SL International Business

I’m a Finnish guy, Age 23, tall and brown eyes & hair. I’m a geek, but i’m also Alpha Male. Not your everyday geek, i’m on my element both deep in the code, and as a center of attention in a local night club. That’s me, not your ordinary fellow.My hobbies include R/C cars, and racing with normal cars, any car will do, as long as it’s a driver’s car! I enjoy high speeds, tight corners, and life threatening moments behind the wheel. I’ve driven in probably now hundreds of life threatening conditions and situations, behind the wheel, i’ve stared death eye to eye more times than i care to count. When you are running 150km/h on fresh, part virgin snow, and face an imminent 90degree corner, a single very small fault might throw you to an impending doom. That’s me, i’ve faced that situation multiple times. Most dangerous however was caused by mapper who locked up during tight section of the course.

No, i’m not a PRO rally driver, not even “amateur” in the sense that i’d drive in a league. I know i would be competitive there, but i don’t have the kind of money required for such. However, i’ve driven against people who do. I were faster than any of them, with a car not built for racing.

A little further in the history, when i was growing up, i faced a lot of problems. At the age of 12, i moved from my dad to my mom. Don’t know really why, guess i wanted more freedom, or was just being rebellious. Soon, i started smoking. I made lots of new friends, and i regret to say, that many of them aren’t living so happily anymore. Some of them are in rehab, because of drugs and/or alcohol. Some are alcoholists, some are junkies or dealers. That’s the people i grew up with. However, some of them has seen a brighter future, ironically, some of them were guys you would have thought might be dead by time they reach 20. They grew up.

I spent a lot of time alone, reading books, on computer, with electronics etc. I’m comfortable on saying that computers perhaps are the thing that “saved” me.

My mom is alcoholic, and because of her boyfriend during the time i was 13-17, i was also taken away by our goverment. My mom got me to lie to them, so i could get back to home. I WANTED back to home, even i knew it was miserable. Also, my mom is psychopatic maniac. Nights when she returned from a week long drinking trip, and began immediately yelling at me, blaming for something, whatever, were rather common. Nothing beats walking on bad weather at winter 7kilometers middle of night, in order to get some sleep at a friend’s house. Or sleeping at autumn on a playhouse which barely keeps any warmth inside.

All this was hard, and bad, and just the top of the iceberg. However, it gave me somehing, it gave me an ability to turn thin air into cash, sometimes, literally. Worse my situations got, easier i made ever bigger profits. It was like, all i needed to know is i need money, NOW, to get some food. Since i were 13 or 14, i had to very often find cash to buy some food for myself. I also paid almost all of my clothing since i were 14, along with all my hobbies and other costs. Also, the little education i got, i had to take all of the costs myself.

No, i don’t got really any finished degree. I got bits here and there, upto University, but not much more traditional education. I’m street smart, i got intelligence, and a ability to smell profits, where ever, when ever i go.

I learned everything i do, well almost everything, by trial and error. That said, i had no clue of banking when i began SLIB. Little did i know! It has been very educative and i’ve learned tons and tons! and learning ever more, and getting ever more curious! Just last week i ordered 7 books relating to SLIB to enhance business, from investment banking to marketing.

So, that’s me in a nutshell!

Linden Lab Research, Inc., maker of Second Life “introduced” VAT to EU residents 2 days ago, by e-mail sent when most of EU is asleep.

No information was provided as WHY this way, why all of sudden and no notice?

In reality, this is a cover up to raise prices for a major group of SL users, Europeans. Linden Lab has been paying VAT all this time, it’s not an “introduction”, and up till now, the price tag has INCLUDED VAT. That’s the law, like it or not, they have to collect VAT, but before this it was included in the price.

In question is this law: http://www.out-law.com/page-3684 , and more information: http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1746, and some more: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/03/142&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

So, therefore we conclude this is a cover to raise prices, yet Another money hungry move by LL. This by no means is “introducing” VAT. Robin Linden has admitted that LL has been paying VAT, also my other sources confirms this. More information can be acquired from tax office.

There fore, Linden Lab Research, Inc. is committing FRAUD. Imposing tax as being added on top of prices, which already included tax, is pure and simple fraud.

Also, from out-law.com:
“One solution for non-EU businesses affected by this is to create a business establishment (e.g. subsidiary, branch) within the EU from which electronically delivered services are supplied. This would allow the business to charge VAT at the rate prevailing in its Member State only, since an EU business does not have to charge VAT at the rate applicable to where the supply is made but can charge VAT at the rate where it is established, saving the costly administration arrangements of the special scheme described above.”

LL has a branch on UK, thus they could be charging every one the local rate of 17.5%, saving a lot of administrative burden.

Also, LL has denied my right for receipt, even after multiple enquiries, and imposes this price adjustment for CURRENT cycle, without a way for me to cancel. I am quoting Rowan Linden who answered to my live help request:

Rowan: You do not have to continue with land after the 12th, but you will be responsible for the payment for thsi billign cycle. If you do not feel that you are legally required to pay VAT on those charges, please submit a ticket

On receipt:

Tyrian_Camilo: I want retroactively receipt for every payment of: Membership, Mainland tier, Private estates tier, Private estates buying, Mainland sim buys
Rowan: We provide proof of purchase in your account history. What further do you think is required?
Tyrian_Camilo: A RECEIPT
** I proceeded to explain what is receipt
Rowan: That is what we provide, in a digital format that can be printed, each tiem you make a purchase. (Big FAT lie, i hear this is an receipt)

A receipt must contain clearly this information:
* Seller name & contact details
* Date of Transaction
* Item(s) and their cost(s) (per item and total)
* Amount of VAT

This page does not contain all of that, also, notice that they do not provide a way to see past 45 days, thus after 45 days ALL RECORDS are gone of an transaction. Of course, carefull client will make copies etc. but this does not constitute a receipt, thus wouldn’t hold in court.

