To start any enterprise is a harrowing affair. To start a mercenary company that risks lives for both revenue, and hopefully, positive profit flow is a terrible undertaking. From this Chapter & onward, I will guide you through the complex mechanics needed in reducing risk with the power of a variety of strategies both in & out of battle.
The rest is honestly random chance with a lot of luck. For example, a fellow warrior in the fighting line could have been a sword master or hedge knight with the latter especially having had actual battle experience in addition to much training. Perhaps some divine blessings could win a battle or make your venture profitable? That is if you believe this last sort of thing? In any case, mere skill and prior experience means little when you miss a sword swing or crossbow shot at critical moments. Then you bleed out because a goblin shot you in the head with an arrow.
Things happen.
Basically, battles are rather chaotic. Random chances in addition to all sorts of factors may still end a company.
As a former mercenary of two different war bands, I do not depend on a benevolent ethereal deity or 2 or more of such drivel. If you just happen to be a cultist who worships Davkul, please do not visit me or send me letters. Davkul cultists are rather insane!
That said, if you believe you have both the gold crowns or courage to assume the role of the founder & original leader, you must keep in mind that our known world is mostly unexplored & quite small. The ability to both read, make then update, & properly use maps helps immensely. Because you are a leader, you can either learn or have learned such map skills or simply hire a battle brother who can.
Obviously, being able to use maps & knowing at least basic cartography would save money, but not everyone can do so. Delegation is key. Finally, lacking maps makes path-finding & exploration too much of a gamble when departing from roads. Getting lost often leads to ruin, but we will cover that in the next Chapter.
As for the matter of needing gold, I will cover that major issue in the Finances Chapter, which is after I teach you about the basics of traveling outside of cities. Almost always, you must leave towns & cities to complete contracts so I stress the importance of thoroughly reading Chapter 2 before advancing to the critical knowledge I humbly provide about managing money, etc.
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Now about leadership itself. From my experience as a hired sword for The Gauntlet, it seems to be an innate trait for some & a trained skill for others. If you are somehow lucky enough to enter this dangerous world a natural leader that is most wonderful. I applaud you. However, it takes true diligence & perhaps a sprinkling of various factors, such as hard work & real world experience, to survive on the front lines as a leader. Though I have noted it is possible to lead from the back lines far away from actual skirmishing like with our founder / leader Ragnar.
The key is to understand that leadership skills are vitally important to the daily management of a mercenary business. Our still surviving captain, though he hated titles asking us to only call him by name, started as an amateur. I am happy to say he eventually retired, but will talk about that later towards the end of this treatise demonstrating it is possible to command others against horrors like orc warlords to eventually retire comfortably.
With that related, I will regale you with anecdotes to close out this initial chapter. The Gauntlet happened because of a series of mishaps. We had survived a horrible grand melee fighting the infamous Hoggart the Weasel. Ragnar, Helfrich, Lothar, & I worked together in another band. We signed on to kill Hoggart by after negotiating with a village elder. We were the only survivors out of sheer tenacity really.
In that terrible ordeal, Ragnar became permanently injured. He was useless in a real fight thereafter. Anyway, Hoggart fled leaving his men behind living up to his moniker. As the adrenaline left our system in the aftermath, we surveyed the crimson tainted field not quite knowing what to do. Uncertainty hung heavy in the air. Corpses, armor, & implements of war littered the area. Standing there glad to be alive, we elected Ragnar the reluctant captain of The Gauntlet.
Then there is poor Egil. We fought with him in the initial 10 or so days after we reformed with Ragnar at the head. Egil perished; ripped to shreds by a Direwolf. That poor rookie only lasted 4 days. The poor bastard.
Brothers & sisters get hired then perhaps get dismissed, retire, or simply die an early death in some horrific manner like the aforementioned Egil. His story of courageous sacrifice illustrates a major truth: death is truly an inevitability. When your job is risking life & limb, you must be cautious. Controlling risk while deciding whether it is worth it is the entire point of this manual. All in all, it's risk vs. reward.
Ultimately, bad things occur. Training certainly helps. However, education is very important. Constant learning to eventually minimize mistakes aids you even more!
Remember: this is a business. It is not a charity. Next Chapter, I shall expound on the importance of long term thinking focusing on Finances.