First of all, I completely realise we are early on in an early access game - so fine balancing has not been done. But I think this topic might be important later.
So I’m in game year two (about 74 days in total). I’m doing basically what Uncle Fred tells me, with a few bits of my own - and thus far it’s been largely impossible to fail.
As long as you have access to enough cash to rent the building, buy the internal fittings, stock and employ someone to work there - that’s it. The business is good to go and whilst earnings may fluctuate a bit as you add more items or open for longer, it never really posts a negative and there is nothing that will happen to make it do so.
So at this point there’s no challenge. Just wait until the money builds up, start the business, let the money roll in. Rinse and repeat.
A game should be about making choices; a great game is about non-obvious choices, so there’s no right way to do everything. What plans are there to introduce player agency that actually matters once you’ve set up the first few businesses?