Howto : earn L$ in Second Life

i have alot of time to live in SL, thats just the way it is. it sure beats sitting in front of the tv all night. In SL, some people want to chat, some want to build, others are making art, others are having sex, and others want to know what its like to run a business, and they define their success on the money they earn. this howto is directed toward those who want to learn how to run a business. note the title "how to make money" not "how to be happy". if making money isnt your thing then this post was not addressed to you, and stop griping about it.LOL.. in real life i dont run a business, but in SL i do. several businesses. its really fun. when i lose money and cant pay bills, i pull out my real life money. its not like real life where there is no free paypal to cushion your fall, but thats why this is virtual, and thats why its fun, cause you never really lose. if you can support your SL habit by working, hey theres a free video game for you! and i dont see anything wrong with that. as for how much time i have on my hands.. thats my business too.

I came across this article via the Knowledge Base and I found this article to be quite an engrossing read indeed...

I know that I want to have a career here in SL but I haven't decided what yet, but hopefully I'll find something of promise to me eventually... ^_^

I got land hardest part right now is finding people even as friends I got small handful but it often feels like I am literally in ghost town.
Which is okay if all I am doing is building, exploring and creating textures.
Just finding people to hang out with or figure out how to do things is hard. Not even sure how to get customers or if I am ready to sell anything. I don't want to sell transfer rights for my textures so that can be issue for builders who want turn around sell their buildings or clothing with my textures.
I am getting pretty good at use the slider and making my own slider hair with my own textures too.
Building skills are improving.
Yet not sure who or where I find people to buy anything I make but that is okay right now just trying to have good time creating.
I started to try to sell customized textures but I ran into some problems and I didn't feel I was ready for custom request so I end up giving back the money he gave me plus losing all the money on uploaded textures that didn't look quite right.
I don't really want to use the venders or get shop space. Pretty much it would be nice if I didn't have to keep taking money out for uploads. I am not even sure often where to find help with things sometimes even with all the reading I do. Advertising thing in Second Life and just connecting with new people is quite difficult it seems at least to me. I can always find people who want stuff they can resell that I make for really low At this point I can't even find people or scripts to give away free stuff I make. Advertising thing doesn't always work I figured out, especially the automatic subscription option. Spent 200L on advertising my textures I got only two responses.

I was happy cause I had used my own money and got myself a little shop in a nice mall. I liked just sitting back and hanging out with my friends and showing them the nifty little things that I was working on. It may have just been a little thing and really unimportant but I just wanted to play the game and not just walk around going to random places and sitting on a stupid chair for 1 L a minute!

yeah I hate camping because I often lose money gambling. Today I went through 150 for only got 18. The timer boots you at 15 mins.
Decided no more camping. I figure I just won't buy anything unless I can make it myself or buy lindens. I usually use lots just for land upgrades, not doing that any more and uploads

Thx Angel Fluffy. It was really informative, and also down to earth. Didn't give false hope, but in other hand showed what should be concidered before going into "business".

Gabor

Hi Angel,

I'm glad to read what you say about happiness, I've been always interested on this point of view, but first time I read something like this, could you please, recommend me some book or reading about this philosophy

thank you very much!
and excuse my english.


-- Angel Fluffy: ---------------------------
Personally, I think of becoming rich as rather like becoming happy - it's a background goal in life that you accomplish best by doing other things.

For example, if you're always thinking about how unhappy you are, becoming happy becomes your goal, and then you start looking for short-term ways to become happy, like drugs or casual sex.

Invariably these provide a quick-fix but leave the longer-term problem unsolved, and soon you are back where you started, even more unhappy because you remember that for a few moments you were happy.

The effective way to become happy is to put unhappiness out of your mind - refuse to be unhappy - and settle down doing something you enjoy, something that helps you in the long term, something that challenges and distracts
--------------------------------

Your English is fine
About the Philosophy... I would suggest the following books :
1) http://www.amazon.com/Being-Happy-Andrew-Matthews/dp/0843128682
2) http://www.amazon.com/Making-Friends-Andrew-Matthews/dp/0843129697

I suggest these as they are both helpful and easy to read.
There could be other, better books out there... I don't know. If you read around and find any, please let me know?

How did you learn to use the LSL?

im stuck i dont know what to do, i would like to open up a store but am having trouble on how to make designs and what programs to use, i have this idea i want to do but not sure how to start it can anyone help out?

Anybody has a job for me?

a easy way to make money is to edit good items and cloths. find FREE stuff - and edit it to be more your style, or other styles. a free car can easily be made to look like a popular car, or run better. a cheap tie-dye shirt can be converted to a sexy lace halter top. or simple accesories like a simple flashlight can be made into cool little things like a light saber or a gun flash. - just be 100% certain that u can do tis, even if its free - selling it may upset the owner because he is beinging nice and ur being an ass. check the rights you have to edit b4 you really do sell it.

hint*** - dont sell it near the free spot - - - sell it in a very remote area. maybe a club or camp ground - casinos are popular too.

First of all, your energy bill for a decent computer to run SL will not be paid by sitting in a chair or leaving your computer on all night. The ratio of Lindens to RL money is like 300:1. That means that if you earn 3 Lindens every 10 minutes, it will take you 1,000 minutes or about 17 HOURS to make 1 real life dollar. Most modern desktop computers use around 100-150 watts of electricity while running this game. That's like leaving 2 60watt bulbs on for 2/3rds of a day. Don't expect to make real money by sitting in a camping chair or something. You're not. All you're going to do is ruin the environment by wasting electricity. If you work in a fast food joint and aren't in college, don't own a car, and still live at home - stop reading this now and go to a job website now.

