Business decision simulator
EMPIRE Business SimulatorLearn business by making decisions.
Practise running a business before putting real money on the line. Make decisions about pricing, customers, cash flow and growth, and explore how your choices play out.Realistic scenarios. Your decisions. Simulated consequences to learn from.
START TRAINING FREENo signup required to start. No credit card needed.
Explore all four free business games →Four free simulations · Choose an option or type your own decision
Month 1.
The business is yours now.
You have no clients and a landline that never rings.
You have $10,000, a van, a laptop and your own two hands. Nobody knows you exist yet. How do you get the first paying work in the door?
What would you do?
Or type your own decision in the game
Example of what a player might write:
"Call ten past customers from my old job, offer a fixed-price first visit, and ask each one for a referral."
This is the real opening situation of the free Service game. Outcomes above are samples only.
Real screens from the free Service game
Knowing business theory isn't the same asmaking business decisions.
Reading and watching
"How does business work?"
EMPIRE asks
"What would you do?"
Choose, see the simulated outcome, then try another approach.
Make the decision · Run the business · Live with the consequences · Understand the trade-off · Try again
Books and videos can explain the theory. EMPIRE gives you a place to practise pricing, hiring and spending decisions when resources are limited.
Not a multiple-choice quiz
Go beyond the options.Practise your own strategy.
Explore the trade-offs in a decision you would make.
Type your own plan. EMPIRE reviews supported actions and affordability before applying them to the simulated business. Some plans need clarification or cannot be carried out.
Five executed custom answers per free run. Explore a different approach.
TEST MY STRATEGY →No guaranteed outcomes
You made the smart decision.At least, you think you did.
The market doesn't know what your plan was.
It only responds to what happens.
Sometimes you're right. Sometimes you're wrong.
Sometimes you're right, and it creates an even bigger problem.
Would you know the difference before it was too late?
- 01Can you get someone to pay?
- 02Can you do it again?
- 03Can you make the numbers work?
- 04Can the business handle growth?
Decision → consequence
The result isn't alwayswhat you think.
Every decision changes the business. Sometimes solving one problem exposes the next one.
You chose: Undercut every competitor by 40%
- Clients▲ up
- Diary▲ full
- Price per job▼ 40% lower
- Client satisfaction▼ down
- Your hours▲ stretched
You solved "no customers".
Now you're the bottleneck, at a price that barely covers the fuel.
Revenue went up.But was it because of your decision?
Direct effect of your decision
What your choice changed, before the month played out.
This month's business results
What happened around it: existing customers, costs, churn, events.
The simulated business moves even when you do nothing. Compare direct decision effects with monthly results to examine what changed and why.
Second-order consequences
Some decisionscome back later.
The best-looking decision today isn't always the best decision six months from now. Some choices create consequences that land months later in the game.
Learn to think beyond the immediate result.
MONTH 2
You chose the cheapest option to save cash.
MONTH 5 · DELAYED RESULT
"3 months ago you chose…" Now it's back.
Ask questions first
You don'thave to guess.
Before you commit, ask for the numbers. EMPIRE answers from your business's own figures, and asking doesn't use up a month.
Get the information · Make the call · Live with the result
Good judgement isn't just choosing better answers. It's knowing what you need to know before you choose.
- "What does each option cost us?"
- "What happens to cash if we do this?"
- "What's the break-even on the ads?"
- "How many hours do we have left?"
The business failed.Your practice doesn't have to stop.
Review the simulated outcome, examine the decisions that mattered and start again with a different approach.
SHOW ME ↓Company Autopsy
What actually killed it.
Review why the simulated business failed, its costliest decisions and the alternatives in your Company Autopsy. Use that feedback to plan your next attempt.
Replay to explore a different path.
PRACTISE FREE →What will you practise?
Pricing, cash flow, acquisition, hiring, strategy and risk.
Explore demand and margins, limited cash, acquisition costs and team capacity. Weigh competing opportunities and uncertainty across four business models.
Different businesses.Different trade-offs.
My Business
Your business. Your decisions.A place to explore the trade-offs.
Enter your real numbers to simulate decisions on a separate copy of your business. Then log the real decisions you make (raise prices, increase ad spend, hire, take a discounted deal), write down what you expect, and record what actually happened.
Explore My Business for US$59/month, including Premium.
Simulations are strategic scenarios, not forecasts or financial advice.
- The decision
- What I expect to happen
- What actually happened
- Compare
For aspiring entrepreneurs and small-business owners.
Starting out, trying again or running a small business? Practise thinking through commercial decisions alongside the books, courses and experience you already have.
Keep building your business judgment.
Start with four complete free simulations. Premium adds more situations to practise; My Business uses your own starting information.
Free
Discover decision practice
$0
- One complete simulation in each of four business models
- Five executed custom answers per run
- Review mistakes with Company Autopsy
EMPIRE Premium
Practise more business situations
$29 /month
- 16 additional scenarios, including The Scale-Up
- Practise growth, capacity and cash-flow challenges; replay different strategies
- Cancel anytime
My Business
Explore your own starting numbers
$59 /month
- Everything in Premium
- Simulate decisions using your real numbers
- Log real decisions: expected vs actual
Free stays playable. Upgrade for more practice situations or to explore decisions using your own business information. Paid plans are billed in US dollars.
Who's behind EMPIRE
Built for people who want to make better business decisions
EMPIRE was created by Lacey Rochelle to give aspiring entrepreneurs a place to practise making business decisions without risking real money.
Through interactive business scenarios, you can explore decisions involving pricing, customers, cash flow and growth, see simulated consequences, and learn from the results.
The goal is simple: build your business judgment through practice, not just theory.
EMPIRE is an educational simulation. Results are illustrative, not predictions or financial advice.
You can read about business.Or you can practise running one.
Make the mistakes here. Explore another approach.Educational simulations, not predictions or professional financial advice.
START TRAINING FREEFour free simulations · Choose an option or type your own decision
Free to start · No credit card · No signup · Plays in your browser
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