PlatinumDevil [1920420] —
Original article
As a citizen of Torn who has owned and runs several different companies, I have noticed a disturbing pattern emerge with each and every one. Despite my best efforts, despite pouring over player guides and forum advice, each of my companies has ultimately run at a loss.
Why is this?
Many companies in Torn have also experienced this, and, having made my observations over the past year I have come to wonder whether the reason for this trend is that a) Torn citizens have become too greedy, or b) Torn's company directors have become too generous?
Firstly though, who is this random guy who has suddenly published an article? What does he know about running a company? And why should we care what someone with an otter as a profile picture says?
My name is PlatinumDevil. I have been living in Torn for just over two years, and in that time I have run multiple companies including; Sweet Shop, Nightclub, Software Corp, Hair Salon and my current Adult Novelties store.
Nevertheless, you may think I lack the experience to write insightfully on such a complex topic - and you may be right. I cannot make you care about my opinions, and nor can I convince you to read on, but come on, the otter is cute so listen to me for his sake at least.
And besides, you might learn something.
So now let's return to the topic at hand. Whenever I have advertised my companies, I have almost always been asked what the pay is, and quite often I have been turned down as an employer due to the pay not being high enough.
This rejection created some confusing times as I was left to wonder how a company earning less than $5 million per day was expected to pay more than $500k (sometimes $1 million+) to each member of staff, while also covering advertising costs and restocking fees.
In every company I've run, I have constantly struggled to balance these outgoings effectively to break even, let alone make a profit. The only times I found it easier was when I had taken over a pre-established company that already had the staff, or when I offered exorbitant pay.
So have I contributed to this situation by occasionally capitulating and paying people more than they deserve? Perhaps, but I still find it baffling that people expect to be paid such a high wage in the first place, especially when they know the company they're applying to is already struggling to balance the books as it is.
Whilst doing research for this article I spoke to several company directors in order to find out where the blame lies. And after doing so, it soon became apparent that there was a mixed view on whether staff were even being overpaid, let alone who was at fault.
-Marlo-, director of a 10 star Fitness Center, felt that he was overpaying his staff, but only because the current company system caused him to run at a loss, despite only paying his staff 100k per day. Having built the business up from 0 stars (before Sports Team became the Fitness Center) all the way to 10 stars - which many will agree is no easy task - -Marlo- has undoubtedly spent a lot of money. For him to not be making a profit from it certainly seems wrong.
During our interview, we spoke about the effects of the company advertisement budget on businesses such as his. -Marlo- expressed a belief that the secrecy which surrounds the workings of many businesses seems unfair when details about other companies, including advertisement budget, are made easily available.
It appears that this tips the balance of advancement in other companies' favour. We also discussed the issue that every time the advertisement budget was reduced or increased it had the same effect on income, which effectively forced -Marlo- to continue to run at a loss. This made me wonder if the system used for advertising needs to be changed to help companies turn a better profit.
Ron_Mexico is the director of a 1 star Property Broker (at least he was at the time of writing), and he believes that both pay and company specials seem to be equally as important to people. He has found that those who turn him down for a job typically do so because they have an offer elsewhere, one which would give them the same pay but in a company with a higher number of stars. Or, if the company levels are the same, the other reason he loses out is that he is unwilling to pay double what he initially offered, with even average employees seemingly willing to highball themselves out of a job.
If a company director like Ron_Mexico caves in and pays this high wage, they often find that they have to substitute their losses with their personal funds. But this situation is the exact opposite of what Ron_Mexico encountered when he was himself unemployed, as some companies would offer zero pay and justify this through the provision of specials.
However, despite all this Ron_Mexico still does not think that today's companies are paying too much.
"I have found myself in a company where everyone was paying everyone more than it was earning but in the end I don't think most companies are paying too much because there seems to be a bracket for pay starting is 50k. 10-40k is $500k. And 40-100k is $1-2 million."
