Delicious Ideas

Listed on ISE

2009-02-25T09:02:00.003-05:00

I realized after getting a message from a curious shareholder, that I never officially announced that DDE is now listed on the International Stock Exchange: http://intlstockexchange.com/

All DDE shares have been transferred to your account on the ISE - and future company communications will be posted in the forums there. I may use the blog to pontificate occasionally, but I won't use it often for DDE news.

The move to ISE is going well - please check it out and if you don't have your account activated, go to the inworld ISE headquarters and sign up!

dd

DDE December update

2008-12-08T14:04:00.002-05:00

Season's greetings to all DDE shareholders, and the world at large!

First, let me apologize for my unavailability over the last few weeks. The last month has been a difficult one in RL. The demands of my job have increased dramatically in the last six weeks, and over the last two weeks, I have had unfortunate news of the death of a close family member, and the serious illness of another. Needless to say, I have had to focus my attention there, and have in fact not even been able to sign on to Second Life for almost two weeks now.

However, life goes on, as does business. As I had indicated last month, I took steps to ensure the future of DDE, and those steps have now been implemented and are more or less complete. In order to weather the storm of changes, with the downturn in the land business in general in SL, and the increase in prices for Openspace sims, I decided that in order to survive, DDE was going to have to entrench and downsize, leaving a core business that was substantially smaller, but more stable and once again profitable.

November was a difficult month, like October, and although I was able to make all tier payments, DDE suffered a second month of overall losses, albeit it a small loss of less than 50,000L for the month. However, I also managed to consolidate operations by selling or divesting 17 Openspace sims and 4 regular sims in those two months, leaving DDE a more manageable size with 13 regular sims and 17 Openspace sims. Occupancy is back up to reasonable levels, with all of the Openspaces rented, and about 11 of the 13 regular sims full.

Unfortunately, given the "fire sale" nature of the land business recently, I was not able to garner much in sale price for the sims that I divested - in fact of the 17 Openspace sims, 4 were sold at the cost of the transfer, and 5 were abandoned outright. For the regular sims, I got prices of between $300 and $500 each, net of the transfer cost. All in all, I took what I could get in the current market, being more concerned about getting out from under the unmanageable tier level that DDE had prior to October. Current tier costs for DDE are down from $8,000 per month to $5,500 per month, with revenues that for the first time since September will exceed those tier levels.

As we have all seen, some of the most established land businesses in Second Life have gone under recently, so the troubles DDE has experienced are not specific to us, but are being seen with many land owners in general.

The good news is that the worst is behind us now - and DDE is poised to move forward smaller and leaner, but profitable again! I know that the steps I have taken might be seen as drastic, but I thought it was not the time for timid action, but rather bold strokes, and so I did what I thought was best to save the company from going under. Although, as always, I wanted to put the best face forward, frankly six weeks ago, DDE was in serious danger of going bankrupt and losing everything. But it now appears as if we will emerge from this difficult period intact and healthy.

Over the next day, I will put together a package of financial information that I will submit to the International Stock Exchange to begin formal proceedings for a relisting on that exchange. I would presume a vote will be held in the coming days to see if the exchange is amenable, and I would hope to be listed there within a very short period of time.

Thanks to all the well-wishers and supporters that have sent me messages over the last month - and to all the shareholders who have been patient and had faith in DDE as we navigated these difficult waters. I will work hard to validate that faith and patience, and will strive to make DDE the best it can be, and to provide value and returns for its investors.

Please feel free to leave a comment here, or to contact me inworld, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

dd

DDE October Update

2008-11-04T12:31:00.002-05:00

Hello to all and happy autumn :-) And thanks to Eliale for catalyzing this post.

Since the Linden Labs post about their increased tiers for Openspaces in January, I have been running flat out trying to get organized and make sure that DDE can survive this latest change. With 34 Openspace sims as of the time of the announcement, DDE could be pretty hard hit by this announcement. It is a busy time, and there are a number of updates I want to provide. Forgive my brevity - but all of my attention has to be focused on guiding DDE through the difficult waters it finds itself navigating.

October Results for DDE
October was a difficult month. I was laid up sick for almost two weeks without being able to get online, and several large renters left during that time. I guess the world financial situation is starting to have an impact, because most of them left reluctantly, but due to RL financial issues. As a result, some land lay empty for quite a while, making no revenue. So, sad to say that October marks the first time in its history that DDE had a loss. With revenues of just under 2,000,000L and expenses of 2,300,000L, DDE carries a 300,000L loss forward into November. However, DDE was able to cover costs because I had been holding a reserve for just such an eventuality, and we remain solvent and in decent shape.

Effects of the Openspace tier increase
Although the tier increase for Openspace sims has a significant impact on DDE operations, I have informed all renters of Openspace sims that they have three options:
1. Pay an increased tier in January and keep their sim
2. Move to 1/4 regular sim, with the same prims, at the same rent that they pay now
3. Leave
So far, I have talked to almost all of the renters in question, and although one or two have signaled an intent to leave, almost all of them are choosing one of options 1 or 2, in about a 50/50 split. Within the next two weeks, I will have a clear sense of what they have all decided, and will move forward.

The future of DDE
With the lacklustre months in August and September, and a clear loss in October, to be frank, DDE was hovering on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to survive, I have had to make some difficult decisions, and act quickly. To begin with, it was clear that I needed to reduce my tier level exposure - at the end of October, I was paying LL almost $8,000 USD per month in tier, leaving me personally exposed if the business continued to decline. In addition, it was clear that with the amount of empty land DDE currently carried, that tier level was not going to be reached in October and November.
Therefore, I have taken the following steps.
1. I have now sold 11 Openspace sims, receiving a modest price and covering the cost of transfer with a little left over.
2. I have abandoned one Openspace sim, which had a tier date coming in a couple of days, and no prospective buyers.
3. I have sold two regular sims in order to generate some cash. Considering the poor land market right now, I was able to get a decent price of $1,200 combined for the two of them, net of transfer fees. This provided some cash to pay tier on the remaining islands, and lowered tier overall.

With these moves, and more anticipated in the next two weeks, DDE has lowered its tier level from $8,000 to about $6,500 per month. Further reduction in the size of DDE will be forthcoming. I want DDE to emerge on the far side of this difficult time significantly smaller, but significantly stronger as well. Although I think the days of 800,000L profits per month are gone for good, I am confident that I can move DDE into a profitable position by the end of November, with a decent profit margin on a smaller land base.

As with any significant change, there are new opportunities emerging as well, for those with the courage to seize them. I will be keeping a close eye on mainland prices and movement, because there may be opportunities in that market, as some Openspace renters across the grid move onto mainland once again. I will proceed with caution, of course. I will be keeping an eye on estate markets as well, because the final decision of Linden Labs regarding Openspace sims has not yet been made, and any changes in their announced policy may provide further opportunities.

Relisting of DDE
It is still my intention to relist DDE on the ISE. I had intended to relist in mid-October, but then fell ill. And given the current uncertainty and large scale change that DDE is going through, I thought it prudent to wait until the effects of these changes are more clear, so that I can post financial statements that reflect the new reality of DDE, rather than the old reality. I think this is the only responsible way to give potential investors an honest and clear picture of the company. However, within a couple of weeks, this new reality should be much clearer - so watch for DDE to make a formal application to ISE for listing in November.

To all my shareholders - I want to thank you for your patience and continued confidence. I know that the last few months have been difficult, but I will continue to work hard for your interests and to ensure that DDE remains a solid and ethical business. Please feel free to continue to contact me with questions, comments, or concerns.

dd

September Update for DDE

2008-09-28T05:38:00.003-04:00

Hi all,
I know it has been a while since my last update, so I wanted to provide some details about how business is going for DDE in September. First, the numbers, so far for September:

DDE Financial Summary, Sept 28, 2008, month to date
Revenues: 2,666,189L
Expenses: 2,711,848L
Profit: (45,659)

Cash: 1,078,599
Sims held, regular: 17
Occupancy, regular: 82%
Sims held, Openspace: 34
Occupancy, Openspace: 92%
Mainland tier level: 2 sims

Short Term Obligations (next month's tier): 2,268,200L
Long Term Debt: 0

I am confident that by month's end, revenues will have exceeded expenses by a slim margin, but DDE remains essentially in a break-even position for the month of September. I am in the process of divesting myself of two sims that have not proven profitable over the last few months, and will not be expanding Openspace sims any longer, without a significant advance rent payment.

It is unlikely that I will be able to provide a dividend for the month of September, as I have not yet been able to save enough ongoing cash to cover a full month's tier. I am hopeful that with a new, slightly smaller DDE, occupancy will rise and I will be able to provide a dividend again in October. I will wait until month end before making a final decision.

As i have discussed a number of times, I am likely going to relist on the International Stock Exchange in the near future, pending a vote by the members of that exchange, in order to allow shareholders to have flexibility to buy/sell shares in the new reality of the land market in Second Life. At this point, I do not foresee having the ability to do significant buybacks of shares in the next few months, since business has been so lackluster.

Please feel free to contact me any time with your questions, comments, or concerns.

dd

DDE and General Update

2008-08-26T09:47:00.004-04:00

Hello to all :-)

Well, the summer has whizzed by quickly this year with lots to keep me busy in the last couple of months. I apologize for not providing more frequent updates on the operations of DDE. We seem to have entered somewhat of a holding pattern, which I guess is the good news. Unfortunately, we seem to be holding close to a "break-even" position.

The problems with sim occupancy that first began in May, when Linden Research retooled Openspace sims to make them more attractive, and then filled an unprecedented number of island requests - has resulted in what I think is a permanent change in the land business in SL. Many of my clients who rented large parcels on regular sims either left for their own Openspace sim, or converted to one within Delicious Estates. As a result - the number of Openspaces has continued to grwo as I have purchased a few and converted two regular sims to Openspaces. At this point, DDE holds 18 regular sims and 30 Openspace sims. the regular sims are not doing particularly well, with at least four of them being more than half empty.

All in all, occupancy levels have remained pretty constant at this new lower level over the last two months, and try as I might, I do not seem to be able to fill them. So, I am trying to consolidate by moving some tenants to new sims and converting the empty sim to Openspaces.

For the month of July, DDE came perilously close to not being able to meet tier payments for the month - at the end of the month, profits for DDE dropped to less than 100,000L from what was typically 500,000L - 600,000L per month before May. August is going the same way - and I am expecting to be able to meet tier payments - just. Obviously, I will not be collecting a salary as I had planned for July or August. Sigh...

I still hold out some hope that in September, business will pick up as people return from their vacation, but SL concurrent user levels have not dipped dramatically this summer, so I am not sure how realistic this is. Nevertheless, I will continue to try to take whatever steps I can to turn things around and get back to the levels of profitability that we enjoyed a few months ago.

Longer term, I am still convinced that the land business, as it is currently understood, will continue to change, and that Linden Research will reduce the profitability for "land barons" by offering new products, opening up ownership of Openspaces, etc... DDE will need to be flexible and proactive in order to survive, and I continue to consider new lines of business, and new angles on the land business. I will keep you all appraised.

As you know, we decided on a dividend holiday until September, so that DDE could build up cash reserves as a contingency. so far, I have not been able to build up significant cash reserves, since I am only just covering tier. however, a decision on dividends for September won't be made until the middle of that month.

I have received a number of requests to sell shareholder shares in the last few weeks - which has led me to start considering relisting DDE on an exchange in order to allow people the flexibility to sell shares when they wish to. Given the poor performance of the business in the last few months, and the uncertainty of the future, I think it is only fair that shareholders have the ability to let the market decide the share price, and to trade shares. With low profits, I will not be in a position to personally buy many shares, and the effort required to match buyers and sellers manually is currently beyond my capacity.

When I asked shareholders for their thoughts on relisting, I got general support, certainly well more than 50% of shares that responded were in favour of it (excluding my own shares) - so I will make a decision on relisting shortly and let everyone know. As I have mentioned in the past, the most likely exchange for me to relist on the the International Stock Exchange (ISE)

I wish the news was better, but things could be worse. DDE is still viable, and the existing tenant base is quite solid and loyal, and our reputation for ethics and honest dealings remains strong. As always, please feel free to leave your comments, or to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns.

dd

EDITED to add: Check out Travis Ristow's new business rating site - V-Rated.com. I have listed DDE there, and your honest feedback would be most appreciated. Also, feel free to leave a comment about our favorite colleague - the World Stock Exchange...

Important message to all DDE shareholders

2008-08-13T07:11:00.003-04:00

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Important message to all DDE shareholders:

I have thought long and hard about this, and i have decided that I do not want Delicious Demar Enterprises to be associated with the World Stock Exchange in any way whatsoever. I consider the actions taken by the WSE in relation to DDE and me personally to be a declaration of war, and will act accordingly.

As a result, I have decided to remove all shares from individuals that have accounts on the WSE, are part of the WSE Facebook group, or have made any statements in public that in my opinion support the WSE.

This will be done at my sole discretion. I have already gained access to membership lists, and have compiled a list of avatars that are known WSE co-conspirators, and will be seizing their shares over the next few days. As it turns out, most of my existing shareholders are still using the WSE, in spite of the unethical actions of its owner and operator, Luke Connell. As a result, almost all shares in DDE will revert to me, and I will buy out the few remaining shareholders and go my own way.

I know that some of you might find this unfair, but I cannot have the reputation and future prospects of DDE undermined by undesirable influences. I consider WSE and anyone associated with it to be such. In the end, the shares you all "own" are valueless anyway - Lindens are not a real currency, and any contract entered into by me and my shareholders through the WSE would be subject to the Terms of Service of the WSE at the time, which clearly states that trading on that platform is only a game, and that shares have no real value.

It could be argued, that since DDE delisted from the WSE, any and all obligations to shareholders ended at that time, and I have only been following the course i have chosen out of a misguided sense of loyalty to the people that invested in DDE's growth and development. In fact, there is no obligation, based on the ToS of both the WSE and Second Life. You gave your money to the WSE - and thereby to me. I never promised any returns on your investment, so I feel completely justified in my actions.
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Ok. I'm kidding.

But hopefully you all get the point...

dd

WSE Account locked - assets frozen or gone

2008-08-04T15:44:00.003-04:00

Well, the WSE did open again. Of course, in the last few days I have made a few posts that have been critical of the WSE, in an effort to get people to think twice before throwing money into it, hoping to cash in.

So, I went to the newly opened website, and tried to log in. No luck. I went to Hope Capital Island and tried to reset my password - but the ATM would not reset it. I found out that people who had provided an email to the WSE already had their account keyed to that email, so I went to the webpage and asked for my password to be reset, and sent to me.

I was surprised when in fact a new password arrived a few seconds later! So, I went onto the site and logged in, only to receive the following message:

"Your account has been locked by an admin"

Luke Connell is, of course, the admin. So, apparently he has locked my account.

Now, to DDE shareholders - I had more than 234,000L in cash in my WSE account - I had deposited it there a few days before the closure, in order to pay dividends for the next month or so. I also held shares in a number of companies at that time - including a whopping 11,000,000+ shares of WTF, and some of HCL, and a couple other companies.

So, by locking my account, Luke has frozen assets that belong to YOU.

I hope you all know that I try to place my ethics before everything else in whatever I do, and I stand by my reputation as an honorable and fair business woman. I have, as far as I know, never stolen anything from anybody. I have been fair and generous whenever I could, wanting to reward you all for placing your faith in me and in DDE.

So, it is particularly galling to me that the WSE, the vehicle that brought us all together, as it were, is now turning around and fucking me. And not in the nice way. The worst part of it all, is that I am not surprised at all - since I did decide to finally speak out. But that doesn't make it RIGHT!

And, it is all because I have an opinion that isn't popular with the owner of the WSE - i.e. that it is a highly risky endeavour, and the owner has shown himself to be without honour. In his megalomaniacal mind, that justifies the theft of OUR assets.

So, I hope that DDE investors will be outraged by this. I hope that they will make their outrage known in a tangible way. I hope that Luke will reach deep down inside and find an ounce of decency to do the right thing and stop stealing from people that are critical of him.

I will not stoop to making meaningless threats. I have contacted Luke and asked him to return the cash that was in my account, and depending on his response, or lack thereof, will take whatever steps I think are appropriate.

I know that others like Casper and Spontaneous (and more) have been through the same thing - and with many more assets to lose - so I don't want to be a prima donna about it. Suffice it to say that what Luke has done, again, is just plain wrong, and right-minded people cannot continue to suffer his unethical and arbitrary actions.

dd

A Word of Warning about the WSE

2008-07-28T20:49:00.003-04:00

With the WSE set to reopen in a few days (I am officially holding my breath...), I have started to make a few posts on relevant forums about my thoughts on the WSE and its impending reopening. The following has been posted on both Your2ndPlace as a comment to a Konner McDonnell post, and on the SL Exchange forums...

Do with it what you will... Comments are welcome.

I say the following somewhat sheepishly - I was one of the business owners that was listed on the WSE for a year until March of this year, and while I was listed there, I was a supporter of the exchange and what it was trying to accomplish. My own experience there was overall a good one - I was able to use the exchange the way it had been intended - to raise money to expand my business, and was always able to provide an excellent return to investors. But I have to say, that I now regret ever having my name associated with the WSE, and in particular the owner, Luke Connell. I delisted in March and have been dealing with the investors privately, and it has all worked out well - the transition was a good one, and the people who invested in my company are being treated well and seem satisfied.

I saw some of the shenanigans going on around me with other companies and with the owner of the WSE, but (I am somewhat ashamed to say) was willing to turn a blind eye to them because they did not affect my company directly, and because as I say, there WERE some good honest people there.

I think we have to be careful to separate the owner of the WSE from the businesses that were, and still are, listed there - some of which are operated by some wonderful, establishes, respectable people.

In February of this year, in response to the decision by the WSE to do away with Lindens and implement their own currency, and in light of the terrible lack of communication that was forthcoming from Luke about his plans and the fate of the WSE, another biz-owner and I organized a meeting of a number of listed company "CEO's", to discuss the issues and present a united front to Luke about our concerns. We had one meeting during which we aired our concerns to each other, and a number of CEO's (myself among them) stated their intention to have some kind of answer from Luke about his plans, or to take further action to protect themselves and their companies.

Within a matter of hours, the transcript of this meeting was sent to Luke, (must have been by one of the participants...) and within a few days, a number of companies were involuntarily delisted, and their assets (cash and shares in other companies) were confiscated by the WSE. Their accounts were locked (as was mine for a time), and they were not even provided with a list of shareholders from which to work. Millions of Lindens worth of assets changed hands from the company CEO's to Luke.

My company was left alone - and I am just cynical enough to believe that it was because it had only modest assets that could be seized - all of my land was of course owned by my account, not the WSE. It may have just been because I was less mercurial than some and chose my words more carefully. I had a long discussion with Luke about the WSE and his plans, and in the end, I decided that I simply could not continue to participate in an organization that took these kinds of dictatorial and arbitrary actions.

I have always been careful about what I have said publicly about the WSE, both because there ARE still people I count as friends running companies there, and because I personally had over a million Lindens tied up in the WSE when it closed in January - a large chunk of cash i was planning to use for dividends, and a number of shares in companies there. Luke has a long history of simply canceling accounts and taking the assets in it if people speak out against the WSE - so I have had to be careful what I say.

But, I simply can't stand by and watch people get set to throw their money back into the WSE. It is likely that if I speak out, I will lose whatever I have in there - but at this point, I am not sure that it is ever going to be possible to get it out anyway, and frankly, I am willing to take the loss if it prevents other people from investing any serious money there. There is simply no way that Luke could open the WSE and afford to honor a cash-out of all the existing balances there. So I am assuming that there will be a period of moratorium on withdrawals (perhaps a couple of months), during which people can deposit money into their account, and trade with existing balances, but not take any out. I cannot believe that the WSE has any real money left after this long time, so that current balances are going to have to be covered by new deposits - which sounds a lot like a ponzi to me...

To echo the advice that has been given already by others - if you are planning to invest in the WSE, do it only as a game and not as an investment. There are no rules, no regulations, and to my mind, there is no honor at the WSE. Luke has a proven history of seizing other people's cash and other assets when he doesn't like what they have to say. I suspect that as a result of this post, and some others I intend to make, that I will suffer a similar fate soon.

