some semblance of order in my life.

As of late, I find that I am struggling to keep up with all aspects of my life, in particular second life. I am not on as long as I used to be and find that I log on to get work done, and then log off shortly thereafter. Second life at times has become a job to me, a place where I go to work and leave to go home. Don’t get me wrong. I love second life and all the good things that have happened here. I have developed some wonderful friendships; people I would not have met otherwise and I value each of these friendships. I think I filled my time here with a lot of work to keep me busy, and now I’m too busy and have little time for my friends. That is not a good thing.

There are probably a number of options I have to alleviate this situation. The most drastic and not considerable is leaving second life altogether. I don’t’ want to do this, I do want to be a part of second life, but maybe not with the impact I was trying to make. I do feel I need to let a part of second life go, to free some of my time, my money, and my sanity. I have become so attached to everyone here. I also know that my friends in second life have been so supportive of what I’ve tried to do in second life, and that has made a big difference. I have thought about selling A Fashion Statement, and I’m not sure how that would work. I’ve thought about selling or closing out the other businesses but am confused on how that would go.

I have a lot of soul searching to do and must reevaluate my reasons for being here and what my involvement here will be. I love new challenges, which is what drew me here, but I also have to realize that devotion to real life must come first. In that vain, the first change I’m making is with new clothing for A FASHION STATEMENT. For the past while, I’ve been releasing a new outfit everyday. Since keeping up with my clothing inventory as well as trying to be creative with clothes is time consuming, I will cut back on new outfits. I’ll still release new ones, but periodically, maybe one or two a week. Hopefully this will free up a little time for other things.

Anyway, I have not made any concrete plans as to what to do with my second life. I’m just beginning to sort through my options.

Ciao For Now

Jenny

Value Of An Agent

2008-02-24T06:48:00.000-08:00

Back to my griping mode and this time it's agents and managers for second life performers.

There can be a huge benefit to having an agent or manager in second life. It frees the performer to concentrate solely on their craft without having to worry about bookings, schedules, attendance, promotion and a variety of other things. A good manager can be valuable. A good manager will handle bookings and make sure the artist has venues to play in and get the exposure needed. They will ensure that performances are well attended by sending notices, invites and inviting audience members to the performer's group. A good manager also ensures that the artist's name is promoted when not playing, via websites or blogs or through updates and promotions, inworld through groups or other venues and performers.

I've seen some musicians and it seems the successful ones carry quite an entourage with them. The manager usually employs a few people to do some of the things mentioned above. They will attend the performer's event and invite people to the group, constantly give updates through chat and generally promote the performer at the event. Some managers even employ people to attend events that are not well-attended to make them appear crowded or at the very least to give the performer an audience.

I applaud most agents/managers for what they do as it can be an undaunting task. The time involved for one performer can be huge and if you're handling a number of them, it can be immense.

So what's my gripe? Well, through my club I've dealt with a number of agents and performers. While some performers handle their own affairs, most use some kind of an agent or manager. The booking part is easy, contact the agent, find out availability and rates, then book. Usually the agent or myself will send a confirmation with all the details discussed. Now just like in rl, we have to book well in advance to allow the club to ensure they have entertainment and that the performer has events to play. As we close into the date a performer is to play, i usually contact the agent to confirm the performer's attendance again. Probably the Sunday or Monday before a Wednesday performance. What has happened in nearly half of these cases, is that i fail to hear back from the agent. I know they got my notecard, but I'm not sure if the performer is scheduled even though they are booked. And I certainly don't want to start my event and have the performer not show up. I'm not sure why they don't respond, but a simple yes, so and so will be there would suffice.

I also check the performer and agent's profiles to see if they have a schedule and I visit their website or blog for the same reason. It's so nice when a performer has a schedule on the net, then I can simply check to see if my event is listed. My gripe here is performers who don't have a website or blog and I blame that solely on the manager. It would seem to me that promoting an artist via the internet would be a no brainer. A lot of information can be placed there and most importantly a schedule of their upcoming performances. Websites cost money and I can understand why agents wouldn't want to go that route, but blogs are free and can host a wealth of info. I have two that cost me nothing but time and you can find out a lot from these blogs. How nice it would be to search for a performer and instantly have access to their type of music, a lil history and yes where they are playing in the coming weeks.

Some of the very good ones I've visited that include multitudes of information and yes indeed, a schedule are Angel Stormwind, Kelvinblue Oh, Micki Underwood, Noma Falta and Scarlettla Roux. I apologize for those I missed, but these are the recent ones I checked that do have schedules. Please please, make sure your artist has a blog with a schedule and if for some reason that's not possible, put a schedule in their group info or on their profile. As well, make sure it's updated as I've seen a few blogs that have schedules a month behind. Nothing worse that that.

Anyway, let's keep second life music (a)live. Get out to the events and support the performers and venues.

Ciao for now

Jenny

So Long Katime

2008-02-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

It is with deep sorrow that I'm announcing Katime Vacano will be leaving second life.

Katime joined our team as our first employee, sending invites and notices then moving on to executive assistant, planning fashion shows, treasure hunts and other store proomotions. Her value is immeasurable and she will be missed by all of us at Lavender Corporation.

Katime ventured into second life on December 31, 2006, just a short month after I did. While in rl, that is not a long time, it is a lifetime in second life. It seems like so long ago and I know for Katime there were many memorable moments and wonderful people along the way.

My sadness is overridden by knowing Katime made a personal decision that is in her best interests. While I wish everyone could stay here, I realize second life interfers with real lives & conflict does not make it easy here or there. Katime was not only my executive assistant, but a good friend & I know we all wish her well.

