Building / opening a club

Hi,
Im new to the forum, and new to second life. I'm really interested in building and opening a club/bar, and was wondering if anyone can give me some pointers on how to do this. Im a basic member.

Thanks

Cold Cryotank!!!

As a new person to SL, it is important that you learn about SL and your audience first. I would spend alot of time in alot of clubs at all times of the day and see what appeals to the customers and what doesnt. See what is already out there and then think of unique things you might add to the SL experience with your club. Learn about renting or buying land and commercial spaces. Learn about marketing, music streaming, live music, dj's, video. Take come classes in building, scripting, and setting up a biz. THEN decide what you want to do and go for it. As a biz owner, my advice would be learn SL and the club biz first, then dive in a be successful.

As one who has tried to help a couple of friends open clubs in SL I will tell you that you are attempting to enter a very much over saturated market. In short, clubs are a "dime a dozen".

You cannot do it "on the cheap". It takes time (a lot of time), effort (much more than you can imagine), and be prepared to spend more lindens that you expect to spend getting the word out about your new place. As already said, you need some education on building, marketing, and knowledge of what you are competing with. If you are looking to get in the strip club business do a simple search in world for "clubs".......you will see just how many are listed. TP to as many as you can............and see the lack of crowds in the vast majority. In the ones that have a fair crowd in them, take a look at what it is that makes them better than the others to attract people. Then expand on that.......DO NOT try to duplicate it. You need a newer and better "hook" to get people in and make it a place that they will return too.

I use the strip club as an example since that was the last type of club I tried to help someone out with. It failed......my firend ran out of maney and time even with my employment as a dancer/manager/photographer all without a single linden pay. I also tried to help another friend get a gambling club going (before the gambling ban)......same results. You need something unique. You need something original. You need a way to get it known. And it needs be done professionally.

open a place decorated the way YOU like and want to spend time at, but expect to be there alone a lot.

if you open a club strictly to make a profit, you will experience the opposite results.

don't be discouraged tho, do it and have fun creating and designing. TP around to other clubs and decide what features are appealling to YOU. mimic htem while remaining original, and just have fun making friends along the way. just don't expect to take SL by storm. there is a lot of competition, and it's expensive to get advertising to draw people in. you need to have a reason for them to want to come, and you will want to be surrounded by people who have the same interests as you.

make THAT club, and you will enjoy your time in SL. good luck.

Great advice The owners of one of the most successful clubs in the genre of music/dance I enjoy always said, "We created a place that we would enjoy and were pleased when others enjoyed it as well."

From what I hear from friends who own/have owned clubs, they are EXTREMELY hard to make a profit from...or even break even. I've even heard the term "money sink" applied to clubs. Again, most of the people I know who have had clubs, even successful ones as defined by regular attendance, pretty much used their own funds to keep it running.

Good luck to you, cold. I would also HIGHLY recommend taking JoJogirl's advice and learn all you can about SL prior to opening any business.

a lot of people decide on clubs because they think it is something they can do easily in sl..be ready to be worn out..if you have nothing else there but the club you are really going to be working extra hard..
most decide after a month or two it is just not worth it and they fold..a month or two will seem like 6 months..
like most have said ..i would take my time and learn as much as you can about clubs..taste what others have by asking questions in world..
it never hurts to ask..
but there is a lot of great advice already in this thread..
you are looking into one of the hardest things to make sore and profit..
it will take a long time for your name to get known..
i used to work at one of the top clubs in sl for a long time and still a lot of people i had met never heard of them..
if you do decide to go through with this..i wish you good fortune in your venture and lots of hair color to keep the gray from showing hehehehe

hello cold cyrotank, welcome!

You should take a look at forum " oldest club closing", theres some interesting reading for u there, and some comments of my own on trying to get clubs going..

Peggy Paperdoll says many things u need to be aware of....not least of witch is knowing how SL works, as a newbie to building and clubs, u need to know how to create a group too, and mange a group. Your biggest first outlay, is going to be buying/renting land for it.

Land owner ship, and covenants, what type of bussiness you are allowed to run, needs careful study, theres a "help tower somewhere", u can get books on almost any subject to do with building, theres also vid tutuorials in the knowledge base of Second life website, and if your on u tube, u can find 200 or so tutorials on almost anyhing, but be warned, as a newbie to building, a lot of it u may find hard to understand...