If you want to put a few dollars into the WSE because the drama is funny, or you want to see how a mock market works, go for it. But if you are thinking that the WSE offers a realistic mechanism for making money on an investment, there is a long line of investors that have lost theirs shirts, waiting to disagree with you. There were a few people that have made money on the WSE, but I am convinced that it was mostly done with insider information, the use of alts to manipulate the market, and back-room deals.

So, yeah... I was one of WSE's biggest supporters for a long time, but it's time now, with the WSE set to reopen, to tell you all the hard (and somewhat humiliating) lessons that I learned on the inside.

The WSE is not to be trusted. If you are looking for a fast Linden, take your Lindens and put them in a Sploder - your chances of a return are much better.

dd

Reflections on the land business and relisting DDE: July 2008

2008-07-20T09:00:00.003-04:00

For the last couple of months, I have been thinking a lot about the land business in Second Life, and have posted about it on several forums, as well as done a couple of posts here with some preliminary thoughts. Over that time, the number of empty plots on some of my sims has continued to increase. After a couple of messages yesterday from long term tenants that had decided to leave their land, I was disappointed to see several of my sims sitting more than half empty.

Normally, this would not be a huge reason for concern – it has happened before a couple of times that the normal turnover of land has resulted in more empty land than usual – but the difference this time is that the IM's coming in requesting land seem to have turned from a healthy stream to a sickly trickle, and I am at the point where I am considering some radical action. Every empty sim essentially makes two others unprofitable, since the profit from them has to go toward paying tier for the empty one. And more than this, when i visit friends and explore SL, there seems to be more and more empty land everywhere on private estates. To date, I have had some success in converting a couple of sims to Openspaces, which have been doing better, but I fear that the initial excitement about Openspaces has dampened, and the market has become flooded with other land owners trying to capitalize on this new market as well.

I have a few choices – I can try to sell off the empty sims, or in the worst case simply abandon them to LL if there are no prospective buyers. I can try a couple of different rental models over the next month to see if occupancy picks up. Or I can continue to pay tier on empty islands...

Linden Labs has already lowered the price of islands significantly, and has signaled their intent to lower them again in the future. I also think it is highly likely that they will open up the Openspace sims so that they can be purchased by anyone (at this point, you have to own at least one regular estate to be able to purchase an Openspace). Both of these will make it ever more difficult to keep land rented out. And significantly for land businesses that have investors and shareholders, the change in LL policy also means a change in the way I think about land – I can no longer afford to think of land as an asset since it now has very little real value on the market – I would be unlikely to be able to get more than $700 for an island on the market, and perhaps much less, since I suspect that there are more and more people who are being forced into a position to sell their islands because they cannot cover their tier.

I think the days of running a profitable land business the way I have done so for the last two years are coming to an end – it is only a matter of time before Linden Labs policies, the massive growth in the land mass without a corresponding increase in the population, and the poor US economy, are going to drive it into the ground. What I want to avoid is being one of the land owners who refuses to recognize this, and tries to hold onto what they have far too long, and thereby loses everything. There are some land owners who have catered to a specific theme and may be okay, but I have never done that – I have provided more flexibility on my land than most, but have not done a lot of themes and have rented land more as a commodity than anything else. What I don't know is how long it is going to take – whether it will be three months or a year, but my guess is that it will not be longer than that.

At this point it looks as though DDE is going to have to start downsizing, and unfortunately I don't expect a huge return from selling off islands – the prices are simply too low right now. The problem for my shareholders (and me) is that downsizing, while it reduces costs, also reduces potential revenues, and so the absolute amount of profit will decline, while the number of shares remains constant. If things go the way they have been going the last two months, I will have less and less profit left over for dividends and buybacks.

Which brings me to my conundrum. Because DDE is now a quasi-public company in which the share price has been established (by me), and because I do not have the expertise or time to be able to broker share sales from one investor to another, both investors and I are stuck in the current model. There is no way to let the market decide share value and provide an opportunity for shareholders to take these trends and act upon them. If I am right about the land business, then the engine that drives DDE will slowly become less and less able to provide returns and buybacks, and shareholders have no way out.

On the other hand, in light of the state of the land business, I would expect that the only outcome of relisting on another exchange, after perhaps an initial bubble of interest during which share prices might rise as new investors come on board, would be a gradual decrease in share price over time to reflect the changes in the land business and the scaling back of DDE operations.

Under the current model, I have assumed a disproportionate amount of the market risk. By guaranteeing share prices, I have no protection against a worsening of the market. On the other hand, I may have less and less cash available to honor those commitments, and the buyout of shares may take far longer than anticipated, or possibly even become impossible if things get very dire and DDE is unable to turn a profit at all.

As I hope you all know by now, I have always held the shareholders' interests above all, even above my own interests and my ability to make any money personally from SL. To date, in two years, i have never taken any money out of SL for myself, except early on to repay a modest amount that I invested into SL out of my pocket. In spite of the success of DDE, I have never profited personally from any of it. Any Lindens I have garnered from dividends or a salary have been put back into the company, either as a straight gift, or to buy shares from other shareholders to increase my ownership.

There was a time when I thought that eventually, I would have a nest egg that i owned completely, and that there might be a payday coming down the road. At this point, I am resigned to the belief that this will not occur – that the “assets” I thought we owned are actually not assets at all, and by the time I have managed to purchase the lion's share of DDE, it will be worth very little.

I don't have a big problem with that – doing business in Second Life was never about the money for me – it was about the challenge and the opportunity to learn and meet people – both of which I have done in abundance. So, in that spirit, the challenge now is to guide DDE through a difficult transition, and do so without putting my RL financial situation (which is precarious) in danger.

Rest assured, that I am not simply going to roll over and play dead. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve and will do all that I can to keep DDE profitable – I will enter new lines of business, i will adapt the land business to cater to different markets, and I will continue to work hard to make a go of it. But it is only fair that you all understand the road that we are on – it will not be an easy one.

Given the uncertainty of the land market right now, and the uncertain future of DDE, I think it would be unwise to pursue relisting on another exchange and the current time. However, the feedback I have received to date has been overwhelmingly in favour of relisting (with a couple of notable exceptions from major shareholders). Based on the feedback I have received in comments and IM's, well over ½ of the DDE shares (excluding mine) have spoken out in favour of relisting.

Which is why I have made this post. I am not going to do anything precipitously or quickly, and I wanted you all to know my thoughts about the future before we make any major decisions. What I propose is that we wait until at least the end of the summer, and see where we are in September, before making a decision on relisting. I hope that this meets with the approval of shareholders. I am not ruling the idea out, but I see no reason to fast-track it, especially considering that the liquidity on the exchanges right now seems to be at an all-time low.

Ok – time for a group hug! I will continue to rely on you all for advice and support as we move forward, and i will do a better job of posting my thoughts and progress as we move forward. As always, your comments are welcome, and I would even go so far as to say necessary – so please take the time to make your thoughts known to me and the other shareholders. By working together, we may yet beat the odds and pull DDE out of the fire!

Relisting Revisited, Shareholder meeting

2008-07-14T06:39:00.002-04:00

I have had enough messages and comments from DDE shareholders about the possibility of relisting DDE, that I think it requires a more formal investigation. You all know by now my stance on stock exchanges in SL - I am dubious, and I have clearly state my intention to never relist on another exchange a number of times.

However, the adage for any good business has to be "adapt or die". This is particularly true right now, in my opinion, for the land business in Second Life. The future is not as certain as it was, and it seems clear that Linden Labs' intention is to continue to reduce the price of purchasing land going forward. Whether or not this will spell the end of the "land baron" as we understand it remains to be seen.

So, I wanted to lay out the pros and cons of relisting, as I understand them. Then, I will hold a shareholder meeting, and elicit comments from shareholders here, in the company group, and through personal IM's to the major shareholders. In the end, I am willing to be swayed by the will of the majority. In effect, i will be taking a "vote", although no formal mechanism exists for me to do so - there are few enough shareholders that it can be done relatively painlessly. If more than 50% of outstanding shares (not including my own - I will abstain from the vote) want DDE to relist, then I will seriously consider it and do some serious research about which exchange to approach. So you know, my initial "gut feeling" is to go with the International Stock Exchange (ISE). Although it is small, it has a good track record, and seems to be run honorably.

First, it makes sense to provide a brief company valuation. Before the change in Linden Labs pricing, the Net Asset Value per Share for DDE was between 3L and 4L per share, depending on land prices. Under the current LL pricing model, the NAVPS is more on the order of 1.5L - 2L per share, with a liquidation value considerable lower. And there is an ongoing debate as to whether or not land can even be considered an asset. If not, then DDE in fact has very few assets at all.

However, the profit model is strong. Revenues are in the 3,000,000L per month range, with costs about $2,400,000, yielding profits of about $600k per month, or about 0.13L per share per month. Dividends have typically been (and will continue to be after September) at least 0.1L per share per month - so the annual yield on shares from dividends alone is about 30%-40% on a share price of 3L per share.

The Pros
I think Vitall beck has outlined the main potential benefits of relisting:
1. The market determines share price: philosophically - I think this is best. The current plan is set, and while it provides a good return for investors, it does not take into account the effect of any factors which change the value of DDE, for better or for worse. A free market would allow the investors to determine the price of DDE shares, based on the best available information, without the heavy hand of Big Brother (or Big Sister in my case) steering the ship so directly. Now, it has to be recognized that this is a double-edged sword - it may mean higher prices for the stock (which is good for existing shareholders), but it may also mean lower prices, especially if the land business becomes more difficult.

2. Liquidity: if DDE relists, shareholders can buy and sell stocks as they wish. This would both allow new investors to buy in, and allow current shareholders to sell their shares when they wish at market prices. Under the current system, I don't really have the ability to allow shareholders to sell off - i simply don't have the time or infrastructure to become a trading platform.

3. No mandatory buybacks. At this point, I have put in place what i consider a fair plan for buybacks over the next year or so at established prices - which is not optional. If DDE relisted, these would obviously cease - shareholders would not be required to sell me any shares, and buybacks could be done at market value with whatever cash was available (starting in September). This would serve to help keep the share price reasonable. If investors know that I will be buying back shares every month, the share price would be more stable.

The Cons
1. Higher risk. Under the current plan, investors know pretty much exactly what they are going to get. over the next year or more, their shares will be bought back at preset, increasing prices which will offer a decent profit for most shareholders. If DDE relists, there is no way to know whether the price will rise or drop.

2. Lack of liquidity and consistency in the exchanges. The stock exchanges in SL are all suffering from a lack of liquidity, which makes it difficult for investors to get good value for large investments. Although DDE has been successful in the past at attracting investors, there is no certainty that this will continue. And more fundamentally, the share price of companies on the exchanges seems at times almost random - many companies are either radically undervalued or overvalued based on their published financials, and at times there seem no rhyme or reason to it. Prices are subject to "gaming" by a relatively small number of investors under some circumstances.

3. Guilt by association. this is a bit more nebulous, but as you all know by now, I am not happy with the lack of regulation on the exchanges, and have been appalled at the actions of many of the exchange operators and CEO's running companies on them. By listing DDE on any of them, I am essentially buying into at least one exchange's behaviour and am aligning myself at least to some degree with the exchange and the companies on it. I have a fierce sense of loyalty when i get involved in something, and would feel honor bound to support the exchange as much as my own ethics would permit. It was in the end a conflict between my loyalty and my ethics that led me to delist from the WSE in the first place.

So - there you have it. I would be interested in your thoughts on the matter, and will actively pursue them. Comments on the blog would be helpful, so that everyone can see your thoughts, but I will also post to the group, and will contact the top 20 or so investors personally to solicit feedback. In addition, i will hold a shareholder meeting in the near future (thinking next Saturday at 3pm SL time at this point).

Please note - I am making no promises one way or the other, but I need to know what the will of my investors is so that I can make my decisions in their best interests - so please provide me with some feedback. And if you do comment on the blog, please identify yourself - an anonymous comment is the same as no comment at all...

dd

Looking Forward for DDE

2008-07-11T11:36:00.003-04:00

Happy summer to all! :-)

I have been relaxing on vacation for the last week, and it has given me some time to reflect on my SL business and put some thought into what the future holds for DDE. Since the delisting from WSE in March, things have been moving forward well. I wouldn't say that business is booming - it has been a difficult couple of months for the land biz in general - but things are consistent. Occupancy of the sims has dropped somewhat as I have mentioned before, but is still high enough to return a consistent profit. The Openspace sims are doing well.

As you all know, when I delisted from the WSE, it was with the intention of winding down DDE and eventually getting out of the land biz. A month later, though, Linden Labs announced new land prices, effectively reducing my assets by 40%, which made selling DDE a lot less desirable. however, the time pressures that made me want to wind down in the first place, are still there, and I am finding it more and more difficult to devote the time necessary to run DDE effectively. Nevertheless, since March, DDE has actually expanded to take advantage of the new Opensapce market, buying new sims for clients as they are needed, and when cash was available.

I have always only kep a modest cash reserve, enough to cover about half of my monthly tier at any one time - because it always made sense to me to put the money to work instead of holding it as a cash balance. Right now, DDE has enough cash on hand to pay about half of its monthly tier (which is approaching $8,000 USD per month). As you all know, DDE has been able to continue to provide dividends to shareholders and I have been able to buy back shares with my own money as we have gone along. The ultimate aim of this was to be the sole owner of DDE (eventually), and then consider my options.

Recently, I have begun to have some concerns about the land business in SL - I am hearing from many land owners that renters are harder to find, and I am not sure of the direction Linden Labs is planning to take into the future. I am worried that keeping such a low cash reserve is dangerous - if I were to lose a significant number of renters one month, I would be in danger of defaulting on tier payments, without enough time to sell off assets if it became necessary. In addition, I have lost out on a couple of opportunities to buy inexpensive sims (from some of these same land owners who are selling off to cover tier).

I know that DDE has been consistent in providing dividends every month since it first went public about 15 months ago - for a long time we provided weekly dividends, and have probably provided more 1.5L per share in dividends over that time. I have always wanted, and continue to want, to share the bounty of whatever success I have with investors. However, I think it would be prudent at this point, given my concerns, to retain a larger cash reserve for a "rainy day", or to position DDE to take advantage of opportunities that become available in the next six months.

So, I am proposing a three month "dividend holiday" for June, July, and August, during which no dividends would be distributed. I may still do limited buybacks of shares with my salary, if profits warrant a salary. This would give DDE a chance to increase cash reserves and maintain a more conservative financial position, and to address my own level of anxiety.

It's difficult for me to even propose this - I have always taken pride in our unbroken track record. However, after much thought, I am convinced that it is the prudent approach given the current state of affairs.

Since I don't really have a mechanism for "voting", I am going to assume that my shareholders will trust me to do what I think is best, unless I receive an outpouring of concern from them. If that happens, I will rethink my position and continue to communicate.

As always, please feel free to IM me, or leave a comment here with your questions, comments, or concerns.

dd

June Dividends and Buybacks coming!

2008-07-08T12:40:00.003-04:00

Hi all,
I am just taking a few days vacation - wooot! However, I have the final June numbers ready, and will be completing the dividend and buybacks in the next few days.
During the month of June, I did buy a few new Openspace sims - they are doing very well, so I have expanded when a client has wanted a sim but I have had none available. So, as of the end of June, DDE now has 19 regular islands, and 25 Openspace sims. Occupancy levels on the regular sims are not yet what they were in the spring - but the Openspaces are all full but one.
June was overall a good month, but I did use some funds for the expansion.

I am expecting to provide dividends of between 0.075L and 0.1L per share this month. I have taken the monthly salary this month (250k) - and will be using my salary and dividends to buy shares for myself.

What I am proposing for this month is to buy back as many of the shares of one large investor that is trying to sell out - and not buy back shares from anyone else. So, for most of you, your share totals will remain unchanged this month.

Please contact me if you want to get some additional shares from the individual that is selling off.

If you were counting on the buybacks for a little extra cash - please let me know as soon as possible - but remember, as of July, share buy back prices increase from 2.50L to 2.75L per share - so waiting will get you a little extra in future buybacks.

And remember - if you have any land needs - please contact me - it's good for both of us ;-).

As always, please contact me with questions, comments, or concerns, or leave a comment here on the blog.

dd

Update: Summer is Here! DDE relisting???

2008-06-27T21:32:00.004-04:00

Hello world :-)

Well, I know I haven't been blogging very much in the last couple of months, but RL has been occupying far too large a part of my life. I got a new job, and the hours are a little insane - but it's all good.

Of course, as a result, my time in Second Life has been somewhat limited, but the business is set up to run pretty automatically now and only requires ongoing maintenance, so it has not been a big problem. Business has been... not bad. The decrease in occupancy that we saw in May on the sims has improved somewhat, but it still is not back to the levels it was before then. Nevertheless, DDE remains a going concern and profitable, and I am expecting typical dividends for June (0.1L per share). We will have to see the final June numbers before a buyback can be considered. All in all, I am happy with our performance, and I think we will be able to weather the typical summer slowdown with no problems.

Ok. So. I have been asked by a few people in recent weeks whether or not I would ever consider relisting DDE on another SL stock exchange. Things seem to be working well with DDE being run independently, although it is quite a bit of work at month end to get everything figured out and dividends paid. But it is probably not more work that CEO's on the exchanges these days have to put in to post their financials every month.

My answer has always been the same - that I have no intentions of relisting after my experiences on the WSE.

However, I want to be open to your opinions on the subject. I know that for some people, being unable to cash out or to trade shares is annoying. On the other hand, you have a pretty guaranteed return on your investment, and you know the price at which your shares are going to be bought. Were DDE to relist on another exchange, I cannot say what would happen to the share price - it is simply unknown. From my observations, share prices on SL exchanges rarely reflect real assets, or even company performance. It has also been my observation that land companies in particular seem to trade below their net asset value per share.

So, I guess what I am saying is that I am open to talking about it - although it would require some convincing. I would be interested in your opinions about whether or not to relist, and what exchanges you think are worth looking at, and why. Please leave a comment here or contact me inworld - if i don't get a lot of comments, i will simply assume there is not a lot of interest...

And as always, please feel free to contact me inworld with any questions, comments, or concerns. Or just to say hi!

dd

May Dividend and Buyback Complete

2008-06-08T16:44:00.002-04:00

The dividend and buyback transactions for May are complete. In total, I disbursed 563,253L to shareholders (including 443,244L in dividends representing a 0.1L per share dividend payment for the month).

Details can be found on the DDE webpage . Links to all past announcements, transaction details, and other information will be available there. You should already have received your payment inworld.

In the end, i decided to do a limited buyback of 50,000 shares, in addition to the regular dividend payment. A continued thanks to all DDE investors.

dd

Update on May Dividends

2008-06-07T22:25:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to provide a quick update on dividends for May. I should be finalizing the may numbers tomorrow, and posting the dividends at that time. All in all, May was a medium month - I lost a lot of renters, but found some new ones. Occupancy levels are still lower than I am comfortable with, but they seem to reflect the pattern I have heard all over SL in the last six weeks that business all over is slow.

Nevertheless, i will be able to provide a decent dividend (at this point it looks like a 0.1L per share dividend). In order to be able to afford it, i will not be collecting my own salary this month.

At this point I am still deciding whether or not to do any buybacks - I probably have enough personal cash to do some, but I am worried about the tenuous state of the SL economy, and so am thinking about building up a reserve to ensure that tier is covered on all islands for more than a month at all times - so I am probably going to throw my cash into the kitty. In addition, the juicy prices of mainland (for buyers that is) are tempting me more and more to get back into the mainland rental business - since the buy-in cost is so low now and it does provide a cheaper alternative for residents on a strict budget.

Operationally, I still seem to be unable to stop growing! In May, i did purchase a few more Openspace sims, which seem to be doing very well. By the end of June, DDE should have almost 20 Openspace sims and 19 or 20 regular islands. Things are running smoothly, although the continuing database problems in SL have certainly made many of the tenants grumpy.

More soon!

dd

What's with the Voice Requests??

2008-05-31T08:16:00.003-04:00

Ok, so apologies in advance to a couple of people that are going to be quite offended by this - but it isn't really aimed at you.

What's with the voice requests??

I have blogged a few times before about my reticence to get any more involved in SL than I am already - especially on an emotional level. In the last few weeks, I have had a dozen people ask me to get onto voice with them - either in SL or on Skype or whatever - and so far I have always said no. I have tried the SL Voice feature a few times, and it really irritates me - so I am already predisposed to dislike it. I also have to run a viewer that is pre-voice, since it seems to be the only one that my graphics card doesn't bork on.