God Bless, Katime, and may all your dreams become reality

All My Heartfelt Love

Jenny Heying

Thump! and Mardi Gras

2008-02-10T19:49:00.000-08:00

First off, the Mardi Gras Carnival was a huge success. Over the course of the evening, 151 people came through the doors. All three performers, Kelvinblue Oh, Zed Essex and BubbaC John were awesome and the crowd loved them. The rolling restart held off till 10 minutes from the end, but Bubba came back as did the crowd to continue for another half hour. Totally amazing. The live events at Gia's have grown in size and stature so much so that Trella and I are being contacted by agents and performers alike to play there.

We've had so much success, that we decided to start our own e-zine "Thump Magazine". I searched the net and didn't find much in the way of news on entertainment and nightlife in sl except for performer's websites. So this venture into media will feature reviews of performers and venues, interviews, links to performer's websites, links to second life venues and a few other surprises along the way. It should be a great opportunity for the artists and club owners alike to have themselves featured in our pages and should provide a worthy showcase for them all. Our very own Jeb Ahn will be the managing editor as well as a feature writer. We'll be looking for some great writers too so if you're interested drop us a line.

I'm off to California this coming week but Trella has the Blue Hawaiin Sweethearts Ball on Wednesday at 6PM, just in time for Valentines Day. It'll be the perfect place for a second life valentine's date, so bring your sweetie down to Gia's and watch an incredible tribute to Elvis by BubbaC John.

Katime has been off due to computer issues, but Jeb has been filling in for her doing her usual bang up job.

Trella has been busy as well, and thank god cause if not, i would be overwhelmed. Trella also has her own gallery, Native Passions. Be sure to check it out.

Welcome to Lexiey Jamieson, the newest addition to the Lavender family. Lexiey will be working weekends at A Fashion Statement as a sales associate. If you need any assistance in the store, don't be afraid to ask Lexiey, she's there to help.

Well I'll keep it short cause I still have lots to do. Built a new office for Thump in Slipp. I have a link to Thump on this blog, so just click, go visit, and send us your comments

Ciao everyone, have a great week

Jenny

My Friends "The Lindens"

2008-02-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

Publicly, the Lindens would like you to think they care about the residents of second life and that they attempt to stay on top of sl problems and the concerns of the residents. I disagree. Remember the open letter that was passed around and submitted not too long ago. Philip and the rest addressed the issues, but was anything really acted upon? Did they really take the message to heart? Or did they simply put up a little window dressing and continue about their merry way.
I've stated here before that I don't think the Lindens care about improving what is already here and making second life a wonderful place to be. I really feel they are more concerned with escalating the value of second life in order to make it saleable and thus more attractive to potential investors and in the meantime turning a decent profit for Linden Lab. While that's okay to increase the value, i feel they do it to the detriment of sl's current residents.

Take for example, the notification of rolling restarts. Generally we are given a couple days notice that a rolling restart will occur. This can be disastrous for business owners who have scheduled events for that time period. Club owners have booked live acts, dj's, staff and advertised their events, usually weeks in advance, only to find out that it will be disrupted by a rolling restart. It's happened to me twice in the last month. Another restart tonight (or tomorrow they say) will affect my Mardi Gras night. Three live acts were booked weeks ago and notices and classifieds were placed well in advance. Wouldn't it be nice if they used the outage schedule (they did make one but seldom use it) to schedule restarts, upgrads and downtime. And why can't they do rolling restarts on a regular basis. They could schedule a rolling restart once a week, on the same day, and during the same times so that business owners would be able to avoid those times to schedule their events. And if a rolling restart is not needed, it could then be cancelled with no harm to anyone. But then again, that just makes sense.

Another area of concern for me, and I have commented on it before is the event postings. I can't count the number of times, I've laid out my text for an event notice, entered it and are then told that the text doesn't conform to the guidelines. No details on what doesn't conform. So you spend the next hour editing the text, changing punctuation, omitting spaces and generally screwing around with what you wanted to say. If you're lucky, a few changes and it gets accepted, if not you might have to post something completely different than what you wanted to say. Wouldn't it be nice if they told you what was not acceptable. BTW, i've read the guidelines and everything I have in my event notice conforms to it. So i just don't get it.

Does anyone really use voice? I don't know cause I don't. This was one of the big new features that the Lindens added to sl and is it really making a difference? I don't seem to notice anyone using voice, or at least everywhere I go, chat seems to be prevelant. I won't go into my reasons for not wanting voice in sl, I've done that before, but I think this is another example of the Lindens adding a feature that they thought would improve sl's value. Personally I think it's a bust.

Windlight? Again, i keep seeing the posts on the updates to it, but i've never experienced it and have never come across someone in sl who has or even talks about it. Another bust?

Maybe it is just me, but I don't see any improvement to sl with these new features. In fact they seem to make our experiences here suffer a bit. And with the time they spend on maintenance for those features, it must take away from maintenance on the existing features of sl.

Trying to make sl bigger and better by adding new features, banning gambling and banks point to the Lindens being more concerned with the resale value of sl and not the enjoyment of second life residents.

Reread the open letter, Phillip, and maybe we can stop griping about Linden Lab.

Don't forget, barring the rolling restart, tonight is Mardi Gras night at Gia's Fashion Cabaret & Event Center with three live acts, Kelvinblue Oh, Zed Essex and BubbaC John. Free beads, masks, favors and King cake. The fun starts at 6PM and runs thru to 9PM. Dont' miss out.