As you spend your real life dollars, realize this...you are buying nothing but fun. You will get nothing in return but some temporary fun. You are paying to play, meanwhile someone else is getting rich off you... It's kind of like paying for sex. As someone recently told me, if you're wasting your child's diaper money on hookers then you're probably a bad person. This game is kind of like booze and gambling. You need to be responsible with your addictions. If you're a person who has a retirement account going and don't expect me to pay for you to retire through government taxation and social security...then please...play on.

..or going to a movie, a play, out for drinks with a bunch of friends, buying a frivolous bit of clothing that makes you feel good, or any number of other purely pleasurable, temporary situations that one pays for.

There's nothing at all inherently wrong with that, and it need not be regarded as addiction - if it is, no matter what 'it' is, and is busting your budget then, yes, you have a problem. And there are certainly numerous ways to enjoy SL that don't cost anything. But the puritanical idea that if it's fun, it's somehow wrong to pay for it is just that - a puritanical idea that need not slavishly followed unless one agrees with it. And if one does live by such a harsh code, I can't imagine what attraction SL would hold for them in the first place.

The intention of the content of the article to introduce people to SL is comendable. How ever, Let me be terse on the aritcle:- it is verbose. Coming to the job offer, how can some one offer a job for profuse usage of words on a web? it appears it is concocted.

Iam still a naivette in SL not in RL. Such artciles would only drive away people like me.

Let me persist ot understand this SL better. Is it so complicated I thougth it would be easier and will be my dream life too.

Reagrds

Yogi Shepherd

Some of us have the computer on 24/7 *anyway*, for reasons other than SL. As long as there's some idle cycles, why not? *shrugs*

(No, I don't expect to make real money by camping chair...but if the computer is going to be on anyway, why not make a few extra lindens while I'm sleeping? )

That was a great post, one which definatly filled the time the grid was down!

I have personally just started making money myself through not selling anything apart from my services as a DJ, which is now easily paying for all my SL costs and keeping my bank manager very happy!

you can make money as A DJ?

Yes, but regardless of occupation, if you provide good customer service, loyalty to owners - you will be rewarded, look at the girls who spend thier time dancing or being escorts - if you were to ask residents out of two girls - One, quiet not chatty or Two, really friendly, welcoming, chatty etc etc, which one would they tip or spend money on? most would say number two.

As a DJ i make sure that ANY 'punters' in the club i am performing at, enjoy themselves - if that means one or one hundread people! and i find that because i provide a good service, i get good references, which means other people then IM me to hire me!

One thing though, if you find that you are in a job and are spending more money then you make, try something different. or maybe move somewhere else - the Search function is invalubale to all DJ's - you dont have to work in one place only!

and just on the global warming post -

I hope they never come to my room.... PC on all day, Lights on, Heater on full (cant actually turn it off) window open, air cooler on (because of heater) taps constantly dripping!

im just glad the Military pay my electricity bill.....

Bubbs Z

Quite right I know hundreds of people that leave their computer on for reasons as little as just filling up an IRC Chat room, myself included but more to download things and such. We pay for movies, we pay for unneccessary food and we pay for SL, see? It's like paying for those chips or whatever you had just an hour ago.

Also, Excellent guide, I myself am thinking of becoming a DJ, I can easily get well over 2,000 songs and I have the ability to play around 30 hours a week, so it should be something fun to learn and to waste spare time. If anybody would be as kind to help, Please do so

Nicko265

Funny you should say that... I have a long running classified inworld that says "Pay me lindens for the hell of it" where i did a funny little blurb explaining I am not out to save the world, i do not have anything to sell you, i just want your money. Every few days ppl run across it and pay me like 1-10 lindens lol. Then then ask to be on my friends list. I'll never be rich that way, but it is a great icebreaker, and hey... ppl still pay me lol.

In regards to the computer being on....I have 4 desktops and 1 laptop which are left on 24/7. The Laptop is what I use for SL...so it is actually cheaper to run than the desktops (All of the computers are for my DJ and courier business)

As for the DJing in SL, I know one person who made enough to get his own club. This is a person who did internet radio for sometime (own station) and got introduced to SL only 2 months ago. It was this person who also introduced me to SL.

I have been toying with the idea of offering my DJ services in SL. I have over 30 years experience as a mobile, radio and club DJ. But I am still a noob and wanting to get to understand SL a bit better before I do a classified ad (however if there was an offer of interest I would not turn it down).

Some people have made LOTS of $$$ in SL, and others have become addicted to SL, spent all their money and well...not happy endings are had by all.

SL is what you make of it.

Really helpful! Especially for a newbie! Thank you very much! Hope more Posts like this!

I just want to know one thing... and that is where can I get this "roleplayers guide to SL" type thing that Angel wrote?

The best post I seen in the forums so far. Rocks.

Great post.
I will be looking for a job soon i feel.

Well i started my job today and i was great fun , 2 hours of hosting at a dance club. Plenty of people and good music .
I was really nervous before hand but as i said it was great .

To any other newby's, get out there and apply for those jobs and don't be scared to sit an interview (interesting to say the least ) and the best tip of all is just be yourself . If you make out to be something you are not you will be lacking at some stage.

If it doesn't suit what you want just tell the employer and move on so they can.

Thanks for the topic it sure helped me

I've unstickied and closed this thread because the original post has moved to the Second Life Wiki! Please see:

» https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Getting_Linden_Dollars_FAQ

Hopefully, this'll make it easier to update, too.