But regardless - the requests are usually not for business reasons - which i might consider - but are more on the level of getting to know each other better, flirting more quickly, or out-and-out requests for phone sex. Uhmmm... word to the wise - if i wanted to be on voice with you - I already would be!

That might be a bit unfair - and a couple of people will doubtless be seriously offended at my arrogance at assuming that they are hitting on me - and in fairness - some of them are not at all.

What pisses me off more than anything is the response I get sometimes that I "must be a man" because I won't go on voice. Frankly, if that is what you think, why the heck are you flirting with me in the first place - and sometimes even continue after I have said no??

The last person that asked me was not at all slimy about it - it was a very civil and platonic request, and I started giving all the reasons I could think of why I just couldn't. He very rightly pointed out to me that all that was basically bullshit - if I didn't want to, why didn't I just say that??

He was right - I just don't wanna! In the end my reasons are my own - irrational or stupid as they might be - but if they aren't good enough, feel free to speculate that it might be one or more of the following:
1. I really am a man.
2. I am a 13 year-old girl.
3. I am an 83 year-old woman
4. I have a horrible speech impediment.
5. I hate my voice.
6. I hate being hit on in general and can only just manage to handle it in text, cuz really, it isn't cute at all - just annoying.
7. People are usually a lot less interesting / a lot more irritating in voice than in text.
8. I like to keep a record of all my conversations in SL because i have a terrible memory and need to have something to refer to.
9. I just don't wanna. really.

Okies - sorry for the rant, but it's 8:30, and i don't have nearly enough caffeine in my system yet...

dd

Shares on the table!

2008-05-25T17:40:00.003-04:00

Hi all,
one of my large investors has let me know that he would like to sell his shares - and he has almost 280,000 of them!.

If you are interested in picking some up, please let me know. I'd like to sell all of them to as few investors if possible - so please only contact me if you are willing to buy a large amount - say 50k shares. I will broker a price (with strict confidentiality on both sides) and manage the transaction. I'll only take a small commission - say 10%. hehehe.

Just kidding!

I am sad to see him go - he has been a wonderful source of advice over the last year - and has been totally supportive of DDE since its humble beginnings... mwah!

dd

DDE Update

2008-05-23T18:52:00.002-04:00

Hi all :-). I just wanted to provide a brief update on operations over the last few weeks. The dividend and buyback for April went ahead with only a few glitches - relatively smoothly all things considered...

Business in the last six weeks has been slower than normal - the number of unrented plots on DDE sims is higher than usual, but I have begun to advertise recently (something I haven't had to do in almost a year!), and I am hoping to be back up to normal occupancy levels soon. The Openspace sims have been doing well - so when one of my regular sims was vacated, I put in a ticket to convert it to 4 Openspaces - and have been waiting a couple of weeks for the Lindens to complete the ticket - a measure I think of how many land orders they have received recently. Of course, this has resulted in half a month of no rental income on this sim in addition to the low occupancy.

As a result - revenues for May are expected to be less than usual - and although DDE is still nicely profitable, I am going to start setting aside some cash every week to ensure that if things get worse in the market, i will have sufficient cash to cover tier for at least a month at all times. Given that the monthly tier level for DDE is approximately 2m Lindens - this will be a drain on liquidity.

I am going to wait until the final May numbers are in before making a decision, but it is possible that in May there will be no share buybacks - although I am still expecting a regular dividend payment. Again depending on the final May numbers, I may forego or significantly reduce my salary for May and contribute it to the dividend payment. I want to make sure that you are all taken care of.

The effect of this is in some ways beneficial to shareholders, since it removes one month of buybacks at the lowest price (2.50L per share) - I will stick to the schedule I have published and share buybacks will increase to 2.75L per share in July as promised.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments or concerns about this plan.

dd

Dividend and Buyback Complete

2008-05-12T05:01:00.002-04:00

As of yesterday, May 11, 2008, the dividend and buyback transactions for April are complete. In total, I disbursed 841,103L to shareholders (including 443,244L in dividends). Details can be found on the new DDE webpage (ok it's pretty rudimentary - but I have never done it before! lol). Links to all past announcements, transaction details, and other information will be available there.

So... It was the middle of the night, and I made an error while doing some of the payouts... fortunately, I started at the bottom of the list - but as I was doing the first dozen payouts, I was reading from the wrong column in my handy spreadsheet...sigh. So, instead of paying the first dozen shareholders the correct amount, I paid them Lindens equivalent to the number of shares that they owned - which was a far higher amount.

Rather than contact each of them individually, I decided to reduce their shares at 2.50L per share for the amount overpaid. I have made a note of these transactions in the list of buybacks, and if anyone that was overpaid wishes to correct the error (rather than keep the Lindens), they can contact me inworld and I will make the correction. Otherwise I will assume that they are content with taking the cash.

I felt quite stupid when I realized (thanks to Andy Grant for contacting me right away and pointing out the error!). But it is one of the hazards of trying to do all this manually - I am learning as I go and am subject to some serious blond moments. however, rest assured that errors on my part are not malicious - just the pitfalls of being a relative noob at this. As time goes on, I will streamline the process and hopefully there won't be any more mistakes. My apologies to the people that got too many Lindens (lol). As I say, if you want to have the error corrected, simply send me an IM to that effect.

One other item - since SL is such a transient place, I checked into each user's status before I made the payments, and decided that for anyone that has not logged into SL in 60 days, I would withhold payment at this time. My reasoning is that I have no desire to distribute Lindens to an account that is no longer active. Some accounts appear to have been deleted, and others have had no activity - some for up to six months. These are listed as "Pending" in the details of the dividend buyback. I am keeping track of all payments due to any of these individuals, and will make good on them if I am contacted inworld by any of them. So, if any of you know of the whereabouts of any of the individuals listed, please let them know. I will not make payments to a third party on their behalf. Eventually, I will reclaim the shares of anyone whose account is in defauly, or has shown no activity in a significant amount of time (I am thinking 6 months).

I wanted to provide an update on the business. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have expanded somewhat recently, but the last couple of weeks have been a bit difficult. A number of large renters have left, and occupancy has dropped to about 87% accross all the sims. DDE is still very profitable, and I will be working hard to get everything rented out as soon as possible, but having empty parcels for a few weeks WILL have an impact on profitability for May. I will keep you all posted as things develop.

Finally, I wanted to say a word of thanks to all of you - your continued expressions of support mean the world to me and I could not have achieved anything in DDE without your support, advice, encouragement, and motivation. RL has been incredibly busy the last month or so, and at times it has been difficult to find the time (and the motivation) to get onto SL and take care of business. But when I receive a quick note of encouragement from one of you, it makes it much easier - I realize that I am working for all of us, and as you know that is a responsibility that I take very seriously.

As always, comments, concerns, questions are all encouraged - leave them here or contact me inworld.

dd

DDE Update: Dividend and Buyback Announcement

2008-05-04T20:40:00.002-04:00

Greetings to all Delicious Demar Enterprises (DDE) shareholders :-)

I know it has been a while since I provided an update, but RL commitments (a new job - yay!) have left me with little time the last month to spend in SL - I have spent what time I do have managing the business and trying to keep the sims all full.

Occupancy is down a little bit from previous months, due in all likelihood to the new island prices (making them more affordable than ever, and leading to some potential renters deciding to buy instead), and to the general slowdown in the US economy - I suspect people there just have less money to spend than ever. Nevertheless, occupancy still remains at 95% and I am working hard as always to rent out whatever parcels become available.

So... As you all know, I have made my intentions to slowly get out of the land biz and wind down DDE quite clear, but recent developments in SL have forced me to reconsider the speed and timing of my actions. Two recent changes by Linden Labs have actually made me decide not only to slow down the wind-down, but in fact have convinced me to expand in a limited way over the last six weeks. First, the change in the land prices makes purchasing islands now easier - they cost 40% less than a month ago - but rent is unaffected because it is tied to tier levels, which have not changed.

Second, the doubling of prims on the Openspace sims (a full island in size, but now with 3750 prims) have made them quite desirable in the marketplace.

As a result, instead of starting to sell off islands and wind down, I have in fact purchased one full sim and 7 Openspace sims recently - all of which are full (I am still waiting for delivery of two - but they are both spoken for...). Because of the timing of the purchase, I received two "free" openspace sims, as per the Lindens policy during the changing of prices, and now have a healthy number of sims to work with, when all is said and done:

Total regular sims: 21 (up from 20)
Total Openspace sims: 12 (up from 3)

In order to purchase the sims, I had to use whatever working capital I had on hand, but operating profits have been on par with previous months regardless. Therefore I am going to be paying a dividend of 0.1L per share immediately (watch for the transaction inworld over the next couple of days), and will be using my salary and portion of dividends to do a buyback of 150,000 shares, prorated across all shareholders using the percentage of shares owned. In total, I will be disbursing more than 700,000L in dividends and buybacks.

I will be providing more detailed financials in the coming days, but DDE posted a profit of slightly over 450,000L on revenues of almost 3,000,000L in April. As I have mentioned in previous posts, this is net of the salary I am collecting of 250,000L per month - which will be used with my portion of the dividends to buy back shares.

Hope you are all keeping well - as usual I welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions here, or inworld.

dd

Reflections on a Second Life®: Part 1

2008-04-12T08:44:00.004-04:00

The last few posts I have made have been a little negative (aside from the posts related to the land biz - which, of course, are all business - hehe). The last few weeks have been pretty emotional - I have been holding on to a lot of thoughts and feelings about SL - and have been having that familiar cringing feeling when I look at the Second Life icon on my desktop - a feeling in my gut that makes me want to do ANYTHING rather than log onto SL. I get like that sometimes, when I start feeling SL pressure in RL. I suppose it is fortunate, therefore, that SL has been totally borked! lmfao. i have had serious issues with the new viewer and my video card to the point where I couldn't log in at all. But that is all resolved now - so I no longer have any excuses! There are a few parcels that need renting! A few rent boxes that need fixing! And about 100 IM's that need answering! lol

In the flurry if activity recently - I almost forgot that I passed a milestone in March - my second rezday was (I think...) on March 18 - marking two years in SL. I had some time recently to think back on the two years I have been on SL, and took a look through some old chat logs and messages from "back in the day". It has been quite a ride! I should warn you that I make some pretty frank and honest admissions in this blog. I suspect that they will make some people think less of me. /me shrugs. I am who I am - whether i tell YOU about it or not... lol Keeping it to myself doesn't change anything. I should also warn you that it is waaayyy long. My apologies. As Mark Twain once said, "I would have made it shorter, but I didn't have enough time."

When I first started SL - on my first day - I met some wonderful people - a RL friend of mine (thRob Heart in SL) had been on for a few months, and showed me the "game" one day - and brought me into his little circle of friends - TLC Heart is the one I remember best, the crew from Nude West, and Victor Suntzu (who I still call "suga daddy" - hehehe). They were so amazing - gave of their time, and Lindens for that matter - trying to un-noob me and show me the ropes quickly. I took to Second Life instantly - I was simply awed at the potential and the exciting new things I was learning every day. Having tried a bunch of other worlds/games (IMVU, There, Active Worlds, Socio, WoW), SL was by far and away the best for me. Of course, at the beginning, I didn't really know how to do anything - lol - so I went to a few clubs that they had shown me, or I found myself - I still remember Topless Tuesdays at Nude West and going to the Angry Ant ALL the time because i just loved the music there! wooooooot!! HOoooooooowwwWLL!! I was in awe of Sarah Nerd - she didn't know who I was of course - but I thought she was the essence of SL cool, and ended up being one of my role models (unbeknownst to her) when I got into the land biz - but more on that later... I loved the dancing animations and gestures (Me so horny!), the chat flying back and forth - it was a free and fun time for sure and I got totally addicted to SL within about 2 days.

On my second day there - I met a wonderful woman named Anna Andalso - who remains to this day about my best friend in SL - even though i know I don't really have time to be a good friend these days (sorry, kitten...). Anna was sweet, and clever, and shocked me utterly when she asked me to be her "Mistress" on about day 3 in SL. Of course, I had only a really vague notion of what this meant - the farthest I had ever gone with pain/bondage in RL was little melted wax and some handcuffs - hahaha. But I was intrigued at the idea - and of course did what i always did - I researched it! I learned a lot about Dom/sub, BDSM, and power transfer and all that and decided it might be fun to try! So, Anna became my kitten (=^.^=) and we had a great time. It didn't last too long, because we decided to partner a few weeks later - and I wasn't really very good at it - but it was a blast! After that, Anna and I were together for about 9 months, all in all, before we decided to go our own ways - but we have always remained close and she is one of the very few people in SL that I trust utterly. Of course, as with any relationship that ends - it was bittersweet - but it was a wonderful time, and holds some of my dearest SL memories.

I said that I loved dancing and chatting in clubs when I first started - which is true - I loved it for about two weeks! Then, I started to look around for something to DO in SL. I tend to get bored easily... At about this time - I also discovered the wonderful world of.... SLex! I think I was fully outfitted with XCite bits within a week.

I have a confession to make. I totally LOVED cybering in Second Life back then! hahaha I immersed myself in it!! Truth be told - I was quite the little hussy. By nature, I am a pretty free spirit to begin with - and am willing to try just about anything. This was great - I could explore things that I didn't have the courage or the stomach (or simply the physical ability!) to try in RL, without any of the risks! So, ok, I admit it - the first few months I was in Second Life - I was a horny bitch! hahaha. (Apologies to all my shareholders that have always thought of me as the essence of professionalism - ahem). It seems a bit funny (as in odd, and possibly a bit pathetic...) looking back on it, but at the time, SL was simply electric for me - I was in a constant state of, ermm, being "aware of myself". Not that I threw myself at anyone I met (that came later - see below - lmfao), but once I did hook up with someone, I was... intense about it. hahaha.

Well, it was only natural that I became an escort. 0,o I have to admit, I did it because it really turned me on to be cybering with strangers and noobs - lol - maybe that's a bit weird - but true nonetheless! I had never thought of SL as a way to make money - it was just fun! I had some success at it, I think because i was totally into it! But, you can only titillate so many noobs before the excitement fades - and it didn't take too long before the initial electricity was gone. When Anna said that she wanted to start an agency - i thought that it would be even better to be helping run the whorehouse than WORKING in it - lol. So she set up "Grade A Escorts", and I helped her out, and we hired quite a few girls, and to make a long story short - we did pretty well at it. I made enough money to buy my first piece of land pretty quickly - and every couple of weeks, I would pick up another 1024 parcel. I remember the excitement I felt every time i would click that "Buy" button, and the amazing feeling of standing on a new parcel of land that I owned - it was almost as good as the sex. hehe.

Not everything was all rosy and wonderful of course - we all know that Second Life is like a lens that can magnify DRAMA! Not knowing any better, I got involved in a few pretty dramatic situations. The one I remember best is meeting and befriending a hot and saucy woman that had a club on the next sim over. We started doing some business together - we ran a mall with a few other people, and we became good friends really quickly. but the day came when she seemed to change - her behaviour was odd, had become manipulative and, frankly, mean. I couldn't figure it out, until it came out that in RL, her husband and she had split up, and he had taken over control of her avatar in SL! OMG, the things I told him not realizing - lol... Well, it was a lot more complicated than that, to be honest, and actually it was a pretty painful experience. But I think we all have to have those in SL to really appreciate the full gamut of the SL experience. I figure that anyone who has never had their heart broken in SL, is just not playing it right!

My greatest moment of shame in SL came during this time as well. We all do things that we are ashamed of - I am no different. But i made myself a promise that I would not impose ANY restrictions on myself in SL - that I would experience it to its fullest without the hangups and taboos that I had in RL. Usually, this was fine - I had some clients as an escort that wanted to be humiliated or degraded or have really nasty things done to them, and although that isn't my thing at all, I always tried to role-play it as best I could. Well, one day, a quiet man stopped into Grade A. I was the only one around, and asked me to come over to his place for a bit of fun. We talked for a while, and he was a smart, intelligent guy. But eventually, he got to the heart of the matter - he asked me if I would do "anything", and given my promise to myself, I of course said yes! Well, he asked me if I would be willing to roleplay being his daughter, and have sex with him. I was disturbed of course, but (and this is the shameful part) I agreed to do it - I put on a teenage avatar (he wanted me to pretend to be 8, but even I couldn't stomach that) and tried my best to get into the role. At the time, I convinced myself that if he could find an outlet for his sick desires in SL, then maybe he would not have to submit to them in RL. Now, that seems like a lame rationalization. Afterward, I felt awful - dirty and foul. In fact, it was the last time I ever worked as an escort. To this day, I am deeply ashamed when I think about that, and it is something I wish I had never done.

However... To continue... My love affair with land had started early - I got a parcel of First Land about two weeks into SL - on a sim called Danmu - a couple parcels over from another new resident that was to become (and remains) another close friend - Erik Goff who has about 100 business going in SL these days! I still own a 512 parcel on Danmu. The next sim over was a new sim called Muk, and all of the land was for sale by someone named Anshe Chung - who I had never heard of - but whenever I had the money and knew I could cover the tier - i would buy another plot next to the ones I already had - until I had purchased most of the sim! In fact, Erik still has his head office there now - and the last remnants of the first club/casino that we set up there called The Money Helix - which i was only involved in at the very beginning, but is still going strong two years later! Erik now owns the whole sim, and I still go back there occasionally just to remember what it used to look like.

When Anna and I decided to stop doing the escorting thing, I had quite a bit of land. We had designed and built some apartments for the girls (my first real build!),and in fact I had started renting out space for stores, we had a little mall going - and all in all I had quite a bit of land. I had got involved in running a couple of other malls as well by this time, but the time came to sell off the land I had bought for the escort service, and a strange thing happened. I made a profit. A good one! And the people that were renting the land wanted me to keep being their landlord! So, I started looking around and educating myself about the land biz and started buying up cheap plots (before the advent of the landbots - this was still possible - lol) and turning them over for a profit. Well - i was hooked! I seemed to have a knack for buying and selling land, or for renting it - and i totally loved meeting all of the people that wanted a spot to call home, or to put their business, or whatever. Many of the people that I rented to back in the beginning are either still renters on one of the Estates, or have become friends. Or both! I still think i know all of my tenants now - even though there are probably 150 of them - lol - it is my favorite part of the land biz - meeting them - watching what they create - sharing in a small way in their SL lives. Although I have less time to be sociable than I used to - it is still one of my greatest pleasures - the excitement that people have when they have their own piece of land to call home reminds me of my own excitement buying those 1024 plots in the beginning. And the amazing things that they do with it! I have watched clubs, malls, art galleries, zoos, gorgeous homes (and hideous ones...), sex clubs, gardens & parks, chapels, casinos, military camps, volcanoes, and whole themed medieval kingdoms spring up out of a flat patch of virtual ground - and it has been a wonder to see.

This time in my Second Life was.... intense! As with anything new - there was a wonder and excitement - the highs were high and the lows were low. I always tell people that to enjoy SL, you need to throw yourself into it. Jump off the cliff without looking at how far below the ground is. Don't forget, in Second Life - you can fly! Especially if you immerse yourself in it and allow yourself to experience, and to feel, and to experiment. Find out what you love - or who you love - and DO IT (or them - lol). Learn to build - learn to script - learn to run a business - learn to put yourself out there, and don't be held back by feeling silly that this is only a game. It's not a game at all.

Well, that's it for the first six months or so of my ongoing SL journey. If I feel inspired, i will write a Part 2! Not sure if this will be of interest to anyone - it's more cathartic for me to write it that anything - but as always, i would be interested in your experiences, or in how any of this made you feel. Or whatever. *grin*

dd

Changes in Island Pricing

2008-04-07T20:48:00.002-04:00

For a long time now, i have often talked about potential policy changes at Linden Labs having an impact on the value of DDE's land holdings.

LL has just released this announcement on their Blog.

So, basically, in one fell swoop, the net asset value of DDE has dropped by about 40% - Islands that cost DDE $1675 USD each to buy, could now not even be sold for $1,000USD each. So, obviously, any future plans of DDE to liquidate assets in order to wind down the business are going to have to be rethought.

Yesterday, I would have valued the total estate holdings of DDE at about $42,000 USD. Today, they are worth about $25,000.