Lots of other things planned in the Lavender Corp Family. Trella has the Hawaiin Sweethearts Ball with BubbaC John on Feb 13, just in time for valentines day. I'm working on a new line of clothing for summer and hope to have the "Summertime Blues" fashion show in the spring. Jeb is back in sl and helping out with notices and invites while Katime is off. Katime will be offering another Treasure Hunt for easter. And, we'll be trying to open Gia's more often during the week.
Trella hired another dancer for Gia's, welcome Mutley. We are always looking for managers, hosts, dancers, sales associates and dj's, so drop us a line if you are interested.

Okay, I got enough off my chest for this week.

Hope to see you at Gia's tonight for Mardi Gras.

Ciao

Jenny

Friends Of Mine

2008-01-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've griped enough before, but not today. Today I'm gonna talk about the girls of Lavender, otherwise known as my friends.

JEB AHN is the vice president of Lavender Corporation and has been in sl almost as long as I have. More importantly, she is my best friend. I didn't really have any friends in sl until I met Jeb and now I can't imagine sl without her. When we met, we had both been through recent breakups and were in our manhater stage. Well, we still are..hehe. We had some awesome times together and even got tossed from a few clubs. eccch. Jeb is my sound board and my voice of reason. Whenever I throw an idea at her, she's the one who breaks it down and puts it in common sense terms. Sometimes she says she feels like she doesn't contribute, but without her, I wouldn't be doing what I am today. She's the one who convinces me to carry through with ideas and she also started the "A Fashion Statement" group which now has over 275 members. She is a wonderful woman and if you ever get the opportunity to meet her, you'll know why.

TRELLA MCMAHON is the vice president for marketing and public relations with Lavender. Trella is an amazing woman. She has helped me enormously and if I mention something to her, she runs with it. She has put together some great ideas for both A Fashion Statement and Gia's and I'd be lost without her. I don't know many southern women, but if they are all like Trella, I think I should move there. She's an artist and pet counseler and owns Native Passions. If you're an art lover, check it out. Trella came to me as an employee (best decision i've made) but has now transformed into a friend.

KATIME VACANO is the executive assistant at Lavender Corporation. Katime is the one who sends you the daily notices and also sends out invites to join the A Fashion Statement group. Aside from her regular duties, she also ran the swimsuit fashion show we had last August. Katime is an ocean apart from us, but her presense here is always felt. Sometimes we don't see her for a while as her job here keeps her away from us, but she's always with us in spirit and a friends spirit is a wonderful thing.

TRACY SERRA came to us a the Wednesday night host at Gia's Fashion Cabaret. She's a wonderful person, and usually stays with us at Gia's long after the crowd has subsided. She's kept busy with her kids in rl, driving them to plays and wherever else they need to go, but she always makes it to Gia's and makes it the liviliest place in sl. I thought I knew everything (?), but Tracy managed to show me a few things. She would always greet people at the club even though the rest of us couldn't see them. Now I know how she does it. Tracy is a perfect blend with the staff here, and even though we can get carried away, she is always there to acknowledge and support us.

KYLA QUINNELL is one of the Covergirls at Gia's. I first met her when Trella brought her to my office cause Kyla couldn't stand up. It was so funny. We tried and tried to get her to stand up but to no avail. She's come a long way since then. Kyla is wonderful and supportive and a perfect mix with the rest of us. I sometimes think we might be going a bit to far, but Kyla doesn't seem to mind and joins in with the rest of us. Kyla dances at Gia's every Wednesday, so drop by and say hi. She'll be sure to have a few good words for you.

WILDANGEL PAINE is our newest addition to Lavender Corp. Recently married in rl, she brings a lively, spontaneous attitude to the club. She stays well after her shift with the rest of us and we can't love her enough.

Well that's our current staff, and since we have openings at Gia's Fashion Cabaret for managers and cover girls and at A Fashion Statement for sales associates, our little family is likely to grow. This is a great group of women, strong willed, independant and the best friends I could possibly have.

This Wednesday at Gia's is Caribbean Reggae Vibrations Night! Come dressed for the Islands and the Best Dressed Reggae Contest! Performing live is Naphtali Hawks and the fun starts at 6PM sharp.

Wednesday February 6 is Mardi Gras Night, the hottest themed carnival night in sl with three of sl's finest live singers back to back, featuring; Kelvinblue Oh , Zed Essex and BubbaC John.

Wednesday, February 13 is the Blue Hawaiian Sweethearts Ball with an Elvis & BubbaC Tribute! Celebrate with us Elvis, BubbaC, Blue Hawaii, Valentine's Day, your sweetheart and Love!

Well so much for now everyone, stay kewl

Ciao

Jenny

I'm Back and I'm Still Griping

2008-01-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

Well I'm back from a much needed vacation, only to be greeted by bitter cold and a whole lot of snow. Funny how things change, yet remain the same.

First, I'll gripe. lol. I see the lindens have stopped sl banking. Funny how they claim to have no authority to solve problems within sl, like fraudulent land sellers and griefers and other rip offs, but when it comes to something that might hit them in the pocketbook or threaten legal action, they jump to the rescue. hah. Gambling and banking are toast and i wonder what's next. Could the escorts, strip clubs and nightclubs be far behind. I've ranted about this before so that's all i'll say on it.

Last night, i wanted to see a musician in sl and found the location via search and tp'd there. To my surprise (?), I landed in a greeting area and spent the next ten minutes wandering around trying to find the stage. Why do club owners do this. I won't mention the name of the place, but when they make it difficult for people to find them, they risk losing potential and existing customers. BTW, I never did find the stage and left. I won't go back either.

