I treasure my free time.

Which means in order to run my Second Life land business I need to know three things:

1. What needs to be done.

2. How it needs to be done.

3. Who needs to do it.

There are a million details that go into running an Estate.

If you’re not organized it can quickly become overwhelming.

Once you reach the point where you are running around like a chicken with your head cut off (and that shouldn’t take long), you’ll realize you need to get  help.

The easiest way to get help is to hire an Estate Manager.  Most Estate Owners tend to treat their managers like a Mini-Me.  They do everything you do, just on a smaller scale.

That’s not a bad way to divide the pie, but as you grow you will run into the same problems.  Instead of just you running around like a headless chicken, you and your Estate Managers will be running in circles.

While it can be entertaining (in a sadistic kind of way) to run around in circles with your Estate Managers, its not very productive.

It took several years and several burnt out Estate Managers before I hit on a system that divides up the pie in a way that makes sense.

I took a look at all the various duties and responsibilities that go into running an Estate, and divided them into 7 areas of responsibility.

Each can be handled by one person, or one person can handle multiple areas.

No one needs to run like a headless chicken.

For example, in my own Estate I currently have one person responsible for Customer Service and Marketing.  Another is responsible for Sim Maintenance.  A third is responsible for Tier Collecting and Sales Prep.

None of us are overwhelmed, and everything gets done when it needs to get done.

As we grow I can divide the duties further, and have as many as 7 staff positions – one for each area of responsibility.

There are many ways to divide the pie, but I find this works best for me.

Have fun, and good luck!