"I think loss is necessary, and you do need to have start up funds to accept losses, I say you just need to have enough to hold out just long enough that you start making profits. But to do that you either need to have loyal workers or a deep wallet, and the only change I can think of that would make it better to start a company would be to make advertising more effective"
I also spoke to Shadowmere, the director of another 10 star fitness center (at the time of writing) who says many people who ask to join his company want high pay, but he tells them to hit the high road. When I asked Shadowmere whether he thought employees were being overpaid or it was more a case of poor management by the directors, I must admit I was surprised by his response.
"I don't think employees are overpaid. If they are overpaying, then they are desperate in my opinion and it is poor management of the directors."
This interested me, and I wondered if his assessment included directors of low star companies, since they have fewer specials to offer as a compensation. I followed up by asking this very question, as well as querying Shadowmere on how he thought low star firms could attract the staff they need to grow without overpaying.
From a director's point of view, there seems to be a broad diversity of opinions concerning employee pay. But what about those on the other side of the fence? As well as talking to company directors I also made enquiries with people who are employed by companies, and their views on the matter were equally varied.
Miro, who is employed at a TV Network, feels that specials are more important to him, and he believes that others share this view. He also thinks that many of the companies paying out huge amounts are probably stacked with multis, and he points to such external game issues as being one of the root causes of overpayment.
D34thr4ttle felt that both pay and specials were equally important as their private island absorbs most of the income they receive. One could argue that a citizen's living arrangements are nothing to do with their employer and that people should strive to live within their means. But perhaps unsurprisingly, when I asked if D34thr4ttle believed that companies were overpaying, he felt most of them do not.
Teddy19's main focus is pay, and he says he has turned down many roles that were simply not paid well enough. He has worked for many companies that pay more than they earn, and he agrees with D34thr4ttle that they do so to attract higher stat players to try and help their company progress faster.
Once more, we have a lot of different opinions here. But I just wonder whether working for a particular type of company is likely to sway you one way or another? I only ask this because there seems to be a correlation between those on low pay and those in jobs where the specials can make you extra money.
For example, Sweet Shop employees experience a lower pay due to the money that can be earned from selling cans, whereas someone in a TV Network job requires higher pay, as there are no extra means of earning money from job points. When I interviewed him Teddy19 worked for a TV company, and it's understandable that he, therefore valued pay more at that time.
However, D34thr4ttle works in the same industry, at the same company and in the same role, so perhaps it's a case of Teddy19 valuing the job perks slightly less than his colleague. The aforementioned Miro also works at a TV Network, and this just goes to show that three people in the same situation can have vastly differing priorities.
So if we cannot find consensus from interviews with Torn's employees and owners, perhaps we should look further afield for an answer. There appears to be a vast difference between the way companies operate inside and outside of Torn, so maybe we will find some kind of solution there.
Companies outside Torn can spend funds on advertising for a short time to create returning customers, but here it appears that companies are having to pay a fortune to keep getting customers every single day. Should Torn adapt to the ways of the outside world? Are we in need of another major overhaul to the way companies work?
Tarelli has run 2 Restaurants, 1 Cruise line agency, 2 Amusement Parks, 1 Nightclub, 1 TV network and at present, he operates a Farm. This is a man who saw the company system's last overhaul two years ago when levels went from 5 star max to a 10 star limit, company sizes were reduced, and two additional specials were provided.
I think it is fair to say that Tarelli knows what he's talking about more than most, and he expressed the opinion that the previous change made Torn directorship more user-friendly by showing a larger amount of company information than it previously did.
Since Tarelli has such an impressive resumé, I had to know what his thoughts were on loss-running companies.
As someone who has in the past failed to achieve this balance, I wondered what Tarelli meant when he said it simply takes more effort. Unfortunately, he would only elaborate by saying that people should think outside of the box - it seems the best way to stay on top is to keep tight-lipped about your hiring strategies.
I even gave him a big smile =D yet I got nothing.
When I first entered the business world, I made the novice mistake of starting a company without actually understanding how it all worked. I very quickly fixed this error by focusing on all the education needed, while simultaneously purchasing every stock with a company boost.
As Tarelli has shown, it is not often that company directors reveal intricate details of how their company is run, and this makes complete sense since you are competing with thousands of other employee-hungry firms. However, the most common advice handed out is that you should always complete the relevant educations before becoming a director, or else you are bound to fail.