Okay, enough griping, after all it's a new year. Here's an update on what's been happening and about to happen within the Lavender Group of Companies.

A Fashion Statement is getting busier since the Christmas slowdown. Lots of new and exciting outfits with a little help from ideas curtosy of Trella and Tracy. Katime is planning to do an Easter Treasure Hunt in the store and plans are under way for a summer fashion show sometime this spring. I plan to go wild with the show and do it like a dance revue, so stay tuned.

We are looking for sale associates for A Fashion Statement. Hours are flexible and the job entails, being present at the store to assist customers by offering advice on how to find things, how to edit etc. If you're looking for that type of position, drop me a note.

Gia's Fashion Cabaret has been hitting stride and hosting some of the best live acts in second life. Trella and I have booked some great entertainment. We've been hitting about 50 people on Wednesday nights and the performances have been awesome. Noma Falta drew a big crowd this past week and really rocked the house. Next week we have Scarlett La Roux and you don't want to miss her. Mardi Gras Night is set for Feb 6, 2008 from 6-9 PM with Kelvinblue Oh, Zed Essex and BubbaC John performing. The staff will be giving away masks, beads and dolls to all who attend. Don't miss it and no, you don't have to lift your shirt to get the beads. lol.

Trella is also working on an Elvis tribute night with BubbaC John. more details as she plans them. As well, a Sweetheart Ball is in the works for Valentines Day. Trella and Kyla will do their best to host the sweetest ball second life has seen. You go girls.

With the success of Gia's, I'm planning on opening the club another two nights per week. I'm looking for staff now, in particular people to manage those nights, so if you are interested or know of someone, drop me a line.

Finally, the girls and I (seven of us) are planning to release a calendar with photos of all of us. We need more women to fill up the calendar so plans are to have a contest at Gia's for a number of weeks with weekly winners getting their photo in the calendar. We are still setting it up, so stay tuned to my blog or join A Fashion Statement or Gia's Fashion Cabaret groups.

Welcome back to my best friend Jeb who was absent from sl for awhile. She's back in top form and as much fun as she always is. Look for Jeb to be around Gia's and the stores helping out, having fun, or making sure you have fun.

Well that's it for this week, i have to study, pay my bills and oh do so many other things. First I'll try to get warm. It is cold.

Take care everyone, stay kewl.

Ciao

Jenny

Catch Up!

2007-12-28T19:10:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. But with Christmas and everything, I haven't had a lot of time to update the blog. But here's a recap of what's been happening, and i'm not going to gripe or complain. lol.

Actually, things have been going fairly well. Gia's Fashion Cabaret and Event Center has been steadily improving. This past Wednesday with Phemie Alcott, we brought 85 people through the doors with a peak of 35. Pretty Good. We have some great acts booked through January and Trella has been busting her butt to keep things going. Amazing Trella. I'm also having a Mardi Gras Night on Feb 6 with masks and beads and a whole lot more. Headlining is the one and only Kelvinblue Oh with other acts to be confirmed as they are booked. Be sure to be there and celebrate Mardi Gras the cajun way.

I've been designing, designing, designing lately and if i do say so have come up with some pretty impressive outfits. They will be released throughout the month at A Fashion Statement. I also designed some print ads and if you see our billboard around SL check them out. I've also gone crazy with garter belts and stockings and they are all for sale at So Intimate along with the finest swimsuits in sl.

Messy Bedroom moves on in it's own style. I seem to do so little to promote MB but in spite of that, it does good business. I hope that says something for the quality of the merchandise.

Trash & Treasure is a joint venture with Satir DeCuir. Otherwise known as cleaning out our inventory, TnT features a lot of fine products at very discounted prices.

Speaking of discounted prices, Fashion Factory hosts all my designs that have outgrown AFS. Drop by and for only 75L you can own a JH original.

Christmas was good as usual, i went home and saw mom. Santa was good, but ate my cookies.

And guess what, for new year's i'll be in the carribean. Sailing of course. I head out on new year's eve to porlamar and set sail for trinidad and points unknown, ending up in puerto rico. Yeehaww.

Welcome to WildAngel Paine who joins us as a covergirl at Gia's

And to all the staff at Lavender Corp, Jeb, Trella, Katime, Tracy, Kyla and WildAngel, and to my friends Kamala and Satir, Have a safe but enjoyable and mostly happy happy New Year.

See you in 2008.

Jenny

Misuse Of Events Search

2007-12-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, the events search in sl. Seems to me there is a whole lot of misuse of advertising events. I thought the purpose of this page was to list one time events such as live music, a club event, a personal yard sale, a grand opening or a product launch. That's not what it seems to be used for. Oh those things are listed, but it seems a host of businesses are using events as a classified ad and not paying to run ads.

Here's what the lindens say about commercial listings in the events search:

The 'Commercial' category was created for the purpose of grand openings, demonstrations, product launches etc. Each of these types of events should have a clear beginning and end time attached. Otherwise, they belong in the Second Life Classifieds, not the Events calendar. Posting events that are simply advertisements will not be acceptable.

Not acceptable? Well I can find a whole slew of them. Stores advertising sales (not product launches), and permanent (?) yard sales which are simply businesses selling second hand products. I used the events search everyday and some of the things I saw today are:

1. Two for one sale on shoes
2. A giant land sale
3. Most items 10L
4. Cheap apartments
5. 50% off sexy clothes

Now to me, those are not listed according to what the lindens say should be. These types of events are simply sales and should be in the classifieds, and paid for. These businesses are skirting the rules and using events as a free classified ad. I've used events numerous times, but for the grand opening of my stores and for live musicians at my club. Any sales or promotions that I have are put in classified ads, sent via notice to group members and placed in billboards.

