Content Creation & Business Skills Question

I have been thinking about this for a while and I wanted to hear what others though about this or some feed back.
I know there is a lot of very talented content artist out there and those with most talent do the best as far as business and job wise.
I am going to create regardless personally whether I do it for fun or business reasons but sometimes I think about this.
It often seems like there is focus on business or the other usuals in SL.
I have been wondering what about those of us who are starting out creative, artistic inclined but still learning but not very good with business aspect of SL or perhaps we just don't want the stress, rejection or hassles running a business.
Yet for most people it seems to be their primary purpose.
What is or Is there a place for those lesser known and where is it?
And what would you advise is the best rest of people in catagory can expect as creative residents in SL starting out or have been around but not as well known due to it be creative loners, or what not?
Also when does one know they are ready to attempt running a SL business?
Should one give away their services for almost free like I have until they are better known or is their other options?
I am not sure if I am making sense, I hope I am...
Any way curious about other people's thoughts.
Thanks, FD

I would say it becomes business when it turns from pleasure to work .. then you gotta put a price on that .. including uploads and how much it cost you personally to be in world i.e tier fee and membership plan.

Diffrent folks start diffrent ways .. some come for the fun and find work .. others likewise.

I reckon you will know it's time when you feel ready to put a value to your creations.

Thank Jax....I just don't really feel extremely confident like I have met some people who seem highly skilled and have no problem asking for large amounts of L.
Luckily most of the things I have with few things are paid for this year because of generous friends but I have thought about other things I like to have and couldn't afford yet not sure if its possible for now.
As long as I have enough to cover basic things like uploads but recently found myself daydreaming about the if only I could sell such and such amount, perhaps its counting my lindens before they hatched and I don't know if anything I create anyone would pay for either.
I am not sure if I ever entirely get to that point.
In spite of friends and others like yourself who like my texture creations. Not sure though textures is really safe product or even appreciated product to promote.

For some people, "Second Life" becomes "Second Job" with the amount of time they have to spend managing products, vendors, publicity, sales support and so on.

Personally, I don't want or need a second job, so I try and set a life/work balance within SL.

hi FD

For us personally, we were very lucky when we first started making tattoos, we had helping hands from friends and landowners who gave us all the encouragement and help we could want. Giving us cheap rentals and pointers on how best to spend our limited budget to get the best impact and get ourselves noticed. Without those friends and landlords in the early days we would probably not have seriously considered going into business at all and just made the tattoos for friends as a hobby. It is still a hobby now, all be it one which pays our tier and membership subscriptions, plus a little extra. Now almost a year later we are able to help a couple of our friends out who are just starting in business. There are a lot of people out there who are willing to give new businesses that first step on the ladder. I have seen them post on the forums offering free or very cheap rental space to creators, although I have to say most have been for avs under 3 months old which is great for newbies, but there does seem to be less on offer for new creators, who may have been in game a while but only just started creating on a business level.
Check out your market, those people who already offer similar products (unless yours is a new product not offered by anyone else), see what their classifieds read like, then try and word yours to give keywords that are slightly different and will show you on different searches. Also look at the prices others are charging and base yours accordingly, you do not want to make yourself either too cheap or too expensive.
The only other thing I would say is, unless you have something new that will catch the publics' attention because it fills a niche market or are very lucky be prepared to lose money for the first few months, hopefully you won't but sl reflects rl, and real life, most companies are lucky to break even in their first year. Happily from my own experience of sl and talking to others, break even point on sl does seem to happen quicker for those who are talented and creative.
Finally, good luck and look forward to seeing your empire grow in-world

I am really into making hand drawn textures but I don't really know how to look and see if others are doing same things.
I experiment with many things but mainly my focus is on object textures, walls, windows, curtains, flowers. trees and for fun I make tiny prim avatar dolls with entire texture mapped clothing and sometimes even furniture and fabrics.
Yet I have no clue really if there is even demand and of course I want to do only one of kind of textures and keep it that way.
Advertising within search really stinks and I got land so I don't feel that great about renting and spending more money that I could use on textures..

I think you have to take a look around. What arena do you want to work in? Who's your competition, and who's the best? Look at their work...if you feel like your's isn't nearly as good...I say take it slow, learn your craft, and then invest more time and money into it.

If your product is going to be low quality...why put it out there? If, however, you feel your skills are on the level with competing businesses, then go for it!

If you can be honest with yourself, and feel you're not 'on the level', then you should just build, design, and learn right now. The business part will come in time.

Good luck.

Yeah that is why I sort quit even though some of my friends thought I should be selling stuff there were too many problems and unless I can produce extremely high quality items that I am proud that fit my high standards I don't want to bother.
I don't want to be another content crap pusher or selling items I feel are rip offs..

Make things you personally like or would like to see in SL, make them as well as you can, if the item doesnt come out like you pictured it, redo it until it does, once it meets your standards and you are proud of it thats all you can do.

Looking at what others do in the same field can be misleading, just because another person makes a certain thing it does not mean that is THE thing to make, its when you start making things because you think they will sell, rather than because its what you want to make, thats maybe when you become what it is you mentioned you dont want to become.

As for "starting a business", Im not sure how many make this actual decision, I would think most find they start by experimenting and very soon they find they like making things in SL, others may compliment them on it and say that they should sell them etc.
So once you have a number of items you are proud of, you make a little shop just for fun really, dont have expectations, just see it like any sales are helpful to you with tier and are great encouragement to carry on doing what you do.

In SL as in RL, you can often see who is doing what they do just for money, and who is doing what they do for the joy of doing it.

Craig is right about doing something for fun.

AND when it isn't fun ... stop doing it.

Originally I built things out of curiosity to see how I got on. Then I moved on to make things I wanted. I thought 'I can do this, I seem to have the knack' so I did a few buildings suitable for 512m plots and marketed them. They used to sell then they stopped selling.

To make serious money from building, being able to design and make the stuff and find a place to sell it isn't likelely to be enough. I think it would be neccessary to have a very high profile presence through outlets and advertising.

The customer base for selling houses etc. is likely to be those who have land but can't build, or don't think they are very good at building or haven't got time to build.

The classic example is with body shapes. OK, anybody can make a shape, but some people are probably prepared to pay a smallish sum for a shape that might take them an hour or two to make if they did it themselves.

Forget all about business. Relax and do what you like. For as long as it takes.

Eventually someone will say: I want that - where can I buy it?

And eventually, that question will snowball.

That's your cue to start the biz side of things. You don't need to be good at business. The key is just not to be bad at it, really.

Do what you say, say what you do, and the rest is up to you for as far as you want to go.

Thanks for all your advise.
Things I have realized while being here in SL.
I really like creating especially textures and learning stuff.
I don't like stress, I sure in heck don't like the emotional drama of stress either be it being cranky cause something not working right, be it my fault or perception of something going on business or social relationship.
Just rezzes Mr. Grumpy FD really hard and I don't like how he looks when he he gets really upset.
It ruins the fun and creative process.