How to Have a Successful Business on the Sims 2 Open for Business

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Last Updated: July 15, 2023

Sims 2 Open for Business is an expansion pack for the Sims 2. It is the third one, and was released in Winter of 2006. In this game you can make your Sims have their own businesses! This game is really fun to play, but if you want to have a successful business, you should read on.

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There are many options for this. You can make a Flower Shop, a Toy Store, an Arcade, a Pet Store, a Grocery Store, a Nightclub, a Restaurant/Diner, a salon, a bakery, a Furniture Store, or a Bowling Alley. Be creative, and use your other expansion packs (if any) to your advantage. Figure out what skills your Sim has, too. Are they good at cooking? Then you might want to make them have a bakery. If they have Mechanical, you might want to make them own a toy business.
You can either make this on a community lot, or you can make your Sim have a home business. Try a home business for something like a flower or toy shop, but a community lot for a restaurant or bowling alley. If you are selling something, put the smaller items on shelves. And put a lot, too, because items sell quickly. Include a cash register for most businesses, and it's good to have a restroom. Put a green store sign outside the door so customers will know when the store is open. For a restaurant or diner, you'll need Sims 2 Nightlife.

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If it is a home business, click the phone, then business, then start home business. If they are going to work from a different lot, click "purchase community lot." You may need extra $$$ to buy a lot.
After your business is open, customers will come and start browsing around (except for a restaurant.) It's good to help them find what they need, so click on a customer if they look confused. It's also good to be a pro at working the register, because if you are too slow, customers will get mad and leave. Don't worry, though, as time goes by you will get better at the register.
If you feel that things are out of control and more people are needed, you can hire employees. Click on the phone to do this. There are good and bad things about employees. The good thing, of course, is you don't have to be in two places at once, so while you are helping customers or restocking, they could be working at the register. The bad things are that you need to pay them, and sometimes they don't work. If you have a home business, however, you can have other family members work for you without having to pay them.
You can check this by the giant thing in the upper right corner of your screen. It shows who is a customer, how much money you gained (or lost), who your employees are, and more. Look at it frequently so you know how your business is doing.
When Sims buy things, more items don't magically reappear. To restock, there should be an X sign on the item that was there before. Click it to restock. Go to "tips" to find an easier way.

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How do I earn money?

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It's pretty hard to earn money if you sell items, as you need to re-stock them, but if you have a restaurant, you earn money by serving food to customers. It takes a lot of time to earn much money, though.

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How can I get my business out of debt in this game?

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Use your business perks to get wholesale discounts and you'll garner more profit for the same items. Try to keep renovations and special buys to a minimum, as this adds to overhead and takes a while to recoup. Also, employees can sometimes be a drain on resources, so it's better not to have too many and to send them home if you can.

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Tips

To stop sending your employees on breaks you need to open the cheat panel (Ctrl+Shift+C) the type 'maxmotives'. This will maximise all the motives of the employees.

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Always remember to raise your employees' pay if the employee info icon says they are underpaid or very underpaid, otherwise they will quit the job and you may have a bit of trouble trying to find another that will match the same standards as the previous employee.

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Always put more expensive or high profit items against the walls of your business as they sell better. Place cheap products in the center of the lot.

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Warnings

Do not use the maxmotives cheat when your business is open to customers! The buy bar of your customers will drop and you will potentially lose the sale. To resolve this issue call your employees in before you open then do the maxmotives cheat then do 'motivedecay off'(space between).This will maximise the motives of your sims and also keep them from going down.

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Do not save the game with boolprop testingcheatsenabled turned on, because it can ruin the lot. If you must use this cheat, be sure to type "boolprop testingcheatsenabled false" to turn it back off before you save.

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