During this session Neil put the class into four different teams. These are going to the teams that work for the next 10 weeks to put together a second life business plan. On the RIT island we selected a room in the business park and made it our own. This is going to be the place that we plan for the business. Pictures will come once the office is finalized. We still need a team name, and our idea is that we will name ourselves once we have selected our business idea. Thats the next step. Week 2 is still part of the adjusting phase, and I think that will continue for at least another few weeks. Second Life is totally different for all of and like all things we will only get better with time and practice. However, we should not only use this time to learn as much about second life as possible. Maybe more importantly, this time should be used to plan and brainstorm a business that will give us the best chance to make money. The group will meet at the end of the week, in which we begin to plan out how we will make this business. This session included a quick but extensive review of different marketing concepts. Neil then introduced the class to his 5 question problem solving method. This is going to be the method in which we create our business plans. All of the plans will include concepts, research, and business ideas that fall into the following questions:
1. Where are we now?
2. Where do we want to be?
3. How may we get there?
4. Which ways best?
5. How do we ensure safe arrival?
Using this method worked very well in internet marketing with Neil, so I trust that it will be the best way to complete this task. We learned that we will have a guest speaker next class. Apparently its a former RIT student that has created, maintained, and been successful at a business in Second Life. Im am looking forward to hearing her story, mostly because I think I can learn a lot from it.
