Business Plan Announcements and Additional Information

[Gillar]

A special note; Business Plans that are approved do not automatically grant you said business nor do they grant you immediate collection of income. Your Domain Storyteller must approve the establishment of said business in their area of control and make note of it in your Storyteller Secrets thread. The Approved Business Plan only grants approval of the proposed details of the business. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN APPROVED BUSINESS PLAN AND DO NOT HAVE AN APPROVAL OF OWNERSHIP AND INCOME NOTED IN YOUR STORYTELLER SECRETS THREAD, YOU DO NOT HAVE A BUSINESS AND CANNOT DRAW INCOME FROM SAID BUSINESS. If you do not have these specific approvals listed both in the Business Sheet Forum (for the Business Plan itself) and your Storyteller Secrets Thread (by your Domain Storyteller), you do not have whatever business you may be want to thread about and gain income from. Another item of note, when posting business plans for approval, PLEASE use the sample plans that I have provided for a guide in creating your own businesses. Try not to be vague or leave out information. I will adjust, correct, suggest, etc, any changes that may be needed but the more info you give, the quicker your approval will be.

[Gillar]

With the recent influx of Business Plans being submitted, I have thought of some things that I feel I should mention. First, there has been some question about why income from a business is so low and why it isn't much higher. Along with that there has been some small amount of confusion regarding business expenses. As far as wages and why they are what they are is concerned, I wanted to keep wages balanced with the price list so that someone isn't making thousands of mizas every few days while average items on the price list have costs that would barely dent a person's money pouch. The wage system also reflects how difficult it is to become wealthy in a land where wealth is held by a relatively small population of people. Final Income for the owner of a business has several items built into the whole system. The theoretical income one gains from selling goods or services can be potentially quite high. However, once you go through and subtract expenses such as facility maintenance (repairing broken or damaged assets, keeping things clean), resupplying goods that are sold and that are used around the business (purchasing materials from others, cost of shipping if necessary), pretty much any costs involved in the operation of the business. So yes, you may be bringing in hundreds of mizas a day or more depending on the business but the majority of that is going right back out to cover expenses. We aren't talking business efficiency found in real-life modern times. This is medieval fantasy where efficiency is a luxury most do not have and can't fully realize in the sense that we understand it as people. So when you subtract the built-in expenses from the income gained from those things listed in your business price list, you are left with your Final Income as it appears in your business plan. That is why you may only gain 4 or 5 GM a day profit for example because that is what is left after you account for the cost of goods, maintenance, etc. Moving on...One may at first think that having a business without an employee(s) is a better way to go as you don't have to put out the mizas for your employee's wage or living expenses (in the case of a slave worker). Unfortunately, by not having employees, your character must spend much more time operating the business else take the chance of suffering negative sales modifiers. On the other side of that, too many employees or relying too heavily on employees to run your business can also bring negative sales modifiers. A character must give their business regular attention. While there is the requirement of job threads each season, understand that if you don't give your business regular attention outside of the job threads you can still suffer the negative modifiers. This doesn't have to be as involved as job threads but should have some substance even if its a few posts here and there in your business location or doing things for your business or even simple social threads at your place of business. Keep in mind that negative sales modifiers can go up to -40% and in the case of relying too much on your employees to run your business, you could lose the business entirely. So in summary, the benefits of drawbacks of both having employees and running the business yourself: Owner Operated Benefits - You keep more of your income and may find greater opportunities for growth. There is a chance that storytellers may even throw a few boons your way for the extra work put forth into your business. You also have more control over the operation of your business overall. Owner Operated Drawbacks - You have to spend more time actually working in and/or with your business to ensure it continues to succeed. If you spend too much time traveling or engaging in non-business related activities, you take the chance of gaining negative sales modifiers which can seriously reduce your income. Employee Operated Benefits - You have more time to engage in non-business activities and maybe even travel for rather short periods of time without suffering negative sales modifiers. You can often expand a business quicker. Employee Operated Drawbacks - You risk gaining negative sales modifiers if you leave too much of the business to your employees. You don't get to keep as much of your income as you still need to pay wages or slave living expenses to employees.

[Gillar]

Updated Rules For Highly Skilled Business Owners/Fully Established Businesses

As of this Edited Update (6/16/14) the following will NOT be available to newly started businesses. Only businesses that have been established for at least 4 seasons in a row with regular maintenance and activity can benefit from these expanded rules.


For those of you who have reached 100 skill points in your primary job-related skill, you may now choose another skill, related to your existing business, to base additional income on. You will still keep the income from your primary skill but may now add half of the secondary skill income to the total.

For example, a currently owned/operated Herbalism shop ran by an Herbalist with an Herbalism skill of 100 (L4 Master), would earn a base income of 6 gm plus 1 gm in Sales Bonus for a total of 7 gm / day base income.

The skill bonus for our Herbalist is 7 gm x 1.5 (L2) equaling 10 gm / day. Multiply this by 2 at (L3) for 20 gm / day. Double this again at (L4) for a total of 40 gm / day.