I just read the blog post moments ago - and frankly, on the heels of all the events over the last month or so with DDE, I am at a loss.

On the positive side, at this point the tier levels are remaining the same, so the ongoing operations - the revenue and expenses of renting the land - will remain unchanged and DDE will continue to make the same profits as before each month.

However, i will need to rethink the strategy I have in place for the future of DDE - it no longer makes any sense to rush into winding down the business - the logical next step MIGHT be to do some "dollar cost averaging" and in fact to start contemplating further expansion - to reduce the average cost of each sim in DDE, thereby improving the profitability and bringing the cost of overall assets lower per unit. At any rate, it is important that shareholders know what is going on.

To repeat - this does not affect the overall monthly revenue and profit projections for DDE - it just makes the company worth significantly less.

sigh

As always, thoughts and comments are appreciated.

dd

SIM Joint Venture is ending

2008-04-06T08:45:00.004-04:00

The successful Joint Venture between DDE and Sienkiewicz Investment Management (SIM on the WSE) is going to be winding down over the next little while. Pablo Sienkiewicz and I ran three sims together (actually two full sims and 4 openspaces), and all were profitable. Pablo and I have decided to end the joint venture. We have "swapped" two of the sims, each taking ownership of one, and SIM will buy out the remaining interest in the last sim in the coming weeks. As part of this overall deal - I will be transferring my shares in SIM to Pablo, and a request to that effect has been sent to the WSE.

In addition, I will no longer have a position on the Board of SIM.

I want to thank Pablo and SIM for the opportunity, and for working with DDE to develop a successful partnership, out of which both companies profited. I want to make it clear that the dissolution of this partnership is in no way a negative comment on SIM. SIM is a profitable and well-run company, and I wish Pablo the best of luck and success. Our companies are simply moving in different directions now, and with DDE's delisting from the WSE, this seemed the best course of action.

dd

The Financial Sector in SL™ - sigh

2008-04-02T16:44:00.003-04:00

The following is a slightly moddified version of a post I made on the SL Exchange Forums this morning... It's not very positive - but it is from the heart. lol I was commenting on a post about the stock exchanges, and was reflecting on the whole "financial sector" of SL.

The whole series of financial fiascoes in SL in the last year are all predicated on one thing. Greed.

Self-appointed bigshots and experts have fueled the greed by promising big returns only to disappear into thin air. Investors, with dollar signs in their eyes - were eager to believe the lines that they were being fed, while the scammers rubbed their hands in glee at the investors' gullibility. People invested their money, expecting to make easy returns on a house of cards, ponzi scheme, or fly-by-night "investment fund".

Worse than that, individuals with no skills or credentials convinced thousands of others to invest millions of Lindens, all with the promise of huge returns - followed by the inevitable failure of the business, because the person running it was a 19 year old high school drop out who knew nothing except how to spin a good line.

Now - sure there are honest people in the SL financial world, and it isn't fair to throw everyone under the bus because of the actions of some. It isn't fair, but it is totally understandable. And some of the honest fund operators have found themselves turfed and missing a large chunk of their assets.

To say that I have become disillusioned about the whole "financial sector" in SL would be an understatement. I got involved in the WSE early on, to learn, to have fun, and to take on the challenge of running a virtual company, to see if I could make it profitable. maybe I got caught up in the greed as well - i certainly raised a lot of Lindens to expand the business and was able to go from a small land company to a much bigger one using other people's money. I saw an opportunity to grow much faster than I could do alone, and I took it. I was full of pride at how many people were willing to throw their Lindens at me - and I started to think of myself as a "CEO" - a bigshot! Hell, I must be - lookit all these people that think I am so amazing and want to give me their money! But I always worked hard to learn what i had to learn and do what i had to do.

In my naiveté, I thought that everyone was doing it in good faith, and I took on the responsibility of accepting other peoples' money in trust to grow the business. It is a responsibility that i took, and take, seriously. I have tried to be fair and honest when I have done anything in SL, from the beginning to now. It's up to others to decide if I have succeeded or not. But I almost fell into that terrible trap of greed and pride - and I started to believe my own press!

Meanwhile, I watched other business owners cut and run with the money they raised, and was infuriated. Watching the back room deals, and the dishonesty, and the chest-thumping and posturing, made me both laugh and cry at the same time. This wasn't a WSE phenomenon - it was everywhere in SL - the banks, the ponzis, the funds. gah.

As an investor in the WSE, quite aside from my own business, I have been betrayed by people I considered friends, starting back with Montana Ryder, who ran off last summer. Next was Kejo Merlin, who bolted in the fall with thousands of dollars of other peoples' money, including a substantial amount of mine. There have been others since - with my investments vanishing in a puff of smoke. I am left with a pantload of WTF shares, and an aching heart when I think about the betrayal. The worst part about it is that I wasn't even investing in them to make money - I believed in them and wanted to see them succeed, and I thought they were dynamic, ethical people that would make good on their promises. I am a sucker that way.

I have always been one of the most vocal supporters of the WSE - I felt a sense of loyalty to the organization that made it possible for my little land business to have whatever success it has had. I have always wanted to try to assure people that there ARE honest people that are involved in the exchanges - lots of them. I wanted to see the WSE succeed.

And when the WSE reopens (which it will), I still really hope it succeeds, because there are still some good honest people that are involved there, that just want to make something out of their ideas and hard work. not everyone to be sure, but many. They don't deserve to be cast aside.

But I won't be one of the people on the WSE train - now that I have delisted the company and have decided to manage all of the investors personally. This was done as a matter of conscience, in light of my own beliefs and plans for the future. I could have stayed on the WSE and probably done really well. But I couldn't.

I will continue to run the business in order to make sure that anyone who gave me their money during my time at WSE gets it back, with a healthy profit. But the magic has gone out of it - it's not as much fun any more. Swimming against the current is tiring. Sticking to your principles, when many around you are abandoning theirs, is tiring. It makes you feel stupid - like a sucker. When my responsibilities are discharged, I might wind it all down, and do something else entirely - idk. At this point I am just enjoying the freedom of being in control again - being able to work directly with my shareholders to figure out how to proceed.

I guess I just sound like a whiny bitch at this point - I know that I have nobody to blame but myself for my disillusionment, and that whatever I have done, I have done with eyes wide open. And in the end, I have been successful, have had a great time, most of the time, and really have no reason to complain. But the greed and avarice of many of the people that have coopted the financial scene in SL is disheartening, and they have made it hard for me to trust anyone at all. I am not slamming any of the exchanges - I don't know much about them other than WSE. But I have decided to trust the one person that I know I can rely on. Me.

Comments appreciated...

dd

Buyback Details and New Shareholder List

2008-03-31T06:35:00.001-04:00

I am providing the details of the Initial Buyback of shares, which took place on march 30, 2008 - 10 days after the delisting of DDE from the WSE, as well as the new shareholder list, effective today, April 1, 2008. The new fiscal year commences today as well, with the first dividend to be payed out by May 5th, and the 5th of every subsequent month. Details of dividend payments and updated shareholders lists will be available as we go along.

As I have mentioned before - the remaining shares will be subject to "mandatory buyback" over the coming months as per the schedule I have laid out:
1st Quarter: 2.50L per share
2nd Quarter: 2.75 per share
3rd Quarter: 3.00L per share
4th and subsequent Quarters: 3.25L per share.

As you will see - three investors assisted me in providing cash to complete the buyback of shares - Vitall Beck, Eliale Morigi, and logansan Oh - I am extremely grateful that these three stepped forward to make this all possible. The shares they have purchased as part of this buyback will be considered "reserve" shares - they will not be subject to a buyback until all other shares of DDE have been bought, and will be eligible to receive dividends.

The initial buyback was of 747,253 shares, and the total amount paid out was 1,955,676L. There are now 51 DDE shareholders.

If at any time, any shareholder wishes to cash out their holdings of DDE, I will strive to make this possible. Although I cannot guarantee that I will be able to fulfill the request, I am confident that in most cases, this will be possible.

Click here to see the details of the Initial Buyback

Click here to see the new shareholders list, as of April 1, 2008

Once again - thanks to all. Onward and upward!

dd

Initial Buyout Complete

2008-03-30T22:53:00.000-04:00

It is done...

Phew.

The initial buy back of shares was completed today - with some last minute messages from some large investors that wanted to cash out, the number of shares bought back today swelled to almost 750,000 shares, and I distributed almost 2,000,000L to shareholders. That's a LOT of zeroes!

First, I want to thank three investors who made this possible by providing more than half of the cash necessary to do this buyback, and have thereby increased their stake in the new DDE.

Second, there are a number of shareholders whose accounts no longer exist in SL - or who have not logged on for over three months (yes, I checked them all - lol). I did not buy shares from these accounts (which total about 22,000 shares or about 0.5%), but am keeping the money in reserve as I try to ascertain their status - most of these shareholders have few shares, but I do not want to throw money into dead accounts, so it is worth a bit of time to try to contact those that I can.

Third, I am going to post a new list of shareholders and their holdings tomorrow - I know I promised it today, but I don't have all of the final numbers yet, and want to make sure that it is right before it is posted. I will be posting specifics about how many shares were bought, from whom , for how much. Although I am sensitive to the privacy of my shareholders, at this point I think the need for transparency outweighs it, and i want everyone to know exactly what I am doing every step of the way.

The last 10 days since DDE delisted from the WSE have been... a whirlwind. I have been overwhelmed by the support shown to my by my investors - whether they continue to hold shares in the company or were bought out today - you have all been wonderful. I will continue to work hard for you to maximize the value you get out of being a part of my little business.

Today I am sad, as I learned yesterday of the passing of my friend, Geyl Fapp, who died too young, but left a legacy of hope and trust for us in SL. She made me realize that all of this means nothing if we don't treat each other well, and seek friendship and love and community in Second Life.

Please visit the memorial site for Geyl and see what this remarkable woman created to mark her own passing.

Thank you all for being part of the DDE family and community. In Geyl's memory, let's always remember to treat each other well and work together for the common good of all.

dd

Final Plan

2008-03-29T21:45:00.000-04:00

First of all, I want to thank DDE investors for just being so damned amazing! You guys rock! After a lot of thought and consultation, here is the final plan.

1. All shareholders with 5000 or fewer shares are being bought out tomorrow for 3L per share. This amounts to a total of 135,086 shares, to be bought out for 405,258L

2. All shareholders with more that 5000 shares were given the offer to sell the first 5000 shares at 3L per share and their remaining shares immediately at 2.50L per share. A number of shareholders contacted me, and in total, there are 5 shareholders that are selling a total of 383,926 shares (25,000 @ 3L per share, the rest at 2.50L per share), for a total buyout price of 972,315L.

3. So, in total, 519,012 shares are being bought back for 1,377,573L. This will happen tomorrow, Sunday, March 30, 2008 (the delisting happened on March 20 - I apologize for taking so long to get this ironed out)

4. I was able to raise personal cash to cover 877,573L of this total. I contacted three major shareholders who had exhibited an interest in providing capital for this buyback, and they will provide the other 600,000 Lindens, and be given the proportional amount of shares.

5. After this initial buyout - I will institute the following procedure:

A. I will collect a monthly salary of 250k Lindens.
B. All remaining profits will be distributed as dividends monthly. My expectation is that this will result in a monthly dividend of between 0.1L and 0.15L.
C. With my share of the dividends, and my salary, I will do a mandatory buy back of shares at rates on the following schedule (the new fiscal year for DDE starts on April 1, 2008):
- First quarter: 2.50L per share
- Second quarter: 2.75L per share
- Third quarter: 3.00L per share
- Fourth and subsequent quarters: 3.25 per share

All shareholders will have a proportion of their shares bought back each month, in order to be fair. The one exception to this is the shares bought by the three investors today - that are providing the cash to make this possible. They will have the option to keep these shares until all other shares have been bought back, before they are subject to the mandatory buyback.

I cannot guarantee being able to buy any more shares than the monthly dividends and salary allow. However, if at any time, a shareholder wants to liquidate their shares, i will do whatever I can to make this possible, and would be willing to try to broker a deal with another shareholder for a transfer of shares. I am confident that if shareholders need to sell their shares quickly I can find a way to make it possible - so please contact me.

I will post details of all of this tomorrow, including which shareholders sold how many shares, and for how much, and will provide an up-to-date list of shareholders. I am having to learn how to put up web pages - so some patience may be needed with format and so on, but the information will be available tomorrow.

Again, I just want to thank the DDE shareholders for your support and good wishes - I have been overwhelmed by how positive and just plain amazing you have all been. It is humbling, to be sure, and it of course just makes me want to work that much harder to make DDE successful and profitable for you in the next year so that you can all maximize your investment returns.

As always, I am open to comments, questions, thoughts, advice, etc... Please feel free to contact me inworld by IM or notecard, or leave a comment on the blog here.

DD

Missing the point! LOL

2008-03-26T06:39:00.000-04:00

Ok, people - I think you are missing the point here! lol

So far, I have had a dozen people contact me that want to reinvest in DDE with at least 100,000 more shares. Almost no-one has indicated that they wish to sell out! Now, while on the one hand this is gratifying, on the other hand, it doesn't help my plan very much! hahaha

I appreciate the support however...

I need to know from shareholders that want to sell off their shares immediately - if there aren't any - then there is no real need for reinvestment - except for the "forced" buyout of shareholders with fewer than 5000 shares. I will post this in the group as well, but please contact me with if you want to sell your shares.

On an administrative note - I have been contacted by a number of shareholders about discrepancies in the list of shareholders that I posted yesterday. This list was taken on March 20, 2008 - the day that I delisted from the WSE. However, there appears to have been some movement of shares after the WSE closed - some shares have been moved to other accounts, and the avatars that have had shares removed, it seems, had it done without their knowledge or consent - with one exception.

Fortunately, I took a list of shareholders on the day that the WSE closed in January - so i am going to revert to using this list as the authoritative source for shares.

The link has been updated with the January 5th shareholder list here.

dd

Proposal 2: New and Improved

2008-03-24T23:19:00.000-04:00

Hi all,
thanks very much for the thoughtful posts, as well as the IM conversations and notecards that you have all sent. I am truly humbled by your responses and the trust that you have shown.

So... Here's what I am concluding from what I have received and read:
1. No liquidation - nobody so far has suggested this and almost all have counseled against it.
2. All shareholders are to be treated fairly - whether they own 1 share or 400,000 - i.e. given the same opportunities. I am trying to do this, but I will have to reduce the number of small shareholders quickly in order to manager this.
3. There are a significant number of investors who want to stay invested, or even increase their stake in DDE. Many are willing to invest cash in order to buy out those that want to take money for their shares now.
4. There are some who want to cash out immediately, and I want to ensure they get the best deal possible in the current situation.
5. People like me. They really do. lmao

So, here is the new proposal, that takes all of your suggestions, and my own thoughts, and puts them together:

1. I will raise what cash I can without liquidating significantly (sell off mainland, perhaps one or two of the least profitable islands)

2. Once this is complete, I will seek investors that want to increase their stake in DDE. I am going to have a threshold of investment of 100,000L - this is the minimum amount for a "buy-in" to this process. In order to keep control of things - I will need all transactions to go through me - I don't want people making side deals. At this point, I do not have a good sense of how much capital will be needed for immediate share buy backs.

3. For anyone that owns fewer than 5000 shares, I am going to make a one-time payout of 3L per share for the shares you own. This is not optional. In order to be fair - I will offer a one-time pay-out of 3L per share for up to 5000 shares of any other shareholder that wants to take advantage of this. This will cost between 400,000L and 800,000L, and will reduce the number of shareholders to a maximum of 60.

4. Using the cash raised as per above, I will provide a one-time payout of 2.50L per share for all those that wish to cash out now, above the 5000 shares mentioned above.

5. After the initial buyout of those that want to sell their shares immediately - I will institute the following procedure:

A. I will collect a monthly salary of 250k Lindens.
B. All remaining profits will be distributed as dividends monthly. My expectation is that this will result in a monthly dividend of between 0.1L and 0.15L.
C. With my share of the dividends, and my salary, I will do a buy back of shares at rates on the following schedule:
- First quarter: 2.50L per share
- Second quarter: 2.75L per share
- Third quarter: 3.00L per share
- Fourth and subsequent quarters: 3.25 per share
D. As I have said a few times - I want to move toward obtaining full ownership of DDE with a view to eventually winding it down and getting out of the land business. It is looking more and more like this is going to have to be some time down the road - but I need you all to understand where that is going. Therefore, the buy back each month will be structured so that the full amount of my salary + dividends will be used to buy back shares. If I can get enough people that want to sell them voluntarily at the prevailing rate, then all is good. If not - I will buy back a equal proportion of everyone's shares at that rate until the cash is used up.

Under this model - people that need cash at any time can opt out at a fair price (remember that the liquidation value per share was 1.66L - and the going share price at the time of WSE closure was only 2.84). However, those that want to hold onto their shares could make a significant profit - shares sold after a year, at 3.25, will have likeley earned enough dividends that the total yield on them will approach 5L per share.

Now - this is all contingent on finding investors that want to increase their stake - those of you that have already indicated this to me will be contacted. anyone else that wants to "buy-in" should contact me as soon as possible.

It is also contingent on enough people wanting to sell immediately to make it worthwhile. To date I have messages from people indicating only about 350,000 shares that want to sell out immediately.

The advantage that I see in this plan is that it provides fair value all the way along. Smaller investors are provided with a premium price immediately (higher than either IPO or price or the last share price on WSE). Those that stay can opt-out any time - but the longer they stay, the more they make both in dividends and share price. As I reflected on things - I thought that is likely what would have happened if the company had remained on an exchange - a gradual increase in the share price over time, and decent dividends all the way along.

So I hope that this plan is a win-win for both investors and for me. Unfortunately - there is no reliable method for me to put this to a vote and know who is voting for what - (or to know that who is voting is who they say they are - lol) so I am going to have to ask major shareholders to either contact me inworld or to leave a message on the blog indicating their support or refusal of the plan. IF I get strong support for this, I will put it into motion.

Phew.

DD

PS: HERE IS THE LINK TO A LIST OF SHAREHOLDERS

Initial DDE Plan for discussion

2008-03-22T05:15:00.000-04:00

Initial Plan for DDE:

I am proposing a multi-phased approach to winding down DDE operations and providing shareholders with the opportunity to choose from among a number of options to cash out of DDE. These plans basically involve a buyback strategy and there would be no expectations of additional dividends from DDE, with the ultimate goal of my acquiring total ownership of all DDE assets. However, there is still the possibility of a liquidation and one-time payment for shareholders, as outlined below.

First, a bit of background.

DDE was formed in April 2006, with the purchase of my first sim in Second Life. It operated privately for almost a year. DDE went public in march 2007 with an initial public offering of 1,000,001 shares - of which 500,000 were offered for sale at 1L per share. Anyone lucky enough to have bought shares at that time would have made an equal amount in dividends per share, plus 10% - DDE disbursed 1.1L per share in 12 months, which represents over 3,000,000L in dividends alone. Subsequently, DDE made two secondary offers. the first, of 1,000,000 shares in June 2007 at a price of 2.50L per share, and the second of 2,000,000 shares in November of 2007, at a price of 2.75L per share. Finally - DDE acquired Delicious Skins in December, 2007, and all shares of DSE were rolled into DDE at a conversion rate of 3:1, leaving DDE with a total of 4,432,439 shares.

The DDE share price has moved between 1.75 and 4L per share during the history of its trading, with a NAV of between 2L and 6L per share - depending on the month and the value of land in SL at the time, and the number of shares outstanding. The overall average price of DDE trades is in the neighbourhood of 2.75L per share.

My foremost aim in all of this is to be fair, and i need my shareholders' feedback about what is the fairest way to deal with the delisting of DDE and the subsequent winding down of the public operations of the company. I have always posted financial reports of assets based on the purchase price of estates, and the prevailing price of mainland. Financial reports were not posted as liquidation value. In order to provide shareholders with a fair liquidation value of DDE - i provide the following:

Shares outstanding: 4,432,439
Estates owned: 23 (19 regular and 4 low-prim sims)
Liquidation value per sim: $1300 USD per regular, $350 per low-prim sim
Cost of island transfer: 100x21 = 2100 USD
Total estimated liquidation value: $24,000 USD = approx 6.500,000L
Mainland owned: 94,412m
Estimate value on disposition: 850,000L

Other assets held in trust, but not liquid:
WSE assets: approx 500,000L in cash and HCL & WTF shares

Available cash on hand - 0L - current cash balance (662,000L) must be used kept in reserve and used to pay tier and transfer fees on estates and mainland during a possible liquidation - if I default on tier payments - everybody loses ;-)

Total liquidation value of DDE: 7,350,000L
Total liquidation value per share: 1.66L per share.

