Looking for Advice for those of us Solo Players New to running Businesses

[GAUNTLET HELLFIRE]

On 7/25/2022 at 5:55 PM, HopalongCasidy said:

Location of biker biz does not matter, cheapest everything.  Only reason to have them is to run through nightclub.

 

It matters more now that it has a passive income that you go and collect and has customer bikes to deliver if you want. The most expensive location is 300k more than the cheapest so i would say it is better to get a location you like especially when it is a maximum of 300k more.

 

On 7/25/2022 at 7:29 PM, RyuNova said:

The biggest trick will be "Find New Session" or Invite Only jumping. If you go to sell your business, and it's a sh*t Sell Mission, immediately find a new Invite Only Session and repeat until you get a good mission.

 

Could not agree more. If you have a full biker business and get 3 Post Op vans just find a new session. It is not worth even trying that.

 

On 7/26/2022 at 5:18 AM, DrEeveell said:

Oh yeah, nearly forgot that part. Don't run around acting as an MC president. Even with the security upgrades your businesses will be raided ALL THE DAMN TIME! This morning I had a daily objective to resupply one of them, so I used the master control terminal from my Arcade to do it, and forgot to disband. Not 5 minutes later, LJT is calling me about a snitch I have to take care of.

Never stay registered as an MC. I sold my counterfeit cash and disbanded the second I could but still got a call from LJT saying I am being raided. I can't count the amount of times I registered as an MC, requested a bike and then got raided before I could even disband. If you continue being registered as an MC you will spend half your time being raided. It was so bad I kept all biker businesses on one character empty and never bought a single business on any of my other characters.

 

11 hours ago, GeneralDee said:

Big thanks! I went ahead and bought a coke lockup and got that all set up with upgrades etc. Then went to my nightclub and assigned staff to coke and guns. Now I'm finally doing some other stuff while things cook. I think I got it now. Spent a ton of money but that's what last week's grind was for. El Rubio bought this stuff for me I'm sure it will pay off in the long run.

If you don't have them I would recommend meth and counterfeit cash as well. If you have enough to do already and don't want to keep up with them then just buy them, do the set up, sell whatever product you get from the set up and leave them empty and don't buy any upgrades and then you can just use them to get more money from your nightclub. If you would like to make money from them and do the sell missions then buy the equipment and staff upgrades but remember you will be raided a lot more if you stay registered as an MC president.

[RyuNova]

1 minute ago, GAUNTLET HELLFIRE said:

Could not agree more. If you have a full biker business and get 3 Post Op vans just find a new session. It is not worth even trying that.

 

 

I finally got my friend back on GTAO, and we did a Biker Sell mission and lo and behold it was Post Op vans. Even with two people, in Invite Only it was f*cking tedious. Three miles to the city from my Lock-up, did four out of five drops and the last one was another three miles away in Chumash.

[HopalongCasidy]

Biker biz is a yuge time suck.  Glad to hear they upped money potential, however. Are the biker delivery vehicles still capable of being locked onto from the air, while CEO/vip are not?

[GAUNTLET HELLFIRE]

1 hour ago, HopalongCasidy said:

Are the biker delivery vehicles still capable of being locked onto from the air, while CEO/vip are not?

Not sure but I doubt R* would change that when you can just sell in invite only to avoid being attacked at all. 

[DrEeveell]

5 hours ago, GAUNTLET HELLFIRE said:

If you don't have them I would recommend meth and counterfeit cash as well. If you have enough to do already and don't want to keep up with them then just buy them, do the set up, sell whatever product you get from the set up and leave them empty and don't buy any upgrades and then you can just use them to get more money from your nightclub. If you would like to make money from them and do the sell missions then buy the equipment and staff upgrades but remember you will be raided a lot more if you stay registered as an MC president.

 

That's pretty much what I do. I keep the coke supplied and running and the other two empty. Except that every once in a while I'll get a daily objective to Resupply [MC  Business], or Sell Goods from [MC Business].

 

I don't have a problem doing the postal van deliveries. Think of it as racing. It's easy to win a race in a fast can, can you win a race in a slow crappy truck? Basically you have to ignore the GPS and pick a path that avoids the worst terrain. You can also do them in any order.

