Business

Running a Business is something people study many years to learn in our world. 
== Spage Age Science Fiction ==
In this setting, the basics of business are the same. 
=== Finding a niche in the market ===
The first and most important step is to find a place in the market for yourself. Figure out what people need, and get it for them. More important, figure out what they want! 
In the Space Age Science Fiction setting, legitimate business is easy to find for those with the resources to start their own projects. There's always an area to set up shop as something other than a wage-slave. 
==== Free Trading ====
Free Traders are typically a small group of individuals who bundle together, buy a small Free Merchant class star ship, move out into the less civilized regions of space, a bit away from the Hyperlanes where goods are readily available, buy some cheap property on a colony world, set up an office and some living space there, contact a few people in nearby systems and get set deals to transport cargo for them, continue contacting enough people until they have a solid network of paying costumers - enough to pay the expenses they have, and then they supplement by buying goods where they are cheap, and selling where people require them. 
==== Mercenaries ====
Mercenaries can always find work, but "mercenaries" is really just a Hollywood term for "Private Security" in almost all cases. Though occasionally, people do require self proclaimed specialists for dangerous odd-jobs. Few can count on building a career on this though. 
==== Lawbringer ====
Lawbringers do police work on demand and bounty hunting. The pay is usually pretty good, and while it's a good way to gather funds to start a business, it's not necessarily a good way to make long term profits, and jobs can require travel to far regions and Lawbringers survive on their reputation, something which can take almost as much work to build as a business empire. 
==== Resource collection ====
Starting a mine, a lumber-mill, a farm or some other facility that gathers some sort of vital resource is a good way to start a business empire, if one has the cash. Any idiot can move to an agricultural colony and start a farm though, but that is hardly any guarantee of success because of supply and demand. If everyone is a farmer, then produce is probably not very much in demand. Of course, people always need to eat, so this particular given example is probably a sure way to at least make a living though. 
==== Processing ====
Resources gathered directly from a source are almost always cheap compared to a finished material. No one wants to go to their supermarket and buy a sack of wheat. Heck, most people today barely have any use for flour! That said, you're much more likely to them a bag of flour than a sack of wheat. If you find the right market, you can probably turn a very nice profit by processing resources for other people, or you can buy the collected resources, process them, and sell the processes resources and likely still turn a profit. Processing is a tricky business too, because in order to set up a production plant, there needs to be enough of a demand that it can pay off. 
==== Production ====
Turning resources into finished products is a surefire way to make more money than just by gathering resources. That is if the products are actually in demand and successful on the market. Productions have a direct cost, because they are made from materials that you could have sold (and in some cases that you might need to buy!). This means there is a production cost. Your profit per sold unit needs to be higher than the production cost, and then, you need to sell enough units that the upkeep of running a production is also paid, and it still turns at least a meager profit. 
==== Holdings ====
Owning businesses that already function is a good way to supplement a business Empire, but better yet, taking over a business (or starting one for that matter) that relies on resources you can provide - this can be a true game changer for a business. Let's assume you owned a farm that produces beef, wheat and vegetables and you own an industrial slaughter house and you own a bakery. 
With these holdings, you could open a burger joint, and basically produce almost anything the burger joint needs yourself. this seems like a recipe for progress, but tying down your other businesses to support your burger joint means you are entirely depending on the burger joint turning a profit. 
Realistically speaking though, all of those separate businesses wouldn't just be able to let you open ONE burger joint. You could probably. open a small chain of burger joints. Suddenly, you're in the food business too. A whole new market. Alternatively, you can open a single cafeteria and then sell your other products for profit and use the cafeteria to feed your employees reducing costs of keeping them employed. 
Another example could be buying up a lawfirm. Owning a lawfirm allows you to earn money on everyone who needs legal help in the area, but also to cut costs on lawyers - though lawyers require pay - a substantial pay, as do all employees, and any business venture needs to produce more than it costs to keep running, though just because one business doesn't turn a profit though, doesn't mean that this is necessarily a problem. 
Assuming that you own a cafeteria and a lawfirm, you could be in the situation that you were cutting costs enough that, even though the lawfirm turns out to be an expense rather than an income, it still reduces the costs of your other businesses because you save on lawyer fees and it could be that you save more money than you lose. 
=== Income ===
You income can only truly be measured after all expenses have been paid, but that said, it's important to keep track of how much money is coming in, but also how much is left after all is said and done - this is the term referred to as the profit. 
Any branch of your business empire will produce an income value. They are tracked separately 
=== Expenses ===
Expenses is the money going out. Business is built on investments, and investments typically require some sort of upkeep. A business is run by people, and people need to be paid. For a business to thrive, new investments must be made and it takes a long while before a business owner can capitalize on their investments. For many years of investing and probably making just a living on their business, the business owner will be trying to reinvest, and it comes almost a necessity to build upon the business. At least, if you run your business in a legitimate manner. 
Expenses aren't really kept track of after it's determined if your separate branches turn a positive income or not. Occasionally when changes happen to your business model, your income might be regulated as expenses for a part of your business go up or down. 
=== Profit ===
How much money you are actually EARNING when everything is said and done, on an annual basis. This doesn't include your personal paycheck, but refers to your company's earnings, not your personal earnings.
This is one value for your entire business empire. 
=== Taxes, salaries and contract works ===
The good thing about living as part of an interstellar society, is that a good accountant can definitely find you some loophole for tax evasions. But in an interstellar society, there's always someone who will try to capitalize on your hard work, without really giving you anything in return. The fringe colonies don't really benefit from their tax money the same way Dwellers do. 
The good thing about living out in the fringes is that any colony can declare limited independence. This means their taxes are very low, and their government is local and less bureaucratic, but that still doesn't mean that you couldn't end up slaving away so that people on the other side of the galaxy can have more abundant luxury. 
Every year you need to hire an accountant to do your books, or do them yourselves through an extended academics check. Without Academic - Accountant as a merit with at least 2 dots, you're looking at a very long work process if you want to do it on your own. Depending on the size of your business empire, an accountant will need 1 day of work per branch of your business empire, but he needs an additional day of work for each 10 employees a branch has. 
This ensures that your people get paid and you pay minimum taxes - of course a better accountant might be able to cut more corners for you. 
Another matter is the legal works. You need a lawyer to sift through contract works and ensure that business regulations are entirely kept legal, otherwise the local authorities could shut you down. A lawyer will go over your contract work at least once annually, requiring the same time as the accountant. Legal work is just as difficult for the untrained. 
=== Dirty Money ===
Supplementing your business Empire with dirty money made from lucrative side gigs is a good way to pay for your next investment long before you would normally be able to afford it. But you can just take a million credits that you made from illicit piracy and funnel it directly into your company. 
You need to launder your money. Small businesses that can support themselves and not much else are key when it comes to money laundering. Owning a small kiosk or a an auto repair shop are fine examples. Both are likely to support them selves and not generate any profit or expenses worth mentioning, but if you get a an accountant to cook the books for you, you can make it look like the business made a bigger profit. 
A normal such location can launder 1000 credits a month. An accountant on your payroll will require a day a month to launder upwards of 10000 credits. Obviously, this means that it doesn't really pay off to start laundering money unless you own at least a few of these small businesses.