A Home Business
 
Ok a few months ago myself and Raza decided that we would open our own restaurant on a residential lot and with permission from the council we promptly did so. Only a few months in and its a huge success and I'm here to tell you about it.
Running a home business, especially a restaurant is particularly difficult and time consuming. Whereas with other business's such as gnome making or pet breeding where you simply sell items, running a restaurant needs alot of promotion and usually the first stop of the day is to phone around local lots to let people now that the restaurant is open.

Usually these calls are made about 6.10 which then gives me time to get dressed and make my family breakfast first. I then go down and open the restaurant by serving about two platters of food. Soon after the first customers start arriving. Initially we served a seperate plate for each customer but we found this to be very time consuming and now we work on a buffet kind of system....this works very well with customers.
Ok so you want to know what the cost benefits are. Well we charge each customer 25simoleons a meal. Initially we had special doors constructed so that they kept a counter of all the customers that entered the building, we could then bill the customers. However this all went wrong and the bank started charging us for the amount that customers should be paying!! So now all customers are given a tally card...they pay 250simoleons and that pays for 10 meals. Each time they come one of the meals is crossed off.

The family have taken this move and our new way of life seems to be working very well. Raza continues his business career track while the girls carry on at school. The girls in fact love it....I pay them an extra allowance if they help out and usually both Fatima and Heena will help out after school. They also all have their own rooms now due to the larger property which they absolutely adore as they all slept in one room before!
I won't say that running a restaurant isn't hard...it is, early starts, keeping smiling all day, and getting sick of the sight of your own cooking but the extra money is great and seeing your own restaurant full of happy, smiling customers is the greatest feeling in the world! I sincerely recommend this venuture to the outgoing sim but be aware of the risks involved.

On the outset this looks like a completely ordinary house...kitchen, bedrooms, lounge. But its not, a new extension has recently been attached to the side of the building...the office! This is the Yates property on 5Sim Lane and is now home to "Pure Gold Agencies" run by father and husband of the family, Paul. Last year Simborough became associated with a nearby studio town and the town was soon filled with glam, glitter and celebrites. There seemed to be no problems getting jobs within the hood but stars who wanted international fame had to try that little bit harder. This was where Mr Yates had an inspirational idea.....start an talent agency and charge the stars. "I was looking around at all these celebrity boards and there were stars crying out for help. There aren't yet that many openings for international stars and so work is V hard to get....its better if you have an agent. So I thought to myself, I could start an agency and then charge the stars for work that they aquire through me."
So that's exactly what he did. With a small amount of money required for the extensions Paul took out a few loans, reorganised the house and actually rebuilt part of the back of the house to gain some money. The one room extension was built and Paul started advertising his services.

In no time at all  his first clients started arriving. "We have several clebrities here in Simborough. Britney Jones, Josie Harlow, Sarah Troy and Kaleesha Weaver are all on my books as well as a large number of sims who are just starting out." Mr Yates works on a 10% basis, i.e. for each wage that an actor earns by work gained through Pure Gold Agencies Mr Yates is given 10%. So for 1000simoleons, 100 goes to the agency. Suburb Sim stars earn up to 3000 per episode and with two of the cast list on his books the money seems to roll in. We asked Mr Yates what the job actually entails "Well the first thing you have to think about is the fact that if my clients get no work and don't get paid, I don't get paid either. So most of the work is entailed promoting my clients in the area of work they're looking for. Obviously for Kaleesha its easy, she's got an ongoing soap. Britney's working on an online book and Sarah's busy with family. My highest profile is probably Josie (Harlow) at the moment. There was a lot of hype following her exit from Suburb Sim and now she's got 3 new projects in the works: The Astrum, The "WhoDunIt" series and SimBachelor:Celebrity..her life is going to be very hectic! A large amount of time is spent building website's for each client and trawling through the web to find articles, photo's etc that may have been taken of them. I can then link these and let the clients know how the media are portraying them. The rest of the time I'm advertising for new clients, and of course spending time with the family."