We know that solving such a ticket will take a long time, i will try however. Here is link to the corresponding european law: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=31993L0013&model=guichett

(l) providing for the price of goods to be determined at the time of delivery or allowing a seller of goods or supplier of services to increase their price without in both cases giving the consumer the corresponding right to cancel the contract if the final price is too high in relation to the price agreed when the contract was concluded;

US has similar laws on unfair terms (Please could someone point me to an article, and legal docs, i can’t seem to fing a good uniform source of US laws!) .

On top of that, this is discrimination. Charging some clients more because of their origins is clear discrimination, by the fact that they raised prices only for EU citizens. Traditionally, US companies has not charged more for EU citizens, but it was part of the price of the service, and everyone’s prices was raised to average out the tax amount. Also, that is a good practice.

I really can’t wrap my head around the fact why does LL lie? Why do they lie that this is NOT an price increase?

After several days, they did make an blog posting about it: http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/09/28/questions-about-vat

Basicly saying nothing, and they had hoped this would go through quietly. They also let’s you believe this is either NEW or they HAVE NOT BEEN COLLECTING IT. Both are false statements.

For example, the exponential growth of european users is a lie, as commentor #36 on the blog posting points out, european SL users are in RAPID decline. An another false statement.

My opinion is that they are building Second Life towards elitism, a place where only ‘chosen’ people are liked and wanted. This people being non-Europeans. and YES, it seems Americans hate Europeans.

Legality, of what LL has been doing lately, is at the VERY LEAST questionable.

UPDATE 30th of Sep:
One more time i contacted concierge to ask for receipt, this time answer was direct no, but i was told they have an option to get “notice of billing”, however, me nor Guy Linden was able to find that toggle! Here is parts of the transcript:
Tyrian_Camilo: Hi, i would like to receive receipts for these payments:
Tyrian_Camilo: 6th of Sep: Dignity estate
Tyrian_Camilo: 12th of Sep: Mainland tier
Tyrian_Camilo: 10th of Sep: Estate Mun Saari
Tyrian_Camilo: and finally 26th of Sep: estate Whitfield
Guy Linden: hello Tyrain, we really do not offer receipts, other than an email notice of billing, if you have this option enabled. You can make the request in a ticket, but we generally do not supply receipts.

….

Guy Linden: in your account, there is an option to get an email when billing takes place. give me a few minutes, I will see if I can find it for you. I am just here solo right now and got a lot going on.
Tyrian_Camilo: i did already go through every conceivable way and i just cna’t find it.

….

Guy Linden: ok, I am not seeing the email notice either. if you would please just submit a ticket and detail the issue you have so we can get the right person to look at it, it will help.
Guy Linden: if you would like to do the ticket now while you are here, you can give me the ticket number and I will get it forwarded for you.
Tyrian_Camilo: ok, i’ll go make the ticket!
Tyrian_Camilo: there has to be SOME way to get receipt!
Guy Linden: we do have a special order form that you can use, but it requires 6 -12 month advance payment, you can pay with invoice, etc, they can be done this way

So, Guy Linden didn’t know neither how to get an Receipt and had been instructed prior that LL does not give receipts! That is VERY ILLEGAL!
Thanks for Guy Linden for getting some answers finally to me, while the incompetent Rowan Linden didn’t even know what an receipt is!

UPDATE #2 30th of Sep:
I spoke with Spike Linden on concierge chat just moments ago. This is what he told to me:

Tyrian_Camilo: Hi, i’ve got 12th day coming up my tier payment.
Tyrian_Camilo: Will this payment be charged the increase of price?
Tyrian_Camilo: mainland tier payment to be exact!
Spike: Hiya
Spike: With the VAT?
Tyrian_Camilo: Yes, the increased price.
Spike: Then yeah, it’ll have the VAT added to it.
Tyrian_Camilo: They have already contained VAT, but will this 12th day payment be with the higher price?
Tyrian_Camilo: Then how can i cancel this payment?
Tyrian_Camilo: or can i cancel the 12th day payment?
Spike: already contained VAT?
Tyrian_Camilo: Of course it contained, as no mention of it excluding was made
Spike: You can’t cancel the payment. It is fees due
Tyrian_Camilo: Or are you saying LL has been avoiding taxes?
Spike: No, prices did not include VAT.
Tyrian_Camilo: Do you know that it is illegal to raise service price for CURRENT term? Upcoming YES, but not for the current.
Tyrian_Camilo: Legally they did contain!
Tyrian_Camilo: Robin Linden also confirmed that LL has been paying VAT.
Spike: As of last Thursday you will be charged VAT on top of your fee’s
Tyrian_Camilo: That’s not what i asked or said.
Spike: I’m not here to discuss legal issues.
Spike: You can submit a ticket for that.
Tyrian_Camilo: So, 12th day, i will get a higher payment than what i agreed for withuot no way of cancelling it?
Spike: As far as I am aware at this time. Yes.
Spike: Is this for an island or tier?
Tyrian_Camilo: Mainland Tier
Spike: You can’t change that then, no.
Spike: It will be charged on the 12th.
Tyrian_Camilo: Mainland tier is billed for the PAST month, right? That’s atleast what i was told when i went premium etc.
Tyrian_Camilo: And i will be charged the old amount + applicable VAT (22% on my case) …
Spike: billed from the 12th Sept to the 12th Oct.
Tyrian_Camilo: I know, i have already submitted a ticket asking for receipts for the past month.
Tyrian_Camilo: I assume i can’t yet get any receipts?
Spike: ok
Spike: Receipts are all manually done at the moment.
Tyrian_Camilo: Aah, this is new right?
Spike: I’m not sure what has been put into place for the VAT change.
Tyrian_Camilo: Yesterday i was told that LL does not give receipts. Account history is the “receipt”
Spike: Yeah
Spike: for special cases we may be able to produce, but they are manually done. So it doesn’t get done often.
Tyrian_Camilo: Ok, that is new! When was this policy taken into use?
Spike: It’s always been this way. But it’s rare. has to be a special case
Spike: Generally they just get refused. but still worth asking.
Tyrian_Camilo: Ok, i have already submitted a ticket asking for receipts Do you know are they snail mailed or digital?
Spike: digital.
Tyrian_Camilo: Ok thank you! One more question, what fullfills “special case” requirements?
Spike: well, educators and non-profit companies pay via invoices.