But persevere, try and get a job in a club perhaps, and visit the type of club u want to make, but as paper doll says, u need a lot of lindens, u will have to probably have get a slex exchange going, to buy currency, u will need it, just go to google and look up slex, and register!! The best idea of learning about building, is to get yuor self to a sand box, where u can experiment building, using all types, blocks, cones, round etc.. Dont forget with a club, u need to texture walls and floors, these dont come cheap either, for decent stuff....my gold and maroon textures i bought for my cinema are glorious, but your talking 250L to 400L for maybe 6 textures, also u have to watch how many prims your using, thats the allowance of primatives, that yuor allowed when u buy the land, always see how many prims it supports before getting your land. On average an 8129 sqmetr of land may support between 1800 and 3000 prims, As soon as u put down your club, being ready made or from (scratch, not really viable for a newbie,) that club may take up 500 to 1000 prims in one go before u start!!, search the houses and castles for sale, visit a few, u can find kewl buildings which dont take a lot of prims...if u need any help, Im, me in world, I should be back in by wednesday...4th June.....If I were you, I would rent a small piece of land 512sqmetr which u can build and make things on your own land, the best way of learning is to do it your self, maybe even get a cheap house plenty around for for a few hundred Lindens, u can then see how long it does take to furnish it, go shopping, i know, i furnished 4 houses to rent out, took me a long time..!! and a lot of Lindens! lol
As a good intoduction to building, find the vid tutorial on making a waving flag! A lot of basic building teqniques go into making it...

All the best

mike

Hi Cold, and welcome to the amazing adventure that is Second Life.

Just adding my own 0.02L$ to this, in terms of club opening, running and management. Apart from the very valuable advice that's already been given in here about learning SL before plunging in, here, in no particular sequence, are some things that I've found invaluable.. (or learnt the hard way)

- Know what you want to be, and be it. Give yourself and your club a clear identity and stick with it - people won't always remember the name of where they've been, but they will talk among themselves about going back to "that club that did such and such". Find yourself a unique theme/concept/idea and build outwards from that.

- Get ready to invest. Not just money. but yourself, your emotions, your whole being. Most people can't immediately spot the difference between a club where the owner is wholly involved, and one where s/he's pretty much an absentee - not at first glance anyway. But over time, that sure shows.

- Travel and make lists. Go clubbing, go to every form of club you can find in search, and start making mental lists. Not only of the good things, the things that you'd like to incorporate into your own club, but also of the things that downright hacked you off. Chances are, if they annoyed you, they annoy other people as well.

- A club (or any SL venture) is not just a nine day wonder - it's a long term, drawn out experience, with a signficant number of ups and downs. If you open a club, maybe for the first few nights you'll be packed out, thanks to the novelty factor of a new place to go. You'll be in heaven, and then, suddenly, whammo - all gone, all empty and you'll be wondering what happened. At this point, when it happens, don't despair, don't give up. Fight on - it's the clubs that have made it through this plateau that are really the most successful.

- Remember whose club it is. You've put in the time, the effort, the energy into making this dream real - you deserve to be allowed to emjoy it. Opinions on how to make things better will come in fast and furious, and some of them will be valuable. Some however will be pure dross - given the fact that the club market is indeed saturated, it does appear that a high percentage of Joe Avatars out there know instinctively how to run a club. Remember also just how long the life expectancy of a club is in SL - pretty low. Learn the skill of listening to everyone, filtering through the advice, taking the best and politely declining the rest.

- Staff: Just one thought here - friends can't be good staff, staff can become good friends. Remember, should you get to the point of taking on people, tell them exactly what you expect of them, and help them into the role. And then show them, by example, how you want them to behave when your back is turned. Each person who works for/with you is an ambassador for your club - treat them as such, with a good wage structure and a good reward package, and you'll have the best of the best.

- If it's not fun, leave. That one is aimed at you, the club owner. If it becomes a chore to run events, turn up at your club, meet and greet people, look after the place, solve the minor problems - then you're not enjoying it. Get out, and go after another dream, perhaps club ownership wasn't for you after all.

- Start small and build up. So your dream is to have a club that offers X, Y and Z - my personal advice would be to begin with a club that offers X only, get that right, and consolidate it, before introducing Y. There are two main advantages to this - you remain in control of what you're about, and, when the time comes to introduce Y or Z, you are keeping the club fresh, new and exciting.

Oh, and finally, Cold, the very best of good luck and best wishes with your adventure - may you have as much enjoyment with it as I've had for the last couple of years.