Top 5 Reasons Why Businesses fail in Second Life-Becca Drascol Reporting

I could probably list more than just 5 reasons a virtual business would fail. I think all owners set out with a great idea and even business plan. And of course no one sets out to fail. Even if you're the go getter with tons of time and start off with everything you could fathom will make the business a success, sometimes failure is inevitable. Without failure, what would we try harder for? Or change the next go round? So in this article I will go over what I feel are the top 5 for business failure.

1)Funds-Yes it takes money to run a business even virtually. Money for land, equipment, or furniture...sometimes just the impression you make with the look of your business can make or break you. Salary? Some do and some don't pay salary within SL, but for those of you who do, it can be quite hard on the one paying that salary to the staff to maintain funds. For as many of us who gain our linden simply working in SL, one option is to put money in from RL. While there is nothing wrong with funding a virtual business this way, if it makes you become stressed when things do not go your way for your dollar, well then the virtual shit hits the fan. And for some, like a club I once upon a time frequented, just using RL funding made the club go from fun to a very harsh environment.

2)Land-Whatever you seek to venture out with in Second Life business, land is a must! While finding good land isn't so difficult, finding the right priced, good trafficked and correct rated sim for your business may muddle up the picture. And even once you have land, maintaining it is always a task or two.

3)Staff-While some SL businesses can run without staff such as any goods store, a club or hangout must have good reliable working staff. While there are oodles of hiring groups, there are also tons and tons of clubs and other venue types in need of staff and competition for employees, like in the real world it can make staffing a venue very difficult.

4)Traffic-No matter what type of business venue you're trying to run in SL, a business needs customers. In all forms of business the goal is to sell something. Whether it be goods such as clothes, shapes or shoes etc., or if it's a club you run, people have to know you are open and running.

5) Competition-With every type of business imaginable in SL, the competition can be maddening. Not only the amount of other businesses out there can harm your business but how you run your own can seriously change rather it thrives or fails. For every place out there, there's one on the rise. One that works harder and faster in a shorter amount of time than you. Or perhaps the other venue is simply better liked.

Failing is not the end

Just because a business may fail does not mean the business owners, staff or otherwise per say didn’t try their hardest, or give their best effort. There is good and bad in all things in life. And sometimes a failure can be a life lesson, a way to improve and look at what went wrong.

It can mean an opening for a new start. And in the end of things there can be no success if we knew not what failure is. So rather one picks up and starts anew, or simply moves on and tries something non business related in SL, one thing is certainly true, venues will come and go and failure is always going to be possible.