The trials and tribulations of setting up The Sims 4’s small businesses

The newest expansion for The Sims 4 is a game changer, allowing Sims to chase new ambitions and start their own business. This is a concept that was explored back in 2015, with Get to Work, but that expansion never really reached its full potential: While active careers were a fun addition, the ability to own a retail business didn’t really work in practice. Hobbies and Business, the most recent expansion, tackles the same goal with much better results.

These new pursuits can be highly profitable, or lead to some interesting social scenarios that would be difficult to engineer otherwise. However, there are some wrinkles to the system that are worth considering before you make a big investment in building your new place of business from the ground up. Here are some of the things I’ve learned in my hands-on time so far with The Sims 4: Hobbies and Business.

Start-up mentality

There are a few ways to start your own business in The Sims 4, starting in the bottom right corner of the screen. You’ll see a little cash register icon marked “owned businesses,” with four options: a small business, a vet clinic, a restaurant, or a retail store. Registering a small business costs $750, and you can select a business preset or customize what you want to offer, the target audience you’re trying to pull, and if there’s an entrance fee.

Businesses allow you to set activities like listening to music, getting tattooed, drinking tea, or admiring art. You can also figure out your “target customers” with qualifications like having a certain skill, being wealthy, having an occult characteristic, or being a celebrity. (This can be either encouraged or mandatory, depending on how seriously you take these traits.) These can be edited at any time.

If you’re catering to a specific kind of client, like Occult Sims, it may be worth going in and adding some to the neighborhood from the gallery. This means you’ll have a wider client base, and not be at the whims of the current neighborhood population.

Once you’ve set up your business, you can either choose your home lot, or purchase a small lot, head into build mode, and check the status of your rooms: residential, public, or employees only. Opening costs $75, so make sure you have something for sale, or you’ll take a loss.

Finer details

Once you’ve set up your business, you can choose lot traits, which change the vibe. “Great acoustics” is great for a bar, while “bracing breezes” energizes the patrons of a gym. Your business owner needs to be on the lot while the business is open, or it will automatically close. Employees can leave at any time, but the business owner has to stay put.

You can also host multiple businesses out of the same building, but only one can be open at a time. For example, a daytime cafe can close up and become a movie theater at nighttime. You can also host the same business across multiple lots like a franchise, but since only one can be open at a time, this isn’t worth the investment. Players can also run businesses out of the San Myshuno apartments or the Tiny Home lots, although this isn’t ideal as you can’t rent apartments and run a business out of the same lot — it’s one or the other.

Children can own their own businesses, but they cannot be employed, presumably due to Sim child labor laws. 

For those running retail businesses, it’s important to know that once an item is sold, it’s gone, and must be restocked. This is great news for those of us with crafting goblins pumping out portraits or crafts, but it can be tricky for new households without skilled Sims. It may be worth waiting until you have a Sim with the skills to make product or serve customers before you go hard on the new Hobbies and Business content.