Before writing this article, I firmly believed that people had just become incredibly greedy in demanding high pay and that it was unrealistic to expect to run a company without incurring a loss for quite some time. However, I purchased my current company in the middle of researching this article, and for the first time, I have actually made a profit from it.
So maybe it isn't so difficult to achieve after all, and it just takes a new way of thinking to transform a loss-making company into a profitable one. Throughout this article, I have spoken to people who say that they are paying too much yet feel they have no choice if they want to progress. But I have also spoken to those who say they are not paying too much, and some of those people were and are making a profit.
After reviewing the conversations I have had, and this hurts to say, I have changed my opinion. Although I still think I was overpaying (evidently I was because the company made less than it paid out) I do not believe it was because Torn citizens were demanding high pay. Yes, they were asking for it, but I was the one who agreed to pay it, so ultimately the change had to come from within myself.
Having started out blaming the employees for their demands I now agree with the like of Shadowmere and Tarelli. If a company is running at a loss, then it is up to the director to manage it more efficiently, because that's something you can control - an employee's self-valuation is outside of your remit.
All being said, that does not mean I think the situation with the advertisement budget couldn't use a review. Maybe companies could spend the advertising budget to run advert campaigns, and this could encourage repeat customers. If a company doesn't run a campaign then they could lose customers to companies that do run them.
To me, having considered the needs of employees and directors, this approach makes perfect sense. Everywhere else in the world companies can run a short time advertising campaign to pull in customers, yet as mentioned in the article, in Torn, directors are paying out a fortune every single day.
Thank you for reading my very first article. I hope to write more in the future. Also, thank you to my mentor sugarvalves who I have learnt a tremendous amount from.
Why is this?
Many companies in Torn have also experienced this, and, having made my observations over the past year I have come to wonder whether the reason for this trend is that a) Torn citizens have become too greedy, or b) Torn's company directors have become too generous?
Firstly though, who is this random guy who has suddenly published an article? What does he know about running a company? And why should we care what someone with an otter as a profile picture says?
My name is PlatinumDevil. I have been living in Torn for just over two years, and in that time I have run multiple companies including; Sweet Shop, Nightclub, Software Corp, Hair Salon and my current Adult Novelties store.
Nevertheless, you may think I lack the experience to write insightfully on such a complex topic - and you may be right. I cannot make you care about my opinions, and nor can I convince you to read on, but come on, the otter is cute so listen to me for his sake at least.
And besides, you might learn something.
So now let's return to the topic at hand. Whenever I have advertised my companies, I have almost always been asked what the pay is, and quite often I have been turned down as an employer due to the pay not being high enough.
This rejection created some confusing times as I was left to wonder how a company earning less than $5 million per day was expected to pay more than $500k (sometimes $1 million+) to each member of staff, while also covering advertising costs and restocking fees.
In every company I've run, I have constantly struggled to balance these outgoings effectively to break even, let alone make a profit. The only times I found it easier was when I had taken over a pre-established company that already had the staff, or when I offered exorbitant pay.
So have I contributed to this situation by occasionally capitulating and paying people more than they deserve? Perhaps, but I still find it baffling that people expect to be paid such a high wage in the first place, especially when they know the company they're applying to is already struggling to balance the books as it is.
Whilst doing research for this article I spoke to several company directors in order to find out where the blame lies. And after doing so, it soon became apparent that there was a mixed view on whether staff were even being overpaid, let alone who was at fault.
-Marlo-, director of a 10 star Fitness Center, felt that he was overpaying his staff, but only because the current company system caused him to run at a loss, despite only paying his staff 100k per day. Having built the business up from 0 stars (before Sports Team became the Fitness Center) all the way to 10 stars - which many will agree is no easy task - -Marlo- has undoubtedly spent a lot of money. For him to not be making a profit from it certainly seems wrong.
During our interview, we spoke about the effects of the company advertisement budget on businesses such as his. -Marlo- expressed a belief that the secrecy which surrounds the workings of many businesses seems unfair when details about other companies, including advertisement budget, are made easily available.
