What is a "small business"?

I have had several people lately approach me thinking they weren't sure if their business was "small" enough.  One of the shop owners is able to use a very large portion of a sim, another is a mall owner with also a huge area.  It is NOT the area you cover, it is the TYPE and/or AGE of your business, as well as sales figures.

The easy answer is: If your store is NOT a "name brand" within Second Life, then you qualify.

Let me explain it in a little more detail.....  I run a small botanical shop.  I have maybe one customer every few days, if that.  I do not make even enough to pay my tier.  My business has only been around full force now for about 8 months.  My products/plants are only seen once in a blue moon.  On average you can't just randomly teleport to a new sim and see one of my trees or plants.  In fact the odds would be far against it.  I love my business and what I do. And because of a very nice sim owner, I am able to spread my botanical items all over the sim they own.  My business may LOOK big, because of everything spread all over, but in fact it is very small.  Small in sales, small in customers, small in how long it's been around.

Then there are other botanical places, like Luna Bliss or Botanical. They have been around for years. They take up huge sims. They get a customer not by the week or every few days, but by every few hours. I am not saying that right now their business is great, a lot are suffering lately, so I can't say one way or the other, but I'm sure they make their tier every month without a problem. Their products are seen all over Second Life and are known by sight. You could easily randomly teleport to any given sim and see one of their trees.  I, myself, have been to malls before that were new and seen a ton of their items all over the mall, decorating it.  They are well known BIG businesses in Second Life.

I am considered a "small" business.  They are not.

That is what I am talking about when I talk about "small business".  You don't have to have EVERY quality of "small" to qualify, you yourself will know in your heart if you are small or not, but you do need to have at least one thing to qualify. And if you are still unsure, let me come by to check.

Maybe this will help.... The reason for this hunt is to get people to see the shops and locations that normally they may not.  

When you do a search for shoes, you're bound to see Zhao Shoes within the first couple pages.  But maybe it will take you 20 pages before you see (fictional name here, not a real shop) Blue Moon Twinkle Toe Shoes.  However, maybe Blue Moon has these GREAT shoes. Only no one really knows about them because they are a small business in a huge sim somewhere, still struggling to get known without having to pay $6,000L a week on advertising.

I want people to get to know some of these lesser known shops.  So many already know about plod and Dilly Dolls and Zhao and Luna Bliss.  But don't know Prim 4 U or Rush's Whimsies or White Raven Books. They just don't know what else can be found out there because the names are too small.  Sometimes these shops are some of the best because of the fact they are small. You will get quality items, unique to the rest of Second Life because of the fact they aren't spread out all over the place.

And some of these smaller businesses have things that are not normal, or not well known in Second Life. This will give us all an opportunity to find them and get to know them.  Like the book store that is on the list.  White Raven Books is just opening up, they will be ready by the time of the Hunt, and normally wouldn't feel right along side all the BIG companies in the hunts.  But this will be perfect for them.  They will be able to show you what they have to offer you and you will get to know something new about Second Life.

I hope this clears up any confusion on the "small business" label of this Hunt.

If you do not qualify for it, or rather be put with the bigger well known companies around Second Life, then there is another Easter Hunt going on.  I heard of it the other day.  Though when I asked my friend (who is running it) about it, she didn't get back to me before I got done here and had to leave. So when I find out, I'll post it here. Till then... Have a great day!