When you first unlock a new profession, pay attention to the stat values. It's always worse across the board at 1st rank than any of the prereqs, but then it scales up with more ranks. So if you want to turn a profit, budget some time and money to Train for a while until it pays off, especially when you're about to move shop to a new region. Waiting to level up by crafting is probably a larger cost in lost sales than just training and getting it over with. Promoting all your smiths and crafting at Rank 1 in a profession will result in lousy creations, poor sales, and eventually bankruptcy. If you grind a bit before you advance and keep at least one or two characters crafting with high stats in a previous profession, you can grind safely and then it's smooth sailing, at least as far as I've seen so far.

Alternately, just hire new smiths who are already leveled up in a higher profession. This also takes some budgeting and money grinding. Not all characters have the same cap and growth rates, either, so look up a table if you really want to optimize.

Just a little advice to those who are stuck.

- Make sure you are making weapons that match the wanted stats of a customer.
- Try to work on one location at a time till all customers were maxed out, before moving on to other areas.
- The main and secondary stats are all that really matter.
- Take time to level up your smiths, it is very worth it.
- Buying new equipment is also very worth it as they increase your smith's stats when they use it.
- Don't bothered with challenges and requests except for celebrity requests.
- When you hire new smiths remember to get the more expensive ones, they will have higher max stats (celebrity smiths are the best).
- Keep your smiths elated, it is a great boost to anything they do.