I need a job...

Is AOL island still running it's trivia game? That's pretty fun to play with a friend. You get 10L when you win. Sometimes I'd bring a newbie along and we'd split the prize. When you play against someone who is not a friend it can get pretty competitive. They also have a skate park where you can skateboard and collect linden coins. I usually see one person skating every time I visit. A bit more fun than just sitting. I'd love to see more games and interactivity like that.

i've gotten to the point where i no longer put any money from my bank account into SL. all i do pretty much is sell my art and books that i have made. technically i could have done this without starting with any real life money...and i did work on a shoestring budget when i did start up.

If you were willing to put a $10USD investment into it you could technically work up to the point to maybe rent a plot on an island. You say you write...You could make books! I think the ThinC printing press is $700L....then you have to buy one modifiable ThinC book for $75L. Start with a 30 page book...add some illustrations, if you can't draw well enough...get a friend to draw some for you. A 30 page book will cost you about $330L to upload. Try to make several different books to sell...about 5 would probably be great. If it was high quaility and had some nice illustrations you could sell them for $100-$300L a piece easily. It might be a good idea to have a mini book to sell for under $50L for low budget people too.

Now find a low rent shop...My first gallery was at Cityscapes on Lake Citrago. It was cute and very small...and only $100L a week for 40 prims...which is very cheap and was enough to let me have a lot of stuff in there. The downfall was that it was a very low traffic mall, but that can be a good thing since it was less laggy than most places. This just means that you have to hustle more...which i think can be a good thing if people can see you there. I would hold events and chat with people about my art and I think that was much more beneficial than if I had been in a high traffic mall and just let my stuff sit in hopes that people would buy it.

I also suggest starting a group...like Fans of Sir Snookums or something like that...and then invite everybody who visits your shop to your group. Give people who join discounts on stuff, or host events where they can win prizes.

Eventually you will have saved up enough money to buy a 512 plot and cover tier fees if you felt like it. I am to the point where I have a 1012 plot...which is enough for me right now. and even when you get to that point you don't want to slack off and stop hosting events. You don't need to spend hours or anything...one or two hours every other week should hopefully cover costs. buy a 50L classified and if you own your plot list it in places for 30L.

So basically....You could start an SL business selling books with less than what I suggested.

$700 Thinc printing press
$75 Thinc book
$50 classified
$100 group startup
$2000 for uploads
$1000 for a month of rent (maybe less than that)

Yeah so if you put in $5000L (overestimate your costs) you could make $L a lot faster on your own then having a job and you would be utilizing all of the skills you said you were good at.

Trust me I know, I work in food service but I am a friggen whiz at money management. I think what helps me is that I always overestimate my costs and underestimate what I actually have...so then I always have some extra money at the end of the month. Shoot, I could give you some RL tips on money management! Seriously I make about $9/hr (so about $6/hr after taxes and SS and medicare are taken out) and live in a major city in the US. I ride my bike instead of paying for transportation. I shop at the cheapest grocery store ever (ALDI). I use netflix instead of going to blockbuster (or the movie theaters). if i go out i drink old style or pbr and when i drink at home i buy fancy imported beer. i take advantage of taking home leftovers from work when they are offered to me. i buy my clothing at thrift stores. i try to participate in as many focus groups as i can and i sell crafts and my art for spare cash. i live in a studio apartment THAT INCLUDES HEAT (very important, hehe) and is only a mile from my place of employment. I used to live 5 miles away from work and would still ride my bike, granted i do live in one of the flattest cities ever. I overpay my credit card payments at least double what the minimum payment is. i use the library instead of buying books. One year I lived in chicago off of $6,000...without any help from anybody and without a credit card. and i had enough money to occasionally go out, get drunk, have dinner, whatever. it helps if you have roomates who dumpster dive for food.

all in all...it sounds like i am very ambitious...but i am probably one of the laziest people i know...sorry this is long winded...but i take pride in the fact that i can live in pretty decent circumstances for the little that i make. it's soemthing that i think most people would be incapable of.

I'd ove to help you out! Ill send you an IM in world to plan everything.


Sonia... HOLY %&%^ you are excellent with your money if you can live off of $6000 in a year... let alone in CHICAGO. O.O Also, you have begun to lead me to believe that camping chairs are a conspiracy by the electric company!

Elex, I think I might be trying out some bingo in the future.

Bree, I am just about to tp to AOL and try ou tthe skating.

Thanks for all of your suggestions! I think I see some $L coming my way.

Great!

One small detail, my online IM's are capped near instantly, so let's friend each other or worst case, create a notecard, write stuff and drop the note to me.

I should be online tomorrow AM (SLT) at the earliest I think (Memorial weekend has me RL busy, hence best I can do is forums at the mo) and I'm on 'late nights' SLT normally, but no rush, we'll sort this. No deadline or anything, which is good, because when I get back inworld from 2 days off I'm usually hit with dozens of IM's (suppresses personal panic).

Meantime, consider yourself $L 5000 richer soon as we meet up - win, lose, or draw, entirely at my risk - plus I'll have some $L for various expenses (texture uploads, we might need an artist, item buys, &c &c). I've already got a bit of private land for test setup, so no worries there. We'll discuss the rest from that point forward.

Folks, looks like Murder Mystery night is coming to Caledon at last!

....and ah, did I mention the part about the Agatha Christie avatar? (JUST KIDDING SIR!!!!)

grins - sounds like it's going to be a great time

Cool!!! Ill friend you now. It looks like I wont be able to be on until late-night SL either because of finals. I just sent you an FR! Talk to you ingame!

Even if you are in a country where credit cards are available, ownership of them is not nearly as universal in some of them as it is in the US. People of modest means often can't get them, unilke here where anybody with a pulse can get somebody to issue a card.

Transaction costs are also a problem. PayPay charges much higher fees to non-US residents. Credit cards often tack on surcharges for international transactions, on top of the exchange rate bite.

Yes, there are many residents who choose not to spend RL money here. But there are also residents for whom it is not a real choice.

You mention that you like to write, and you seem to have good English skills. Contact us at the Metaverse Messenger. We are always looking for staff writers.

P2

Hurrah! This will be so fun. Hmmmm...I wonder if a Miss Marple avi would be doable

kk will do!

Gah, those blasted evil newspapermen! Just wait 'till I get in-world! Seems there's more jobs than candidates!

grins

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