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KJ RACING: "Your Hobby Your Job"
December 15, 2009
Category: Business Reviews
We all know you can make good money in Second Life, but does it have to be about money all the time? Of course not, and there are several possibilities for entertainment in-world. Have you ever wondered if you could mix these, and make your hobby your job at the same time? Well, I have recently met some people who successfully combined these two areas; so I, Vazul Neximus, your faithful reporter on SL business matters, share my experiences learned from them below.
KJ Racing, the venture mentioned above, was founded in April, 2008, by two enthusiasts of racing known as Kardargo Adamczyk and John Alturas in-world.
You can bet they knew what they were doing, as I have found out they both were practicing the same business in their real life. Kardargo has raced Go-Karts, and John Alturas races cars on road courses and on the drag strip. Curious enough to find out more about such an interesting venture, I swiftly teleported to KJ Racing (http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/Barkley/253/202/618/ in-world), where co-owner John Alturas told me about his experience of running such a business in Second Life.
The Idea and the Start
After I arrived, of course, the first thing I did was look around.
The place is divided into separate sections; an office, a showroom for vehicles and of course, a racing track, where you can rez your own vehicles, or try some of those KJ Racing sells! Indeed, KJ Racing is not just a hangout area, but a whole treasure island for fans of the sport seeking to furnish their own racing SIM. Please read more about these possibilities in the rest of the article.
John Alturas told me the start was quite simple. He and Kardargo both wanted a place where they could race some SL vehicles they owned. While this still remains their top motivation, they have progressed well beyond that simple idea. By now, they have grown to own almost 2 full mainland SIMs with well over 250 items for sale and they are always aspiring to improve their builds.
I believe, no matter where you live, you must have heard about Formula-1, or even Go-Kart racing in your real life, and you are well aware that they draw the attention of a lot of people; so much that their cars are regarded as good advertising spots for even multinational companies. What about their Second Life counterparts? Are similar sports also favored by masses around here? On my inquiry, John told me that racing, as a whole, has a pretty large base here in SL. Despite karting is only a small part of this, they are hoping with their race league (currently in its 1st season), to capture a larger audience.
Various Services
I already mentioned above that there are several ways you can take advantage of this area. Now I will introduce them to you, as I was told about them by John.
First of all, KJ Racing provides FREE karting to the SL World on all of the tracks on their main SIM! Yes, you can invite your friends, fellow sports fans, even your family to have a great time together; along with your vehicles, all for free! Sure, you will have to follow some basic rules of the racing track if you do so; like you should not block the track, or you should not shoot at people. These rules are just there to guarantee the undisturbed fun for all and "hey"; you should follow the very same rules when you try out racing in your real life, as well.
If you rather purchase, you can visit their showroom presenting all the karts you could ever imagine buy one, get 3 versions! Are you looking for more than karts? Well, you can purchase a large selection of race clothing, garage tools and buildings, even whole tracks, not only for go-karts. Are you not satisfied with the selection you see in the showroom, or are you looking for some customized sound, design or scripting? You came to the right place, in that case as well; because anything mentioned above can be custom modified to fulfill all the needs of racing fans.
Facts speak for themselves; however, to underline the things mentioned above John told me they regard customer service as the top priority at KJ Racing. Over 90 percent of their customers come back again and again, and the constant theme they hear is how good their service is.
Business Aspects and Tips for Newcomers
While all the things mentioned above look very nice and attractive; in this periodical, we also have to examine the business aspects and running costs of every venture. I bet our readers are most interested to know "How they can start a successful business, and also, if they will be able to cover the running costs themselves"?
So, I asked John to tell me a bit about their initial obstacles, experiences and the costs involved, as well. He told me that since they own multiple SIMs, their in-world sales do not cover all of the tiers. However, in case, they were to dedicate just one SIM for the business and drop the remaining tiers from the other SIMs, then their in-world sales would cover the tiers, so I learned. They still need to invest money to keep it running, and that sure shows strong dedication to their selected business, which is a key tool to future success in everything. I also found out that all this investment already yielded great results, as John proudly told me about the memorable moment when they made their 1st million in sales!
Encouraged by this, I was curious if he would recommend for newcomers to start a racing-themed business? He warned me; however, that the vehicle market in SL is very competitive. In his opinion, if you plan to start, you should find an area not exploited yet. In case you are serious about entering the vehicle market, you should make sure all of your products and scripts are top notch and can compete with the current market in SL.
"After you start a business, you should just stick with it". "Dont expect things to take off right away and dont get discouraged". "It took almost 8 months before we started to see some significant sales and feedback", as he summarized their experiences. About their future plans, he told me they just plan to continue what they do best and that is to provide great quality products at a reasonable price.
After the interview, what else could I have done? Well, testing some of their karts on the field of course! Yes, thats me riding that red hot beauty on the tracks!
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