Another Linden Labs Victim: Fairwell Sea and Sky

Last night was a sad night indeed. A sim that many people adored had its last party. I'm talkin' about Sea an Sky owned by three incredibly nice people... Leandrah "Andi" Whiteberry, Vicky Vielle and Lucy Bronet.

Sea and Sky (SNS) was a Sim that many of us called home. It was the neighboring Sim to Okeanides and the people who inhabited SNS were all very nice. They had a runway that I often used when flying and a super fun bar that I enjoyed nuking. I looked forward to the "waves fist in air" gestures of Andi as well as the pranks I would play like planting invisible bombs on her front door. *sigh*

So today I sailed my boat around the now empty islands of SNS. Another victim of the Linden Labs price gouging and unfair treatment. SNS is not the only sim to have been sunk by LL. Many Sim owner friends of mine have told me how they have been losing money on their investments and how they are closing Sim after Sim in SL. Is SL trying to "cash out"? Who knows.

So here I am floating in my boat over what use to be the very fun Boobie Bar. SNS..... you'll be missed.

Samurai Shayna

Ever since I was a little girl I always loved old samurai movies. My favorite of course being the classic Seven Samurai. We Recently I started making swords and as usual I do a lot of research. In my search I have stumbled upon 2 very good sims in SL that I have been visiting often.

Yukigakure - Hidden Snow Village, Shatoo (60, 33, 45) is a sim dedicated to Naruto and is beautifully done. The buildings, ground layout, glowing crystals and falling snow make you feel like you've entered the world of the very popular series. The poeple are fun to be around and there are constant battles going on. They have great shops so bring your pocket book.

Combat Samurai Island - C:SI Bat, Samurai Edo (12, 118, 31) is my new favorite sim... next to my own. This place is so authentically designed it's freaky. There are 2 seperate sims.... 1 which has the main shops and gorgious streams and water falls and the other with dueling arena, temples,waters falls, restuarants and dojo's. Words can not express how awesome this sim looks and feels.

I also started dueling and I must say... the regulars there have no problem "cutting" you down. They are excellant duelists and I look forward to getting good enough to actually win one...LOL

So as I stated before I'm working on my own swords. But in the mean time my two main Katana are made by Hanzo Blades Armory - Samurai Ka, Bytegang (49, 186, 24) and the Ronin Katana sold at Samurai Island. These two swords are a reminder of what I need to live up to in craftmenship. When ever I think mine are good enough I just strap on one of these to be sure. The makers of these swords show true Zen like skill in their attention to detail. The animations and sounds are nothing short of spectacular. I highly recommend them.

So be on the look out for my swords coming soon. Until then..... Sainara!

Marketing 101.1

Well if you read my last blog on marketing and applied the tips I really hope they worked for you. The key word here is “consistency”.

“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do”
Lee Jun Fan (Bruce Lee)

“Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.”

Yoda

I want to add a few bits to help inspire and motivate you along your journey. Marketing is hard work and without “consistency” it will never pay off. We must keep moving…. Never stopping…. Always pressing forward to keep the money train rollin’.

“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”
Dory

So the question is: Are you putting in the work? If you are then keep it up and you will see an increase in sales. But what if you are working hard and getting no sales? Well one ignorant person once said to me “If you’re not getting any sales then your product must not be any good.” What an idiotic thing to say! A good sales person can sell rainbow sprinkled dog poop, a bad salesman can’t sell Ferrari for $100. Food for thought…..


Tip #1 Change your approach

Einstein's definition of madness: “continuing to do the same thing, hoping for a different outcome” comes to mind when we speak of changing ones approach. It is hard to change sometimes and with this we have to think more scientifically then emotionally. Pride is our biggest enemy. What I personally like to do is what Anthony Robins refers to as “modeled excellence”. This means that we find someone who has achieved the results we desire and model their behavior and methods. For example: If I gave you the recipe for the world’s greatest chocolate cake you’d follow it step by step right? Therefore a good way to change what we’re doing is to model someone else.