[GeneralDee]

I learned a huge lesson last night. For the first time I got 2 armored trucks to make deliveries from the bunker. I wasn't paying attention and for some reason thought I only had to make one drop with each truck within a half hour not seeing it was 5 drops with each truck. First drop was in Chumash. I screwed up and left the first truck after the first drop and got in my Sparrow to get the other truck. I ended up with 2 trucks being active at the same time and had to make 2 drops with one, then go back for the other truck while being interrupted by attackers in between. In the end I made 7 deliveries so still got something. I got my beginner's first valuable lesson....always finish with the first vehicles before going for the next one. I'm glad my first sale mission was with the 1 Longfin and I got my bonus from that.

 

BTW I was surprised I got 2 vehicles. I was under the impression that if we resupply only once then sell, we would get only 1 vehicle. But I also got 2 vehicles for the coke twice from one resupply. We get a half hour so very doable if you know where you're going.

Edited July 29 by GeneralDee

[Guest]

11 hours ago, GeneralDee said:

I learned a huge lesson last night. For the first time I got 2 armored trucks to make deliveries from the bunker. I wasn't paying attention and for some reason thought I only had to make one drop with each truck within a half hour not seeing it was 5 drops with each truck. First drop was in Chumash. I screwed up and left the first truck after the first drop and got in my Sparrow to get the other truck. I ended up with 2 trucks being active at the same time and had to make 2 drops with one, then go back for the other truck while being interrupted by attackers in between. In the end I made 7 deliveries so still got something. I got my beginner's first valuable lesson....always finish with the first vehicles before going for the next one. I'm glad my first sale mission was with the 1 Longfin and I got my bonus from that.

 

BTW I was surprised I got 2 vehicles. I was under the impression that if we resupply only once then sell, we would get only 1 vehicle. But I also got 2 vehicles for the coke twice from one resupply. We get a half hour so very doable if you know where you're going.

Like I said monster trucks,  wedges and BLACK insurgents you can do solo.  Anything else find a new session.  It seems you did a sale with the GREEN insurgents which require multiple drops AND at each drop you have to fight enemies.  I dont think you can make all drops with one vehicle then go back and get another.   Not sure as I havent done that sale mission in a loooong time.  I always find new session when I see those green insurgents.   

 

Also,  if you are selling in an invite only session dont do the "one resupply one vehicle" method homie.  You are doing multiple sale missions instead of one mission when its full.  You could be making money for your other businesses with that time.  

Edited July 30 by BumpyJohnson

[DrEeveell]

I beg to differ. If you're constantly leaving missions you're leaving a huge amount of money on the table. I can do ALL of the different missions including the Marshall and the Dune buggy with one vehicle solo.

When you let the supplies completely run out, then sell and resupply you should only get one vehicle for the sales. If you resupplied before it was completely empty sometimes you'll get two.

 

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, DrEeveell said:

I beg to differ. If you're constantly leaving missions you're leaving a huge amount of money on the table. I can do ALL of the different missions including the Marshall and the Dune buggy with one vehicle solo.

When you let the supplies completely run out, then sell and resupply you should only get one vehicle for the sales. If you resupplied before it was completely empty sometimes you'll get two.

 

You can make back what you lost with a quick headhunter or something else similar.  Sure its easy to do any of the missions solo with 1 vehicle but time is money and you're leaving much more on the table via the time you're wasting.  Take crates for example.  You can buy 1 crate at a time and profit much more than buying 3 crates at a time but buying 3 crates allows you to fill the warehouse and sell it multiple times before you fill it once buying 1 crate.  Its similar with the bunker and 1 vehicle sale vs full sale.  Lets also factor in that your bunker staff dont make product while your in a sale so not only are you taking much longer to sell one full bunker by doing multiple sales instead of one but your staff is taking much longer to make product because your constantly stopping them to sell 1 vehicle.  Again time is money so in the end its five 1 vehicle sale missions vs one full bunker and 4 other sell missions from other businesses. 

[DrEeveell]

Agree to disagree.

 

[GeneralDee]

13 hours ago, BumpyJohnson said:

Like I said monster trucks,  wedges and BLACK insurgents you can do solo.  Anything else find a new session.  It seems you did a sale with the GREEN insurgents which require multiple drops AND at each drop you have to fight enemies.  I dont think you can make all drops with one vehicle then go back and get another.   Not sure as I havent done that sale mission in a loooong time.  I always find new session when I see those green insurgents.   

