How-To: Company

Ever since the rise of factions in the Turbulent Seas, there had been companies alongside them; but, most of them do not survive as long as them. This is the so-called 2 Weeks Problem, where companies are unable to grow and/or their owner goes inactive. So how do you make a company that’ll survive longer than two weeks? This article will go through most if not all the dos and don’ts of a company, from before its founding all the way to its success and how to keep it there.

Planning Your Company

The Idea

The idea is the most important part of your company in where you will think of what products or services you will offer. This is often hard, since there’s barely any items to produce/sell, and services can be finicky. 

First, ask yourself why you want to make a company and how you want it to operate. Do you want to earn silver coins? Do you want to help others regardless of silver coins? If you chose the latter, then more power to you—but make sure you enjoy what you’re doing. Once you have your goal, it’s time for the harder part: how will you achieve it?

If you’re wanting to earn silver coins, you’ll need to sell or provide a service that users will want to buy, and you can earn a profit. As said before, there’s barely any items to product/sell. The safest, and best, choice is to sell rares and robux items. They can be hard to come by, but if you’re able to find a willing supplier, you’re able to flip them. Now, here’s a mistake that most newbies make: selling wood or wood-crafted items. If you’re in it for silver coins, then this is the worst mistake that you could make. Silver coins are wood, so whenever you sell wood or wood-crafted items, you’re either losing silver or losing customers.

Now, services are much more complex—this is where you have to think outside the box. There are very few things that one can do in-game, but it is possible. For example, Sealink Voyages offers cruises in return for silver coins—this is an interesting service, especially when stretching the game to its limits to get the most out of it, but it’s not ideal. What you want is service a that is not strictly bound to the game. For example, Orage News publishes newspapers and offers ad spaces in return for silver coins—this works well if you’re able to create quality papers weekly and gain an audience. But let’s go another step outside the box. The Volney Mercantile Company has two forms of gambling: chip-based using a bot and a ticket-based lottery system—both of these require little attention but brings in lots of silver. Now, even more out of the box: finance—there’s the Volney Stock Exchange and the (soon-to-come) Bank of Volney. But here’s the main idea: find a service that people are willing to use and make it unique.

The Server

The server is the most important part since it is the heart of the company, their base of operations. How easy it is to navigate determines if someone either purchases something or gives up trying. Only have channels that are necessary for the company to run—engagement channels are fine, but make it an off-topic channel and no more. The channels should be separated in categories based on their usage—don’t crowd too many in one. Important categories and channels should be at the top so that they’re easier to find.

Once all the channels have been made, it’s time to start decorating and posting the necessary messages. Have a uniformed format for messages that is pleasing to the eye—professionality is key. The usage of emojis and dividing lines can ease messages if they’re walls of text. Use bolding (**) and lists (-) to further separate the information and highlight. One bot that is used by Sealink and VMC is Discohook, which creates embeds and allows for pop-up menus and reaction roles.

Now comes the most important part of your company: the logo and flag. It doesn’t have to be too fancy, but it should have quality and is clear. Paint.net is a free and amazing tool for creating images. 

• The recommended logo size is any square format (1000×1000, for example) and for the flags a 2:1 format (2000×1000 or 1920×1080). 

• The logo/flag should have some reference to what your company is, but it is often times not required.

• The logo/flag should have a color palette of 3–4 colors. Don’t make it too complex with its design, but not too simple.

Expanding Your Company

If you have made it this far with a fully prepared company and server, then great job! But that’s only the beginning—there’s still lots more you have to do, and this stage is the most important part. If you’re unable to expand your company or begin to lose interest, then there’s a good chance it’ll face the 2 Weeks Problem.

The Marketing

The marketing of your company is very important to its wellbeing. If you don’t advertise, then it’ll eventually fail. Firstly, create an advertisement that can be sent in the advertisement channel in OFH. It should be brief, but make sure to explain what your company is and what it does. Again, have a uniformed format that is pleasing to the eye—professionality is key. Additionally, having an image, for example a poster or even your own flag, makes your message more eye-catching. Posting in OFH is a good way to gain customers, but it isn’t the best method; though, being an active community member can draw customers.

Marketing in-game is another way to draw customers, with this is often time-consuming and yields little results. Sending messages within chat is a way to do this, but spamming it can annoy players, and you can be reported. Having a ship at Volney with a flag detailing your products/services is a better way, and if the ship is decorated with say rares, then it’ll draw customers. But, there’s a much better way: directly talking to players. There’s a lot to salesman tactics, but essentially you should be friendly to a user and draw them in. Why should they want your service? Why should they buy it?

Now, there’s the out-of-the-box ways to marketing that most companies overlooking: the internet. It’s an untapped well that allows those who are not in any TTS servers to find your company. A good choice is the Turbulent Seas Fandom, where you can post advertisements in the discussion page. But there are better options: YouTube and Google itself. Posting videos on YouTube allows for your company to have a wide reach. Advertisement videos, or even videos of activities, are perfect, and with the right amount of editing can be effective. Now, there’s the far-end, of which you’re reading on now: a website. This is not needed for any companies, but if you’re willing to go the extra mile by purchasing a domain and creating a website, then it’ll be effective. But, big but here, do this only if you’re as large as VMC and have tons of products and services. 

Floating Your Company

If you have made it this far, then great job! You have most likely overcome the 2 Weeks Problem, but that doesn’t mean you can rest yet. Your company will eventually get larger, and that means having to expand operations to keep up with demands.

The Staffing

Hiring staff isn’t needed for all companies, but it’s very helpful whenever you are not available. First, find what positions other people can fill. Maybe it’s receiving payment from customers, or hosting events, or even writing papers. You will need trustworthy and qualified people to do certain positions, of course.

Finding staff members is similar to finding customers: send advertisements in the OFH server and talk to people in-game. If someone is interested, be sure to test their aptitude, whether it is by having them doing a task, going through an interview, or even an application.

Once you have staff members, you need to pay them for their work. The best method is through commissions, where the staff member must complete a task before receiving pay. This compels them to do as many tasks as possible. The other method is through a salary, where you pay staff members periodically.