It appears that this tips the balance of advancement in other companies' favour. We also discussed the issue that every time the advertisement budget was reduced or increased it had the same effect on income, which effectively forced -Marlo- to continue to run at a loss. This made me wonder if the system used for advertising needs to be changed to help companies turn a better profit.
Ron_Mexico is the director of a 1 star Property Broker (at least he was at the time of writing), and he believes that both pay and company specials seem to be equally as important to people. He has found that those who turn him down for a job typically do so because they have an offer elsewhere, one which would give them the same pay but in a company with a higher number of stars. Or, if the company levels are the same, the other reason he loses out is that he is unwilling to pay double what he initially offered, with even average employees seemingly willing to highball themselves out of a job.
If a company director like Ron_Mexico caves in and pays this high wage, they often find that they have to substitute their losses with their personal funds. But this situation is the exact opposite of what Ron_Mexico encountered when he was himself unemployed, as some companies would offer zero pay and justify this through the provision of specials.
However, despite all this Ron_Mexico still does not think that today's companies are paying too much.
"I have found myself in a company where everyone was paying everyone more than it was earning but in the end I don't think most companies are paying too much because there seems to be a bracket for pay starting is 50k. 10-40k is $500k. And 40-100k is $1-2 million."
"I think loss is necessary, and you do need to have start up funds to accept losses, I say you just need to have enough to hold out just long enough that you start making profits. But to do that you either need to have loyal workers or a deep wallet, and the only change I can think of that would make it better to start a company would be to make advertising more effective"
I also spoke to Shadowmere, the director of another 10 star fitness center (at the time of writing) who says many people who ask to join his company want high pay, but he tells them to hit the high road. When I asked Shadowmere whether he thought employees were being overpaid or it was more a case of poor management by the directors, I must admit I was surprised by his response.
"I don't think employees are overpaid. If they are overpaying, then they are desperate in my opinion and it is poor management of the directors."
This interested me, and I wondered if his assessment included directors of low star companies, since they have fewer specials to offer as a compensation. I followed up by asking this very question, as well as querying Shadowmere on how he thought low star firms could attract the staff they need to grow without overpaying.
"Newer players with low stats are the candidates for these unless you as a director are already established and can afford to buy higher stat players. Also, there are a lot of faction owned companies which have faction members fill in the vacancies. However, most factions usually tend to purchase established companies rather than wait till build them up from the ground.
From a director's point of view, there seems to be a broad diversity of opinions concerning employee pay. But what about those on the other side of the fence? As well as talking to company directors I also made enquiries with people who are employed by companies, and their views on the matter were equally varied.
Miro, who is employed at a TV Network, feels that specials are more important to him, and he believes that others share this view. He also thinks that many of the companies paying out huge amounts are probably stacked with multis, and he points to such external game issues as being one of the root causes of overpayment.
"I have found that most TV companies have been way overpaying employees. My thought on this are that its only going to get worse. The RMT fedding hit TV companies very hard. They seemed to be packed with many multis with good working stats. Salaries have gotten way out of hand in the TV station industry with both large and small companies alike. I have seen people advertising pay up to 5m a day which is crazy. It's only hurting themselves as well as the entire industry. Greed is a very real thing here in torn!"
D34thr4ttle felt that both pay and specials were equally important as their private island absorbs most of the income they receive. One could argue that a citizen's living arrangements are nothing to do with their employer and that people should strive to live within their means. But perhaps unsurprisingly, when I asked if D34thr4ttle believed that companies were overpaying, he felt most of them do not.
"Most don't [pay too much], but some companies that start out paying high do so to attract decent workers, but pay might change due to company income not reaching their goals."
Teddy19's main focus is pay, and he says he has turned down many roles that were simply not paid well enough. He has worked for many companies that pay more than they earn, and he agrees with D34thr4ttle that they do so to attract higher stat players to try and help their company progress faster.
Once more, we have a lot of different opinions here. But I just wonder whether working for a particular type of company is likely to sway you one way or another? I only ask this because there seems to be a correlation between those on low pay and those in jobs where the specials can make you extra money.