Now the fact that businesses use the events as classifieds is bad enough. What's worse is that the lindens do not seem to be stopping it. It doesn't even look like they scan events, because some are fairly obvious. Some of the posts have been running for months and months. To say that posts that are simply advertisments is not acceptable is fine, but if you don't enforce it, it continues. It's time the lindens act upon what they say and stop advertisements in the events search.

Ciao For Now
Jenny

Keep Customers Happy!!

2007-11-25T13:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, there's a whole slew of problems in shopping here in sl. I won't even begin to talk about bib and resell stuff.

From what i've learned in rl, having a successful business is dependant on happy customers. Keeping customers happy in sl is something that has seem to be overlooked. Even before you get to a store, you have to search thru the classifieds or events and hope that what is described to u is what u find.

The first thing a customer encounters when teleporting to your store is the landing point. So many malls and businesses these days have a central landing point which may or may not be in close proximity to the store they desire. The customer is left to wade thru a miriage of advertisements and other retail operations with the hope of finding the store they desired. Is this the way to attract customers to your store? I don't think so. I know it's all about promoting the other businesses and wanting the customers to see the whole mall, but geez, if i'm looking for a particular shoe store, i'd like to be able to tp directly to it. I'll check out the rest of the mall, but on my own time and when i've accomplished what i came for. In the world settings, you can choose between having a central landing point or having the landing point anywhere. This allows each store or business to set their own landmark. I do this in my mall and anywhere where there is more than one business or purpose for being there. I believe customers will be happier if they find what they want right away and are apt to spend more time if they don't have to search endlessy.

Some malls have put a tp system at the landing point in order to allow customers to tp to the store they desire. First, with sl problems evident, it sometimes takes a while for the directory to rez and once in a while not at all. Again, i believe this is done to promote the mall itself and other biz located there. As I said previously, non frustrated customers are more apt to look around. Besides, you've tp'd once already to get to the mall, why the need to tp again?

Quite often I've tp'd to a location and searched for the store i wanted and ended up leaving without finding it. That's not the way to get repeat customers.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to promote yours and other businesses in a mall. But take it easy on your customers. Having landing points at each store makes it easier to find what you are looking for, and you can always have a directory or other promotional material near the landing point for them to see. I do a lot of promotion in my mall and have ads and notecard givers throughout the mall and stores. I don't bombard my customers with material when they enter. Upon entering, they of course get the free gifts offered, but are then given a chance to roam and browse before encountering advertisements and promotions.

I think you have to remember why customers are coming to your store or mall. If they searched for shoes or any particular item, that's what they want to see. To block them from that for any length of time will certainly drive them away. If a customer can come to your store and deal with their particular search right away, they are more apt to return again. If they don't see the rest of the mall on their first visit, they most certianly will on return visits. And isn't that what it's all about, having customers return.

It is frustrating enough with the problems offered by sl to have to encounter more offered by business owners. We have to remember what is successful in rl and use or adapt it for use here. Business owners are limited in what they can do here to promote their business, so we have to make sure that what we have done, works, and works in a way that keeps our customers happy.

Have quality products, an appealing store and happy happy customers goes a long way to success.

Ciao for now

Jenny

Regulating Banks In Second Life?

2007-11-18T18:40:00.000-08:00

After the Ginko fiasco, some are calling for licensing and/or regulating sl banks. Is it a good idea? Is it necessary?

Are the Lindens likely to enforce regulations or licensing requirements? Unless it hits them in the pocketbook, I doubt it. Threats to their existence lead the Lindens to react, like they did with Casinos. Otherwise they generally remain silent.

We come to sl for a variety of reasons, but one of the attractions is that we can be whoever we want to be. If you want to be a doctor, call yourself one and you are. Call yourself a lawyer, and you are. We don’t need to go to med school, pass the bar exam or meet any other educational or licensing requirement to be who we are and do what we do.
Do builders have to meet building codes?

After fumbling around in sl as a noobie, I eventually started designing clothes and now have a number of successful stores as well as other businesses. Should I have had to go to design school? Or am I better judged by my customers who ultimately decide my fate and success.

I also own a small inworld bank in sl and am concerned about the possibility of licensing and regulations affecting my ability to operate. Like so many things in sl, not only is it buyer beware, but seller beware as well. I have been inundated with potential scammers, unscrupulous investors and even former bankers wishing to relieve me of my hard earned lindens. I have a full disclosure policy with my customers, maintaining adequate reserves, but more importantly I offer a reasonable, not exorbitant interest rate. Yes I want to make money, but I’m not about to gouge people to do that. There are enough of those around as it is. My banking system calculates and pays interest daily to depositors who can withdraw at any time. Regardless, as a customer you need to be careful about who you deal with. Whether you pay out 3600L for a new skin, purchase property or deposit to a savings account, the onus is on the buyer to ensure they are making a wise decision. We tend to trust most people and most of the time are right. Bad reputations eventually get around.

The Lindens tend to not want to provide regulations or laws in sl. They tend to leave it to us. I have been grieved, scammed, and stolen from but over time you learn how to spot these things and to deal with them. The legal system (?) in sl has no clout and cannot enforce any judgements and scammers are free to continue their deeds. A global licensing system or set of laws, while interesting at first, would prove to be difficult to enforce and with different countries and cultures involved, probably hard to resolve. The lindens claim that sl is a virtual world built by its residents, so maybe the residents are best left to sort these things out.