Rather intresting conversation! Guy Linden and Rowan Linden did not say anything about receipts on special cases, but MOST interestingly, they usually refuse such requests!
Also, interesting is that it’s denied that the prices included VAT! Legally, it is included if no mention of it excluding it is made!
Nevermind the fact that i’m not given an option to choose to cancel for the current term! Note the portion where he says 12th Sep to 12th Oct, confirming it is for the current passing month, ie. charged afterwards, not upfront. I have not YET found the law specifying for such for California, but i’m sure it exists similarly as the European law! Unless it does not exist, we would have A LOT of cases where companies raise prices for the current term, raising prices significantly, and you would be binded to pay anything the decide, thus it cannot be legal because such scams would be RAMPANT!

Also, Kejo Merlin told me about his chat with Rowan Linden, this is what he said:
Rowan: Yes, residents will be billed on any payments to Linden Lab, starting yesterday. Kejo_Merlin: one quick question about before i open a ticket, i do understand vat and it is the way things are but will we get a proper bill etc now as my accounted will need it to reclaim the vat Rowan: We provide your account histroy for proof of purchase, and recommend that you download and/or print it every month.
That was 28th of Sep. Please note that for tax office it is not enough that there is a mention of fictional avatar name Never mind the other things this summary is lacking for proper receipt.

UPDATE #3 30th of Sep:
Prokofy Neva took her word back, Robin Linden has not confirmed that LL has been paying VAT all along, unlike what Prokofy herself told in a group chat the other day. She had told us that Robin Linden confirmed that VAT has been paid. She also refused “to give her notes”, when i asked for chat log of that event, and progressed saying that i am not interested in good journalism.
I must point that her articles are full of slander and personal opinions. She has also told me to fuck myself sideways because of what my business is — Without bothering to find out what my business actually is!
Anyways, it seems that i have to get 2nd confirmation of that via another route.

Also, i’ve been met with a lot of critique, slander, insults and resistance of this article, these are the vocal people. These people are not interested in the law mainly, nor the evidence provided. Ironically, best argument so far has been that “US law overrides EU laws” and that “If US company exports something into EU, it goes with US laws, EU laws are not applicable”.

People, i urge you to read the whole article, and the laws applicable. If i am indeed wrong, please provide me with something based on facts, not personal feelings, assumptions or how you want it to be. I cannot express how little personal insults goes in achieving that.

I also urge you to ask for a receipt for your payments, and if you are EU citizen, ask that your next MAINLAND TIER does not include VAT, otherwise, it’s fraudulent conduct of business. Changing price of service without a chance to cancel, is NOT LEGAL. The refusing to provide receipt is the most biggest crime here, probably.

I will continue on my path to find out more of the legal terms, and do my research constantly, UNTIL i find a lawyer who has license(s) to applicable areas.

Also, i urge you to be critical of EVERYTHING, including my text here, and especially laws and actions of Linden Lab! Don’t be critical ONLY about this article, but the whole situation and every party involved! Actualyl reading the applicable EU e-Commerce law helps!

Mainostaulu Investor’s Roadshow took place today 2-3PM GMT at WSE Trading Floor, here is the transcript.