 

Also,  if you are selling in an invite only session dont do the "one resupply one vehicle" method homie.  You are doing multiple sale missions instead of one mission when its full.  You could be making money for your other businesses with that time.  

Doing the 2 vehicles is doable because you get 30 minutes. i timed it and getting the first 5 drops can be done in under 15 minutes once you know where you're going and get a good rhythm going. And also have a fast vehicle to get back to the 2nd one like a Sparrow. I did 2 garbage trucks in around 20 minutes and those things are slow going up hills.

 

What happens if I resupply to a full stock solo?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, GeneralDee said:

Doing the 2 vehicles is doable because you get 30 minutes. i timed it and getting the first 5 drops can be done in under 15 minutes once you know where you're going and get a good rhythm going. And also have a fast vehicle to get back to the 2nd one like a Sparrow. I did 2 garbage trucks in around 20 minutes and those things are slow going up hills.

 

What happens if I resupply to a full stock solo?

2 green insurgents is doable but it takes too long.  Remember,  when you're selling,  the staff is not working.  The longer they arent working the longer it takes to fill the bunker.  Again,  time is money so the idea is to let the staff fill the bunker as fast as possible so you can sell it as fast as possible. 

 

A full stock will get you 2 wedges,  3 marshals,  3 black insurgents,  3 green insurgents or 4 dune buggies.  The first 3 you can do solo but not the last 2 so find a new session then do a quick headhunter to make back what you lost then sell (or sell then headhunter).  Doing it this way you spend less time dealing with the bunker which gives you more time to do other things.

[mmm chocolate]

PRO TIP:  do not do sell missions from your MC businesses. (and dont bother stealing or buying supplies, your nightclub staff get them automatically)

 

DO ALL SELL MISSIONS FROM NIGHTCLUB. that way you can use your custom Speedo Van (you can add turbo etc) instead of getting stuck with a slow ass post op van.

 

keeping your Nightclub at max popularity, is 50,000$ free money per ingame day.

(MC businesses are notoriously low paying, focus on other stuff like auto shop missions etc)

Edited July 31 by mmm chocolate

[GeneralDee]

4 hours ago, mmm chocolate said:

PRO TIP:  do not do sell missions from your MC businesses. (and dont bother stealing or buying supplies, your nightclub staff get them automatically)

 

DO ALL SELL MISSIONS FROM NIGHTCLUB. that way you can use your custom Speedo Van (you can add turbo etc) instead of getting stuck with a slow ass post op van.

 

keeping your Nightclub at max popularity, is 50,000$ free money per ingame day.

(MC businesses are notoriously low paying, focus on other stuff like auto shop missions etc)

I'm actually slowly coming to this conclusion for myself. Been keeping my 50k up and it's so much easier now that every 2 days all I do is go in and throw someone out or take someone somewhere. So far, I like the bunker missions better than the coke ones because they're faster and more straightforward. With the coke, I will do those if I want to kill some time but pray I never get the postal trucks again. I didn't leave the session because I was curious and it's my first time doing these so it's just rights of passage vibes lol. However, more and more, I'm looking into my nightclub and hoping it will be the main way I deal with the businesses. Is it a set the staff and forget it situation? Like no crates have to be sourced for the nightclub? No resupplying anything. Just as long as the businesses exist, if you have them running or not, the nightclub will automatically source and resupply everything? And how long would it typically take to fill everything up with one extra cargo unit if you only have 3 businesses for example? I will slowly add more. So far I have arms, coke, and cargo. 

 

Another reason I'm leaning more towards the nightclub is because I don't look forward to one of the new crate source missions from what I'm reading. I also did the math. If it takes me around a half hour to sell coke and I make 135,000 profit (210,000-75,000), I can do 2 Franklin payphone hits and something in between in that same time. So doing those sells will be for fun or mostly when they are in double bonus week.