Btw, I don’t have a permit for the electrical in my sl house. Someone call the authorities.

Fashion Show Recap

2007-11-18T18:27:00.000-08:00

Well today was the fashion show for Autumn. The Collection. A few minor issues. The dj I booked couldn't make it so i scrambled all morning for a replacement. Wow, so many great people in sl who were trying to help. I eventually found Sarasotah Chimuka who was awesome. We had a few problems with the delay but overall it went well. We topped out at 20 people which is a reasonable showing. Probably do another around Christmas or just after.

A decent week for sales, it started slow but picked up during the week. I had another crazee daze sale and it was pretty good. Non Flexi dresses for 65L.

I've been running around checking out performers to book at Gia's. It's a lot of work checking them out then contacting them, being referred to agents etc. I booked Eliza Watanabe for Dec 12. She sings love songs and is awesome.

I'm keeping this post short as I want to do one on banking which will follow.

Guy Goodman performs at Gia's on Tuesday with a Miss Thang contest to follow.

Ciao for now.

Jenny

It Just Keeps Getting Busier

2007-11-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

Yes it keeps getting busier, I know i bring it on myself..haha. I've been making a whole lot of clothes cause I was getting behind, but i think i've caught up. Anyway here's the week's update:

I opened a seasonal store called: Every Day's A Holiday. Right now it is filled with Christmas stuff like trees, wreaths, stars, a snow machine, fire places and stockings. I'll change the stock as the season or holidays approach. Valentines stuff for Valentines day. lol

Gia's was busy on Tuesday and Guy Goodman was fantastic. We topped out at 25 people which I think is quite good. This Wednesday it's DJ Bobby Fallon with Jimi Hendrix and the Like A Virgin contest. I'm looking forward to it.

The fashion show is all set. We have four models and Kyz Richez will be the dj/announcer. It's next Sunday at 3PM and I'm hoping for a good crowd. A rehearsal on Saturday.

Big news is i bought 6144sqm of land on the beach in Wrasse, bought a big house, modified it and moved Messy Bedroom there. It looks a whole lot better with two floors of furnishings. I put the land in Tulu up for sale and sold three of the four lots right away. Still have one left and it's for sale.

And finally.haha. Satir DeCuir and I are looking into the possibility of opening a second hand store. No name as yet. We both agree we want it to be quality second hand, no bib or copy stuff. Just originals and one of a kind. We'll start with our own inventory and possible let other people sell there depending on how it goes. Stay tuned.

Well it is pretty busy, both sl and rl. With winter approaching I'm trying to stay on top of things in rl as well. I'll have exams soon and i plan on going south again in January. With so much going on here, i really have to get organized. Oh well, story of my life.

Enough for this week everyone, as usual drop by Fashion Statement Mall, Messy Bedroom, Fashion Factory or Gia's Fashion Cabaret or any of a number of places I might be.

Have a great week and next Sunday I'll update on the fashion show, Gia's and everything else sl offered.

Ciao

Jenny

Gia's And Crazee Daze

2007-11-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

Well Gia's opened on Halloween night and by all accounts it was fairly succesful. Not a lot of people but considering the competition on Halloween, 14 was pretty good. Etherian did a wonderful show and special guest Charles, an 86 yr old blues player closed off the night. We all had a wonderful time. Guy Goodman plays this Tuesday from 7-8 with a walk the catwalk contest following. Should be fun yet again.

Crazee daze will run the entire month with lots of great deals at A Fashion Statement. Today all formalwear was marked down to 75L and will stay like that until 8PM when they revert to their original price. I've also hidden a gift certificate in one of the outfits, so if it's bought, you get it. Crazee daze will feature a few more spontaneous crazy one day sales. Stay tuned to the group notices.

I was looking for a Christmas Tree to display in the stores and decided to make my own. After making five of them (haha) and some christmas fireplaces, wreaths and odds and ends, i decided to sell them in one of the vacant stores on the second floor. I think I'll make it into a holiday store selling seasonal things for christmas, new years, valentines etc. I'm working on a name for it. Any suggestions?

I've also been making some instruements, like guitars and drums. They aren't playable but just for show. I'm using them in Gia's but i might decide to sell them too.

Actively looking for land to move Messy Bedroom. I'm down to 60 prims and need somthing substantially bigger. Right now i only have 5247 sqm left before moving up a tier so i'd like to sell one more lot to be able to buy a 6144. I found one and hope it doesn't sell before i have room.

We've hired four models for the fashion show and all we need is a dj to be completely ready. I'm going through the outfits tonight to decide which ones to use.

Tracy and Kylie are new, working a Gia's. I haven't seen Kylie in action yet, but Tracey did a wonderful job opening night as host.

That's it for this week. Drop by Gia's Tuesday for Guy Goodman, or visit the mall, Messy Bedroom, Fashion Factory or any of the other businesses.

Stay Kewl

Jenny

Gia's Opens This Week

2007-10-28T09:18:00.001-07:00

That's right, after an exceptionally long time, Gia's will finally open on October 31. Grand Opening will feature Etherian Kamaboko "Live" as well as a Halloween Costume Contest. It's been a lot of work, we are still staffing and looking for DJ's. We have all the live acts booked for November and they include Etherian Kamaboko, Guy Goodman and DJ Bobby Fallon with "Special Guest". Can u say Kiss The Sky? HaHa. I'm looking forward to it and hope you can make it.

