Logo

After being on Second Life since October of 2006, and starting my own design store for Digital Fashion, I have learned a great many things:

Lesson 1 - Nothing is as easy as it seems.

I created several different jeans and pant styles with my "Expert" Photoshop skills and still spent waaaay more time than I intended doing it. I thought "No problem, I create and people will buy.."

WRONG! Didn't exactly work that way.

Lesson 2 - Advertise, Advertise, Advertise.

I found out by reading several other blogs and websites, magazines that in SL just like RL - you have to advertise. Even with advertising I am having a hard time justifying the amount of time I spend doing this. Right now I have 4 stores open and with traffic counters I am finding that I do not get as many people as I would have hoped. That can only mean one of two things: My designs suck (which is certainly possible) or maybe the 20,000 or so SL peeps are complete porn fanatics and have no interest in clothing. I don't know. It's not like there is a fashion coalition or board where sellers share their information. I really do not want to spend the L$s on a marketing analysis since my business is still fledgling but at the same time - am I wasting my time? Don't get me wrong, I love making the clothes - but perhaps I have taken it to heart way to soon. It could also mean the market is saturated and only time will tell if my designs will have the staying power to rise above the clamor.

Lesson 3 - Asthetics.

Then I thought - maybe it is my store layout and presentation. Looking around, I can honestly say that the 3 main stores that have the best floor display and content are ETD, Nyte'n Day and Vitamin C!. But when I look at my stores, I can truly say that while my stores aren't as glam - they are still nothing to sneeze at. I will keep working at it.

Lesson 4 - Patience.

Yep, I have listed all of my problems but honestly I think that the biggest one is patience. I will continue to create, advertise and improve my store layout and design - but I believe that keeping my head and chilling out is the best thing that I could possibly do.