[6:21]  You: Let’s begin
[6:21]  You: First and foremost, Thank you all for coming to this roadshow! I hope i’m going to be very usefull to you all in providing much wanted information
[6:21]  You: Our schedule is: Introduction of MAI *What MAI is and is Not *MAI financials (revenues and costs) *Future of MAI *Open Questions
[6:22]  You: MAI, Mainostaulu Network, is both advertising and entertainment. A pleasant network for the neighbours
[6:22]  You: MAI has several types of billboards, single ad and a few multi-ad billboards
[6:23]  You: All of them has been designed to be pleasant to look at, and at that, we have succeeded beyond expectations
[6:23]  You: Here you can see one of the billboards, this is the most widely used and most commonly seen variant
[6:23]  You: Behind me, you see 3 snapshots, of different types of single-ad billboards, located at Mun Saari
[6:24]  You: MAI has been created almost as soon as SLIB came to existence in 19th of February, it was only couple months after that
[6:25]  You: First attempt was distributing Catalyst AdBoards all over, but this wasn’t sensible, and selling that space wasn’t really easy, and it was cumbersome for the advertisers
[6:25]  You: Thus, a network version was needed
[6:26]  You: I built the first Mainostaulu as a proof of concept in several hours, and not much later it was already distributed to dozens of different places. That’s how Mainostaulu came to exist! Silvermoon and Falney were few present and giving me feedback back then
[6:26]  You: Philosophy behind Mainostaulu was really simple
[6:26]  You: Build an nice looking billboards network, a network, where residents seeing them, or god-forbid, living next to them wouldn’t feel anxious or angry about!
[6:27]  You: That was achieved well beyond expectations
[6:27]  You: There is a LOT of people who actually prefer having them in their neighbourhood
[6:27]  You: Land from which has been cut a 32sqm piece for Mainostaulu even sell better
[6:27]  You: Spamvertisers do not make cuts next to Mainostaulu, they skip that spot
[6:28]  You: and sometimes, Mainostaulu has been even used to prevent ’spam’ appearing on cutted fields, which has been to some degree successfull also
[6:28]  You: Some business owners also has requested over time for me to put an billboard to their places, without asking nothing in return
[6:29]  You: Questions?
[6:29]  Wie Wunderlich: where can i see a list of where the boarsd are?
[6:29]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: Logansan Oh (15m)
[6:30]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: Roland Francis (12m)
[6:30]  You: http://www.sl-investors-bank.com/re_search.php and enter search keyword “mainostaulu”
[6:30]  Wie Wunderlich: okay
[6:30]  RaDek Vendetta accepted your inventory offer.
[6:30]  Wie Wunderlich: can i select a region for adversiing or is it always grid wide?
[6:30]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: RaDek Vendetta (12m)
[6:31]  falney Finney: Do you have a public viewable campaign list and durations? Also campaign effectiveness and click per vewing window for areas?
[6:31]  You: always gridwide for the moment being, but that possibility will be there in future
[6:32]  Wie Wunderlich: thnks, that all from me atm
[6:32]  You: Falney: No i do not have, advertisers currently need to ask stats directly from me
[6:32]  Zefer Gladstone: can you see more growth in an over advertisted sl with billboards all over the place
[6:33]  You: Zefer: What do you mean specifically?
[6:33]  You: Growth of interest, or advertisers?
[6:33]  Zefer Gladstone: there is a lot of advertising around for everything you can dream up
[6:34]  You: Yes there is, but think about the benefits of a medium which people don’t inherently hate and despise?
[6:34]  You: Most of advertising we see, is something people really really hate
[6:34]  You: floating boxes ain’t a pleasant sight
[6:34]  Gareth Qunhua: i got a few questions 1) how much are your estimate you will charge advertisers 2) how are you going to distribute them out especialy on private sims 3) will there be a version where developers could set them up in their products?
[6:35]  You: While there definately is people who don’t like Mainostaulu neither, they seem to be a vocal minority
[6:35]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: DaKingDinga Ling (17m)
[6:35]  You: All ads are distributed on the same means: Weighted random based on bid
[6:35]  You: Advertisers can freely choose their budget, i will merely help them determine that
[6:36]  You: Mainostaulu will be effective for advertisers who spen 5,000L$ and for those who spend 50,000L$, time frames do change however, and cost per BTU (Bidded Time Unit)
[6:36]  Zefer Gladstone: can’t sell something if people don’t know it exists
[6:37]  You: as for 3, that i haven’t thought out yet, it has some risky portions for billing. But there will be more where users are directly involved in their advertising, and hopefully also some day, sooner than later, publishing
[6:38]  You: Zefer: People do know Mainostaulu exists, and Mainostaulu grows every single week. The question most are asking however is: Is it really as effective as the marketing is telling?
[6:39]  You: Popularity creates popularity, and until lately, i havne’t even tried to sell campaigns on Mainostaulu, people came to me automatically asking for it mostly. All that changed approx 1½months ago.
[6:39]  You: I’ve lately started pushing Mainostaulu advertising sales and expansion, which wasn’t happening ie. 2months ago
[6:39]  Gareth Qunhua: ohh and whats the time frame an ad will be shown do you count it by impression or dates?
[6:40]  Zefer Gladstone: so now you have to push your idea?
[6:40]  You: Gareth: Time shown, BTUs is the billing model, Bidded time-units, advertisers pay X amount of L$, and choose a Bid what they pay for an time-unit, from this is calculated an weight for the campaign, and it will be shown on that proportion on the network
[6:41]  You: Zefer: Pushing has many meanings, but what you mean, no, not “desperately”. Every product and service needs marketing and selling, that’s what i mean with pushing.
[6:41]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: Zemij Enoch (12m)
[6:41]  Zefer Gladstone: *smiles*
[6:42]  You: Without selling practices in place, you can’t sell, so to speak. Without Marketing, most will never know what it is, or even the name of it. Of course, with Mainostaulu it’s a little bit different, as it is an advertising network, it inherently gets exposure that way.
[6:42]  You: Shall we progress on what MAI is and is not?