This assumes rapid liquidation of all assets at a lower price than normal in order to expedite sale, and may be slightly higher or slightly lower depending on how the sale of assets proceeds.

In terms of operations, in broad strokes, DDE takes in approximately 2.5 - 3.0 million Lindens per month in revenue and has costs of approximately 2m Lindens per month - for an estimated monthly profit of between 500,000L and 1,000,000L per month.

So, I guess the first question to ask is - should DDE liquidate and provide the maximum possible to shareholders in the short term (within a month in all likelihood). This would not be my preferred approach - selling what i have built over two years in a fire-sale is not an appealing prospect to me. But if the majority of shareholder votes want this option then I will consider it seriously.

My preferred approach would be to offer shareholders two options to cash out of DDE. For those that wanted to cash out immediately - i would sell off some parts of my holdings in order to provide a buy-out of 1L per share within the next two weeks, if at all possible - of course it depends on the number that want to take this option - but at any rate as quickly as possible. Although this is less than the liquidation value - it is not much less, and would provide any investors that need to cash out quickly at least an option. For those that wish to remain shareholders in order to receive a higher value for their shares, I would propose to use most of my operating profits to buy back shares at 3L per share as cash becomes available. I would expect this to take about 12 months – but it would provide shareholders with ongoing payments over that time. It is all dependent, of course, on the continued cooperation of Linden Research in not changing land policies dramatically.

This would also provide shareholders that bought shares in the initial or a secondary offer at either 1.00L per share or 2.50L per share or 2.75L per share the chance to make a profit on the shares, in addition to the dividends that they have already received. It is also higher than the last market price of DDE (2.84L per share on January 6th, 2008, when the WSE closed)

Shares would be bought back in proportion to the number of shares owned. For example, in a fictional company with 5 shareholders holding 500,000 shares, and a monthly profit of 120,000L:

Fictional Unlisted Company (FUC - lol): total shares: 500,000
Shareholders
A 250,000 shares: 50%
B 150,000 shares: 30%
C 50,000 shares: 10%
D 40,000 shares: 8%
E 10,000 shares: 2%
Total: 500,000 shares: 100%

Profit for buyback: 120,000L at 3L per share
shares would be bought back as follows:
A 20,000 shares bought, 60,000L received
B 12,000 shares bought, 36,000L received
C 4,000 shares bought, 12,000L received
D 3,200 shares bought, 9,600L received
E 800 shares bought, 2,400L received
Total: 40,000 shares bought, 120,000L received

New share totals:
A 138,000 shares: 30%
B 46,000 shares: 10%
C 230,000 shares: 50%
D 9,200 shares: 2%
E 36,800 shares: 8%
Total: 460,000 shares: 100%

It may be possible during the approximately 12 months to make "one-time" offers to buy back shares at somewhere between 1L per share and 3L per share depending on when the buyout would be requested, but I cannot promise this. I would also prefer to buyout all small shareholders (<1,000 shares first) simply to keep managing the books easier. There are a total of 309 DDE shareholders, of which 200 hold fewer than 1,000 shares. It would be far easier for me if I could buy out all of these shareholders first, at a total cost of under 100,000L at 3L per share.

I am open to other models - but this is the one I am proposing now as a way to ensure that shareholders receive a decent return, and I am not forced to lose everything i have built during the two years i have been building DDE. Hopefully shareholders think this is a fair offer.

Other possible options include a graduated buyout. I have not thought this through entirely, and would need to model the numbers more exactly – but I want the idea out there for discussion:
Tier 1, immediate: 1L per share
Tier 2, within 3 months: 1.50L per share
Tier 3, within 6 months: 2.0L per share
Tier 4, within 9 months: 2.50L per share
Tier 5, within 12 months: 3L per share

In addition, I might consider retaining a SMALL number of large investors in DDE moving forward (fewer than 10 would be ideal). If anyone is interested in this – please let me know – but I would expect each to have no less than 200,000 shares, and it would have to predicated on a plan that allows for me to control at least 50% +1 of DDE shares.

I would like to keep everything transparent and open by posting details of all transactions - I am considering options for creating a web page to do that - but i am not very technical - lol - so we will see what i come up with. I will need all investors that are participating in this to join the Delicious Demar
Enterprises group - since this will be the only inworld method of communication. Details will also be posted on the blog - and possibly on the new web page mentioned above.

So... hang on to your hats, people, it's going to be a fun ride - I really want to provide you all with fair value for your trust in me, and am happy to answer any questions of concerns that you might have. Please feel free to IM me inworld, or leave a comment on my blog at http://deliciousdemar.blogspot.com . This is also listed on my profile. It may take me a little while to answer – I have been, and expect to be, a little swamped with messages.

I will be calling a few shareholder meetings – but since they are typically very poorly attended, i think we will have to rely on email, offlines messages, etc.. to do this.

DDE is delisting from the WSE

2008-03-20T09:47:00.000-04:00

After careful thought and consideration, I have decided to delist Delicious Demar Enterprises (DDE) from the WSE.DDE's time on WSE has been tremendous - the exchange has allowed the business to grow rapidly over the last year, and as you all know, we have met with some success and revenues and profits have for the most part been on a steady increase over that time.

With the launch of WSE 4.0 around the corner, WSE is entering a new phase of growth by rapidly expanding the user base, and I think the opportunities for companies on the exchange are excellent. I think that they will be able to leverage the new pool of fictional currency that will be available, and take their companies to the next level.

Over the last year, my commitments in real life have grown, and as I have mentioned in the past, DDE has entered a holding pattern - the business is at a manageable size now - just! I have decided that I do not want to expand DDE any more, because I simply can't afford the time to give expansion the attention it would need to succeed. At some point in the future, I will be planning a slow and ordered withdrawal from the land business. It has been a great run, but eventually it will be time to move on to something new in Second Life. Because of this, and in light of recent events surrounding DDE, in good conscience, I cannot stay on the WSE any longer.

I encourage all shareholders to join the Delicious Demar Enterprises group - I will be calling shareholder meetings through this group in the coming days/weeks to decide how to manage shareholder interests privately, and will seek your advice on how to proceed to ensure that your interests and investment are protected. I will be contacting major shareholders directly as well. You can trust me to treat you all fairly, and keep the same high ethical standards that have always been the hallmark of DDE.

Please feel free to leave questions or comments here. Thank you all for everything. Best of luck to all of the companies on the WSE. See you in the metaverse!

Yours Sincerely,
Delicious Demar

The Nature of Love in Second Life

2008-02-01T22:33:00.000-05:00

Recently, there was a post on a forum about SL, that asked the question, "Is it ok to tell someone I love them in Second Life". Which of course got me thinking about it - lol. I guess that my mind can't help but complicate things - I am a complicated person! It was a simple question, and the answer that popped into my head immediately was, "Yes!" Of course it is ok to tell someone you love them on Second Life! I do it all the time!

But then I stepped back and thought about it a bit more, and wonder if it is really something you can say... When I was a few years younger, before Second Life, I met someone on a chat room, and we started talking all the time. He was witty and clever, and I really liked him a lot. Of course, he was quite a bit older than I was, but that didn't really bother me - we chatted and chatted in text, until it seemed just natural for one of us to call the other on the phone. Once we started talking, things seemed to move even faster - he was just as witty and clever, and we traded some pics of each other - and we began to grow really close. We shared everything with each other and talked ALL the time - which was quite expensive, I can tell you! Eventually, things started getting intensely personal, and we moved into a more, ermmm, intimate friendship (as much as you can on the phone, anyway - lol). Our phone calls with each other were special - they were hot and steamy, but also filled with talk of dreams and aspirations, day-to-day stuff, basically everything. I started to feel like i was falling in love with him, and I think it was true for him as well.

It only seemed natural that we arrange to meet - we already shared everything, and we knew each other really well. Neither of us was attached at the time, and so in the end, I arranged to fly down and meet him in a city near where he lived. Such was the nature of our relationship that we actually booked a hotel and agreed to meet and stay together - we had been so intimate on the phone, that the prospect of finally getting to TOUCH this man was quite thrilling. So, I flew down, and he met me at the airport. And then... nothing... I don't know quite how to explain it - he was the same person, of course - but he was.. idk... not the same too. And he felt it too. The electricity that we shared long distance was just not there when we actually met. It was an intensely uncomfortable couple of days, and I ended up leaving early to go home, basically crushed and disheartened. It had nothing to do with looks (he was quite handsome actually) and nothing to do with deception - both of us had been really open and honest with each other throughout out relationship.

I have thought about that experience a lot since then - I thought I had found love, and it all just disappeared in a wisp of smoke when we finally met. I wondered, how could i have been so wrong about him? I wondered, what exactly was it that made it work so well right up to the point that we met in the flesh? I wondered what it was that I had expected that wasn't realized?

People have asked me many times why I am so guarded in Second Life - why I rarely get personal with people, and why I simply don't let myself get very close to anyone there. There have been a very few people with whom I have let my guard down and it has been for the most part wonderful - i have met some amazing people and shared secrets and details of my real life - but it hasn't happened often, because i just haven't let it. I think that the experience I had with the long-distance phone-lover is at the root of it, and it taught me a few valuable lessons about love, expectations, and the nature of feelings in a place like Second Life.

Basically, I think we all have many layers - mentally, emotionally, and physically. And I think we decide which pieces of ourselves we want to share. this is true in whether in RL or in a virtual world. But, Second Life makes this even more evident to me - we all create a persona in here (based on ourselves of course - i am not talking about role-playing here). I often used to joke that the person people met in Second Life, was ME, just more so. For example, I am much less shy in SL - there is no real risk I guess, so i am more outgoing and open. I am MUCH more of a flirt in SL - in RL I am quite reserved. It's not like it is being done on purpose - I am not really conscious of acting differently there than the rest of the time, but I think we all basically protray ourselves in the way we want to be perceived - which is much easier in a virtual world without all of the subtle cues that we have in RL. we can basically create a new "us" in Second Life wothout the fears and hangups and issues that we all carry with us every day.

And on the other side - the people that we interact with - I think that we all perceive them through our own filters - our own set of expectations and wants and needs. It is easy in SL to project onto others what you want them to be, and then see everything that they do and say fitting into this perfect little image of them that you have created. This is especially true when two people begin to "fall in love" - we create a perfect image of the other person, as hot and funny and reliable and wonderful - because that is what we WANT them to be. Now - this happens all the time in RL as well - as we all know, but I think it is particularly magnified in Second Life - with the veil of anonymity, the gestures and animations, the decided UNrealness that is a big part of SL.

Things seem to move much faster in the virtual world than they do in real life - people meet and fall in love, partner and break up in weeks - but with all of the intense emotion as if it had happened over a year in RL. It's almost like teenagers at a summer camp - everything is so intense and dramatic! I used to think it was all silly - until it happened to me! hahaha. Fact is, there are no such things as virtual feelings, and virtual worlds are new enough that we don't all have experience in dealing with the intensity of feelings that this crazy "game" can bring out in us. How many people have we all heard of who have left Second Life because of a bad breakup with a partner, or a broken heart? it happens all the time! Second Life affects the way I feel all the time - it makes me feel love toward friends, it makes me sad, angry, amused, joyful - on a day to day basis. I think about things that happen here - I think about them, reflect on what they mean. I have learned from Second life - about myself and what I am capable of, about others and how they interact and what they think.

No, Second Life is no game. And love in Second Life is not a game either - i think you need to be very careful here, to be aware of what is going on in your head and your heart - to keep some perspective on things and not get swept up in the intensity of the moments... But on the other hand - it can be that very intensity that makes SL so special - it is possible to have some truly special moments here, and to develop some really close friendships. And yes, to fall in love - we have all heard of a FEW people who have successfully taken their SL relationship into RL - where it has been everything they hoped it could be. Personally, i know two couple like this - and I am thrilled for them.

But for me - I just remember the sinking feeling I had when I met Mr Phone, and I just can't bring myself to let myself go enough to fall in love here. My loss, perhaps, but there it is...

lol - sorry for the rambling blog - i just wanted to share what was on my mind. :-)

DD

Making money in SL

2008-01-18T13:10:00.001-05:00

I posted this on the SL Exchange Forums today, but I thought it might be fun to put it up here as well... The questions was, what is the best way to make money in SL?

SL is no different than RL. Generally speaking, you can make money ethically or unethically (in RL we have laws that enforce our shared ethics, in SL we just have to rely on our own moral fortitude...)

Assuming that you mean, what is the best way to make money ethically in SL, again the parallel to RL is there.

Plan, build, work your ass off. Simple.

Planning involves research, research and more research! Find out how things work in SL - what drives people's spending habits. Typically, in my experience, people spend money on a few key things:

-acquiring things - clothes, buildings, cool attachments, toys, scripts. Create some of these, that people want, and sell them. Look at what sells well on SLX, and make something better!

-sex - although there is a glut of sex-stuff in SL - some of the sex trade makes a lot of money. Escorting, creating and selling sex animations and toys (beds, whips n chains, etc...) There are lots of niches in the sex trade as well - BDSM, roleplay, gay sex, furry sex, ageplay (and NO - I am not condoning it - just pointing out that it exists)

-land - although this is a bit gag-worthy - i often refer this to "building dreams". Fact is, a huge number of people in SL have a dream of either having something of their own (a home with nice trees and beach, or a castle, or whatever - with a partner (or partners), friends, and fun. Other people have a dream of creating something (a business, a club, a mall, a school, an art gallery, a porn palace). I can tell you from lots of experience, most of these businesses fail. but all of them need land to make it happen.

So, first you need to plan. What do you like doing? What are you good at? Can you build? Script? make clothes/skins/textures? Cyber like a feral cat? How much money are you going to invest in making money in SL? What is the business model - what is the business plan - who is the market? It is almost impossible to set up and start making money with something you either hate doing, are no good at, or or can't afford.

Then, once you have a product/service that you think will be successful, build it/create it. Take your time. focus on quality and differentiation. I would suggest, for products, find a niche market, and worry about expanding mainstream at a later point in time. For land, buy your Lindens and buy some land (i blogged an article with some ideas about this not too long ago - http://deliciousdemar.blogspot.com/2007/11/getting-you-own-island.html )

And finally, and most importantly - work your ass off. You CANNOT make money in SL without a lot of work and dedication - or if you can, I would love to know how!! making clothes/skins is not easy - and the fact is that there are tons of BIAB sellers that flood the market with ok quality clothes that are all the same! Look at the successful clothiers - their stuff is clearly a step above, shows painstaking commitment to detail and perfection, and/or focuses on a clear niche market.

lol - there is my roadmap to success in SL. My best advice for you would be to throw yourself into SL for a while and forget about making money. You need to understand the mindset of the people - get out there - have fun! Meet people, ask questions, experiment, try making things, think things through. Otherwise you are likely to come up with a product or service that YOU think is really cool, but nobody else could care less about (I learned this the hard way...)

I would be interested in your thoughts/experiences/advice...

DD

Reflections on Second Life's new policy on banks

2008-01-10T06:31:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been an eventful week in the financial sector of the metaverse. Linden Research has released a new policy regarding the banking business, which has already begun to cause widespread panic in some quarters. The meat of the new policy, as quoted from the release, is this:

"As of January 22, 2008, it will be prohibited to offer interest or any direct return on an investment (whether in L$ or other currency) from any object, such as an ATM, located in Second Life, without proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter."

I'm not a lawyer. I dated a lawyer once, but that probably doesn't count... I don't know the applicable laws, particularly since I am not in the US. However, I have read the post and FAQ carefully, and this post looks at what it actually says and how it is said, to get some insight into what it actually means...

The wording of this is quite interesting, as are the implications and limitations it suggests. Clearly, any of the "banks" that have been operating in SL recently, which have used ATM's to receive deposits, and have provided interest on balances, will be affected by the new policy, and basically have until January 22nd to settle with their customers and remove the offending objects. Also clearly, however, the policy is limited in its application to removing objects that interact with residents inworld. While the spirit of the new policy clearly implies that Linden Research wants to shut down the banks, the method of implementation at this point seems limited to removing ATM's and other objects that collect or disburse money which has garnered interest, or any other direct return.

At this point, and based on the policy as posted, and the associated FAQ, it appears to me at least that LL is limiting the policy to interest-bearing vehicles, and businesses such as stock exchanges that do not offer interest on balances should be exempt. Investing in a virtual business and receiving dividends based on profits or market performance, for example, is not interest or direct return, and so should not be included in the targets of this new policy. The quote from the FAQ is a bit vague, as is a lot of it...

"As of today, this policy is generally focused on objects and schemes that involve real-time transfers of L$ and payment of interest or rates of return. Exchanges may or may not do this, so they may or may not be covered. In addition, we reserve the right to remove any objects and take action against any Residents who are violating U.S. or other laws. If you are unsure whether a business you’re operating abides by applicable laws (e.g., banking, securities laws), you should get a formal legal opinion, from a personal lawyer acting on your behalf. "

The wording of this is very interesting. Clearly, Linden Research is targeting payment of interest, but leaves the door open to censure other types of businesses as well, if they break the law. At the moment, however, based on what the announcement and FAQ actually say, they have not yet decided exactly what to do about any businesses other than banks. Whether or not the policy will be expanded in the future to include a wider range of activities remains to be seen. The FAQ does contain some language that implies that it may,

"There’s no guiding law or precedent we know of that tells us whether these practices are legal. Depending on what statements these so-called “banks” make, and what depositors’ expectations are, they raise the possibility that banking or securities laws may apply. If so, they would need to be chartered or registered with applicable real world regulators, and to our knowledge, none of them is."

Although only "banks" are specifically mentioned in this passage, the reference to security laws might be telegraphing future plans to regulate, or outlaw, stock exchanges and other businesses that require registration and regulation to operate in RL. We will have to wait and see. In part, I presume it will be based on the behaviour of the stock exchanges, for example, and/or the number of complaints that are received from LL about them.

What is clear is that the rampant speculations being made about the new policy are just that - speculations. What it actually says, at the root, is that LL will begin to remove the ATM's and other objects of banks that have promised interest and other direct returns on investment. Everything else is implied, hinted at, or being left as LL reserving the right to do something else in the future...

So, if you have money in a bank, what to do? Well, clearly there will be a rush on all of the banks, and a lucky few will be able to get their money out. Some banks will close their ATM's and restrict withdrawals. None of the banks will be able to honour withdrawals of all of their depositors balances before January 22nd, and so will simply run out of cash. The good ones will likely keep track of investor balances and develop a plan to recompense them as they are able to liquidate their assets. Some will likely go underground and try to continue to operate without an inworld presence.

In short, who knows?? Try to get your money out of the banks if you can, and then wait for developments. There's nothing else you can do.

As for the WSE, Luke's announcement seemed pretty upbeat and unconcerned about the new policy, and I think for the time being, the WSE should be ok. how long this lasts is anyone's guess. I would expect a serious run on all the exchanges as people try to cash out once the WSE is back up and running. You'll need to make your own educated guess about whether or not WSE will be viable into the future and act accordingly.

Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

DD

It's a new day. It's a new dawn....

2008-01-07T06:35:00.000-05:00

So.... 2008 is here, and the change of the calendar tends to make us all get a bit reflective about the past and the future. 2007 in SL for me was a year of highs and lows - but I guess it was in 2006 as well, and in RL it has been every year! lol The human condition, I guess. But I have made a few New Year's Resolutions (which normally I think are silly) about how I am going to conduct myself in SL over 2008. Maybe they are just reactions to the way things have gone over the last few months, but regardless, here they are.

1. Stick with what works. 2007 was a great year for me in SL in many ways - I have spent a lot of time on the land biz and have had some success, have met some amazing people, and have had a great time doing it. So, I am going to continue to focus there in 2008. Although I am not going to expand dramatically in the near future, I am going to keep working on making all of my estates better, keeping them full, and streamlining things so they all run smoothly. This will be my main "business" focus in SL, in terms of time, since it is the engine that drives whatever I do here.

