Author Topic: Running a Business  (Read 11546 times)

Offline Pam

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Running a Business
« on: April 12, 2015, 08:17:36 PM »
I'd love to get some thoughts from you guys.  My Sim bought Paddywack's Emporium and has been running it for several Sim days.  What exactly is the point and goal of running a business?  She restocks, cleans, and rings up customers, but doesn't seem to be getting ahead financially.  I've never played this kind of thing with Sims, so I wonder if I'm missing something.  Surely I am because it's just not terribly appealing at this point.
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Offline Twinmum

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2015, 08:58:46 PM »
Have you tried increasing the mark up of products Pam? Not sure but I 'think' there is a restock fee as well as the actual cost of the item, so you need to have the mark up enough to cover that.
I haven't done a business with stock items. I would rather have a store where my sim sells things they create or find. My current game is an artist. She paints for a day and puts everything in the shop for sale. Then the next day, she opens the store and makes money. I have tried having her paint while the shop is open, but that is just not possible unles you have a second sim to tend to the customers.
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Offline MarianT

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2015, 09:57:45 PM »
Pam, I have 8 sims running 8 different businesses.

I'd suggest that rather than running one of the businesses that came with the game, you start small -- a small building with 3 or 4 items for sale. The sims go for furniture. While selling the books that your sims write, the paintings they do, the donuts they bake, etc. sounds like a great idea, I've found that my money-makers are the bookshelves, the easels, and the tables and chairs that I also have in the stores.

I haven't tried hiring employees yet -- everyone on the official forums is complaining about how they don't work.

There are perks that increase the speed with which you can ring up a customer, restock, etc.

I suppose the fun is in setting up your store and improving the way in which you run it. Also, if you enjoy creating outfits, the clothing stores are fun.
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Offline Pam

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2015, 10:17:01 PM »
Thanks for the tips.  Another issue is that my store gets dirty in places that I can't find.  Customers make the smelly gestures and get the thought bubble for a dirty boot, but I can't for the life of me always find the spot that needs to be cleaned.  The employees are useless here, too.  They'll spray the bottle around, but it doesn't find the dirty spot.
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Offline JudesSims

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2015, 12:33:45 AM »
Pam, do you have a Neat sim? She can go on a Cleaning Frenzy. Sometimes that finds things I don't see.

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2015, 04:53:03 AM »
I'm doing a bakery but only using the Freezers, not any of the display cases.  That way, there's no restocking at all (as an interaction).  I just watch what sells and remake it in the kitchen and put it back in the case.  I have two employees who are just doing Answer Customer Questions.  My sim is neat and she has the faster cleaning aspiration reward.  The freezers, so far, are the only things that get dirty and she cleans them up quickly.  Sims can purchase directly from the freezer, so no ringing up customers either (which is lengthy).  I'm making 4-6k per day with only the employee wages as my outgoing costs.  The other unexpected benefit is that the sims will often purchase something from the freezer and after doing the pleasant sniffy animation, they'll set the plate of food on the floor or a counter or a table.  I can then immediately grab it and put it back in the freezer to be sold again.  I had a cheesecake that I resold about 6 times before a sim finally put it in their inventory.

Offline MarianT

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2015, 08:44:41 AM »
Great ideas, Dellena!
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Offline dodi90

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2015, 07:36:12 AM »
Yeah for now using freezer are the only reasonable thing to running a bakery. BTW you can also put drink there for sales although it is tricky to do so from the tea / coffee maker. You have to pause when the sim are holding the cup but haven't drink it yet and quickly set it for sale. Sometimes the sim just be stubborn and just wont put it down but if you queue another interaction like playing guitar you can put it down. While it's not the biggest money maker, it is excellent for role playing especially if you setup the bakery for other playable sim so they can eat cake and drink tea / coffee at your shop.

Offline oshizu

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2015, 10:26:38 AM »
I'd read a post about them by Dellena elsewhere but couldn't find them.
After searching the category in Buy mode several times, I only found the freezer cases yesterday, so I'm eager to try those out.
Just for the "bakery look," though, I will still use at least one Baker's Display Case and fill it with impeccable quality goods.

Reward points! At the start, I filled the treat towers with the cheapest baked goods. We get reward points for restocking, so I restocked only the cheap baked goods while replacing the rest.
My real profits lie in selling paintings, which I never restock. Once my shop is wealthy enough, I hope to be able restock impeccable-quality goods, which have occurred very rarely for me so far.

