Have you ever wondered what it’s like to run a business?

They say that running a business, especially your own, is simple because you control the majority of the specifics, you are your own boss, and you work at your own time and pace. That is completely untrue.

As a general manager of a 23-year-old company. Running a business is not for the faint of heart; it is incredibly risky. It takes dedication, hard work, and a lot of patience. Aside from that, you must have exceptional multitasking and time management skills in order to meet delivery dates. And strong interpersonal skills are required to close deals.

Running a business will exhaust you and stress you out, and you may consider quitting due to the responsibilities. However, there is a sense of accomplishment after every successful transaction. And I’m telling you, it is highly addictive.

I am presently on vacation (even then, I had to check in from time to time) and am happy for the opportunity to recharge and explore provinces in the Philippines, as well as to relax and play a few games online. I’ve found a handful that may give you an idea of what it’s like to run a business.

Business Sim#1: Coffee Shop

Coffee Shop is a one-month simulation game in which players adjust game settings to increase earnings from operating a coffee shop.

It teaches players the basic concept of business management, such as: Inventory, Strategy, Pricing, Predicting Demand, and Reading Consumer Feedback.

The players manage their inventory, budget their cashflow, decide pricing, adjust their coffee blend, and plan to improve day-to-day earnings by adjusting their business based on the weather. In this game, the demand for coffee increases in cold weather and drops in warm weather. It can be confusing at first, but it will become incredibly easy once you get the hang of it.

This is not just for kids but also those who wanted to get a feel of how it’s like to run a business. In fact, it’s one of my favorites as I’ve always wanted to put up a coffee shop! It’s both enjoyable and frustrating since you have to “experiment” with the inventory to balance supply and demand. To do this, you must also be attentive and understand how to read your customers’ feedback.

Business Sim #2: Ice Cream Bar

Ice Cream Bar is a simulation game about an ice cream shop in which you must quickly serve customers the ice cream they order in the exact order.

For starters, you have to look at the thought bubble on the left side of the customers to see what they ordered and how much time you have to serve them. Sounds easy? Think again, customers will be popping in two’s or more at a time you have to make their ice cream treat in the exact order they wanted. Again, this is time pressured. When you run out of an ingredient, you have to manually refill it by clicking the coin right above the ingredient’s spot, which may take up to 5 seconds.

On my first attempt, I saw more grumpy faces than those who were excited to get their ice cream. It was great fun, but it put a lot of pressure on me.

Business Sim #3: The Casagrandes Mercado Mayhem

The Casagrandes Mercado Mayhem is a grocery shop simulation game in which you run the store as if it were an early store. Rather of having customers pick out their own items, you do it for them.

The objective of the game is to service the customer and keep them happy by completing their groceries as quickly as possible. You will meet  Ronnie Anne, who is in charge of asking customers what they want and collecting their purchases. And Bobby, on the other hand, cleans and restocks shelves.

Business Sim #4: Idle Startup Tycoon

Idle Startup Tycoon is a game in which you build sort of a “startup factory” think of a department store, a retail facility that sells a wide variety of consumer goods in different sections of the shop, with each section (or “department”) specialized in a specific product category. But in this game, it’s by floors.

First, you’ll have a shared sales office with along with a programmer. Then, you will be instructed to unlock a floor as well as your first business during the Tutorials. Another programmer will be assigned as well. But be warned: they work slowly, so you’ll need to “upgrade” both your personnel and your facilities to make them work more quickly and efficiently.

Some of the businesses are: a food delivery app, mobile gaming, ridesharing app, live-streaming app, internet of things startup, infosec, drones, artificial intelligence, and suborbital space.

Business Sim #5: Grocery Cashier

Grocery Cashier is a game in which kids can learn addition and subtraction; as well as monetary familiarity with the use of a virtual cash register.

• Enter the price of each item as it passes over the conveyor belt, then tap the add button (+).
• Rather than using the keyboard, you must click or touch the cashier’s buttons to enter payments. If you make a mistake, you may clear the previous input by using the clear button.
• After you’ve entered all of the items, click the total button.
• If the customer pays using gift certificates, input the value of the gift certificate and the minus button (-). You do not give change to customers who use gift certificates. Simply input the amount, the minus sign, and the DONE button on the right.
• If the customer pays with cash, enter the amount and then click the pay button. You then click on the bills and coins that match to the amount owing, and when finished, you click the done button.

To be honest, here is where I got the most confused because USD isn’t my currency and I’m also under time limits. But it was a challenge that I happily accepted.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, the majority of the games I picked involve either problem solving or are timed. Being able to come up with solutions (under tremendous pressure) and delivering agreed-upon products or services in a timely way are only few of the factors in running a successful business.