Now, our Herbalist decides they want to include Philtering as a part of their business. They have a Competent (L2) skill in Philtering. Since Philtering is related to the Herbalism business, this skill becomes the Secondary skill. This Secondary skill becomes the new skill that we use to determine additional income. So, a Philterer would have a base income of 7 gm / day (L1) plus 1 gm Sales bonus for 8 gm / day. At (L2) 8 gm x 1.5 equals 12 gm / day. Half of that is 6 gm / day.

We take the 40 gm / day from Herbalism and add 6 gm / day from Philtering for a new total income of 46 gm / day.

It does not stop there. You can continue to raise the Secondary skill to Master (L4) level to increase the income. So our Herbalist/Philterer who masters their Philtering Skill to 100 points would have their 12 gm / day from Competent (L2) doubled at Expert (L3) to 24 gm / day and doubled again at Master (L4) for a total of 48 gm / day. Half that is 24 gm which is added to the 40 gm from Herbalism for a total of 64 gm / day.

Now, let's say our Herbalist/Philterer has maxed out both skills to 100. At this point, a Tertiary skill can be chosen. This will add more to the final income however only one-third of the total gained from the Tertiary skill is added to the final total. Maybe our Herbalist/Philterer wants to be able to offer antidotes to poisons. They have a Poison skill at Competent (L2). Base income of 7 gm / day plus sales bonus of 1 gm for 8 gm / day. Multiply that by 1.5 (L2) for a total of 12 gm / day. One third of that is 4 gm / day which can be added to the total from the Primary and Secondary. In this case, the 64 gm / day from the other two has 4 gm / day added on for a final total income of 68 gm / day or 6,188 gm / Season. Note that the Tertiary skill can be maxed out just like the Secondary skill with one-third of that final total added. Thus, carrying on this example to its ultimate end, our Herbalist/Philterer/Poisoncrafter with a Master level (100 points) in all three related skills would have a total final income of 80 gm / day or 7,280 gm / Season.

To sum it all up, here are the requirements for being able to add Secondary and Tertiary business skills to your business plan:

1. You must have Mastered your primary skill to 100 points in order to attain a Secondary skill.

2. In order to gain a Tertiary skill, you must have Mastered your Primary and Secondary both to 100 skill points each.

3. Your Secondary and Tertiary skills MUST be related to the business that you started with your Primary skill (For example, if you run a smithy, you're not going to be able to make your Secondary skill be Herbalism).

4. Seasonal Job thread requirements increase from 2 to 3 when you gain a Secondary and 3 to 4 when you gain a Tertiary. Thus a Master of three different job skills will need 4 job threads per Season to attain their maximum income. So, if you only do two threads in a season, you only get your Primary income. If you do 3 threads, you get your Secondary income and 4 threads give you your Tertiary income.

The Next Update is Open to All New Businesses AND Existing Ones:

Now, there is another part of the update to the business system which is half an update and half a clarification. Currently, business owners receive a 20% sales bonus for owning and operating the business. This is meant to set them apart and above a simple employee. That said, I've come to realize that this bonus does not necessarily account for all the creativity and ingenuity some players put into their businesses. With that in mind, I am adding another category to the business plans that will account for Creativity and Efficiency. Examples of what I am talking about would include things like weaving your own fabric for use in your clothing offered in your clothing store. Also, for those who grow their own herbs or own a mine and operate their own smithy using metals they themselves mine. There are so many other examples of how one may make their businesses more efficient or otherwise just include creative elements to the whole thing.

This will be addressed in a new Ingenuity/Efficiency category in the Business plans. This may be added at the beginning of a business or later on. Usually, it will come later as the business develops, kinks are worked out and creative expansion is employed. Said bonus will equal another 20% added to the final total income of the business. So for example, if we look back at our Herbalist/Philterer/Poisoncrafter, maybe this person harvests their own ingredients in a garden behind the shop and maintains their own collection of snakes/spiders/other poison things in the back room. This would reduce the costs involved in acquiring such materials and thus make the business more efficient. Thus our Herblist/Philterer/Poisoncrafter who has Mastered all three skills and has an income of 80 gm / day may now add 20% to that (16 gm) for a total of 96 gm / day or 8,736 gm / Season.

[Gillar]

I ask that all business plans submitted include a section called, Concept.

In this section, I'm looking for abstract detailing what your concept is for your business. This serves multiple purposes. First, it tells me in short, what your business is beyond simple lists. This will help me get some context when approving location price lists, assets, etc. Second, it makes you think about your business and why you are choosing to operate said business. By including in the abstract things like how your business will serve to benefit the city and why your business is needed in the city, you can get a better understanding of your motives for starting the business. It is important to understand that if a city already has businesses owned and operated by NPCs as well as PCs that address the needs your business is intended to fulfill, then you will probably not get your business approved (your plan may get approved but the business itself may not be allowed into the city you planned it for).

I can't state enough that if you are choosing to own and operate a business, it should be an integral part of your character. There should be a solid concept which includes a solid reason as to why your business is needed and how it will further your character as well as the city it is located in.