Edited July 31 by GeneralDee

[BlackMilk]

Yeah the nightclub is understandably looking like a better option for income. There are some exceptions ofcourse but just like with the heists (allowing players to do them in pairs or solo) it looks like R* slightly improved on things throughout updates but without applying the new, better logic to older content. CEO warehouse stock and hangar crates are a pain to collect yourself. The hangar ones especially with what you have to go through for even a single crate. Which is a real shame cos I'm sure lots of players don't mind the 'excuse' to spend time in the air with various aircraft but don't want to be forced into tedious missions for single crates.

 

Nightclub popularity used to require several annoying missions if the bar was low or empty (I think, it's been years since I actively played this game) and I've also been popping in every now and then the last couple of days just to collect cash from the safe and throw someone out or drive someone home. Far more convenient.

 

In the nightclub, having a member of staff assigned to any type of stock will generate that automatically, albeit VERY slowly (without upgrade, not sure on with anymore). Some have suggested selling at a certain amount of stock but if you're the type to want to go for a completely full warehouse for selling, all you have to do is check every now and then to make sure that staff isn't sitting idly while there's more stock to acquire. If I'm remembering correctly there's... seven types of stock and up to five 'technicians' able to work on one type at a time. So just come back to re-assign one or two of them when they're done with one type. Again, only if you REALLY want to sell a full warehouse (I mean all levels of storage) out of your nightclub. Might not be very efficient time-wise.

 

You're hitting the nail on the head when it comes to MC stuff, it's tedious and not as profitable as other businesses. You could fill them up entirely and sell a full stock if you have some players in your MC to help you sell but other than that I'd go with whatever advice was already given in this thread. It takes up too much time otherwise.

[Shiloh Comes]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:05 PM, GeneralDee said:

We are finally getting to run businesses in invite only sessions so I want to take full advantage and add to my daily GTA activities. So far with my current character, I been playing solo since last October staying away from public lobbies and doing things that are solo friendly which means I been missing out on running businesses. I did buy a bunker on sale a few months ago for upgrading weapons, and i also bought an Arcade and Nightclub for the passive income. I also bought a CEO office and never set foot back in there from the day I bought it since it's useless in invite only. I do make use of the garage space though.

 

My biggest preparation for new changes with the Criminal Enterprise DLC is to buy all the best businesses and finally make full use of my office, Nightclub, Bunker and Arcade. I can imagine with the new changes there will be a lot of updates from YouTubers about the businesses. I'm asking any veterans that been running business have some advice for us new business owners going forward? I'm not sure where to start. Do I just buy a Clubhouse? When I do buy a yayo business, do I need to go to that location or can all this be done from the Arcade or Nightclub? I know I can look up videos on this topic but I'm wondering how much of an impact the new changes are making. Just looking for updated advice. Thanks in advance.

 

I've run all the businesses in solo public lobbies, but got fed up with the hassle, so in the end I just used to sell nightclub stock (linked to businesses) once a day.

 

Now I've opened every business back up and it's great fun without the hassle of keep checking no one joined the session and you can relax. It's like Christmas to any frustrated GTA player, especially those rich enough not to care about the profit so much.

 

Just be warned though, it's a lot to check on and work at if you want to keep it optimised. If you just want to play and can accept profit going begging here and there because you can't be arsed to restock or sell, then it's good, profitable and relaxed gaming.

 

Questions like this are impossible to answer in forums. Millions of words of info on topics like this. Find other players to speak to online, do it gradually that way, let them talk you through it. Just post your platform.

 

Finally, I would advise anyone, before doing anything business related, to grind your eyeballs and soul to dust by doing (is it 500 Agency missions now?) for the 50k(?) safe money as fast as you can, then you will never care about any business fees again.

Edited July 31 by Shiloh Comes

[SummerFreeze]

On 7/25/2022 at 3:23 PM, Chorizombie said:

Well, you got a point, as a 2013 veteran im worn out of driving and even flying from A to B, but I remember the appeal ithd sunset on freeway had and the randomness of peds or all the city landscape. Fast travel is to make money in the least time possible, but you miss out a lot from R* details, guess its a trade.

If you're worn out of driving you really shouldn't buy businesses in Paleto Bay.

 

You could cluster a bunker and a few biker businesses around a facility in the Grand Senora Desert, too.

 

But it's not even necessary for the bunker and arcade, because you can spawn in those by switching session, which is quicker than fast-traveling to your facility first.