2. Protect myself. SL is a dangerous place... There are not enough rules and regulations, and I was bitten a few times in 2007 by fraudsters, liars, and cheats, both financially and emotionally. I did manage to do well with some investments, and of course have made some great friends in SL, but I am going to be increasingly careful about separating business and friendship, and about building some safeguards into whatever I do. Unfortunately, this will likely mean that I have to stop being the kind, forgiving, generous landlord and person that I have been up to now. I have neither the time, nor the faith any longer, to keep it up, and I simply can't support losing time and money trying to solve everybody's problems any longer. So, while I will always be fair and ethical in everything I do, I am going to have to become more strict in dealing with tenants, business partners, etc... In addition, I am not going to invest in any more businesses in SL, be it through WSE or elsewhere. No more joint ventures, no more being the silent investor in a new business idea. They have met with some success, but not universally, and I just don't have the time or inclination to spread myself any thinner.

3. Better SL/RL balance. I won't be in SL as much in 2008 - I need to have more focus in RL. I plan to spend most of my time in SL on the business, and cut out all the other stuff, so that I can focus on RL more. It has got to the point where the stress of SL has actually had an impact on RL, both in terms of being pressed for time, all the time, and in terms of SL just making me feel stressed and worried. It is enough to run the estates without all the other stuff. It's not so much that i don't like doing it all - but I seem to have become a resource for a lot of people on a lot of issues and i tend to spend all of my time in SL juggling 5 IM conversations about 5 different things all the time. Sometimes more! lol I need time to think, time to create things, and time to have fun!

omg i sound like a whiny bitch. lmfao. In the end, I can't be anything other than what I am, so I am sure that I will continue to try to be nice and fair and will probably be taken advantage of by people - lol. Perhaps this has actually been part of my success - people know that I will cut them a break if they need it, so they keep coming back and referring their friends... We are all people first, I like to say, and shit happens... But when that shit hits my bottom line, I have to take action. The debacle with kejo merlin and KJL has taught me some valuable lessons...

I don't want this post to sound negative (even though it kind of has...) - in most ways things are going great and I have learned a lot, done a lot, and met some incredible people. I am still committed to Second Life, to all the people that live/work on Delicious Estates, and all the investors that have put their faith in DDE. Come what may, I will make good on my commitments, and will take care of the people that are important to me in SL (all of the above!)

So, as we enter a new year, I'd like to wish you all happiness and success. Let's all continue to try to make Second Life the place we all know it can be. :)

DD

DDE: The year in review

2007-12-20T23:05:00.000-05:00

As the year draws to a close, I reflected on the growth of my business, and took a look back to last December. At that time, which was about 3 months before I went public on the WSE, I owned about 2 1/2 mainland sims, which at the time I was partially renting and partially using to run a few malls, and had yet to purchase my first island. I had bought two mainland sims at auction, the second one about this time a year ago. All told, I had net assets of about 2m Lindens, and monthly revenues of about 200,000L.

Since that time, DDE has bought and sold about 2,000,000 square meters of mainland (about 30 sims), and has bought 22 island estates. We have distributed 1,600,000 Lindens in dividends since going public in March 2006 - almost 1L per share over that time. We currently have net assets of about $16,000,000L, and a monthly revenue stream of about $3,000,000L. Every month, we pay Linden Labs about $7,000 USD in tier payments, and hope to have profits close to 1,000,000L every month by the end of Q1 next year.

In November and December of this year, we filled a very successful secondary offer, that has allowed DDE to expand significantly, and we still maintain very high occupancy. Of the sims that are up and running, we are running at about 95% occupancy, with a few islands still being filled after coming online in the last couple of weeks.

DDE entered into a profitable joint venture with Sienkiewicz Investment Management (SIM) - buying three island estates run jointly. The joint venture now includes some of the most profitable islands in DDE's history, and is benefiting both companies tremendously.

It has not all been good news. DDE has lost money on some investments made in companies that have gone bankrupt, and on a couple of land deals that went sour. However, other stock investments have done extremely well, and overall, the investment portfolio of DDE has increased in value over time.

So, it is with some pride that I look back on the success of DDE - it's growth has been an astounding 800% on net assets, and 1500% on revenues in one year. The next year will not see growth near that level, as i will be scaling back expansion considerably, and will work on solidifying the existing land assets, and DDE will focus attention on new business possibilities in Second Life. But the fundamentals of DDE are already very solid - we have a proven formula for real estate, and will be leveraging the experience gained over the last year to move into new lines of business.

I would like to send a sincere and heartfelt thank you! to all of the people that have showed faith in DDE by investing their Lindens, and by providing valuable feedback and advice as we have navigated the stormy waters of SL through the massive growth in new accounts, financial scandals in SL, the gambling ban, the VAT, and the various and sundry other challenges that present themselves on a daily basis in the metaverse.

Without you, DDE would be a very different and poorer company. With you, we have realized tremendous success and profitability. I am truly humbled by and grateful for the support and faith you have shown, and I renew my pledge to you all to continue to hold DDE in your name, to work even harder to make it prosper, and to share the success it has with you tangibly in the form of dividends and a healthy share price.

Happy Holidays!!

The Nature of Betrayal in Second Life

2007-12-17T07:08:00.000-05:00

I recently blogged about the nature of trust in SL. Closely related to that is the nature of betrayal in SL. Recent events with Kejo Merlin, and other people that have betrayed my trust, have left me disheartened and saddened. Are we doomed in Second Life to live a SLife without trust? Does the virtual and anonymous nature of SL mean that we have to build walls around ourselves, both emotionally and financially, to ensure that we are not the victims of repeated betrayal.

Sadly, I think so. I have now given up hope that Kejo will return to Second Life, or at least i have given up hope that the person behind Kejo will ever return under that name, to set things right and fulfill the commitments that he has made to friends, investors, and customers. Literally hundreds of people are affected by this. Personally, I have lost money – 715k Lindens paid for two islands never delivered, and about the same amount invested in Kejo's company, KJL. More than the money, I have lost a friend. Others are in a similar boat. Kejo's land owners will see there homes and businesses blink out of existence eventually, as the Lindens delete Kejo's islands. Investors that put Lindens into KJL will see their investment go poof.

With each SL betrayal, a piece of my faith in SL is destroyed. I look around me and see greed and avarice, posturing, and always the talk – lots of big talk and plans and promises and dreams – backed by nothing. I see people giving others their hearts and souls, as much as you can in Second Life, only to be abandoned and left alone to wonder what they did to deserve this. I see people continuing to search for that human connection that we all crave, that can be so intense in a closed world like Second Life, only to see the connection broken without reasons, recourse, or even reply.

A lot of people talk about Second Life being a game. I don't agree. But there are a lot of people that play games in Second Life. There are different kinds of investing in SL – the financial kind is simple – the risks are high, the potential rewards are high. The rules are that there are no rules, and so we invest out Lindens with the knowledge that we might make a bundle, and we might lose it all. Although losing Lindens is bad, we all know the risks and potential rewards.

But the investment of SELF is more complicated. People invest of themselves in SL almost without realizing it – either by forging relationships, or by creating or building something. We have all put pieces of ourselves into our SL lives, some more than others. Usually it is something like a betrayal that makes us realize just how deep we have got into it – while things are going well, we continue to invest, creating our own emotional equity in our virtual lives.

After a few such betrayals, we can't help but build the walls. I have tried a number of times to limit my personal investment of SELF in SL, but I keep slipping back into old habits and letting myself simply get too involved. At this point, my Second Life has an alarmingly big impact on my real life – I gain satisfaction and fulfillment from things here, just as I suffer disappointments and trials. Whether SL is a game or not, there are no such things as virtual feelings. At this point, I have spent so much time building a Second Life, and have cared deeply about how I am perceived here and what kind of reputation I am building. For the most part, even now, it is pretty positive – I guess I am proud of what I have accomplished in SL, and the kind of virtual person I have become.

But it's certainly not all positive. And I am certainly not proud of everything I have done. And, I am becoming a bit cynical these days about what I can reasonably expect from people here. I don't expect to make real friends here any more – the whole thing is just too transient, and I am a private person that doesn't want to mix SL and RL – so how real can a friendship be? I don't expect any longer that people will honor promises or commitments – too many people treat it with too much disdain for that to be reasonable.

So when i look at my desktop and cringe when I see the SL icon, or I flinch when an email comes in from an inworld chat, I know that it is time to build the walls higher. Frankly, I have a busy and fulfilling RL, I don't need aggravation from SL. So I have my trowel and bricks out and I am putting another couple of rows on the wall.

Lol. This wasn't a real positive blog! I have held off posting anything the last week or so, because I didn't really have anything nice to say – but i figured that even if it isn't positive, it's what's on my mind. I am not looking for a bunch of comments telling me I am great and everything will be ok. Share your own thoughts and experiences – let me know how you deal with betrayals in SL. I think that would be helpful.

DDE acquisition of Delicious Skins to proceed

2007-12-11T11:25:00.000-05:00

The recent motion seeking approval for DDE's acquisition of Delicious Skins (DSE) still has a day to run, but has already received more than 50% of possible votes, so I have asked LukeConnell to proceed with the conversion of DSE shares into DDE shares, as the mechanism for the acquisition.

I have already destroyed all of my own shares in DSE, and the 3:1 (DSE:DDE) conversion of remaining DSE shares will proceed immediately. As a first step, trading on both companies will need to be halted, so the WSE staff can complete the conversion. I have asked Luke to halt trading as soon as possible, and will keep you all appraised of the timing for the resumption of trading.

Thanks to all of my shareholders for their input and general support of this move. There was a significant minority of shareholders that voted against the motion, and I want to ensure them that I will work hard to make DDE even more profitable after this acquisition.

Please leave a comment or question, and I will try to answer quickly.

Yours sincerely,

Delicious Demar
CEO

--------------------------------
Building dreams. Doing it right.
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The Nature of Trust in Second Life

2007-12-09T06:03:00.000-05:00

Trust is a funny thing. I have been doing a lot of thinking about what it means in Second Life. It's a tough thing in real life to begin with, and when you add the transient, virtual nature of Second Life to the equation, it becomes almost impossible to figure out. Nevertheless, trust and trustworthiness are an intricate part of being human, and recent events in my SLife have got me thinking more and more about it. I have realized that it's important to me to be seen as trustworthy and to see that people trust me, but in the Second Life context, it might not be a realistic goal... I apologize in advance if this sounds like a philosophical treatise – lol – I do tend to get on the soapbox sometimes.

When i think about the nature of trust in SL, it seems to me that there are three important things to consider: the object of trust; the person who trusts; and the environment we live in (i.e. SL). Let's imagine for a moment that the object of the trust is in this case beyond reproach (lmao – it's hypothetical, ok!). Let's assume that by words, deeds, and demeanour, this person is deserving of trust by any objective assessment. She is, in other words, trustworthy.

What about the person that is doing the trusting? This is more complicated. People are all different – some people are by nature “too trusting”, and find it easy to place their trust in others – it is just a part of who they are. Some people are by nature “suspicious”, perhaps based on betrayals in their lives, and find it difficult to place their trust in anyone. So, in some cases, no matter how trustworthy someone else is, some people simply can't take that leap of faith. Because, essentially that is what trust is – a leap of faith. There has to be some risk associated with trust – without it, there is no need to place your trust in someone at all. If, for example, I enter a business arrangement with someone, and we draw up an ironclad contract that covers every eventuality, with tangible consequences for a breach of the contract, then trust is not really necessary at all. I guess an example in RL of this is a prenuptial agreement – it avoids the issue of trust altogether (at least financial trust), by laying out the conditions before the marriage, so that the whole question of trust is avoided. And, of course, it is this very thing which makes people NOT do a prenup – they want to prove to their partner that they are trustworthy, and trust them, and so don't need a contract to back it up. I'm not saying this is smart, mind you, but it's true nonetheless. In the end, some people can trust others and some can't, everything else being equal.

Let's assume for the moment, that if this were RL, we have a completely trustworthy person, and another who has a natural inclination to place trust in others. In RL, this would be no problem – we'd have the “I'd trust them with my life/money/heart” situation. But that brings into play the third factor here – Second Life. The SL environment is a crucially important part of trust for all of us. And, I am sad to say, Second Life might simply have made trust impossible. The virtual nature of SL makes it by necessity less real – and the ethics that govern our behaviour in RL don't always cross over into SL. Most disturbingly, we have all seen people who seem to be able to turn their ethics (and trustworthiness) on and off – acting responsibly and ethically until it becomes too difficult, or painful to do so, and then seemingly “turning” at some point. I can only assume that the rationale in their mind is that SL is not “real”, and so they just bail on the whole thing. The lack of tangible consequences for people in SL makes this easy, at least practically speaking. And the human mind is capable of incredible gymnastics in rationalizing bad behaviour if there are no societal, legal, or real consequences. We all have an image of ourselves as a good person, and can often convince ourselves that we are justified in whatever actions we take. Since the ethical framework in Second Life is so loose and inconsistent, and we see people acting abhorrently on a daily basis, it seems to have almost become acceptable to act badly – to bail on commitments and promises – to betray people. And because it is so loose, there is no ethical framework we can use to judge our own actions.

In RL we have laws, religions, communities, cultures – and all of these provide a frameworks into which we fit our actions, so we know, essentially, what is right and what is wrong for us. It isn't the same for everyone – but it is there nonetheless. In SL, this just isn't the case – the ethical frameworks of RL have only partially been reconstructed, and the norms of behaviour are close to amoral and anarchistic.

So, where does that leave us? We have a trustworthy person and another who is willing to trust, but an environment that is not conducive to trust at all... I am not sure that I have the answer – but there have been at least two people in SL that I would have said “I trust them implicitly based on their actions and words”, that have eventually turned around and screwed me emotionally and/or financially. And the oddest thing is that I truly believe that both of these people, in a RL situation, would be worthy of that trust. But Second Life made it too tempting to take the easy way out, I guess. Behind a veil of anonymity and lack of consequences, they went against their own natures and bailed on SL commitments, perhaps thinking to themselves, that it isn't really “real”. Delicious is just an avatar, after all, not a real person, right? This is just a game – these are just fictional transactions, or whatever. And hey – it would be so easy just to.... leave... not deal... bail.

My inner conflict is this. Because of who I am, I NEED to be trusted. I pride myself on being trustworthy, and I get insulted when people don't want to take me at my word, and just simply TRUST ME! Lol. It's a big part of what makes me tick. But ironically, because of everything i have watched unfolding in SL, I am less and less willing to trust anyone else – no matter how honest and honorable they seem. I realize that this is inconsistent and unfair, and I guess that is why it has been on my mind so much recently. It is one of the reasons I have resisted getting into a lot of partnerships and business ventures with others – the reason I have always done almost everything myself in Second Life. I recognize that the rules of fair play and honor are not the same in SL as they are in RL – and I just don't need the heartache.

I am NOT saying that no-one in SL is worthy of our trust. We are human – we need to trust each other. Frankly, i would rather live a life where I get screwed by people I trusted, than one in which i was unable to trust anyone. So, I will continue to place my faith in others – in spite of the mounting evidence to the contrary. This might seem naïve in light of everything we have seen over the last year, but i don't mind being a bit naïve. I for one will continue to to try to earn the trust of the people i work with and work for in DDE and in everything I do in SL – there is no other way I know how to behave. However, I think that with this realization, I will be able to not take it personally when someone is unable to put their trust in me.

As i was writing this, I thought of a couple of my favorite quotes that might apply. Mahatma Ghandi once said, “You must become the change you want to see in the world.” Far from giving up on the ethics of Second Life, we must redouble our efforts to have a strong personal commitment to doing things right! Others will follow. And, some clever person once said, “Time may heal all wounds, but time also wounds all heels.” It's karma people – eventually you reap what you sow.

As I said once in a previous post, in the end, we are left alone with ourselves in those quiet moments, right? And I don't want to spend my quiet moments alone with an asshole...

A Vision for DDE: Building dreams. Doing it right.

2007-12-01T10:28:00.000-05:00

The secondary offer and transfer of islands from Kejo Merlin Land Group (KJL) have offered me a great opportunity to do some thinking about Delicious Demar Enterprises, and the future of DDE. It has been a frantic month - setting up 8 new sims is quite a challenge, especially with the numerous bugs and problems caused by Second Life! However, now that DDE runs approximately 25 sims, both mainland and island, throughout SL, it makes us one of the top half-dozen real estate companies in SL, and it was time to start seriously planning for the future.

The first thing to establish is what is the place of DDE in my life. As the months have gone on, the business side of SL has taken more and more time - which is fine - I really enjoy it. But I never intend for SL to become my job - I have one of those in RL which I like very much and which keeps me nice and busy. So, clearly, it is not my intention to continue to grow DDE forever - I want to get it to a manageable size, and then stop expansion and just enjoy it. In addition, although the land biz has been good to me and to DDE, I have many other projects in mind, and I want to have time to pursue those as well. I love to build and create things, make skins, etc. So, I have no intention of trying to make DDE the biggest (or even second biggest) real estate company in SL. Now, with the successful completion of the secondary offer on the horizon, I think I have grown DDE to the point where I would like to slow growth and simply turn a consistent and healthy profit.

The second thing to establish is, what is my role going to be in DDE into the future. I guess the simple answer is this - in large part, I AM DDE, and that is not going to change. I am going to continue to play the same active, hands-on role I have always played. In recent weeks, I have been able to delegate some of this work to others, but the management and operations of DDE is going to remain with me.

Having a company on the WSE is a double edged sword. On the one hand, kind investors have entrusted me with their hard-earned Lindens to invest in assets and create wealth for them, a responsiblity that I take very seriously. On the other hand, as I create more shares in secondary offers, I see my own ownership stake in the company diminish. One of my main goals in the coming months is to remedy this. With a dual strategy of buying shares with my own money, and also buying back and deleting shares with some of DDE's profits, I am going to increase my ownership in DDE until it is at least 50% +1. Depending on the market conditions, share price, etc, this could take a few months, or it could take longer. Regardless, I am not satisfied owning less than half of myself, so to speak, and will not rest until this is fixed... In fact, it may well be that over time, I will continue to gain an ever larger proportion of DDE shares. Personally, I think this will be very good for shareholders. Those that want to sit on shares to receive the healthy dividends I have established, can do so. Those that want to do some profit-taking can be assured that there will be constant share trading created by this substantial buy back strategy, which should keep the share price relatively high.

Finally, and most importantly, what business does DDE want to BE? What started as a hobby has turned into a significant business. I think that the way I have run DDE is rooted in my values, and that I have always tried to take a consistent approach of professionalism mixed with fun to everything I do in Second Life. So, I thought it was time to more formally lay out the mission and vision of DDE. Yeah, I know that mission and visions are sometimes just a lot of words, but I want to have something to look at when I am making decisions, to reflect the decisions against by asking myself, "Does doing THIS help me accomplish THAT."

So - I have thought for a long time about a statement that captures what DDE is all about - helping people realize their dreams in Second Life, building something of value, and doing it ethically and professionally. What I have come up with is this, a statement that I think encompasses all of these things:

Building Dreams. Doing it right.

I hope that this statement can be a lighthouse for me as I navigate the stormy waters of Second Life - guiding me in everything I do. Whenever I have a decision to make, I can see whether it helps to advance that vision. Dreams can be those of the people that get land from DDE for their home or business, customers that buy our products to enrich their SLives, or investors that want to make a good return on their investment. As we all know, sometimes the latter can seem like a distant dream... lol. Doing it right means both doing it ethically, and doing it properly and professionally.

So, onto the mission statement. A mission statement is supposed to give people an idea of what DDE actually DOES, day to day - the reason why DDE exists. I have tried to capture that in the following mission statement:

Delicious Demar Enterprises is an established and trusted company that provides land and other services and products in Second Life at a fair price, and with excellent customer service. DDE matches it's land, services, and products with the needs of its customers, to enable them to improve their Second Life experience. DDE is a publicly listed company on the World Stock Exchange that strives to create wealth and value for its shareholders.

With any luck, this is self-explanatory. lol. If not, it probably needs some work. I would be really interested in your feedback on this. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Onward and upward!!

