Advice needed on starting up my own business here in sl...

Hi All

I am really sorry if this isn't the place to ask, so shoot me if it isn't - hehe!

Ok - I have started to make my own furniture and have a nice little collection coming along. I want to look to start to sell it now, but I really must admit that I don't have a clue where to start!!

I have to have somewhere to rent that has quite a lot of prims as I feel that to sell furniuture it needs to be rezzed and not just a picture (personal opinion).

So my question is can someone point me in the direction of good places to rent with large prim allowance...also is this the way to go...renting or can you 'buy' places to set up your own shop - aside from 'buying' your own sim of course!

Oh and if anyone would like any furniture commisioned for them - give me a shout - lol!

TIA

BB

...takes aim...

Are you not going to offer a last cigarette?

Firstly Prim Allowance is linked to Land Size, so the more prims you need the greater the amount of square meters you need to rent. Solutions are:

Use a rez vendor a script that rezzes the furniture for a short period of time so it can be seen 3-dimensionally. However, you need to get a well made one, rezzers can cause lag and some SIMs (if a private island) ban them.

Start small, have a few items on display and the rest on a normal vendor, test the market, if you do well expand your floor space later.

Be prepared to pay for advertising, you have to get people there to see the products.

Offer something as an incentive to get people there, possibly a freebie piece of furniture, but make it a good piece, people who see it around SL who like it will click to find out who the creator is, so make sure your place is in your picks on profile so they can TP to your site.

BB!!!! /me bounces up and down, waving

Hiya! .. thought you'd deserted us! Morwen's got fever .. Mandy seems to have disappeared .. our little 'gang or four' seemed somewhat depleted temporarily!

Are you making scripts for sitting positions too?

stalks Bilbo................................

Hi Bil!!! - bounces up and down with you too

still here - just been so busy with the furniture making!

I am not making the scripts for the positions, but I am animating the furtniture - mostly in the prims and not with poseballs (although for some there are poseballs....

I would like to learn a bit about scripting but me thinks it might be a little over my head!!

Thanks everyone else for all your advice..

as for the last cigarette - can I swap it for a piece of shortbread or a slab or cake ??

BB

Yes, 'cause I'm not giving you a cigarette unless you age verify!

Matthew

lol

however very happy to die of shortbread obesity

a rez/holo vendor would be the way to go. buy a fairly large parcel and set up a main store with the vendors. rent stalls with righ res pics in them with a lm giver to the main store.
spend a few hundred $ on a classified listing.
put a salses pitch in your forum sigs.
list on slx and slb/onrez and pay the extra $ for a better listing.
regularly post items in the sales forums.
find a void and fill it. been looking at furniture a lot lately, and noticed a couple of things lacking. one being colour scripted furniture allowing me to change the colour of furniture. second being menu animations that are platonic- no cuddles, no sex, etc.

Thanks for your advice Nina - all taken onboard

I think the law banning under eighteens from eating shortbread comes in next year? At which point, I suspect LL will ban shortbread entirely from the grid.

Of course, this only applies if you aren't a furry - as a furry eating shortbread is, of course, breadly offensive...

Matthew

as said, an holo vendor will be good, they rez when u click it, just DON`T use temp rezzers as a couple of them lag out a sim pritty bad

ok so can anyone recommend a good holo/rez vendor system then?

*goes off to gorge on her shortbread stack in fear of impending LL shortbread ban*

Oh God, what are we going to do when they ban pie??

You might try networking... approach some more established companies (those not in competition) and ask if you can display a couple of examples in their store for a % of the sale... also ask house builders if you can perhaps furnish their 'show houses' and have a small sign stating that you provide the furnishings.. trade with the house builders, to have one of their signs in your shop.. ppls sometimes buying furniture, may also be looking for a new house?

Look out for Expo's that deal with housing and furnishing.. displaying there can gain you a lot of traffic for little or no outlay.

Great ideas AWM

Barrowness Beaumont, I just bought a good-sized piece of land a couple of days ago, and I would like to lease part or all of it. If you send me an IM in SL I'll get your message by email if I'm not online. You would have the full prim count of whatever size piece you wanted to lease.

I'm new here, and I have a feeling it isn['t good form to advertise land on this forum, so I'll tell you more if you contact me.

Good luck with your furniture business!

Barrowness,

I'd like to place a vote against the vendors. Just one girl's opinion, but when I buy furniture, I like to walk all around it, sit on it, get a good idea of the size, and get an overall impression. Those are really hard to do from pictures.

Re: Rental. You might check the island of Son, where I rent. It might have an empty space, and since it's a double-prim island, you get twice the prims for the area. Just a thought!

*Waves to Bilbo and BB*

I better warn you, Bilbo... fever or not, I am on my way back!!!

Morwen.

*waves to Morwen - hope you are feeling a little better now *

Thanks Oryx and Flieger for your comments - all taken onboard

BB

a rez/holo vender will temp rez the furniture, so you would be able to walk around it, even sit on it and so on.

Hi Nina

Yes I did wonder about that - just got to find a good holo/rez vendor.....

Bb

/me hurredly dusts off shovel and bucket ... then falls into it laughing at a possible misinterpretation.

Oryx just gave me an idea. Size is important...but how can you REALLY tell if a piece will fit until you get it back home? It's even more important if the furniture is No Mod, or if it can't be enlarged/shrunk as a single piece because one or more prims hits the size limit.

Give out free demos...just a box, maybe textured with the image of the piece, but exactly the same maximum L/W/D dimensions. Then the customer can try out the demo box in their home before they buy your furniture. Or the demo could be a "real" (No Mod) copy of the furniture, but colored DayGlo orange and stamped DEMO in big letters, like they do with hair and skins.