This section will show you step-by-step how to start up a business, both at home and off-site. For this section, we'll assume you're going with Business Model 1: marking up items for resale. It's the easiest, quickest, and cheapest business possible, although it's also the one with the least profit potential.
| Opening Up Shop |
In order to start an off-site business, you'll need some tremendous capital. The cheapest lots are around of $6000 each, which isn't too bad relatively speaking, but it's still pretty steep for a new, first-generation family. The most expensive community lots cost nearly $100,000: expensive for even second- and possibly third-generation families.
Lot price is determined by three factors: lot size, any buildings on the lot, and any objects in those buildings. A completely vacant lot won't cost much. Conversely, many of the extremely expensive lots already have tables, counters, display shelves, and Worktables spread intelligently through the building. That's less work you'll have to do to start the business, and it gives you more time to concentrate on dealing with what precisely you're selling.
The Sims 2: Open for Business is the third expansion pack for The Sims 2, released on March 3, 2006, which allows Sims to run a home or community lot based business. Aspyr released a port of the game for Mac OS X on September 4, 2006.
If you wish to buy a lot for an off-site business, you only need to perform a few clicks. Simply take an adult Sim, click a phone, choose the 'Real Estate..' action, then 'Purchase Community Lot.' You'll see a pop-up window of all the community lots, first sorted on the left by overworld area (neighborhood, Downtown, or the new Bluewater Village), then on the right by lot name. Any lot name grayed out is owned by another family and unavailable to you. Clicking any lot name will give you information on the lost size and value; just hit the check button, and if you have the cash, the lot will be yours.
If you want to start a home business instead, don't do it yet. Go to Buy Mode first, then select the Miscellaneous subsort of the Decorations sort. You can buy a little sign (in the thumbnail, the sign is green) for $20. You'll need this sign for off-site businesses too, but it's usually already there. We'll get to what it does in a second.
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Once you have the sign, grab an adult Sim, click the phone, select 'Business..,' and then select 'Start Home Business.' A little confirmation box will appear. If you accept, your business starts immediately. Note that even if a home business is started, you still cannot visit a lot if it's a residential one.
Whether you started a home business or bought an off-site lot, whoever made the call becomes the owner. In the Sim's inventory is a little deed, which you can pull out of his backpack and display on a wall or table. Interacting with the deed allows you to sell it back to the community or transfer ownership to someone else. Ownership is very important, but we'll get to that soon.
By the way, just because someone owns a business doesn't mean they can't do something else. Your business owner could even hold a job of his own. For example, let's say you have a married couple. The husband can own an off-site business and have a conventional job, and the wife can do all the work at the shop. Sexist, but true!
Once you have determined your place of business, check it out if it's off-site. Home businesses, as soon as they are started, will immediately open to customers. This is annoying, because you won't have anything set up. Immediately grab a Sim, and click the green sign you bought earlier. This sign allows you to open and close your business, as well as call in or send home all your employees. Close your business for now, as you don't have anything to sell.
| The Business Control Panel |
Once a business is started, a small interface will appear in the top-right corner of the screen as long as you are on the business lot. That means it's always there if you're doing a home business, but it's hidden if you're home and the owner of an off-site location.
The Business Control Panel (BCP) is comprised of six major buttons. They are..
The top button, with the star, is the Customer Loyalty Page. This shows you all the customers who have visited your shop, as well as how loyal they are to your shop. More loyal customers will be willing to spend more for products, and they'll keep coming back often.
Going counter-clockwise, the second button, with the person, is the Employees Page. You'll get a breakdown of all your employees' moods, how happy they are with their current wage, their current task, their skills, and their talent badges. (Talent badges are explained in the Employees and More section.) This is a good place to check on your employees' statuses, especially because as they become more skilled, you'll need to pay them a higher wage.
The third button leads to the revenue sheet. Theoretically, you can view all your income (revenue) and expenses here, plus see your profit or loss. However, the numbers can be misleading because it takes into account everything you do at the lot. This means if you're doing a home business, and you buy some flowers for the bathroom, it will be figured into the 'expenses' for that day. This is why, if you're a big number-cruncher, you start up an off-site business.
The fourth button with the cash register shows you basic information about your business. This includes the lot value, how many customer loyalty stars you need to jump to the next level, and so on.
The bottom button, the large one with a price tag, allows you to flag things for sale. Once you're activate this button, there are several ways you can mark items. We'll touch on that in the next sub-section, which is all about inventory.
In the center of the BCP is a cash register and star. Click this to access the Business Perks page. As your business gains favor with the populace, you can buy ranks to help yourself out. This can be anything from one-shot monetary gains to permanent and new social interactions. Only the business owner gains the perks, and if the business is passed to someone else, the perks are lost. However, the owner can pass his own perks to other Sims, so you can keep a business in the family without having to completely start over without perks.
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