Tip #2 Pricing

Are you charging too much or too little? This is a daunting question that confuses almost everyone and there is much debate about it. If you charge too much most people won’t afford it but if you charge too little people may think it must not be any good right? Finding the “sweet spot” in pricing takes time and research. I personally don’t like to charge too much as I live by the motto of “The more people that can afford what I make, the more people who will buy it which means more people will see it leading to even more sales.” But I could be wrong….. or am I?

It is also good to understand that real life economy plays a part in peoples spending habits. Remember: Most people in Second Life put real money into their accounts to go shopping. If real life money is tight so will there Second Life lindens.

Tip #3 Market Research and Competition

Have you looked at what the others are doing? If not…. WHY NOT? Start looking at what successful people in your field are doing and learn from them. And please don’t think you or your product is better therefore need not learn from them. You are not better until you are DOING better then they are. Get it? How are they marketing? What are their prices? Do they have sales? How often? What does their store look like? What do their ads and posters look like or say? What is their customer service like? Get out there and find this out. It could mean the difference between zero or one thousands sales!

Tip #4 Live your success!

By “living” your success I mean experience it with all your senses. See, hear, smell, feel and taste it. Imagine your future successful self. Envision your store…. What will it look like? See your bank account grow…… what number do you see? Your world is created first by your mind then molded by your actions. Start NOW!

A Love Of FairLight

Very rarely an SL builder captures my attention with everything they make. Fairlight by Julia Faulkland is one of them. Julia is not only an incredible SL designer but also sexy as hell and super nice to her customers. Maybe she'll send me her body dimensions some day *wink wink*..lol

As a collector of all sorts of gadgets, particularly weapons, I have had my share of purchasing good, not so good and down right waste of lindens weapons. When I purchased my first Fairlight weapon... the XLB88 Flash Rifle.... I got it because it just looked cool. I saw someone wearing it on the Doomed Ship and thought it would make a great addition to an outfit I put together. I tested the gun at the Fairlight gun range and it out performed some of my top weapons. Needless to say I was impressed. Good looks and great performance in one package? SCORE!

Soon after I picked up the Fairlight Sentinel Constructor and built a gun range on my sim similar to the one at the Fairlight main headquarters. The drones are so much fun they have become one of my main sources of stress relief. When ever I need to do battle I just rez some drones and let the carnage begin. These drones shoot back so wearing a health meter adds to the excitement. They just may KILL YOU!

While fighting drones one day my good friend Kazime pulls out the Fairlight MP-5's. These little guns look so realistic and WOW do they pack punch! She was mowing through the drones like they were made of paper. So I TP'ed to Fairlight and purchased the MP-5's and since then they have become my #1 guns of choice for everyday use. Without the silencer these little guns are loud with a very realistic sound effect. But if the noise is too much for you the silencers do a fantastic job of keeping it quiet. But they have friends........

I saw the XGU2E "Viper" Gauntlet and immediately knew I needed them. These guns are forearm mounted so they can be paired with other hand held weapons for twice the fire power. The combination of the Viper and MP-5's is simply unfair to the drones or other combatants. The shear output of this combination is just too much to handle by anyone or anything that you point them at.

My next toy is the STG-14. "The Fairlight STG-14 is a semi-automatic assault shotgun which loads standard 12-gauge shells from a 7 round magazine." It needs to reload often but is only a slight delay. The wide spread and strength of the shells means it's hard to miss your target and you are guaranteed to do some serious damage. It also comes with a front mounted light for all you SWAT role players.

The Fairlight Grenade Belt is a fun addition to anyone's arsenal. In between firing I often toss out a grenade to get some nice splash damage or if against another player a few smoke grenades or flash bombs render them blind long enough to mow'em down. A small price to pay for the extra advantage in my opinion.

My most recent purchase are the PLD-08 Pistols. I have been eyeing these pistols for a while because they simply look AMAZING! I finally broke down and picked them up and oh my god I am glad I did. Someone mentioned the aim was off.... in my opinion that person must have bad aim because these guns are dead accurate. They reload fast and pack a punch. With laser sites, extra ammo and silencers to complete the package these guns get 2 thumbs up!

I don't own all of the Fairlight products........ yet..... but I know that when my bank is full I'll be stopping by again and again to get more from this wonderful weapons designer. All I can say is... if you want top quality in both looks and performance then look no further than Fairlight Products.