Edited July 31 by SummerFreeze

[DrEeveell]

3 hours ago, Shiloh Comes said:

Just be warned though, it's a lot to check on and work at if you want to keep it optimised. If you just want to play and can accept profit going begging here and there because you can't be arsed to restock or sell, then it's good, profitable and relaxed gaming.

 

That's pretty much what I decided.  I own the top 3 MC businesseses but I only keep the candy factory supplied and running. The other 2 are unsupplied and empty just as sources for my nightclub warehouse. When I had all 3 open, that was practically all I was doing. Plus I got raided all the flingin' flangin' time. Even before you get the success call from LJT I'm trying to disband, but I can't because they are working up a raid. It was easier to just let it be raided and re-do the setup missions.

 

2 hours ago, SummerFreeze said:

If you're worn out of driving you really shouldn't buy businesses in Paleto Bay.

 

You could cluster a bunker and a few biker businesses around a facility in the Grand Senora Desert, too.

 

But it's not even necessary for the bunker and arcade, because you can spawn in those by switching session, which is quicker than fast-traveling to your facility first.

 

You can respawn in the Grand Senora clubhouse too, that's where I keep my OPMkII parked. The 3 cheapest best factories are right nearby, and the Rte 68 Bunker and Rte 68 Facility. Although I mostly drive there, because I like just driving around.

 

I used to have the nightclub down by LSIA, but I sold it last night and bought the one in La Mesa, since it's right down the street from my arcade and auto shop, and the 10 car garage in between the arcade and the auto shop.

And of course the popularity crashed to 0, and switching the DJ's only did around 1/4 bar, and Lazlo keeps whining at me. I'm going to have to spend all doing doing promotion missions again.

 

[SummerFreeze]

5 minutes ago, DrEeveell said:

And of course the popularity crashed to 0, and switching the DJ's only did around 1/4 bar, and Lazlo keeps whining at me. I'm going to have to spend all doing doing promotion missions again.

Since the summer DLC, every time I went to collect cash from my nightclub vault and switch DJs, I had one of these new random events, like kicking out a drunkard, that refilled my popularity. So maybe try dropping in randomly; you might get lucky.

Edited July 31 by SummerFreeze

[mmm chocolate]

only took me two or three NIghtclub Management missions (call Tony) to get full popularity. (some things are 2x and 3x this week)

[mmm chocolate]

10 hours ago, GeneralDee said:

Is it a set the staff and forget it situation? Like no crates have to be sourced for the nightclub? No resupplying anything. Just as long as the businesses exist, IF YOU HAVE THEM RUNNING or not, the nightclub will automatically source and resupply everything?

 

 

yes, all you need to do is make sure they are up and running. you do not have to source or steal, nightclub staff does is it for you.

Edited July 31 by mmm chocolate

[GeneralDee]

1 minute ago, mmm chocolate said:

 

 

yes, all you need to do is make sure they are up and running. you do not have to source or steal, nightclub staff does is it for you.

So the businesses do have to be operating where the staff are busy? Or does that matter at all? When i go to my bunker, many times they are all just hanging around coughing looking at their cellphones lol. Until i give them more supplies

 

[DrEeveell]

As long as you didn't change the status to Shutdown Business, the nightclub will produce stock.

 

[GeneralDee]

2 hours ago, DrEeveell said:

As long as you didn't change the status to Shutdown Business, the nightclub will produce stock.

 

The coke in the nightclub is not moving. It seems stuck at 2/4 since yesterday while the other 2 businesses are increasing. The only difference is I didn't resupply the coke business but been active with the bunker and did my first nightclub source mission through the phone. Any idea why?

[Taterman]

5 hours ago, GeneralDee said:

The coke in the nightclub is not moving. It seems stuck at 2/4 since yesterday while the other 2 businesses are increasing. The only difference is I didn't resupply the coke business but been active with the bunker and did my first nightclub source mission through the phone. Any idea why?

 

It's a known bug with the Coke business. Just switch the NC warehouse worker with one from a different business. i.e. put the  ammo guy on coke and the coke guy on ammo.

Also, the coke business takes 2 hours per unit to produce in the nightclub. If it hasn't been too long since you've sold it might just be that.

Edited August 1 by Taterman
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