As the Simmish Prophecy looms over us in the not so distant future we got Mr. Yate's thoughts on how this will affect the business: "It'll have a huge effect on the business, for the better I hope. Simborough is a converting neighbourhood and this doesn bring problems. It is likely that we will lose our link with the Studio Town but this doesn't mean that things have to stop. Sims have got a taste for fame now, just because there won't be any local jobs doesn't mean that the international fame should stop, in fact, if anything I think it will sky rocket. This is much better for me as I make more money out of international jobs. Business from non-converting neoghbourhoods should increase too as there'll proberly be less jobs within the non-conversion community, so competition will increase, meaning that most stars will need agent."
We here at Simborough don't know if this will be a incentive for sims or not but whatever way you take it Mr Yates is earning considerably more than he was when in the security career. He had a cheap startup cost, no extra rent for downtown premises and as the first to take this opportunity is like to become a millionaire. We'll see what happens in the future of this type of business. If you have questions for Mr Yates or want to know how to start your own talent agency business please contact us on anttroy@hotmail.com

Hydroponics
 
Meet Candice Sherwood. This is a lady who has devoted her life to the career of a slacker, which she says, is not for those that are slackers as its damn hard work. She raised her son Johnathon, saw him through marriage and now has 2 beautiful grandchildren with another on the way, and 10days ago she lost her husband. But, at the wise age of 81, she is not ready to give up yet! "Why should I give up? I've lived my life making money, friends and having fun. Jyst because I'm a pensioner doesn't mean I'm going to stop...in fact it gives me more time to party with my friends and family."
Candice retired from her job as soon as she became an elder as she knew that she would recieve a good pension. She also knew that had she stayed in her career field it wouldn't have been long before the boss had halved her work load and made her feel guilty and like she was a burden on the company. "I didn't want to leave but I wasn't gonna sit around for the boss to give me some lame elder job, screw that, I'd rather recieve my pension and make some more money another way."
So she did, and that's when hydroponics came into her life. "I've never been very good with plants to perfectly honest. The garden is a mess and the only bit the family really look after is the graveyard, especially as my late husband is now buried there. But when I retired I was given this Hydroponics equipment (show below) as a leaving present and I thought I'd turn my hand to it."

"It was worried that it would be difficult at first and it was a little bit daunting. Planting the seeds was easy (there were instructions on the packet) and all I had to do was pop 1 seed into each container, give it a quick sprinkle with some growth powder and then add a tiny drop of water. However I was concerned about the overall looking after of the plants that would eventually grow but hey, I was given it for free so if a few died then so be it. But how much should I tend, how long would they take to grow..I simply didn't know. After planting the seeds I kept checking back but nothing appeared. The packet had said not to water so I didn't but I thought I'd done something dreadfully wrong as nothing seemed to be happening. I own several money tree's so everytime I went in to see them I checked the seeds. I was starting to think that I'd finally killed something without it even managing to grow when, I think it was towards lunchtime on the second day, that I suddenly noticed the seedlings sprouting! You can never know how excited and proud you can get over simple seeds!! You can see them gently pushing themselves out of their pods and they grow so quickly! I was astounded. You'd literally go to the toilet and they'd have grown a few more inches already! But now was the hardest part....would I kill them will my complete lack of knowledge on how to look after these plants.

So, for the first day I kept a very careful eye on my plants. Luckily they don't need watering as there is an in-built watering system so I didn't have to worry about them drying out under the special growing lights. I spent several hours in the morning tending them, and building my creativity at the same time I'll add, and then another few hours in the evening. I even got up in the night and had a quick look at them, I've become quite obsessed! Well I soon realised that whether I spent hours tending them or a few minutes it didn't seem to make much difference...they grew at the same rate, didn't wilt and die and after 3 days the flowers started to show.
The first crop I picked and put in the hallway and everytime friends came over they would comment on how pretty they were and they'd pay to have flowers like them. So, this set my mind whirring, what if I were to grow and then sell them in pots? I contacted a local florists and can you believe it, they said they'd give me 350Simoleons for each tub. On top of my pension that was great!!
I think this is a lovely way to earn a bit of extra cash. They look beautiful and yo can keep some in your own home. It helps your creative streak and I also find it very relaxing to help these little plants grow. So go ahead elders, don't get bogged down with those crappy old jobs, go, be creative and grow!"
Candice Sherwood - 21/01/05