Join the new world

Before I begin I want to point out I am not the definitive entrepreneur in the eUSA. That distinction would have to go to someone like Benn Dover or Uncle Sam or any of the other multi-national business persons out there. However I do run several fairly successful companies and perhaps my insights along with what I hope will come in the form of helpful comments some little good advice can be obtained.

I. Manage your companies. That means be active about what your company is doing. Watch its expenses along with its income. Keep records. They do not have to be as exhaustive as any are in RL but you should maintain some basic data. I use Google Spreadsheets.

Some basic data I maintain on a daily basis is:
Cash On Hand - that is how much the company has at the end of the day.
Invest - this is both how much I have to put into the company and how much I take out (using a negative number)
Sales Income - how much did I bring in through sales
RM Expense - how much I spend on raw materials
Labor - how much I spent on salaries
RM Used - how much raw materials was used
RM Costs - how much the raw materials that were used actually cost
Labor/Unit - how much labor went into each unit produced
RM/Unit - how much raw materials was used on each item (note: this should equal your products Q-level)
RM$/Unit - self explanatory
Costs/Unit - the total cost of making each item. This is essential for pricing your product for sell.
Stock On Hand - how items do I have that still need to be sold
Production - daily production
Units on Market - how many items I have on the market
Unit Price - price for each unit
Units Sold - number of units sold that day
RM On Hand - raw materials still available
RM Usage - total raw materials used
RM Purchase - raw materials purchased (if any)
RM Rate - price pad for raw materials

Now most of that information can be calculated using basic formulas. The only data I have to manually input is cash on hand, production, units on market, unit price, units sold, and raw materials on hand.

II. Manage your raw materials. If you are a raw material producer this is not an important step for you. For manufacturers and others it is essential.

Do not wait until you are nearly out of raw materials to purchase more. Watch the prices on a daily basis or at least every couple of days. If the price is below what you last paid for raw materials it might be a good idea to grab some more. That brings down your costs so you can either make a larger profit or give those raises your people deserve.

When you buy raw materials remember that just because you own a Q1 company you do not have to buy Q1 raw materials. This may be obvious to some but I have spoken to a few people that thought differently. Do price comparisons. My spreadsheets have rows for calculating raw material costs. If Q1 grain cost .60 and Q3 cost 1.55 (which if divided by 3 comes to .517) I am going to buy the Q3 grain.

Remember if you are low on raw materials your employees can not work. Keep them producing!

III. Manage your employees. Do not just hire and forget about them. I try to contact new employees with a welcome message and a suggestion to improve their wellness. Often I will link them to my past article on "What Are You Worth?".

I keep records on my employees. Not so much when they work or do not work. While that does affect how much production I have it does not affect pricing so much. If they miss three or more days that is shown in the company page and they will typically be replaced. What I do keep track of very religiously is their wellness and their skill level. Using that information along with the current price of raw materials and what I am selling my items for I maintain the following information in the spreadsheet:

Wellness Multiplier - this is given on the Wiki as C = 1 + 2 * W / 100 where C is their wellness multiplier and W is their current wellness.
Production - this involved the entire Productivity formula, and
What they are worth - this is calculated using all pertinent data (such as current sell price, raw material price, production, etc). This is what I base their pay on.

IV. Manage your pricing. The price of your product is a major contributor to sells. I watch the Market but I also watch my bottom line. Sometimes I have to hold off on putting items up for sell simply because with our limited protection from foreign investors we often get flooded with items from Sweden, Finland, or China (etc) with whom I can not compete without sacrificing my employees' well-being.

Lately I have been trying to unite with other company owners in order to cut out price wars. In the words of Ben Franklin, "...we must hang together, or we will be pretty sure to hang separately."