For example, Sweet Shop employees experience a lower pay due to the money that can be earned from selling cans, whereas someone in a TV Network job requires higher pay, as there are no extra means of earning money from job points. When I interviewed him Teddy19 worked for a TV company, and it's understandable that he, therefore valued pay more at that time.
However, D34thr4ttle works in the same industry, at the same company and in the same role, so perhaps it's a case of Teddy19 valuing the job perks slightly less than his colleague. The aforementioned Miro also works at a TV Network, and this just goes to show that three people in the same situation can have vastly differing priorities.
So if we cannot find consensus from interviews with Torn's employees and owners, perhaps we should look further afield for an answer. There appears to be a vast difference between the way companies operate inside and outside of Torn, so maybe we will find some kind of solution there.
Companies outside Torn can spend funds on advertising for a short time to create returning customers, but here it appears that companies are having to pay a fortune to keep getting customers every single day. Should Torn adapt to the ways of the outside world? Are we in need of another major overhaul to the way companies work?
Tarelli has run 2 Restaurants, 1 Cruise line agency, 2 Amusement Parks, 1 Nightclub, 1 TV network and at present, he operates a Farm. This is a man who saw the company system's last overhaul two years ago when levels went from 5 star max to a 10 star limit, company sizes were reduced, and two additional specials were provided.
I think it is fair to say that Tarelli knows what he's talking about more than most, and he expressed the opinion that the previous change made Torn directorship more user-friendly by showing a larger amount of company information than it previously did.
Since Tarelli has such an impressive resumé, I had to know what his thoughts were on loss-running companies.
"It's simple really just pay less than what your company earns. Granted it does take more effort to find staff on reasonable pay but well worth it."
As someone who has in the past failed to achieve this balance, I wondered what Tarelli meant when he said it simply takes more effort. Unfortunately, he would only elaborate by saying that people should think outside of the box - it seems the best way to stay on top is to keep tight-lipped about your hiring strategies.
I even gave him a big smile =D yet I got nothing.
When I first entered the business world, I made the novice mistake of starting a company without actually understanding how it all worked. I very quickly fixed this error by focusing on all the education needed, while simultaneously purchasing every stock with a company boost.
As Tarelli has shown, it is not often that company directors reveal intricate details of how their company is run, and this makes complete sense since you are competing with thousands of other employee-hungry firms. However, the most common advice handed out is that you should always complete the relevant educations before becoming a director, or else you are bound to fail.
Before writing this article, I firmly believed that people had just become incredibly greedy in demanding high pay and that it was unrealistic to expect to run a company without incurring a loss for quite some time. However, I purchased my current company in the middle of researching this article, and for the first time, I have actually made a profit from it.
So maybe it isn't so difficult to achieve after all, and it just takes a new way of thinking to transform a loss-making company into a profitable one. Throughout this article, I have spoken to people who say that they are paying too much yet feel they have no choice if they want to progress. But I have also spoken to those who say they are not paying too much, and some of those people were and are making a profit.
After reviewing the conversations I have had, and this hurts to say, I have changed my opinion. Although I still think I was overpaying (evidently I was because the company made less than it paid out) I do not believe it was because Torn citizens were demanding high pay. Yes, they were asking for it, but I was the one who agreed to pay it, so ultimately the change had to come from within myself.
Having started out blaming the employees for their demands I now agree with the like of Shadowmere and Tarelli. If a company is running at a loss, then it is up to the director to manage it more efficiently, because that's something you can control - an employee's self-valuation is outside of your remit.
All being said, that does not mean I think the situation with the advertisement budget couldn't use a review. Maybe companies could spend the advertising budget to run advert campaigns, and this could encourage repeat customers. If a company doesn't run a campaign then they could lose customers to companies that do run them.
To me, having considered the needs of employees and directors, this approach makes perfect sense. Everywhere else in the world companies can run a short time advertising campaign to pull in customers, yet as mentioned in the article, in Torn, directors are paying out a fortune every single day.
Thank you for reading my very first article. I hope to write more in the future. Also, thank you to my mentor sugarvalves who I have learnt a tremendous amount from.
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