How do i open a store?

Hello everyone,

I just signed up for second life. Can someone tell me how to open my own little store? I see alot of people have their own shops and i've looked on the forums and FAQs for a instructions and all i see is how to buy vacant land. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

All you do is buy land either vacant or with a shop built already, fill it with merchandise, and set that for sale!

I'd make this a mor in-depth post but.. im outta time =(

GOOD LUCK!

EDIT:: Or rent land

EDIT@:: Or rent a shop space in a mall or complex or something similar

Please take some time getting to know your intended market first, and understanding SL culture. Chill out, shop, see the sights before you make this your Second Job.

I'm curious what kind of store you're looking to open in your first month online?

I dont know really, it just seems fun!

QFT (that means "Quoted For Truth"

Just play for a while! You might find that you don't want to spend either the vast amount of time or effort that running a business actually takes.

Before opening a store, you really need to learn how to build items that people would want to buy. You can buy 'Business in a Box' but they are essentially rip offs as the items are available as freebies accross the grid.

Start making things and see what which you find suit you and you enjoy making. When you get to the stage of knowing what you would like to make and can make to a decent quality, then look at opening the store once you have some items to sell. If you rush in you will lose money as it costs to rent/buy land/stores.

It's not easy to just open a store in SL and make money, there is a lot of competition out there.

Question to the OP: Would you also open a store in RL without knowing what you want to sell?

First, study the market, your competition and potential customers' wants and needs. Then design some articles targeting the niche you want to serve. Now you are ready to open a shop.

Also, I recommend that you stay away from any "business in a box" offerings, as these contain mostly freebie items created by other people. You will get a lot of aggravation that way and also low sales (if any), as the products tend to be available as freebies.

Just start making things - make things you like, not just stuff that you think will sell (as others probably will like them too anyway). Finding a niche is good, but you also need to explore, see what people do in SL (and feel they need), check out the competition and put yourself in the place of a purchaser, and then use the search tools so that you can undestand how to market your stuff.

Then think about finding land, buying/building a shop, and opening a shop.

~Snowman~

There are loads of shops for rent too, if you don't want to buy land. Prices and rules vary, but you are likely to get more traffic if your shop is in a mall. But that doesn't necessarily mean you'll sell anything!

Sound advice this.

Go research the competition, see how they operate.

Definitely find something you are good at. (Building, scripting, designing clothing, skins, shapes, etc)

Businesses in SL are not easy, indeed my SL wife works harder on her SL business than she does in her RL job. Often spending 10-12 hours solidly working at it.

However it can be successful. Set realistic targets. The first one is to achieve the point where you stop putting money into the business. This is where the business can sustain its costs from your turnover. Aim for about 4-5 months for this.

Then there is breakeven. This is where your initial investment (the money you put in) is paid back. This can take nearly a year (remember you have to keep ahead of the competition - which means continuous investment paid for by the business as well as it paying back the investment you initially put in). After that comes the profit. This will be small at first (maybe enough to cover your tier fees). Some people like to keep it that way (not cashing out of SL means the Inland Revenue/IRS keep their noses out). Otherwise with continual investment it can slowly grow.

But the golden rule is never stand still or the competition will catch up!

Clearly, with the level of research you're willing to do ("tell me how to do it" what you are looking for is a business in a box. Spend an hour traveling to different sims looking in crappy looking stores and you will find some. Or just search for "business in a box", or BIB, or BIaB. Buy a few (they're cheap, sometimes free), follow their simple instructions, and presto! Your own crappy store. You'll be in the good company of many owners of empty, crappy stores.

When you begin to wonder why your zero effort isn't paying off, your next task is to visit some of the stores people say they like. Sorry, but you'll have to spend a few minutes researching, or more likely you'll just ask "what are your favorite stores?". Visit those stores to find out what people like about them and theit products.

OMG they're so much nicer than yours! So, you'll ask people how to make your store look like those pretty stores. People will tell you it costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time. This will seem unfair, so you'll join the chorus of people bemoaning the crappy state of the SL ecomomy.

I hope I've saved you a whole lotta time and a dollar or two.

You're welcome.

Absolutely nothing in the OP's question indicated that they were not prepared to put in the time and effort to make a GREAT contribution to SL content, or that the motive was to generate a quick buck. JFC, lighten up Anya!

~Snowman~

Everything that people have said is correct, CarissaRae. SL is full of little shops that only lose money, and I'd hate to think of the number of little shops that have come and gone after total failure.

There are shops that resell things, so you don't actually need to make your own goods. But don't imagine that, if you open a shop, people will come and things will sell. I doesn't happen like that. If *you* don't get people there, they won't come. You can see that easily enough by visiting various malls where small shops can be rented, and hanging around a while. See how many shoppers come through. Some malls do get traffic, but I think you'll find that most don't.

Opening a shop is easy. Get some things to sell, either by making your own or by reselling, rent a small shop in a mall to display your goods, and sit back. But when you open a shop *you* have to make it work. Otherwise it's just wasting your money.