[6:42]  Wie Wunderlich: please
[6:42]  You: What MAI is?
[6:42]  Zefer Gladstone: sounds good
[6:43]  You: MAI is many things, and like i said, foremost of all, it’s a pleasant network
[6:44]  You: Which leads to the fact that MAI is very usefull for branding, unlike other networks in SL, there is no spam-caused ill-effect on brand. Ask yourself next time, when you see something on SL roadside advertised with 50 floating, rotating boxes, do you hate that brand?
[6:44]  You: MAI also is a network which could be utilized by big companies for their advertising, finally something even a Fortune 500 company can utilize, and is within SL wide-spread
[6:45]  You: And yes, there has been RL companies advertising with MAI, and even some questions asked by RL Advertising agencies
[6:45]  Gareth Qunhua: and what future plans do you have for the mai system?
[6:45]  Gareth Qunhua: especialy in the next quater
[6:45]  You: Please Gareth, we are getting there
[6:45]  Gareth Qunhua: ahh ok sorry XD
[6:45]  You: Schedule: *Introduction of MAI *What MAI is and is Not *MAI financials (revenues and costs) *Future of MAI *Open Questions
[6:45]  You: You may now ask what MAI is not?
[6:46]  You: Obviously not spam
[6:46]  You: and despite best efforts, MAI isn’t a magic bullet neither. There is no magic bullets in advertising, and MAI is neither
[6:46]  Zefer Gladstone: is it better to invest in SLIB or MAI?
[6:47]  You: Zefer: That is a question best answered by each investor to itself, it depends on goals of the investor
[6:47]  You: In the past, when you invested in SLIB, you did so also on MAI at the sametime, but now MAI is subsidiary of SLIB
[6:47]  Zefer Gladstone: where do you see the best returns?
[6:47]  You: Any questions about what MAI is and is not?
[6:48]  You: Zefer: Actually, i have not calculated that. I would think depositing to SLIB would make more stable returns, but if MAI hits it really big by for example getting a deal or few with Fortune 500 companies….
[6:49]  Gareth Qunhua: i got a question, when you say that MAI isn’t spam, does that mean you have a stric control on what/how the ad is displayed?
[6:49]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: LukeConnell Vandeverre (18m)
[6:49]  You: Gareth: I have a strict control of how many billboards are placed per regular place, that’s one of the control mechanisms, and most important
[6:49]  You: Gareth: Spam by definition means, well … Spam, you got tons of them on a single bunch, and you are flooded with that particular spam. That is spam.
[6:50]  You: on MAI you aren’t forced to look on them, you can get rid of them, sometimes at sub-market land pricing, and there isn’t a huge bunch of them. Also, MAI isn’t obtrusive
[6:50]  You: Any more questions about what MAI is and is not?
[6:51]  Wie Wunderlich: is this board a real time example?
[6:51]  Wie Wunderlich: live?
[6:51]  You: Wie: Yes, it’s live board
[6:51]  RaDek Vendetta: Current Stock Price
[6:51]  You: This advertisement currently shown is a RL company
[6:51]  Wie Wunderlich: so this nite club has paid so much others are hardly shown?
[6:52]  You: Wie: It’s weighted random, and sometimes the weighting seems biased towards a particular advertising, like with everything random
[6:52]  Wie Wunderlich: must say its a long wait for change - thats plus and minus
[6:52]  Mainostaulu Classic 2: Online
[6:52]  Zefer Gladstone: only IPO bonds avalibale?
[6:53]  You: Wie: Originally Mainostaulu had really long rotation periods, they are being swapped to shorter ones currently as i’m transferring all updates to new server
[6:53]  You: Old server couldn’t handle the load and unfortunately, the address from where to ask for updates is hardcoded into the LSL
[6:54]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: Hu Benedek (12m)
[6:54]  You: Let’s progress to financials
[6:54]  You: Revenue sources currently are: Advertising and Parcel sales
[6:54]  You: where parcel sales has been having bigger impact on bottomline by many times, that’s slowly changing as advertising sales are going up
[6:55]  You: Costs currently are tier and land acquirements
[6:55]  You: In near future, i am planning to extend revenue sources, and have some quite big ideas for that
[6:55]  You: but before we progress on future plans, any questions about financials?
[6:56]  Zefer Gladstone: think you know what ya doing *grins*
[6:56]  Roland Francis: it all sounds like “ceci n’est pas une pipe”
[6:56]  Zefer Gladstone: hope so anyway
[6:56]  You: Still, i would expect a lot of questions on this field. Afterall, you all are investors, or for other reasons investing into MAI
[6:56]  You: Roland: Sorry, what does that mean?
[6:56]  Chase Marellan: what is your current revenue and profit?
[6:57]  Roland Francis: “this is not spam”
[6:57]  Gareth Qunhua: sorry my french is bad what does pipe means?
[6:57]  Gareth Qunhua: ahh i see
[6:57]  You: Approximately that 130-140k L$ revenue and 30k L$ costs monthyl
[6:57]  You: On cost side, that still excludes for the time being parcel acquirements
[6:57]  Roland Francis: its a piece of art displaying a pipe, and its called this is not a pipe
[6:58]  You: Those are figures taken from before going public, 3 month average
[6:58]  You: Also, liquid on hand, waiting to be used, are deposited on SLIB account to generate interest
[6:58]  You: also this is from where all land acquirements are billed directly
[6:59]  You: Let’s progress to future plans
[6:59]  Chase Marellan: hang on
[6:59]  You: Yes, Chase?
[6:59]  Chase Marellan: what kind of market capitalization are you shooting for?
[6:59]  You: at the IPO price, 5,000,000million L$
[7:00]  You: 5,000,000L$
[7:00]  Chase Marellan: thank you
[7:00]  Gareth Qunhua: hmm although this has nothing to do with the ad board but don’t you own SLIB why do you need to generate intrest with your money? O.o
[7:00]  You: Gareth: I own SLIB and formed it. Well, MAI is subsidiary, and as such, i need to make the best possible job, as securely as i know, to make returns
[7:01]  You: and like any RL company would do, cash on hand waiting to be used, will be deposited to bank
[7:01]  You: Also, it has an management question: I can direct bill that SLIB account without the need to login to the management avatar to make payments
[7:01]  Nancy Yohogania accepted your inventory offer.
[7:02]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: Nancy Yohogania (12m)
[7:02]  Wie Wunderlich: wouldn’t it be better taking interesst out of the pockets of other banks?
[7:02]  You: Wie: Ultimately, that’s being done to a degree, and i have been thinking about that. The bottomline is, i don’t want to risk MAI funds with 3rd party banks. They aren’t transparent, and may bankrupt any day