DD

vignette

2007-11-27T09:02:00.000-05:00

I watched the sun sneaking down over the horizon. One minute it was there and the next it was gone. It had been a great day on Second Life - for once I had closed the IM box, and gone to a friend's club to do some dancing. I had spent the day with Anna - the first time in a long time that we had just hung out, went to buy some new (very naughty) clothes, and just kinda BEEN together. Anna is about my oldest friend on Second Life - we met on my second day there - the first day I had spent underwater - hiding under a bridge and playing with the mod sliders on my Appearance tab so I didn't look like a house wife from Des Moines - I guess I was as vain then as I continue to be now. lol Over time, I have spent less and less time just having fun in SL - I guess the whole "business" thing has monopolized my time a lot over the last few months. I tend to get bored pretty easily - usually I am good for about 10 minutes of dancing and being witty, before I start looking around for something else to do. but for some reason, this day was different - my ADHD was at bay - and I was able to sit back with the keyboard, crank the music up, and just enjoy the sound and feel of SL, and the company of good friends.

The music was pounding - it was some heavy techno stream, the kind of music that I love when I am dancing - it reminds me of a more carefree time in RL when I cut loose and would just let life take me wherever it wanted to. Anna was looking particlarly yummy - she got some naughty little corset that showed off ALL her assets. and another of my friends, barnowlgirl, was trying desperately to set me up with one her hot man friends. hehe. He is a sweety - although I warned her that I am a terrible heart breaker in here. I decided along time ago that I was going to limit the emotional investment I made in Second Life - I crossed that line a few times when I first started and it never ended well. But for now, I wasn't worrying about it - I was just flirting like a catholic school girl and having a great time.

I had a chance to reflect back on the last year in Second Life - the swirling lights and pounding beat were a bit hypnotic - and my mind wandered into some suprisingly real-life questions about this virtual-life world that we play in. Am I happy in SL? Do I have the right balance between work and SLife? Do I take it all just a little too seriously? Do I have any regrets? I wasn't doubting myself, just rolling the thoughts around in my mouth like a nice glass fo red wine, lazily tasting them and seeing what flavours they had. It was an oddly special moment, these quiet thoughts amid the frantic movements on the dance floor.

At one point, I got a message from someone that had heard I did the land thing - who was standing on one of my parcels looking to rent it - so I took a little break from the dance and popped over to meet her. first thing I usually do is read someone's profile to get an idea what they are all about. And then, I usually talk to them for a little, asking what they are looking for, what they like, and what sorts of things they like to do in Second Life. The plot we were standing on was a nice piece of land, bordered by water, sandy and flat - perfect for just about anything - but it was nestled between a dance club and a couple of gorgeous homes with a garden in a nouveau-goth kind of motif.

After a minute or two, it became clear to me that although the land was good for her in terms of size and terrain - she would be much happier on a different kind of sim - quieter and more relaxed - so i took a couple of minutes to look over the parcels that I had available, and quickly found one on a perfect sim - quiet and classicly done - few neighbours, and with one of her favorite jazz clubs (Smooth - awesome place) on one part of the sim. In the end, we zoomed over there and she rented the plot. She was SOOO happy - I could feel her smiling from the other end of the ether, and she kept thanking me again and again. She called over a couple of friends and started to plan out her new SLife as a land owner. She had that particular excitement that I love to see - all about new possibilities and creativity. It was awesome.

So, I popped back to the club, and joined the dance again - bumping and grinding to the music, and chatting and flirting with the cute boy. and I realized that, yeah, I am happy in SL, and all is right with the virtual world.

:-)

DD

The road to hell...

2007-11-23T00:32:00.000-05:00

So.... I got Abuse Reported today... I think it's the first time it has ever happened to me, actually, which is quite amazing considering how many people I have pissed off in my time in Second Life... lol. It ended up being quite a disheartening experience, so I thought I would write a blog about good intentions going wrong...

So, as you know, I am purchasing some islands from Kejo Merlin this month. One of them is a beautiful sim that only had one renter - who had done a wonderful job of setting up the sim, and had in turn rented it out to others. Just before the sim was transferred - the renter informed me that he was not going to renew the lease - which was fine with me - and we had a few discussions about the transition. He had paid his tier to Kejo up to November 27th - and of course I am honoring all of Kejo's arrangements with tenants.

We spoke on about November 10th, and the renter offered to leave the sim early - to which i responded that it was up to him - I was happy to wait until the 27th. To which, i THOUGHT he told me, no - I will tell them that they have to leave by next week... What i was to find out afterward, was that what he meant was that he would tell them next week that they had to be out by the 27th...

So, the transfer went through and I visited the sim a few times, and always saw 0 traffic, but all of their things were still there - houses, furniture, etc... This morning, I figured they were all gone, and so i started to combine the parcels with a view to setting up the sim from scratch. I rezzed a few objects to help me with this. I had combined the whole sim into one parcel, and had divided 1/4 for a renter that I knew wanted it. I went to return my own objects
, and (as I am embarrassed to admit I have done before) i hit the wrong button and returned everything on the parcel!

Well, the IM's started pouring in, but I had to log for a bit and wasn't able to deal with the problem immediately. By the time i got back a couple of hours later, I had received a number of really angry IM's from the owner (understandably!). Some of the objects were group owned - which means they were deleted! and the rest were returned in the nightmare bundles that SL creates when returning lots of stuff. It was a total mess. Turns out that before I could respond to him, he Abuse Reported me for it! When I logged back on, I tried to tell the renter that I had made a mistake - and i was really sorry - and that I was contacting the Lindens to see if i could get everything fixed. Well - he basically told me that I was a dishonest bitch (my word, not his), and that he hoped i enjoyed getting rich by screwing him and his renters. I felt REALLY bad about it and tried to apologize twenty times - and to compensate him for any losses of items - but the damage was already done. He had to take a lot of flack from his own renters - who were also understandably pissed.

Within an hour, I was able to get the Lindens to roll back the sim, and all of the renters objects were returned to it, exactly as they had been before my mistake. I let the renter know that it was all fixed - and he basically said he didn't care - that i could keep my damned sim and my damned money, and that he hoped I could sleep at night... That's kind of where things have been left. No word yet on the Abuse Report...

It was a very frustrating experience. On the one hand, it was definitely my mistake (or a couple of mistakes compounded) - so I can totally understand the renter's anger and annoyance. I would be pissed too! On the other hand, I did whatever I could to fix it, and in the end, nothing was lost, and the island is now the way it was before any of this happened. But, I have left this renter with the belief that I am dishonest and unfair - which really drives me crazy.
I must have apologized 20 times - and he was just unwilling to hear an apology. That's within his rights, I guess.

In the end, there's no really happy ending to this - I guess it is just the price of doing business - people are going to get mad at you and dislike you - you are going to make mistakes, and sometimes deserve their anger and dislike. I guess the only thing I can do is have a clear conscience that I tried my best - and that mistakes like this happen really rarely.

But, I'll tell you, I AM going to have trouble sleeping tonight....

DD

What is a "vision" anyway??

2007-11-18T20:10:00.000-05:00

I hate bizspeak. Whenever I here people start to talk about "leveraging synergies" and "forging meaningful alliances with stakeholders" I tend to shudder a bit. One of the things that used to drive me crazy was the idea of a company "vision" - I always thought that this was just a lot of wasted words. At one company I worked at, we had a focus group to do some divergent thinking about a new visions statement, that was already way too wordy, and it all just seemed so silly.

But a while back, I heard a great story about a man who was teaching a seminar to top executives about strategic planning and visioning. He walked in with plastic ziplock bags full of puzzle pieces - not difficult puzzles - but those 150 pieces kids puzzles of some ghastly scene from Walt Disney World or something. There was nothing else in the bags but puzzle pieces. He threw a bag on each table and told the executives to assemble the puzzles, and started a timer. The executives were all senior types, very smart and capable, and so set to the the task with enthusiasm. The fastest table managed to do their puzzle in about 1o minutes, with the last one, not too far behind at about 15 minutes.

The teacher congratulated them on their brilliance. And then he told them that the night before, he had given the same puzzle to his two children, aged 7 and 9. The kids had never seen the puzzle before, but nevertheless, they had managed to complete the puzzle in only 8 minutes - faster than the best table of senior execs. "The difference," said the teacher, "is that i gave the kids the puzzle in its box instead of in a ziplock bag. On the front of the box was the picture of what the puzzle was supposed to look like when it was finished."

That picture on the front of the box is the "vision". For some reason, this was the most clear explanation I have ever heard of for the elusive concept of a vision - it just made a lot of sense to me. Oh, you can get where you need to go without one - with brains and work, you're bound to have some success. But imagine the heights you can climb to if everyone is working from the same picture, and they all have it clear, right there in front of them! I realize now why some successful business people are called "visionaries"...

Ok, ok - so not the most interesting blog ever! WE all gotta have off days - what can I tell you?? So leave me a nasty message - I do my best writing when i am pissed off. lol

DD

Getting your own island - building dreams in SL

2007-11-17T18:09:00.000-05:00

Today, a friend of mine approached me and asked me whether I thought that he could get his own island, a place where he could live and build in peace, and rent out part of it in order to cover the tier, or a large part of the tier. Lots of people had told him not to bother - that the number of people renting land was on the decline and that he was doomed to lose money... Actually, I get asked this a lot - people dream of one day owning their own island, but don't know how to go about doing it, or don't have the cash that the island costs initially - which is $1675 USD if you buy direct from Linden Labs.

The fact is, that this is very doable - but like everything in Second Life - it can't be done without two crucial things: planning, and effort. In fact, these things are the basis of everything in SL - I might even venture to say RL as well. You NEED to plan!!! i am constantly stunned by how many people TP over to their new island, and look around saying to them selves, "Uhhmmmm, so now what?" You can save yourself a ton of stress and headaches by thinking through exactly what you are going to do with the island - is it going to have a theme? a certain look? commercial or residential? what size parcels? selling or renting? what is the rent/tier going to be? are you going to advertise? how? what is the ad going to say? are you going to do something for new tenants to welcome them? what rental box system are you going to use? how are you going to track your rental transactions? what is the covenant going to say?

Those are just the questions off the top of my head. The point is that running and renting an island isn't difficult - but it goes a lot smoother if you think things through before you start.

I had a boss once time that was being pressured to open a new store quickly, and the head office was giving him a really hard time about speeding things up, but keeping it on budget. He called the head office, and he said to them - there's three things you seem to want. Do it fast. Do it well. Do it cheap. You get to pick two.

This really made an impression on me - and it is sooo true. The same thing applies to building up to getting your own island. If you want to do it well, and cheap, it is going to take you a long time. If you want to do it fast and cheap - you're probably not going to do it very well - you'll get a crappy island from someone else at a cutrate price, etc. etc. If you want to do it fast and well - you're going to need the cash up front to make it work.

Everyone is different, and wants to do things their own way - but my advice to you is to listen to my boss - you get to pick TWO: fast, cheap, and well. However... lol If you want it to work, you have to do it well - and by that I mean, if you are going to try to have a self-sustaining island and rent some of it out - you will need to become a good landlord. and that means knowing the tools and tricks of SL REALLY well - honing your customer service skills - and finding some way (meditation, drugs, an elastic around your wrist...) to keep your patience with the people that are wanting to rent land from you.

So, in the end - you really only have one choice - whether to do it cheap, or to do it fast.
If you can do it fast - if you have $1675 you can invest in Second Life - then Bob's your uncle. Do some of the planning I was talking about - talk to other land owners (IM me, for example, or Lindsay Druart, or Sarah Nerd, or Kejo Merlin, or Pablo Sienkiewicz, or Rockwell Ginsberg) and ask their advice about what works for them. Then, when you have planned it out - go to the Land Store - or try to find an empty island for sale inworld - and do it!! If you rent out at least half a sim, you should be able to cover most of your tier - if you rent out 2/3, you can definitely cover it, 3/4 you get a little pocket change toward the purchase price.

If you don't have the money for a whole island, but you do have some money available every month, and you have a way of making money inworld (cuz frankly, if you don't have any money or any source of income in SL - then you might as well forget about having an island to begin with...) then you can build up to having your own island. Try to talk to sim owners about a rent-to-own, or buy some mainland to start with, and rent IT out - you can practice and make some money. If you can scrape together enough to buy 1/4 sim (which right now will cost you about 115-120k Lindens) - you'll have a monthly tier of $75 - but you should be able to get renters in to pay you $120 a month - and you can use the difference to expand a bit, or to save up for the island.

Or, do whatever YOU do well - build stuff and open a store - make clothes - script. The real secret is, NOTHING IN SL IS EASY. You simply cannot make money in SL for nothing. Hell, even escorting was hard work (pun intended...) - you have to put in a lot of hours to make decent money at it - rofl. Whatever you do - remember to plan, and put aside money for the island purchase. This is exactly what I did - at the very beginning, I put some money into SL - not a lot - but since then, I have never (until yesterday when i bought some of my own friggin shares in the secondary) put any of my RL money into SL - I have build everything up over time - by treating everything I do pretty seriously - doing a lot of thinking and planning, and just spending a shitload of hours making it work! Oh, and having a sunny and sparkly disposition - LMFAO.

I'm not sure if any of that is helpful - or even relevant to the people that might come to this blog. But I'd be interested in any other thoughts people might have about this - about how to achieve your dreams in SL...

Happy hunting...

DD

FED UP!!

2007-11-14T09:20:00.000-05:00

Ok, I think I am officially fed up. This morning, when I logged on , I received a notice form the SL Exchange Commission group, of which I am a member, which basically demanded that either LukeConnell pays Midas Commons 650k (his portion of the bond payment from the Hope Capital bonds that was deferred), or they are calling on all members to delist from the World Stock Exchange. Failing that, they are asking all investors to divest from companies that do not delist. It was a three paragraph memo - with no real details. It was sent by Intlibber Brautigan.

Ok, is it just me, or is it time for all these big men to put their penises back in their pants and stop waving them about and thumping their chests???

I am not going to go into details about the Midas Bank debacle - it has already been flogged (and blogged) to death. There is a good synopsis and discussion on Maelstrom Baphomet's newsletter blog - The Dragon's Bite. I do find it interesting that Midas Common's acount is gone, though...

What is driving me crazy and making me sick to death of this whole "stock exchange" and "financial sector of SL" nightmare - is the self-appointed, puffed-up egotists who claim to have some sort or authority (be it moral or actual) over anything. Who on earth is the SLEC to demand that I delist???? When one of their Board Members actually OWNS ANOTHER EXCHANGE?? are you kidding me??

This kind of move is both childish and harmful. Childish, because the announcement from SLEC was so obviously in conflict of interest, and so blatantly biased. Let me be totally clear - the concept of an SLEC is a good one - which is why I joined it early on. But they have been conspicuously silent about all of the other scams and rip-offs going on in the financial community - until this one. And THEN, they don't even have the decency to call on Luke to provide the bond payment to everyone as initially promised - they simply ask him to pay ONE INVESTOR the amount he would have been due. And, that investor no longer exists in Second Life! And, it is harmful, because someone might actually read it and take it seriously!

As I said, I am not weighing in on the Midas Bank affair - I have educated myself as best I can about it and I have my own opinions about what happened, and whether it was right or wrong - on both sides of the story.

But this Notice from SLEC is a direct attack on Delicious Demar Enterprises - whether it was intended to be or not. It is telling me, that based on some as yet undisclosed investigation, that I should delist in the middle of a secondary offer - or else it is calling on my investors to boycott DDE and sell off thier shares. If anybody actually took the SLEC seriously, then it would have the potential to cause panic, uncertainty, etc... This makes me furious!

And, as I said, fed up. My first thoughts when I read this announcement, and then educated myself about the Midas Bank affair was this: get the fuck out!

I am seriously contemplating a planned and orderly withdrawl from the WSE, and i will definitely NEVER list on another exchange. Of course, I would never do it in such a way to screw my investors, and would plan for an agressive buyback strategy, rather than a liquidation - so it would take some time to complete.

but I have had enough of this. I run a good company - and owe everything to my investors and what you have allowed me to accomplish. But the ground keeps shifting under my feet. And nobody else (well - ok - a few) plays by the rules! Never fear - I will alwyas take care fo the people that have given me their money to build my business - i am NOT like the ones that have taken your money and run away.

and of course, I am angry and ranting... lol - probably by this time tomorrow I will have thought better about my outburst. But for TODAY - Dayummmmm, am I pissed! And you deserve to know about it!

DD

WSE Key Metrics

2007-11-12T17:45:00.000-05:00

Well, as painful as it turned out to be (lol) - I have taken the next step in my analysis of the companies listed on the World Stock Exchange (WSE). Those of you who read my blog about the first 25 companies listed on the exchange will be familiar with the kind of metrics that I have used to examine their performance, but I have expanded them a bit, and completed the analysis for the rest of the companies on the exchange.

I should start off with my own disclaimers and such: Any factual errors in these numbers are completely my own, and are just that - errors. I have tried to ensure that my numbers are correct, based on publicly available data on the WSE website, but may have made a few errors in calculation. Whenever possible, I have used the financial statements posted in the WSE format, but on several occasions, these were either missing, or obviously incorrect, in which case I used financials posted in the announcements.

Most importantly!! The metrics provided here are ONLY ONE factor in analyzing a company on the WSE - and do not reflect the specific circumstances of any particular company. The range of industries and companies on the WSE makes it impossible to make an investment decision based solely on the numbers. For example, certain companies (like those offering investment portfolios, and especially derivative type investments) should not be judged on their performance as seen here - since they are by nature based on the future performance of OTHER stocks on the WSE. However, for the most part, I found these numbers very interesting indeed.

For the purposes of this post, I am not providing and analysis per se, but simply making the raw numbers available for your interest and perusal. I will eventually (when time permits!) provide my own thoughts about the performance of specific companies, but i wanted to get these metrics completed as a first step.

I would love for people to post their thoughts, reactions, and their own analysis here, as well as any question that you may have about the way in which it was done. And, as always, please feel free to IM me inworld as well with any questions, comments, or concerns.

HERE they are!!!

DD

The Changing Nature of a Business

2007-11-09T14:40:00.001-05:00

I got a message today from Casper Trebuchet. When he did his report on DDE as an analyst on the WSE, one of the things that he pointed out as a possible weakness of DDE was the fact that up to now, it has basically been a one woman show, and that as the business grows, one person will be less and less able to manage everything. He makes a good point for two reasons. First, as DDE grows, the absolute magnitude of time required increases. and second, if I spend all my time with tenants and running the day-to-day ops, I have no time to develop new business streams and diversify DDE so that it can continue to perform solidly into the future.

As you can imagine, this is something I have been keenly aware of. As DDE has grown, it has taken more and more time to run effectively, and I have thought a lot about what to do once the company gets too big for one person to handle. So, I am doing three things to reduce the amount of time that is required to run DDE:

1. Getting some help! This is the most critical thing - I have found two people who are going to help me with the day-to-day operations of DDE. It is not easy to find people with the right temperament , and an extensive knowledge of land, groups, and finances in SL - all of which are required to effectively manage land. Between the three of us, we can cover a lot of time inworld, and can spread the work out between us.

2. Automating. I have been working on a system for automating the rentals for DDE, so that they will require much less time and attention. Believe it or not, until now, I have used a single rental box (i.e not networked) system for all of my parcels (or at least the ones that pay in Lindens). Although this takes more time than centrally controlling the boxes from a server, it has had the huge benefit of giving me a reason to meet and interact with all of my renters (see #3, below). However, with over 60 tenants, some automation is required, so I have been working on an efficient system to manage all the renters through a networked, web integrated vendor system that will really cut down on the time required for tracking. In addition, i have developed a neat little database and rental box naming system which allows for easy tracking of all my financial transactions in SL. These two things together will save many hours a week.

3. Reducing the personal touch. This is the hardest one for me - because it is one of the things i love about being in the land biz. I think that almost all my tenants are on my friends list, and I have attended their store/club openings, weddings, and parties, or just popped over to hang out with them, check out what they are doing with the land, and catch up on what is new with their SLife. However, it is inevitable that in order to effectively manage any more than I have now, i will have to step back a bit and reduce the one-on-one interaction with tenants. This is the main reason that I have held onto the day-to-day operations for as long as I have - i want to make sure that all of the tenants of Delicious Estates feel taken care of, and feel like they have a landlord that actually gives a shit about them. It's also the main reason i have waited to find the right people that can give the same kind of personal attention to people, on behalf of DDE, when I am not able to myself.

On the positive side, the personal approach i have taken to managing land in Second Life has meant that I don't really need to advertise any more - I get referrals from most of my tenants if anyone they know wants land, and most of the requests I get are by word of mouth. DDE has not had to post a classified in a long time, and still runs at almost full occupancy all the time - with new people having to be turned away because I can't get land fast enough!