I have two employees. To raise work ethic, "criticize" if they're on their cell phone or "praise" if they've been diligent about answering questions.
If any household sim gets an orange "dirty" moodlet, set an employee to "clean."  Once cleaning is done, immediately assign another task.
Like the others, I find them most useful for answering questions.

The timing for placing drinks in the freezer sounds so complicated, dodi90. Do you do this for the "bakery look"?

@MarianT, in your After the Plague file, what happens to your retail inventory in, say, Olivia's store, when you're playing another sim who goes to buy clothes at Olivia's shop.
When you play Olivia again, are the purchased items gone?


Offline dodi90

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2015, 11:05:21 AM »
I only did that for the bakery look effects on other household sim that I play. Yes the timing is difficult because as soon as sim grab a drink they would want to immediately drink it. This is purely for "real bakery looks" for my other sims to visit and not a practical things to sell. Besides at exorbitant the price of a cup of tea is only measly $10, my sim sure can afford that.

For my sim who actually run the bakery, I use some free food sample to mimic the bakery look. And even though those won't make my sims any cash, she definitely could afford like $15 loss when she could sell baked alaska for $3000 a plate. Even if could only sell one plate per day, the free donuts is definitely small price to pay to mimic the bakery look.

Offline MarianT

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2015, 03:12:19 PM »
@oshizu, yes, the items that my played sims purchase from each other need to be restocked or replaced by the sim that owns the store. With the mannequins, Olivia or her husband has to dress the mannequin again after each purchase.

One thing it's interesting to know -- if one of my played sims is shopping on her own, most of the things that she buys don't appear in her inventory when I go to play her, and the money spent on them doesn't disappear from her funds. The exception is with clothing -- Cassandra Goth has several outfits available to her that she purchased when I was playing Olivia. I guess that's so you can provide better clothes to the neighborhood; I just wish the people wandering around dressed as clowns and hot dogs would come into the store.
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Offline oshizu

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2015, 11:33:21 PM »
Quote
For my sim who actually run the bakery, I use some free food sample to mimic the bakery look. And even though those won't make my sims any cash, she definitely could afford like $15 loss when she could sell baked alaska for $3000 a plate. Even if could only sell one plate per day, the free donuts is definitely small price to pay to mimic the bakery look.
I've always gotten all huffy when noticing customers munching baked goods I'd forgotten to set for sale, lol. But you're absolutely right. Free samples in the vicinity of the register!

Quote
yes, the items that my played sims purchase from each other need to be restocked or replaced by the sim that owns the store. With the mannequins, Olivia or her husband has to dress the mannequin again after each purchase.

One thing it's interesting to know -- if one of my played sims is shopping on her own, most of the things that she buys don't appear in her inventory when I go to play her, and the money spent on them doesn't disappear from her funds. The exception is with clothing -- Cassandra Goth has several outfits available to her that she purchased when I was playing Olivia. I guess that's so you can provide better clothes to the neighborhood; I just wish the people wandering around dressed as clowns and hot dogs would come into the store.
Does Olivia's shop earn simoleons for the inventory sold while you're playing another sim? For clothing, does Cassandra's fund decrease by the amount of clothes she bought while you weren't playing her?  So interesting!!!

Hahaha, why indeed don't the sims in clown and hot dog outfits shop at Olivia's boutique? Could you try the "Invite to..." friendly interaction with another sim (that is, not Olivia)?

Offline XxMousiexX

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2015, 11:12:35 PM »
Has anyone got sims to eat at bakery? I have tables & 2 food warmer's but they don't ever sit or pay attention to either food warmer

Offline dodi90

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2015, 03:44:10 AM »
If you own the business, you have to lure them by providing free samples of bakery so you have the illusion that people eat on the bakery. Unfortunately, there is no way for the customer who bought baked goods to eat on the spot.  By the way anyone know what is purpose the food warmer? the one that looks like the retail freezer but didn't mark your food as for sale.

Offline XxMousiexX

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Re: Running a Business
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2015, 04:59:34 AM »
I dunno they ignore food warmer so I stopped using it, but I did fill a freezer full of free food & some would stand up and eat or sit and eat a cupcake also they started using my coffee pot had a couple of lady's dancing in my bakery. They way I have my counter's set up I can make a fence with a gate to stop them from going behind where my register is I did however block them on one side