[7:02]  Gareth Qunhua: ok that sounds good maybe we could have that second interview some time soon :p anyway what are your future plans for MAI?
[7:03]  Gareth Qunhua cough JT
[7:03]  You: Any more questions about financials?
[7:03]  You: for example, during september, 1191sqm has been sold
[7:04]  Wie Wunderlich: does MAI own land? or is that slib?
[7:04]  You: for revenue of 64,003L$
[7:04]  You: Wie: It’s MAI’s land and was separated when IPO was approved for MAI
[7:04]  You: MAI buys tier at wholesale price from SLIB however. SLIB doesn’t get any profit from that tier
[7:05]  Wie Wunderlich: do land lords get compensation for putting up a board?
[7:05]  You: Yes, i offer free advertising
[7:06]  Wie Wunderlich: which piority?
[7:06]  You: Very very low
[7:06]  Gareth Qunhua: LOL
[7:06]  You: Same as other freebie campaigns
[7:06]  You: generally means i put in as bid 5-14L$
[7:06]  You: and credits to few thousand so it runs a looong time
[7:06]  You: it does mean lots of airing time however
[7:06]  Wie Wunderlich: k
[7:07]  You: To conclude the financials section, i must say that making MAI unprofitable would need total screwup management or series of unfortunate events, or something else 3rd party caused and very very strong effect.
[7:07]  Zefer Gladstone: thinks the 100K worth of IPO bonds I just brought will be worth it
[7:08]  You: These 2 revenue sources already goes above expenses so greatly, that making them not generate profit would need something major
[7:08]  Gareth Qunhua: so i’m guessing that you have great confidence in the growth of MAI then?
[7:08]  You: Thank you for your confidence Zefer
[7:08]  Zefer Gladstone: knows there is a lot of money in advertsing
[7:08]  You: Gareth: Indeed i do have, and this is a great spot to advance to future plans
[7:08]  You: My future plans for MAI is nothing short of total Monopoly and domination of outdoors advertising in SL
[7:09]  Wie Wunderlich: with SL Marketing having probs atm you have our nose in front
[7:09]  You: There will always be competition, but with monopoly and domination, i mean market share of advertiser revenue
[7:09]  Zefer Gladstone: one has to set high goals to get even close
[7:10]  You: About SL Marketing: I have approached SLM with an proposal which would proof for SLM very good in long term and a step closer to their name, and for short term, very very beneficial for mainostaulu. I’m still waiting a word from Jon Desmoulins, but his employee ServMe was all excited about my proposal.
[7:10]  Wie Wunderlich: They have to work out server probs
[7:10]  Wie Wunderlich: what about comparing the systems?
[7:10]  You: SLM and Mainostaulu?
[7:10]  Zefer Gladstone: SL is full of problems lol
[7:10]  Wie Wunderlich: why you?
[7:10]  You: Haven’t really done that
[7:11]  Wie Wunderlich: shouldn’t you know the market?
[7:11]  You: SLM and MAI has quite different goals
[7:11]  You: SLM reaches audience from outside of SL, while MAI is directly to SL residents within SL
[7:11]  You: SLM and MAI serves different target markets, thus, they wouldn’t make that good comparison really
[7:12]  Wie Wunderlich: so , you really have no major competition?
[7:12]  You: but they could compliment each other, if combined, or cooperation happens.
[7:12]  You: Major competition: Closest thing to competition is Digital Media
[7:12]  You: those sim corner huge ad towers
[7:12]  You: but they also serve another target market
[7:12]  You: on other field, closest thing to competition is Metro, but they are too spam like
[7:13]  Gareth Qunhua: what about wise metaverse?
[7:13]  You: ie. Metro billboards might exists straight next to each other in a spamfield
[7:13]  You: They have ATM only advertising, very limited but highly targeted exposure. They will serve their niche well, but won’t really extend to whole SL. Afterall, only a very small fraction of SL residents use ANY financial services here.
[7:14]  Wie Wunderlich: uh oh … under 1 million share left … i need anouther 50 k
[7:14]  You: In other words, i do not see competition currently at all, which would be aimed to specifically same target audience.
[7:14]  You: However, there is smaller doers, which might become someday large enough to compete.
[7:15]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: jaikwil Oh (18m)
[7:15]  You: Also, MAI like it’s parent company SLIB, has reached the point
[7:15]  You: where it is plagiarized
[7:16]  You: There is attempts to recreate MAI by competition, but they have been failing miserably, missing the VERY essence of MAI
[7:16]  You: However, they have gathered clients, thus they will with some luck serve to open new markets for MAI
[7:17]  You: And last time i looked at pricing, they were operatin on a loss and they were breaching TOS here and there wherever they did go
[7:17]  Wie Wunderlich: how much of proit is going as dividend?
[7:17]  You: I plan atleast 50% monthly, unless otherwise announced
[7:17]  Wie Wunderlich: thats a word
[7:17]  You: only reason to give less dividend is demand for expansion
[7:18]  You: also, expansion means comparatively A LOT more revenue
[7:18]  Zefer Gladstone: expect you to keep on top of them for the for the pennies I’ve thrown your way
[7:18]  You: downside is, that expansion cannot be done without advertisers
[7:18]  You: as for future plans
[7:18]  You: Mainostaulu was all about advertising initially
[7:18]  You: Lately it was expanded to entertainment
[7:18]  You: and that is not all
[7:19]  Wie Wunderlich: well I’ll take a board on my land - and invest for a campaign - so win win
[7:19]  You: Next step is networked, grid-wide vendor system
[7:19]  You: Expanding MAI well beyong advertising
[7:19]  You: It would be achieved so that MAI gets both the advertising cost and a portion from all sales
[7:20]  Zefer Gladstone: a cola company would be a good contract
[7:20]  You: IMAGINE as a product seller, you could goto a single place, and immediately get thousands of places to sell your product, simply by buying an campaign, rezzing an server box and setting your items up?
[7:20]  Wie Wunderlich: ou will have more competition in vendor systems - do you intent to integrate them in the existing boards?
[7:21]  You: Yes, it would be part of the system, that’s the real magic behind it
[7:21]  You: same boards would run adverts, and sell items!
[7:21]  Wie Wunderlich: that is really cool - no start up hiccups then
[7:21]  Gareth Qunhua: sorry to butt in so does that mean that there won’t be any “ohh our copany only invest in SL never in RL” bull crap?
