Ecoutee Grand Opening!!!

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Considering the bumps in the road, the Ecoutee Grand Opening was a big success. Thanks to Wii and Naimiya for their promoting efforts, we had a nice turn out. The shirts were a big hit bringing in a little over $1000L that night. Everyone raved about the designs and were impatiently enquiring about the RL launch. I think using Second Life for market testing is going to contribute tremendously to our RL success. All in all, I was pleased with the way things turned out.

WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?

Aside from group leader, I was in charge of designing our products and setting up the store. This was the most fun. There is nothing I love more than creating. When our store sign was mentioned by the Etopia Island Manager, I was more than ecstatic. The unlimited creativity in SL makes it appealing.


You win some... you lose some...

We set the bar a little too high perhaps. Its too bad we couldn't get the double ee tshirt to move like a vehicle. But we sure as hell tried. Wii worked extremely hard on the scripting and came up short handed. He did however make some cool progress through out. I really enjoyed his upside down driving shell and the attempts made to get this thing working. Bravo Wii!!

If I could have done it differently...

I would have focused more on building alliances. My plan was to establish connections with others and encourage business relations. Without the distractions of RL, I believe Ecoutee would have had a bigger impact. There would have been more time to promote, market, and focus on driving sales. I'm still boggled by the amount of time people spend in SL. I just can't devote that much of my time to something I can't touch. With that said, it would have been nice to collaborate more with my team mates as a group. Unfortunately, getting together on a regular basis was our down fall. Considering what we accomplished, there was great effort put forth by all parties.

Not all great minds think a like...

Sometimes working in groups can become frustrating. Actually let me rephrase, working in groups is frustrating. Naturally, we all had a different approach to the project. If each of us stayed focused on what we were to achieve for our part of the project, we wouldn't have felt so stressed at the home stretch. But groups are funny that way. You never know what will happen until it happens. However, in the end we all pulled together when it counted. I couldn't be happier with our efforts as individuals and as a team. Thank you both!

Happier than a pig in... well you know...

This project was a lot of fun for me. It gave me a chance to test out my designs on potential RL customers without the hassle of spending an obscene amount of money. Thank you Second Life! Building is a blast and I had a great time learning how everything works. I do believe the platform has a long way to go especially if there is to be a relationship between RL business and SL. One thing you don't want are crashes or server errors when you are trying to complete a task on time. It wouldn't fly in RL and it shouldn't fly in SL. I have faith these kinks will eventually iron themselves out. My fingers are crossed.

What's next?...

I plan on generating enough in virtual sales to support the rent of my store in Etopia. Our intentions are to use Second Life as a test market. It is a great way to gauge what will sell in RL. As for now, investing time in promotion is my next step. I want to experiment with different strategies to see what works and what doesn't. This information will be vital in establishing future business.


Last words??

Is Santa here yet? I am sooooooooooooooooooooo ready to be done. Chapter closed. Next.