Still, Casper makes a great point, and it's not one that i can ignore. And, I haven't had whatever success has come my way by ignoring the inevitable! So, Casper, rest assured that I am taking steps to free myself up to manage the company strategically, without getting totally bogged down in the day-to-day operations.

:)

Del

The First 25 WSE companies

2007-11-06T06:51:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday, from Toronto, where we freeze our bits off in the crisp morning air....

A few days ago, I was approved to be an analyst on the World Stock Exchange. In order to do my due diligence before actually reviewing anybody, I started to just look through the financials and posts of all of the companies on the WSE, and I started to see some interesting trends. I wondered to myself: "Self, you remember the relatively few companies that were in the WSE when DDE first went live, and I wonder how the first 25 companies that went public are doing."

So, I cycled through the announcements on the WSE, from the first company's first announcement in March, 2007, to the 25th company's first announcement (which i was gratified to discover was DDE - hehe). Here's a list of the first 25 companies that made a post on the WSE, and their current status. Ah.... the memories that they bring back... Ginko, Montana's, Yellow Paperclip...

1	Tao Heavy Industries	THI	Active
2	The Success Fund	TSF	Bankrupt
3	Games Limited	GAM	Bankrupt
4	Bob Perry's Store	BOB	Bankrupt
5	People Pool	PPL	Active
6	Kavai Conglomerate	TFI	Bankrupt
7	Touchet Group Corporation	TGC	Bankrupt
8	AM Sports Bet	AMS	Active
9	Sun Media Consultants	SUN	Active
10	Ginko Currency Services	GCS	Bankrupt
11	L&L Rentals and Sales	LLL	Active
12	Ford Edelman Designs	FED	Halted
13	Lotto Networks Unlimited	LOT	Halted
14	Action Mortgage and Investment	AMI	Active
15	Alluris Estates	ALL	Active
16	Ginko Investment Fund	GIF	Bankrupt
17	Midas Development Corp	MDC	Bankrupt
18	Redux Technologies	RDX	Active
19	Montana's Poker Room	MPR	Bankrupt
20	Blumont Capital	NMC	Active
21	Yellow Paperclip	YEP	Moved
22	PPC Holdings	PPC	Bankrupt
23	Second Street Parnters	SSP	Active
24	True 2 Life Studios	TLS	Bankrupt
25	Delicious Demar Enterprises	DDE	Active

Now, the fact that many of the companies are now out of business is not really a surprise. As Casper Trebuchet pointed out to me yesterday, the speed of SL is accelerated compared to RL, and whereas 50% of companies are out of business within 5 years in real life, it takes considerably less time for the carnage in SL - it only took seven months. The disturbing thing to me was the failure of MOST of the financing/banking companies. Obviously, people that jumped into these industries early, expecting SL to behave like RL, were mistaken, and either simply did not know what they were doing, or misjudged the SL economy and market badly.

So, I did a little more digging on the 13 companies that have actually managed to survive for the last seven months, and decided to look at a few key performance indicators for each. Now, please remember that I am NOT a financial analyst in RL - and I provide these numbers as they are - without any real description of the present circumstances of each company. There are cases in which extenuating circumstances exist (like Ford Edelman Designs, for example, in which the CEO, a US soldier, was posted to Iraq).

The metrics I have used are quite simple - some of them (EPS, PE Ratio, NAVPS) are all standard financial indicators, but I have tried to add a few that are specific to the WSE/SL environment:

Average Number of Posts per Month: this is a measure of how communicative each company is. although more is not always better, it is interesting that the companies that are successful financially, also seem to have kept their investors and the community more informed.

There are 5 indicators dealing with dividends:

- total number of dividends posted: this will give you a rough idea of how often they post. Remember the time frame is 7 months.
- Total dividend per share: is the sum of all the dividends (per share) over the last seven months.
- average dividend per share: over the last seven months
- last dividend date: shows how up to date they are with giving dividends
- last dividend per share: the amount of the last dividend posted - this can show whether the recent dividend is lower or higher than the average - i.e. what direction it is going in.

The rest are pretty self-explanatory:

average 30 day share price (from Nov 2)
30 day trading volume
Total shares created
Total shares in float (in which i exclude shares held by the CEO)
Price Earnings (PE) Ratio: taken from the WSE financials, in which i believe they use the current price, divided by the most recent statement of earnings - so not necessarily always a level playing field on this one. This is a measure of the value of the stock.
Earnings per share (EPS): again from the WSE financials, except in one or two cases, where i had to dig through the announcements to find the most recent earnings. This is a measure of the potential profitability of the stock.
Net Asset Value Per Share (NAVPS): once again from WSE - simply the total value of assets divided by the number of shares. This is a measure of the stability of the stock, for some companies.

These last three are some of the most standard measure, as I understand it, and should be looked at together - some companies with very few tangible assets (like service companies), and hence a low NAVPS, can nevertheless be very profitable, and have a high EPS.

I will leave it for another post to go into more details on my analysis, but thought that some of you would be interested in seeing the numbers first.

If there is any enthusiasm at all, I will do the same sort of thing for all of the companies on the WSE - rather than picking one specific company to review to begin with. Please feel free to leave comments, questions, observations etc, about either the numbers, or about the post in general.

mwah

DD

Thoughts on the future, the secondary share offer, and more...

2007-11-03T23:38:00.000-04:00

So, I thought I would post something about what I see for the future of Delicious Demar Enterprises, since it is only fair that investors and potential investors know what the plan is into the future.

As I have mentioned many times before, here and elsewhere, part of the rush of SL and business in SL is the challenge of building something out of nothing. It's something that I really enjoy. and for all of you who think I am getting rich from DDE, I'd just like to mention that i have never taken a penny out of any of my businesses for personal use outside Second Life. Everything I have made, I have put back into the business. In my view, it's the only way for me to grow the business at the pace that I want. If I were to take half the profits out for myself, or even pay myself a salary, then that money is not being used to create wealth for the company.

That is not to say that at some point, I won't sit back and enjoy some of the fruits of my labours. There will come a point when I stop expanding the company, or at least the cash engine of it, the land business. When DDE is large and profitable enough to provide generous regular dividends to its shareholders, I may consider both taking my dividends out of SL, and paying myself a salary - but from where I sit right now, I think this is a loooong way away. I want to make sure that DDE is totally solid and that shareholders are fat and happy before i consider it.

The land business is about as stable as it has been in a while, and is clearly one of the most stable sectors in Second Life. However, in some ways, we are all subject to the whims of Linden labs - they could change tier prices tomorrow, or decide to do away with Lindens altogether - who knows! And so, in SL, the company that sits back and rests on its past accomplishments is the business that is slowly dying. I am always keeping my eyes open for opportunities in SL, and I think the next 6-12 months is going to be a watershed time for business in the metaverse. Whole new streams of business will come online with the potential of other virtual worlds on the LL platform, which will provide great opportunities for those who can take advantage. I intend to keep myself informed and in touch with the opportunities that arise, and position myself to jump in at the right moment, using whatever expertise I have build in SL over the last couple of years.

As anyone who has watched DDE knows, I am by nature relatively conservative - I am careful about what I commit to, and am careful to examine decisions from all sides before making a choice. However, once a decision is made, I will move quickly. The recent secondary offer is a good example - the opportunity to get relatively cheap land from KJL is a limited window of opportunity - a few weeks to a month - in which DDE has an opportunity to significantly grow its land base, at about 70% of the usual cost of buying islands from Linden Labs. So, I decided to consult with my shareholders, and with their blessing, posted a large secondary offer - to take advantage of this great opportunity. Normally, I would not consider expanding this quickly, but the current situation seemed to good to pass up.

I was really heartened by the overwhelming support of my investors. I contacted a number of them individually, and of course held a resolution vote on the WSE - and the support was very, very strong for the secondary. As usual, they asked me some great questions, and offered some great advice, which was much appreciated.

THE PLAN

So, overall, what people wanted to know when I talked to them was, what is the plan for the secondary money. It's very simple. The cash raised in the secondary offer will be used to buy islands from KJL, which is liquidating all of its assets. Many of these islands are already totally full and profitable - and I will of course honour the existing arrangements Kejo has with his tenants and land owners. The rent paid by these tenants will typically allow DDE to realize a profit of between $100 and $300 USD monthly for each sim,depending on the specific sim, which costs me between $1100 and $1500 USD to buy. If you want to know more about why the huge variation, let me know and i will make a post to explain. So, profit per sim, per month runs from 10% to 30% of initial purchase price, and from 30% - 100% of monthly tier costs.

Depending on the sales of the secondary shares, DDE will be able to buy between 6 and 12 new islands in this way, saving an estimated $2500 - $5000 USD in the process, and will have total holdings of between 20 and 26 sims. At this level, DDE will have a solid critical mass, and can slow the pace of expansion to that supported by profits - probably in the neighbourhood of 1-2 sims per month over the next six months.

As I have mentioned on the WSE - DDE has committed to a guaranteed dividend of 0.02L per week, per share, for at least the next three months. I fully expect to be able to provide even higher dividends after that time. And, when I say "guaranteed dividend", I mean GUARANTEED, which means that if I have to sell my fricking car to cover the dividend, I will do so with a grim smile. Just so you know... lol

I am really hoping that investors see the opportuntity that I see. I really see this secondary as the way to take DDE to the next level of success, built upon the solid foundation of its past success. Please feel free to leave me a comment or a question here - I will endeavour to answer as quickly as possible and to the best of my ability.

Why on earth would you run a business in SL???

2007-10-29T21:02:00.000-04:00

I have to admit, watching things unfold in Second Life over the last year and a half or so has been an eye opening experience. when I started, I spent about a week dancing and going to clubs and being sparkly and witty, and playing with prims, which i thought were about the coolest thing since sliced bread - I had never spent time in a virtual world before, and it was all so exciting and new. After a very short time, i realized that i had to DO something in SL, or I was going to go crazy.

so, of course I became an escort. lmao. to some, this will probably lower me in your estimation, but frankly, I could care less... I have a pretty broad definition of "acceptable behaviour" when it comes to things like sexuality and entertainment. I had a great time for a while, but quickly realized that i could do better by running an escort service, rather than actually doing the hard work (hehe). So, within a few weeks, my friend Anna and I started an escort service (Anna Andalso is on the Board of DDE and is my oldest and dearest friend in SL - and a constant source of advice and grounding). We bought some land (which was really the only personal money i ever put into SL), built a nice place, and got the business going. It was pretty successful, and with the profits, I kept adding to the land i owned on that sim. I was so excited with each 1024 plot that i bought!

At first, it was to build an apartment building to house the escorts, and later, to add a mall and a larger apartment complex, followed by renting out some land for other buinsesses to set themselves up. I've realized since then that it doesn't matter to me so much WHAT the business is, as much as just building or creating something, be it a 10x10 building, or a large real-estate company. I realized early on that what was the most fun for me was helping people to build their dreams. I know that sounds incredibly corny, and maybe even fake, but I honestly got a lot more satisfaction out of helping someone get the means to build up a successful business, or even just learn the ropes in SL, than I ever have out of making high profits. Of course, that's fun too - hehehe.

Those two things - helping people, and building/creating something, have driven everything i have done in Second Life since then. I've heard other people say similar things in posts in various places (like another of our WSE CEO's who has posted on this blog recently - wink), and it really resonated with me. I kinda hesitated ever posting this, because it SO sounds like marketing for Delicious, but then i figured, wtf, it's my blog.

Early in my SLife, I was lied to and cheated by some people that I thought were my friends, and by some other people that I didn't even know. The experience was far more painful than i ever thought it would be - I guess i get personally offended when people are assholes... It made me promise that I would never make anyone else feel like that in here. So, although it was awful, it really centred me, and made me know how I would behave in my dealings in SL. I am no angel, that is for sure, and I have made my share of mistakes, and contributed to my share of SL drama. Hell, I'm of italian descent!!!

I guess this whole post is a little immodest, but the context is important for what I REALLY wanted to get to with this post. lmao. I have really tried to do right by people in SL, especially since I went onto the WSE. I really take it as a serious responsibility to steward other people's money. I could never have achieved a lot of the business success I have in recent months without the resources they gave me - both in terms of money, and in terms of advice, teaching, and direction. As well as some healthy competition - which gets me motivated! And, the bottom line is, my reputation is important to me.

But I will be honest with you, I have watched with dismay over the last few months, as other business owners in SL (all over SL - not just on the WSE), have shit on their investors and basically stolen their money in order to... idk... make themselves feel important? get rich? play a game? I mean, the Ginko thing - geeeeeze. The pathetic final announcements from Ginko, in which they basically said, "I was just a kid! I never thought it would go this far! Oops. oh, and sorry for the millions you all lost. my bad." and others before that - Montana Ryder just basically stealing everyone's money and disappearing from SL. other companies that have been really happy to take the IPO money, and then slowly orphan their company on the SL, without the decency to even post an announcement EVER. i have to say here - props to LukeConnell for setting up the WTF to at least do SOMETHING to compensate people for the losses suffered at the hands of these thieves.

It is disheartening. It makes me wonder why I bother. I mean if the norms of behaviour are amoral (even immoral), why on earth do I cling to some stupid set of ethics about what I will and won't do? It makes me feel like a sucker - watching people getting rich and having NO consequences. Part of me wants to just jump on the bandwagon, take the money and run. Part of me wants to just quit and stop swimming against the current.

Fortunately, I put that part of myself in a cage, and don't let it out very often, except maybe to vent occasionally to pablo, Kejo, or anna. and now - to you! I remind myself of how i felt every time i got screwed (and not in the fun way!). I remind myself of why I like SL, and what is important for me. All that stuff I said up above. I guess in the end, I could simply not live with myself if I did what these unscrupulous people have done. Dammit!!! lmao.

In the end, we are left with ourselves in those quiet moments, right? and I don't want to spend my quiet moments alone with an asshole...

/me shrugs.

The World Stock Exchange

2007-10-27T09:17:00.000-04:00

Where to start.... Hmmmm.

Well, for anyone who doesn't already know it, the World Stock Exchange is a virtual stock exchange in Second Life, that currently lists 62 companies, including two of my own: Delicious Demar Enterprises (DDE) and Delicious Skins (DSE). Investors can buy into a company that is seeking to raise capital by purchasing shares during the Initial Public Offering, and once the company goes public, can trade shares through the WSE website (http://www.wselive.com/).

The WSE started about 7 months ago, and has certainly had its shares of ups and downs, all well documented throughout the extended metaverse of Second Life, in blogs and forums, announcements on the WSE, etc. etc. I certainly don't intend to rehash any of the history of the last 7 months. Google it. lol DDE was listed in a bout the 3rd week of WSE's existence.

The founder and CEO of the WSE is a man named Luke Connell, aka Lukeconnell Vandeverre. Now, I want to state for the record that I have a great deal of respect for Luke - he is a visionary that, while others talked, acted. He may not always do things the best way, but at least he has DONE something, which many others have tried to duplicate. So, if i bash the WSE, please take it in that context. DDE and DSE are committed to the WSE, so any negative comments should be seen more as the infighting of a (possibly dysfunctional) family, rather than a condemnation of Luke or the WSE. I may not always like what happens there, but we are going to ride it out, no matter what it may be. Of course, a girl's entitled to her opinion, nontheless... hehehe

My first rant, therefore, about WSE has to do with the new Analyst functionality. I have read most of the reports that have been posted on the WSE by their analysts, and just wanted to make a few observations:

[/begin rant]

1. wtf?

2. Can you say "inconsistent"?? The reports, and the analysts approaches to them, are wildly inconsistent. A few have been thoughtful and well researched - quoting key metrics and showing an obvious familiarity with the companies in question (i.e. the analyst actually talked to the company CEO before doing their report). And of course, Casper's report on DDE is a masterpiece (LMAO). But since there are no guidelines and no moderation of these reports, we have seen some companies getting reports out of left field, based seemingly on nothing but opinion and speculation. Note I say "nothing but opinion". Obviously, analysts have to form an opinion about the company to make a recommendation. But wtf is it based on?? From some of the reports posted, I have no idea...

3. Can you say "conflict of interest"?? How on earth is it reasonable to have analysts making reports on a company, when they have a vested interest in either its success or failure?? Analysts who hold shares in a company should NEVER be allowed to analyse them. Analysts who are CEO's of competing businesses should NEVER be allowed to analyse the. Analysts who have new companies in IPO or secondaries out, should NEVER be allowed to analsye ANY company (sorry Lindsay...) Follow the logic here - and note that i am NOT saying that any of this was a motivation for any specific report, but in something like this, the appearance of a potential conflict of interest should be enough to give an analyst pause.

WSE has market liquidity problems - we all know this. There simply aren't enough investors and enough Lindens to support 62 companies, and the 4 million new ones that are seeking to go public. In Lindsay Druarts report on SIM (ok - full disclosure, I am on the Board of SIM and DDE/SIM have a joint venture underway - so I am biased, ok!), she basically topedoed a new startup company (3 months old), and gave them a strong sell recommendation. In addition, she suggeted that the CEO consider one shareholder's suggestion that SIM liquidate and provide a final dividend to shareholders and delist. Huh???? SIM is one of the few companies that actually have assets roughly equal to their market capitalization. There are dozens of companies on the WSE that have NO assets, and huge market capitalization, so I just don't get it.

On the other hand, if SIM provides a liquidation dividend, suddenly there are 1.5m Lindens available for investing in other companies or IPO's. Hmmmm. Like I say, I don't think this was really Lindsay's motivation, but she really should have thought through the wisdom of analysing a company a) that is a direct competitor, and b) whose delisting could potentially benefit CEO's with outstanding IPO's.

In the end, this is NOT the analysts fault. They were apparently given no guidelines, or set of principles, on which to base their analyses, so the fault lies with the WSE. The has to be a Code of Ethics and/or guiding principles for analysts. We just saw yesterday one company that DELISTED from the WSE in large part because of a brutal report by one of the analysts - because they decided they could not recover from that kind of negative press. Is this helping the WSE??

So, bottom line, I support the implementation of analyst reports. But Luke, slow the fuck down and think through what you are doing, before you do it!! You can't keep hitting the "Go Live" button with new functionality without talking to your community and thinking through its likely effects.

[/end rant]

Welcome to my Mind

2007-10-27T08:10:00.000-04:00

Frightening thought, i know...

I have been thinking for a long time about starting a blog about Second Life. Not so much because I think that anyone will really care what I have to say about anything (lol), but because I have felt the need building up to speak out about things, to get my thoughts down in writing, about some of the things that are going on with SL, with me, my SLife, my business dealings, etc. I tend to be careful about what I say, and who I say it to, and I always try to be fair and reasoned on anything i say publically, and I have never quite found the right forum to express myself.

I am a pretty honest, blunt person, and I have my opinions. I intend to use the blog to post my musings, thoughts, opinions, rants, and random observations on a number of topics: the World Stock Exchange, business and economy, content creation, updates on DDE and DSE, SL relationships, life in general, and whatever else is occupying my mind at any given time.

I won't hold back in this blog. There's no point in blogging if it isn't going to be from the heart. So, I apologize in advance to anyone that I offend, insult, or irritate. Please feel free to post a scathing response. When I post on the WSE, for example, I try to be very objective and reasoned, and dare I say it, professional. I make no such promise for the blog. It will likely be full of inconsistencies, silliness, maybe pettiness, and even the occasional profanity (hehe). I may well stray into mature subjects, if they capture my attention, so don't expect the same kind of "business" language that I use in other places.

There are a few things that I won't do. I won't edit comments, but if they are totally profane, I might remove them. I won't paste inworld conversation threads. I won't use the blog as a platform for gratuitous personal attacks against individuals (although I don't promise that there won't be some collateral damage as i spew). I won't use the blog to blatantly promote my own products and services, but I may use it to post news and announcements. And I won't talk a lot about real life, except insofar as it affects my actions and feelings about SL. SL is an escape, and has been an opportunity to recreate myself to some degree. Oh, I am still ME. Just more so. lol

So, welcome. I hope that a few people read the blog, and find something of value in it, and I encourage anyone who does to leave a reply whether to completely disagree with me and tell me I am an idiot, give me advice, make their own observations, or whatever.

Have fun.

And remember, it's "only a game" bwahahahahaha...