I own several successful businesses in SL. I make a profit here every month. And I work my tail off to do it. I make clothes, I build, I script, I terraform... I even create whole sims. It took me over a year to build my businesses to where they always made me a profit, and after more than two years it still isn't even close to earning me a full-time wage. I put in 20 to 30 hours a week and earn very little more than I would with a part-time minimum-wage second job. (Though the work is a lot more fun than flipping burgers!) Out of the MILLIONS of people who play SL, only 2 to 4 percent make a profit regularly, and less than half of that actually make a living working in SL full-time. Just a few thousand people out of well over 10 MILLION accounts!

Yes, you can certainly make things and sell them with no real intention of making a profit. But this article assumes that you don't want to spend hours of effort and work just to lose money!

Building a successful business in Second Life is no different than building one in real life. It takes lots of time, and effort and skill, and a certain amount of luck and good timing, to make it work. It also almost always requires an up-front investment of real money.

You can't be successful by buying a "Business in a box" and just throwing it up in one corner of a cheap mall. Those are rip-offs aimed at innocent dupes, almost always selling you stuff that is available free. It's like the people in real life (RL) that will sell you a "Business idea starter kit" that is nothing more than a list of postal addresses and web sites for free information on how to start a business, from government websites and offices. As others implied, those who pay for a "Business in a box" soon find they are one of thousands of other poor suckers selling exactly the same low-quality items, that any experienced Player will avoid like the plague. If these products were really so successful, the person offering them would be running those stores and raking in the profits themselves, and not selling the "great money making idea" to others.

Be aware also that using real-world brands, logos, and copyrighted material is illegal, unless you have a license from the company that owns those copyrights and trademarks. Yes, you'll see people selling "Nike Shoes" or other merchandise based on copyrighted game characters or bands... just like you'll find street corner vendors in big cities selling shoddy knock-off of name-brand merchandise that aren't licensed. Go to a flea market in the real world and you're likely to find quite a few low-priced items with Disney characters or other popular images, but that are made in Mexico or China, illegally and without license to do so. It's still illegal. DON"T DO IT.

So, how do you really do it? How do you be a business success in SL?

First, you need to spend enough time in SL to get to know what the market is like. Shop. Travel. Play. Make friends. Get to know what is already available, and what people like to spend money on. Part of that is learning the sorts of things YOU would be willing to spend money on. In this period, be prepared to whip out your own credit card and purchase a supply of L$ with real money, (or pay for a Premium membership so you get 80% of that fee back as a weekly allowance, called a stipend) so you have some initial funds to start with. Do your market research, while you have fun just *playing* in SL.

Next, learn the skills that people pay for, and that match your initial training and background and interests.

* Making textures requires artistic talent, and skill with graphics applications, like Photoshop.

* Building requires skill in using the in-world building tools - a skill you can only get good at with hours and hours of practice in-world, and which benefits from skill as a texture artist (so you can make your own custom textures) or access to purchased texture sets.

* Does fashion interest you? Making clothes in SL requires both a knowledge and skill in fashion design and skills as a texture artist and in some cases as a builder (prim shoes, skirts, and other prim clothing parts).

* Being a scripter requires skill as a programmer, using the LSL programming language. Many products in SL will benefit from adding scripts that you write. (door and window scripts, animation scripts, etc...)

* Custom animations and pose balls. A very specialized area. Requires external software that can make animation files.

None of these skills are anything you're likely to develop overnight. Take the time to practice these skills, and practice making all sorts of things. You may be surprised how difficult it is to make an apparently simple item. Or you may find you have a real knack for making something else. Be prepared to spend MONTHS learning to do a task well.

Then, find a niche that you think you can do well in. Is there an existing product that you can do better than what is currently on the market? Is there and item that you'd love to buy, or that your friends would love to buy, but that you just can't find, in spite of extensively searching for it? Anyone can make a simple T-shirt, and MILLIONS do. Competition in areas that have a lot of other merchants will make it very difficult to be a success, unless your product is different or better in some way.

Then, and only then, make a bunch or products. Price them competitively, based on your market research. then rent some space in SEVERAL malls, or buy land in at least two sims and set up your own stores. Visibility and advertising are very important, just like in the real world. Very few customers will come to your residential-area home to buy an item hidden under your bed. But if your products are available in a lot of malls or shops, especially if those locations are well-advertised and get lots of paying customers going through them (NOT camping chair zombies!), you'll get a lot more sales. They can't buy your stuff if they never see it.

Good luck!

=========== Other ways... ===========

There are other ways to earn some L$ in SL without an extensive skill set. But virtually all of those require a large amount of time investment, and many also have up-front costs.

Camping? There are places that will pay newbies to sit in chairs or on dance pads. It's a scam to inflate the 'popularity' rating for a store or business, and pays the equivalent of a few pennies per hour. You pay more for the electricity to run your computer, and even a minimum-wage job in the real world pays far more per hour.

