Socially|Mundane

Second Life has gained a lot of notoriety for a myriad of things: a sex-haven; making money; terrorist hideout; money-laundering; big-crime lair... Sheesh. Abot the only plausible of the above are making money and sex-haven. Of these, the only accurate 'sensationalist' news is the making money part - and even then, only if you work really hard at it and invest a full-time effort.

Otherwise, just be happy if you can get the 'game' to pay for itself. That's what I do. I own a few sims and I work hard to have them simply earn their own keep: raising enough money to pay the tiers each month. it can be done, if you follow the right path. But the work never stops. I am fortunate that I am able to spend roughly about 25 to 33% of my Second Life time just having fun. The rest of it really is work.

The place to start is to learn to build something. Anything. Even a tattoo. Get good at whatever you choose to do, be creative, and never, ever be satisfied with your own work. Start a small business. Rent a spot on a mall or two. Sell enough top pay the rental for the spot and make a little profit to use as spending cash.

Grow yourself from there.

I wrote a book a couple years ago called "Starting and Building a Successful Business in Second Life". Gave it to my real life sister to sell. Very successful and from what I hear, those who grabbed the book also are very successful. It instructs you in basic business concept and how to apply those to second Life.

I really should update it and sell it again. It's an in-world book with an out-world (real life) PDF companion. Ah, but the time, the TIME!

Anyway, I was in Second Life for nearly six-months before I even explored the building tools in SL. And I've been doing 3D modeling since 1986! However, once I decided to take the time and hunkered down to learn the interface of the SL building tools, it came naturally.

What I'm saying is: don't you wait that long. Jump-in and get your feet wet. it's really not too difficult to learn.

So, you want to make some Linden cash in SL? Start by learning to create something. Keep in mind the markets and competition you'll face. Start with something there isn't a lot of.

Like... tattoos.

Yes, it's a limited market. But a rather lucrative one. And all it takes is a little creativity, some image-editing know-how, and the ability to apply a texture to a new shirt inside Second Life.

And Doctor Snot over at eHow shows you how.

Step-by-step:

How to Make Money in Second Life: Tattoo Designer on SecondLife [sic]: "The first step to earning some money making tattoos on Second Life is to create the design itself. Now, there are template files available on second life as well as some download able [sic] ones on the internet available in the typical picture file formats. These templates will help you control the position of the tattoo when it is applied to a character."

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