I spent some time on Orientation Island last night answering various questions from residents who had just entered Second Life.  One particular question came up repeatedly.. ‘How can I make money?’

I find it to be a very complex question with many varied answers.  So I thought I would try to clarify things a little.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY

Get A Job! 

There are a great many professions that one can undertake in SL depending on one’s skills and interests.  One of the popular choices seems to be that of an ‘Exotic Dancer’.  There seem to be as many clubs in SL as there is virtual blades of grass!  Most of these clubs employ dancers to attract more people to the establishment.  With most clubs, dancers work for tips and usually the club get’s around a 10% cut.  There are some who also pay an hourly rate.  In order to get a job like this, generally one must have a polished appearance…eg…skin that is not the default-standard skin, flexi-hair and the appropriate wardrobe.  Also, most clubs will not employ people who are less than two weeks in SL.

Another popular occupation is that of a ‘Clothing Designer’.  To have at least a chance at this, you have to be able to use a program such as Photoshop, or Gimp.  The competition within this field is extremely fierce.  But it’s worth a shot if you’re willing to put an awful lot of hard work into learning what you need to know.  There are a great many tutorials out there on this subject as indeed there are with most SL-related topics.

You could also try your hand at being a ‘Builder’.  In SL, you can only build on land that has ‘object creation’ allowed.  If you don’t own your own land, you could always make your way to a public sandbox and practice your building skills.  There are lots of classes on offer in-world on building a wide variety of things.

Even if you’re brand new to SL, you don’t actually NEED money to accquire the items you need.  There are wonderful places you can visit that give away ‘freebies’…everything from clothing, hair, skin to fully-built houses and hot-tubs, though I’m not sure why you’d need a hot-tub if you’ve no-where to put it..lol   But then again, you never know when it might come in handy.

Browse through the classified listings and have a look through ‘employment’, you might find something that you’re suitable for.  Or if you’re feeling lucky, you can enter one of the many competitions that a lot of clubs and shops run….’Best in Red’, ‘Best Costume’…etc…usually, that involves being in the actual club for the length of time that the competition is running for, but that can be fun too.

Another way to make money in SL is to ‘camp’.  Basically, this involves sitting in the one spot doing absolutely nothing!!!  Places use it as a way to drive up their traffic numbers and from reading through the various posts on the forums, it seems to be frowned upon. It wouldn’t be my ‘cup of tea’ but I don’t see anything wrong with someone who is perhaps new to SL, trying it out for a while.

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