[7:21]  You: Proof of concept has been already attempted months ago, and it does not represent many challenges
[7:22]  Gareth Qunhua: and if yes do you have plans on attracting the major Corps?
[7:22]  You: Gareth: There will never be crap from me I always do what i see is best business or best returns when maintaining safety
[7:22]  You: RL or SL, doesn’t matter to me.
[7:22]  Gareth Qunhua: good to hear that
[7:23]  You: Gareth: Infact, i feel that major corps will come to Mainostaulu, when mainostualu matures enough
[7:23]  You: For example, i lately was in talks with http://www.siquus.com
[7:23]  Wie Wunderlich: 1 balance
[7:24]  You: sorry siquis.com
[7:24]  You: http://www.siquis.com/
[7:25]  You: as for more short term goals, there will soon be a coder working on making automated sales processes etc.
[7:25]  You: Bringing MAI to the grand public, and not only to the select few who has the priviledge to know me, or the nerves to IM me and ask questions
[7:26]  You: Questions of future plans?
[7:26]  You: or actually ANY questions more?
[7:26]  falney Finney: Isnt there a major flaw with an automated sales system? I mean with mature and PG ads?
[7:26]  Zefer Gladstone: hmmmmm
[7:26]  You: Falney: Moderation can be done
[7:27]  You: While self-moderation is considered, but the ads can be on halt before administration approval.
[7:27]  falney Finney: Once you put moderation in… Whats the point of automation?
[7:27]  You: However, perhaps the method Google uses might be better, let users but what they want, activate immediately and review shortly, and from small violations suspend campaign and send notice, major violations ban from the system. 3 minor violations would result in ban
[7:28]  You: falney: because the campaign is ready to be activated with a punch of a button
[7:28]  You: falney: advertisers could see the end result and modify it without my intervention, fiddle with nubmers etc.
[7:28]  Wie Wunderlich: will you take care of the stock price or will you let the market play it?
[7:29]  You: Wie: i will take care of the stock price to a degree
[7:29]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: TomKuschelmuetze McMillan (12m)
[7:29]  Wie Wunderlich: soes your advertising offer 50 and 100 K owners always count - or is only IPO money meant?
[7:29]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: Moe Curtiz (7m)
[7:30]  falney Finney: Would there be an advanced web based submission system be in the pipeline? Along with an out of world payment system? It would be good to see a form that would show you estimates on what your bids would get you copared to other campaigns currently on the system!
[7:30]  You: it’s offer for 10 biggest, IPO counts mainly, not there after
[7:30]  You: in occasionally, it can be seen into who is current 10 biggest and adjust, but it won’t be any high priority, and infact, you would be taking chances with the free advertising.
[7:31]  Wie Wunderlich: can you list the 10 largest? wse doesn’t and silvermoon doesn’t count (sorry silver
[7:31]  You: Falney: actually yes, that’s one of the plans. However, it needs some quite advanced code, which will be created in conjunction with SLIB as needs are similar on both companies
[7:31]  You: Sure, just a moment
[7:32]  falney Finney: Would you also then (off topic) Be looking into the Exchange Risk API for future developements?
[7:33]  You: Gryndal Massey, Zefer Gladstone, Martin Squeegee, Wie Wunderlich, Nagamsaki Skjellerup, Chatnoir Moonsoo, Zelphyr Paz, Monkey Canning, Luv Lykin, Clive Forcella
[7:34]  You: Falney: Actually i have aleady applied over a month ago. Like usual from LL, not a word yet and i guess i gotta use (again) some strong words, and remind them that i pay them over 2,000USD a month, and it is increasing figure
[7:35]  You: Tom: welcome, you are quite late but the transcript will be made available shortly afterwards.
[7:35]  Nancy Yohogania: the problem is with the Risk API they only give it away to exchanges - we also applied and 5 Private islands also kind of USD for them
[7:36]  You: Nancy: Incorrect, they do give it to financial institus also
[7:36]  Nancy Yohogania: all other API’s no problem but they are sensitive to the Risk API especially when it comes to marketing
[7:36]  You: There is several who don’t buy nor sell L$ who got Risk Exchange API perms
[7:37]  TomKuschelmuetze McMillan: thanks Tyrian… (-:
[7:37]  Zefer Gladstone: time will tell like it always does
[7:38]  You: Anyone got any more questions?
[7:38]  You: Oh yeah, like i promised, i will immediately after IPO post atleast 75,000L$ as dividends.
[7:38]  Nancy Yohogania: well I still hope for it because it can also be a additional service
[7:38]  Zefer Gladstone: cool
[7:39]  Nancy Yohogania claps her hands
[7:39]  You: If there is no further questions, we shall conclude our roadshow.
[7:40]  Zefer Gladstone: thinks he knows what he’s doing
[7:40]  Gareth Qunhua: i got one last question, do you mind poseing next to the ad board?
[7:40]  You: Sure Gareth
[7:40]  Zefer Gladstone: lol
[7:41]  Gareth Qunhua: say money
[7:41]  Wie Wunderlich: would have been nicer with that lady in the back
[7:41]  You: let me change the campaign then
[7:41]  Zefer Gladstone: at least one lady each side
[7:41]  Zefer Gladstone: come on girls
[7:41]  Mainostaulu Classic 2: Online
[7:42]  Wie Wunderlich: great
[7:42]  Wie Wunderlich: thanks
[7:42]  Gareth Qunhua: thanks alot
[7:42]  You: Do i look too much of a crime lord in disquise with this wannabe beard? X)
[7:42]  MystiTool HUD 1.0.21: Entering chat range: Korto Laszlo (9m)
[7:43]  Zefer Gladstone: rather conservative bunch
[7:43]  Tyrian Camilo nods
[7:43]  You: So anything more?
[7:43]  Gareth Qunhua: ohh btw what does the acronym for MAI means?
[7:43]  Zefer Gladstone: maybe they fell asleep
[7:43]  You: Mainostaulu Network
[7:43]  You: MAInostaulu
[7:44]  Gareth Qunhua: ahh i see
[7:44]  You: Ok, we shall conclude here then! Thank you everyone for coming, and thank you for your confidence!
[7:44]  Wie Wunderlich: wih i knew hw to pronounce it
[7:44]  You: I will make transcript shortly available
[7:44]  Gareth Qunhua: thanks for my next month article :p
[7:44]  You: Gareth
[7:44]  Wie Wunderlich: thanks Tyrian
[7:44]  falney Finney: Aye thank you =)
[7:45]  You: hmmp next month article?
[7:45]  Zefer Gladstone: will sit back and wait for the monet to roll in *grins*
[7:45]  You:
[7:46]  Wie Wunderlich: hope to heare mor of/from you Tyrian - take care
[7:46]  Wie Wunderlich: cheers
[7:46]  You: thanks Wie, you shall
[7:47]  Zefer Gladstone: take care all and have fun