As well, Trella has been working diligently to get the Fashion Show arranged. We are pretty much there. Trella is hiring the models and the show "Autumn.The Collection" is set for Nov 18 at Gia's Fashion Cabaret beginning at 3PM. Mark your calender.

I'm currently working on a lot of things; Making more freebies for the stores for November, Planning Crazee Days for November as well and just generally making a bunch of things like clothes, club equipment etc. In building Gia's, i had to make a lot of things like dancer's balls, microphones, amplifiers etc. so i'm thinking i might create a place to sell those types of things. I'll think about it for now. I could put them in Messy Bedroom, but i'm pretty low on prims there. We'll see.

I put up a two story building for White Dahlia Photography in Camembert so that I have room to create and take photos of outfits. It's pretty nice and spacious so check it out if you like. I also created a branch for First Financial in Camembert, smaller and with ads promoting the other businesses.

I will have to put out quite a few event notices this week. For the Grand Opening of Gia's, as well as notices for all the event nights, for Crazee Days as well.

I put up some more artwork in refroidir, about 6, so be sure to check them out as well.

Trella has been amazing helping me with things. She's done almost all the interviewing for the fashion show and Gia's so far. We still need dancers and managers as well as DJ's, so if you need a job inworld, drop by the Lavender office or Fashion Statement Mall and click on one of the mailboxes for details.

Jeb and Katime have both been pretty busy in rl, so i haven't seen much of them lately. Katime continues to do group notices and invites and I'm gonna ask Jeb to take care of booking live acts and Dj's. It should be good for her cause she can do it on her own time and a lot thru email, so she doesn't have to be inworld a lot. I hope she does it.

Messy Bedroom is still doing good business despite the lack of promotion. I really should plan something there. Any ideas? I also need more land in tuli or have to think about moving MB cause i'm down to about 63 prims.

Land sales slowed down this week, but after the last month of craziness, it kinda had to.

That's it for this week, remember Gia's opens on Wednesday the 31st and crazee days begins next weekend with lots of deals and surprises.

Have a great week everyone, and stay kewl.

Ciao
Jenny

I Hate Updates And Rolling Restarts

2007-10-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

God i hate updates and rolling restarts. Seems like everything gets all screwed up when the lindens play with the system. A rolling restart on Thursday and I've had nothing but trouble every since. I crash at least 30 times a day, no exaggeration, it takes forever for things to rez and when i crash i have to wait all over again for them to rez, have a lot of difficulty opening objects, won't show me the contents, music stops every 10 secs (i timed it) and just generally a typical linden sl day. God i wish they would leave things alone. It seems like it gets progressively worse every time they try to fix something.

Enough bitching. I have time for the blog since i can't stay in sl too long. Another new store in the mall, The Diamond Chicks. I'm making jewelry now and some are pretty damn good if i do say so myself. Check out the belly rings, they are so hot.

Business in the mall has been steady all week, but not like the record pace of last month. I really need some events. I'll be having crazee days throughout November so I hope that will pick things up. I've made some gift certificates and they are available in 100,200,300 and 500L denominations and can be used at any store in the mall.

Katime is back doing notices and Trella is helping me with events. She ran a couple ads for staff for Gia's and models for the fashion show. Things are moving slowing with events as I just don't seem to have as much time as i used to.

I'm keeping up with outfits fortunately, but it's taking a whole lot longer because I can't work quickly in sl anymore. What used to take me five minutes is now taking an hour. Sheesh. It' s okay for now, as I still am ahead and have quite a few outfits in inventory to release yet.

Jeb made a round sectional sofa that i think is amazing. It's for sale at Messy Bedroom and I made four more in different colors.

With business at the mall slow, land sales have really picked up. I can't believe how quickly it's moving. The prices have also climbed, good for selling, not so hot for buying. I only have three parcels for sale now, so as soon as sl stabilizes, I'll be looking for more.

The Spooky Halloween display is still up till the end of the month. Then crazee days. I'll be offering a selection of clothing on undetermined days at ridiculously low prices. I'll only announce it to group members, so if you haven't joined, join now. I'll also be hiding a gift certificate in one of the outfits, so if you buy that outfit, you get the gift certificate.

Okay that's it for another Sunday, I'll try once more to get into sl, if not i'll wait till this evening.

Stay Kewl and ciao for now.

Jenny.

October News

2007-10-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

Another week passes by and another week closer to winter (read christmas). Busy week overall, put up an office tower in Camembert (low prim) and sold a few more properties. The stores weren't very busy, but I'm getting used to the fact that when we don't have a promotion going on, sales slow down.

Had a run-in with Mack and staff from Red Carpet, they wanted me to take down the RC dresses in the store. No way. I have a contract allowing me to sell them and use the name. I'm still miffed that they excluded me from their fashion show. I'm in the market for a lawyer now, not for that, but in general because i seem to be doing a lot more and need to cover my ass. LOL.
Jeb and Katime are very busy in rl and not able to spend as much time in sl. Katime has asked to switch positions with Trella. Trella has been doing very well with notices and I hate to see that stop, but I think she'll do well helping me with events.

A number of things on the horizon. Autumn. The Collection is ready and we'll be planning the fashion show. I want to hold it in Gia's to promote the club and would like to do it before the end of the month. November 30 is my one year anniversay in sl and i'm planning to do a bunch of crazeeee promos throughout November. I have a couple ideas so far, but i'm mum till i'm ready for them. I also hope to have something for Thanksgiving on the 28th. And then, omg, plans for Christmas...ewwwww. I have a countdown clock to christmas in the store.