Dancing, strippers, escort services? People will pay to watch your avatar dance, most often nude, or to have virtual sex with them. Requires a willingness to behave that way with strangers. (Do you REALLY want to be a stripper or a prostitute?) Requires an up-front investment in high-cost skins and clothes and hair, to get good tips. May require that you provide custom animations or pose sets to entertain your clients. And a minimum-wage job in the real world still pays far more per hour.

DJ's, Musicians, entertainers of other sorts. There are in-world classes, or 'club schools', where in a few hours and for a fee you can learn the basics for being a DJ or doing similar work. Sort of like attending a "Bartender school" in RL. You still have up-front costs, you still have to have talent as an entertainer, and you need to find a place that will hire you. Expect long hours and low pay, unless you are very unique and entertaining.

Real Estate? Some people make a lot of money buying low and selling high in the land market, or buying land and renting it to others, It requires a large, high-risk cash investment and LOTS of time to dabble in Real Estate, just like in the real world.

There are other ways to earn money as well, but I've listed most of the ones people encounter. To find others, you'll have to look around and learn how SL works.

I read the base note as indicating exactly that. People who are prepared to put in the time and effort don't ask questions like that right after signing up.

That doesn't mean this person won't put in the time and effort, or won't make a great contribution. It doesn't mean that he or she won't get the right attitude to succeed at this. But at this point in time, the right response to the question really is to spend more time in SL learning about it, as well as spending more time thinking about why they might want to open a store, what type of store it would be, and what the goal of the store would be.

LMAO - Anya speaks truth, though she doesn't couch it in niceties.

I'll add a few things - YES, learn to build stuff. Pick up freebies and take them apart to learn how they work. Look at the products wanted forum to see what kinds of things people want to buy. Don't price your items too high.

A word on malls - many charge waaaay too much for what they're offering. Malls are a good way to get exposure, but with the new search, their effectiveness in drawing shoppers seems to be declining. Stay away from the ones full of campers! Look for ones that hold events and that let you offer a TP directly to your store (or that has space very close to the default TP point). I only keep space in one mall now because the people are nice, the place is stable, there are no campers, and the rent is low. Oh and I get a few sales there too. If you want to know where it is, look at my profile picks.

You really should buy yourself a 512 lot and play around with building - when you're ready to open your store, you can list it in places and put in a $50 classified, and draw more people who are serious about buying than you would get in most malls. It's nice to have your own place to work, too. Having my own location has always worked out better for me, even when I only had 512 sq.m. 117 prims is plenty when you're just starting out.

Well you can open a shop by either buying or renting land.
For content though this is bit more complex its not like opening a shop in Neopet's.
You have to know how to make things that people will buy, know how to set up items to sell, permissions and get customers.
This can be quite involved and complex.
Everything you see is made by the Residents.
I strongly suggest you check out the search feature in world and look for Events/Educational and attend classes and learn how to do things first.

One thing the others left out I will add...

You need to LOVE whatever you choose to do as a business. If you dont it will be a long and frustrating work experience and will likely fail. You will be pouring countless hours and alot of yourself into the business so if you dont enjoy it it will be worse than work it will be a misery.

Thats the biggest reason I advocate taking time to experiment and figure out what you ENJOY in SL.

I have at various points had businesses doing all kinds of things and still have several open some profitable and some not. Why keep an unprofitable business? Well I like doing whatever is involved with it. At some point it become entertainment not profit that is key.

Hi CarissaRae. I think you have gotten some really good advice so far, and a good picture of what it takes to be serious about having a buisness in SL that is successful. I just wanted to chime in and encourage you to pursue your interest. I would encourage you to find one thing you can make yourself and when you are happy with it open a little shop (or rent a little space to sell your goods).

SL is all about creating your own personal entertainment. For some that is clubs, dancing, shopping, for others it is a chance to bring a whole suite of impressive creative and artistic RL talents into a new medium (potentially profitably), for some it is to be succesful at something, and for others of us it is exploring, creating, and maybe the fun of having a little shop. Myself, I've always found having a shop and tinkering with it as much if not more fun than owning my own home here. If your expectation is to open a shop and make money, you will likely be disapointed, but if you want a little space in SL to set up and tinker with, a place to display your creations (and you take satisifaction from creating them) you can have a good deal of fun and it's a great way to spend your time in SL. Having a shop inspired me to learn more, and to improve my skills, and I met really interesting people in sandboxes and here in the forums along the way.

Some of my ventures have been successful and others a flop, but all brought me great satisfaction and were a great deal of fun along the way. And, another great thing about SL is that if it stops being fun, a career change here is as easy!

Good Luck and have fun.

Also, interacting with customers usually is fun. Most (admittedly, not all) are nice and if you provide good service, are friendly in return. Unfortunately, there are also some real a*****es out there, but as a rule people are very friendly if you do your best to provide good service.

Ceera's post needs to be a sticky.

oh! i always thot it meant "quite f-ing true"

LO

LOL so did I

I didn't know what it meant and had to look it up. Wikipedia says it can mean "quoted for truth" "quite F*ing true" or "quit f*ing talking" which didn't help much as I am often unsure if it is intended as the first two (compliments) or the last, an insult. Good to get some clarification on how people use it here.