Introduction
Marketing and Advertising in SL is quite different, while still quite the same than in RL. The most obvious, or first path of action necessarily isn’t the best route to go. Even Fortune 500 companies, or should i say, especially them, do make the common mistakes when they enter SecondLife.

In this short article i intend to clear few of the mistakes, and outline why some doesn’t work, and what would be a good path for an university looking to make itself more known, via SecondLife.

My Second Life name is Tyrian Camilo, and i’ve been here since December 2006, running an advertising network and well known businesses since February 2007. I entered SecondLife with strong understanding and experience of ‘The Web Life’. Almost half of my life-time i’ve been heavy user of Internet, and almost as long have i been running different kind of websites and services profit in my mind on the web. SecondLife was like dream come true for me, a excellent venue to conduct business in a way i’ve always dreamt about. So read with confidence, as these words comes from a deep understanding of the on-goings of SecondLife marketing and business.

Common Mistakes
Some of the common mistakes people do when they enter SecondLife with the mindset of greating hugely profitable business or making an advertising campaign, is that they loose common sense the minute they login. This world isn’t that different in the end, don’t forget common sense and laws of marketing.

Many Fortune 500 companies have created an island with some magnificent content, and then they proceed to curse that it has almost zero effectiveness, just after they’ve done building. Wait a minute … After they’ve done building? Yes, that is correct, that’s almost everything they did. They forgot that their marketing vehicle needs marketing. It infact isn’t that much of marketing vehicle in itself, as it’s a place. If you build a store in real world, would you NOT market & advertise it? That is exactly what these companies have done, they have NOT properly advertised & marketed their efforts. These guys wouldn’t make really good entrepeneurs …

Another mistake is that the mindset is that SecondLife is this hugely crowded place, with the 8million or so registered users. This is incorrect too, SecondLife isn’t crowded, infact, it’s mostly very quiet and like an ghost town. We do not need to sleep or eat, or any that necessary stuff for us who are carbon-based lifeforms. We still do that in the real world, and as such, requires us to sieze activity within SecondLife.

Not knowing the culture and technical restrictions is a huge one, which has lead some very stupid mistakes. For example, Adidas made sneakers into SecondLife, they are cheap and they ROCK. Sounds like a success? Think again. They missed something very important: Prims! It’s the hidden economy of SecondLife, and each additional prim causes slightly higher loading time AND used CPU & GPU cycles, RAM etc. in order to display. These sneakers are over 200 prims each, yes, over 400 in total! As a comparison, you would need a 2048sqm parcel just to have enough to rez a pair of these! They are awesome build indeed, but waaayy wastefull on the prims. Who built them is an excellent SecondLife builder indeed, but you have to make them USABLE. Another thing is that their place was like calling for griefers, with all options enabled, and the surroundings were empty. The place itself was also awesome build. They charged 50L$ for each pair. Now, they could have made them free: Viral marketing. Or charge WAY MORE, they afterall are very high quality and i would have happily paid 200L$ or even more for them. If they would have done the latter, it would have involved a bit more work, but they could have started to conduct business also in SecondLife, and bring their design skills in broader range into SecondLife, form lots of new content, and likely, eventually, monopolize SecondLife sneakers market. Of course, this latter would have been suitable for them, would have required more effort, but could have potentially lead to many good things, even good profits.

Viral Marketing
This is golden, and VERY highly effective on SecondLife. SecondLife is like an huge socializing website (ie. Myspace), and about cool stuff word will spread like wildfire. Especially Movies has been having a huge success with this type of marketing within SecondLife.

How is this attained?
Most commonly through objects, ie. with the Movie 300, spears, shields etc., Transformers: Avatars in the shape of the Autobots.

Effectiveness?
VERY high like you would expect from viral campaign. However, my feeling is that the target audience is rather limited.

Islands
Now, i’ve made it sound like a stupid effort. That’s not the whole truth, done correctly it is very effective, and infact, with some effort, it can be also used to make profits, a advertising campaign type i personally love!

What needs to be done then?
- Marketing and Advertising for the island
- Some benefit to visit there, other than curiosity (product or service perhaps)

Benefits to visit? Offer something of value, which makes them stay there.
Perhaps a sandbox, and space to educators to keep classes there.
Information of topics of interests, readable only there (ie. billboards).
Popularity creates popularity, so you might also want to consider camping chairs/dance pads, wonder chairs (which actually does do wonders to traffic), and other non-relative freebie/free cash offerings.

The profit portion then?
Rentals and perhaps even sell portion of the land and collect tier fees and land selling. With luck this would get out of hands, and you might create a marketing effort worth A LOT! Which in fact could even make profits!
How about that?
It’s almost funny how human brain might work when you put a big price tag on something …

Of course you can also go for mainland, which doesn’t offer the flexibility of private islands, but has lower running costs, and place chosen well, might be vital for success if you get a good placing, next to a good and relevant high traffic location.

Regular type mass-media advertising
Billboarbs, billboards and banners!
SecondLife hasn’t forgotten these neither

There is 2 viable options currently: SL Marketing and Mainostaulu. SL Marketing offers web banners targeted for SecondLife users only, while Mainostaulu is an in-world billboard advertising network, which unlike the other competing networks, does not have such negative brand impact due to various factors, infact, due to these factors, some people even prefer to keep these adverts next to their businesses, and some businesses has tried to copy this …. Needless to say, they have failed miserable, missing the true essense of Mainostaulu.

SL Marketing has two billing options: CPC and by impressions, while Mainostaulu has bidded time-units.

These both are well worth to look into.

Other venues
There is lots of other options too, but these all are very well known in RL businesses also, word of mouth, press releases etc.
Use your imagination, and don’t restrict your mind!