The Spooky Halloween display is still up next to Gia's and will stay up until November 1.

New stores in the mall are Esteem Manicures, nail coloring for your AV and Dramatic Eyes, colored contact lenses for your AV. I think there is only about three spaces left in the mall.

Membership is hovering just over the 300 mark with a high of about 316 this week. Slow going to get to 400, but I have confidence.

I'm also running an ad in lindenlifestyles.com, a fashion blog. I'm in for 1,000 impressions so i'll see how that goes. I need to find a few more marketing ideas for sl.

I have about 125 outfits on sl exchange now, which is good exposure. I see a lot of view from it and the occasional sale. Seems good.

On the fashion side, i'm still producing about 10 outfits a week, somedays none, somedays 5..lol.
I just finished making 10 tube tops and am anxious to see what they look like in sl. Later today.

Anyway, thats it for now, Have a wonderful Sunday and a great week.
Stay Kewl
Ciao
Jenny

Spooky Halloween

2007-10-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Fashionistas..lol. Busy Busy Busy as usual. Finished up the Spooky Halloween Display. It's on the land next to the mall and Gia's. Four rooms to manovere through with free gifts in every room and scary surprises along the way. Drop by the mall for a tp and don't forget to make it midnight..oooooh..haha.

Sidewalk sale was held early this week and traffic was way way up. Funny thing, not a lot of the sale items sold, but i sold a whole pile of swimsuits. Go figure. hehe.

Autumn. The Collection is complete and I'll give Katime the go ahead to plan a fashion show. I'd like to have it in Gia's to promote the club as well.

Land has been selling like hotcakes. Not sure why. I must have sold about 15 parcels or so, and have to rush out to purchase more. I'm finding a few good deals if i look hard enough. I have money in the bank..haha.

My mom's bday last week and we had supper. Quiet but nice.

I'm attempting to make hats now and would like to open a hat store, maybe include handbags and a few other things. I'm not so sure i've got the hang of it. I've made about 6 hats and will have to hand them out to see what others think. It's tougher than clothes.

Fashion Factory opened last week and traffic is good so far. Lots of discounted clothing.

Not much else new at the mall or Messy Bedroom. Too busy with what i have to start too many new projects. Jeb is interested in running Gia's, but we haven't had much response in the way of applications for staff. I'd like to open it soon, but we'll see how it goes.

That's it for now. I'm having company for supper tonight. King Crab Legs...mmmmmm.

Ciao for Now!!

Jenny

Fashion Factory

2007-10-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

Well a pretty busy week overall. I sold six parcels of land and bought a couple large ones. I bought 4096 next to Gia's and made it my home with a pool and waterslide. kewl. I also bought 2048 in Katla. This one i'm using for my factory outlet store. It's set up and ready to go, will promote after the sidewalk sale. btw, it's called Fashion Factory.

Speaking of Sidewalk Sale, it goes all day Monday and Tuesday. About 24 outfits will be in the common area of the mall and all are reduced by 50%. Trella, Katime and i are all placing event notices, so I hope it is busy.

By busy, it was this week. Sales were up from the previous weeks in September and should be the best week in September and about 5th overall.

The Ford/New Eden Fashion Show was on Friday and for some reason they didn't use any of my outfits. I was quite annoyed. I don't mind, but they could have given me a heads up. Seems they decided to go with the big name designers in sl. Oh well, their loss. btw. I guess Ford in rl didn't like what was going on and Mack had to change the name to Red Carpet Models. I have the clothes I made for the models in my store now and the clothing I designed for their store is also available at A Fashion Statement.

Membership is hovering just over the 300 mark. Doesn't seem to want to climb much higher. Maybe the Sidewalk Sale will help. I'll put a group add sign at Fashion Factory.

My fall line is all ready to go and as soon as the sidewalk sale is over, we'll start plans for the fashion show. Autumn. The Collection is comprised of about 19 outfits.

I made a bunch more tattoos (18 i think) and all are availabe at Rat-a-tat-tat, second floor in the mall.

We're looking at doing something for Halloween. I have decorations and things and Trella suggested a haunted house. We'll hopefully have something good for that week. I also need to change the freebies in the store. So little time..aaaaah.

That's it for now, I'm off to do my banking and Mom's birthday.

Ciao for now.
Jenny

Okay, I've Started!!

2007-10-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

Okay I've finally started the blog. A lot has happened since i first logged into sl, but i won't provide a history. Suffice to say I've set up a number of businesses including fashion design, furniture, a bank and a host of others.See myspace for a complete list.

This month at "A Fashion Statement" we are having a "I'M A FASHION STATEMENT" snapshot contest. We're giving away 1000L each week to the best snapsot. Week One winner is Satir DeCuir in the skirt and blouse theme. This week it's swimsuits.

Lots of things planned for the coming months. Katime is working on putting together our swimsuit fashion show which we hope to schedule sometime in August. Jeb is organizing a sidewalk sale for the mall to be held in early September. Jeb and I are putting the finishing touches on our virtual bank "First Financial". We'll be providing deposit accounts with daily interest and mortgages for buying property in sl. We also have a number of parcels of land for sale, right now a lot of beach/ocean front lots.

We still plan on opening a club, but we've been to busy to make it happen yet, and we prob need more land anyway. I've been shopping for more land lately. Lots available in the new continent.

On the fashion front, I'm continuing to release one new outifit each day. I've recently designed a few business suits (skirt, jacket, blouse) and they should be up in the store within the week.

I'm always open to your comments and suggestions

Have a great day

Jenny