My First Business
After a few months of exploring SL I decided I needed an income so I could persue another business idea I have. So I found an existing business for sale that would give me some kind of income.
I managed to connect with a programmer who I hit it off with quite well. I asked a lot of questions because the investment was pretty big. I was still using the free SL account. After analizing the data, it seemed like a worthwhile investment. I created a new paid avatar to keep the business accounting separate from my personal avatar affairs. The deal went through and I am now the proud owner of my very own SL Casino!
The day I bought it we had to change ownership of the existing owner (the programmer) over to me. It was important that I had a sizable reserve of Lindens to start with so that I would be able to pay out winnings. Though Iv’e been exploring in SL I had little experience with placing objects etc so it took me about 40 minutes to get things placed, and then positioned where I wanted them. There were people camping when I began this so I was also ‘under the gun’ to get this done quickly. I didn’t want to upset existing customers! On that note - I went around and payed the customers a sum for the inconvenience. It didn’t cover their camping losses, but I wanted to assure them that they would continue to receive good service.
Next I had to set the profit margins and rates on the machines as well as the chairs. Changing the settings was easy, because the programmer made good notes on how to do so in the manual. What was not easy was getting the numbers right! That number is customisable by the casino owner (me). I had botched up some of the chair settings in that they would boot campers after a low period of time - not allowing campers an opportunity to gain back any of the L’s they spent to get multipliers. I have a feeling I lost some regular customers that day. I had many PM’s shouting ‘not fair!, not fair!’. Just about any or all profits I made the first week, I gave much of it back to customers trying to retain their business. I did caution them however, that they were gambling.
After a week and understanding more how the rates work things seem to have stabilized more now and I’m starting to see a return on my investment (though not enough to cover the original purchase just yet). I’m also seeing some of the disgruntled campers returning.
I have several additions I’m thinking of for the future but the prim count for the 512sqm of land does not allow for too much. Some of the additions will be creations made by some of our very own VTOR authors!
This venture will hopefully help springboard me towoard my goal of a particular business I would like to open in SL. ~ Happy Camping!
March 8th, 2006 • 
Lestat • 
