The main feature ofThe Sims 4’sBusinesses and Hobbies expansion pack is becoming a small business owner and starting up your own company. The products and services you sell are entirely up to you, and there’s even cross-pack compatibility to expand your options further.
However, much like the real world, making your own business is tricky and can quickly drain your savings if you’re unprepared. It only gets more challenging if you have multiple packs and menus to search through. Here’s how to start your own successfulThe Sims 4business.
How to start a business in The Sims 4
Starting your own business inThe Sims 4requires owning one of the following game and expansion packs:
Although packs like Dine Out and Get to Work let you create restaurants and retail stores, respectively, Businesses and Hobbies is solely focused on small businesses. With that in mind, we’ll mainly discuss Businesses and Hobbies’ variation but briefly touch on the others in case you want to run multiple companies.
Once you own one of these packs, select the “Owned Businesses” button in the bottom-right corner of your screen. Depending on the packs you own, you may also find options for Small Businesses, Residential Rentals, and Vet Clinics within this category, among others. Most options require buying a lot and building the business yourself, while the Small Business menu lets you register one for a750 Simoleon fee.
Creating a Small Business
Of these business types, Businesses and Hobbies’ variants are the trickiest to learn. Before starting your entrepreneurial journey, you must register the business for 750 Simoleons before designing the company. The design process involves coming up with a name, the products and services you’ll offer, and your target customers. What you add here depends entirely on your preferences, but here are some fun preset ideas to try out:
You can change these settings at any point if you want to pivot your business strategy or just get bored and want to try something new.
Once you officially start your Small Business, you’ll find a menu displaying your Perk Points, Renown, Alignment, and employee management. You’ll gain Renown and Perk Points as you manage your shop, while Alignment depends on your interactions with your customers.
How to keep your business running The Sims 4
Just like any real-world business, the key to keeping it running is making money. Every pack has its own fees, with Businesses and Hobbies having a 75 Simoleon fee each time you open your store. In short, you’ll need to profit at least 75 Simoleons per day just to keep the shop afloat.
As your business becomes more well-known and successful, you’ll gain Renown and Perk Points that, for the most part, positively affect your company. Their exact effects range from your customers giving tips to getting a white-collar version of the Kleptomaniac trait. The path you take depends on your alignment, which you may influence through the small business social menu.
You can also hire employees once your business becomes more established. Employees can take on just about any task, from cleaning the shop to performing skill-specific activities that make the company money. However, their labor isn’t cheap, so you’ll need to pay an hourly rate for their services, which you can change through the Manage Employees menu.
Making money with a Small Business
The Sims 4’sBusinesses and Hobbies expansion provides four main ways to make money:
The easiest is an entrance fee, which you can charge by heading intoBuild Modeand placing aTicket Kiosk.Any Sim that wishes to enter your business’ building for any reason will pay the fee, regardless of whether they participate in your services.
Speaking of services, you can provide a ton of these to your customers.The Sims 4’sBusinesses and Hobbies lets you operate multiple services, from a library to a tattoo parlor or gym. You’ll need the right equipment and furniture for your customers to take part in these, but they’ll be more inclined to spend time here and buy any extra products you have available if you give them services to partake in. You can even charge a hefty fee if it’s a skill-related service like tattooing.
Next is selling products throughDisplay Casesin theBuild Menu.Display cases let you sell any objects you place, from cooked foods to crafted items. While this won’t make much early on, creating excellent or masterpiece-quality products can net you a ton of money if you have the time to create them.
The last main money-making method is mentoring. Once your Sim reacheslevel five in a skill, they can host paid mentoring sessions to nearby characters for an hourly rate. You’ll make more money as you improve these skills, with level ten giving several hundred Simoleons an hour. You can build on this further by hosting classes using a Whiteboard, giving you a set Simoleon amount per attendee.
Combining these money-making methods and using your employees’ skills to your advantage is the key to having a successful small business. How you operate will depend on your business activities and your available funds, but you may quickly make thousands of Simoleons in profit with just a few hobby classes or proficiency in a couple of skills.
