If the new group tools are reformed and really start working right August 23rd, I'll be looking for a business partner and/or part-time associates for Ravenglass Rentals and related groups. I have to go on RL business travel in the fall and I definitely want to find someone to help out.

Ravenglass Rentals is a medium-sized rental agency with more than 12 servers' worth of land spread across 55 sims, mostly on the mainland, with some private island properties. It's divided roughly into a dozen land groups serving mostly geographically contiguous communities, some with themes and some open build, mainly in mature, but with some significant PG holdings. Ravenglass also includes support of the SL Public Land Preserve, 50,000 m2 of wilderness, interesting builds, recreational activities, and an open rent-free marketplace with over 100 members; and support with subsidized rents of five newbie communities, including one with commercial space, with approximately 60 people. All together, there are more than 600 people in all the land groups.

Here are my requirements:

o You must not contact me inworld and/or demand constant updates on whether the position is open or taken or whether some other position will open. I'm dead serious about this. One of the reasons I don't even hire through the Internet for RL anymore, let alone SL, is the deluge of asswipes who are completely unqualified for a job and who not only bombard you with resumes and proposals but who then feel that just because they've done so, they deserve an acknowledgement and even more, deserve the job itself. So don't do that. If you do that, you will be immediately deleted from the list. The email to write is dyerbrookME@juno.com

o You must be at least 21 years of age in RL, and at least one year in Second Life and not an obvious alt. So if you are 18, or if you are not one year old and only 2 weeks old or 11 months old, do not contact me unless you can make a really, really compelling case.

o You must have experience in retail in SL and customer service, and preferably real estate experience in SL.

o You must be willing to do hours of customer service -- and sometimes difficult customer service every day -- did I mention you need to *like* customer service?

o You must be willing to make a substantial contribution to the business -- this might be in the form of tier to one of the groups, or it might be in the forum of an LL cash investment, or it might be in the form of building the homes and commons for a new community -- although any of these things are only one part of your involvement, since mainly you are expected to love being in Second Life, take a critical but supportive stance to Linden Lab and its works, and love working with people in virtual worlds.

o Applicants from Asia, Europe, or North American Pacific would be preferred as I'm on EST in the United States and I'd like to get more 24/7 coverage.
я говорю по русский.

Here's what's NOT wanted:

o Scripting genius and programmers -- If you approach a position like this with, "Let me show you how to run your business more efficiently with my new plan for a complicated scripted item and system that will scrape all your data and put it on my third-party server," then I can only say -- sounds good, go run your own business, not mine While I'd like some improvements in the two scripted rentomatics I use, I don't want somebody's grand scripting/data scraping aspirations to invade the purpose of this business: to serve people looking for land, homes, shop, and event space in Second Life. A third-party website and automating the business so I can spend 2 hours in SL and 295 in World of Warcraft, like some island dealers I know, is NOT my goal.

o Stay-at-homes looking to socialize and play while making a few bucks -- do this elsewhere, as the mainland rentals business is hard work. You cannot learn at my expense or the expense of the customers.

o Private island master planners -- My business is mainly on the mainland, and you have to accept that it will remain primarily on the mainland for the foreseeable future.

o Builders/architects primarily interested in finding someone to buy their builds. If I want builders, I commission them separately on each project. I've had a huge variety of very mixed experiences with builders and architects in Second Life, and I find generally, on the whole, they don't wish to do the kind of hands-on, manual, real-time customer service required in an operation like Ravenglass, so they aren't very good candidates as officers.

Compensation:

o This is going to have to be entirely based on experience and the kinds of applications made. There are a variety of ways to go about this, either giving you charge of one of the groups and its existing tenants to work and expand and take all or most of the income from; or giving you a regular salary in Lindens possibly tied to a commission system for increasing occupancy. This will only be a modest salary as mainland rentals are NOT a get-rich quick scheme. In fact, unless I can see that hiring you will only make us both money, and won't be just a time and a cash suck for me, it's going to be hard to justify.

As you can see, I've made such stringent qualifications for this position that I'm unlikely to find anyone, and that's ok

Ideally, someone who already has their own rentals company, of which they are fiercely proud and don't wish to merge or sell, would be a candidate to work part-time in my agency. I think this sort of arrangement would be most optimal.