I have now spent a couple of hours with this game, including all the tutorials, and read the manual. This is my current understanding of this game.

There are two ways to play:

A. Manual
1. Move cart to market place
2. Buy raw materials and place them in cart
3. Move cart to your place of business
4. Have a worker manufacture stuff from the raw materials
5. Load stuff into cart
6. Move cart to market place
7. Sell your stuff
Repeat 2-7 ad infinitum

B. Automated
1. Hire a master to oversee the manufacturing, buying and selling
2. Wait
3. Go bankrupt in 3-4 years

The first method felt insane, so I chose method B. Is that all this game offers? I know political career is not possible, because you can't apply for the required civic rights (the blank frame at town hall wall, shown in the tutorial, doesn't work in actual game).

Well, you are missing quite somethings. So do I on my first play.
I guess you have just played one occupation. Basically, you are right about normal occupations with simple product and sell model. Key point here is buy low sell high, If you can't manage to do so, sure you go bankrupt. You need to spend time at market to check price, decide when to buy or sell, which product to make, etc...
Maybe you just got unlucky so you always need to buy material at high price.
You may try other ocupations that make money other way or dont need material: Thief, Preacher, Vangabond, Gravedigger (or something), etc
Only hire master after you have second business, maybe even after you have second occupation. AI in the game is not chat-GPT-ish so use them wise. IIRC it actually can help you when you have big capital, tier 3 building can make 20k per round, sure much less than if I do it my self.
But I have other things to do:
- Manage my main business
- blackmail opponents
- bribe officers, judge, etc
- shootting canon at building to lower its price
- wooing going-to-die rich duchess,
- apply for office, may be even manage the city if I'am the major. Politics is important!!!
Depend on your occupation, you have quite a lot things to do. At time you will find the game repetitive, but not before second generation.
I haven't wrote such long post for years, but The Guild is quite special to me :D hence andrenaline kicked in. Please forgive any mistakes.

Thanks for the pointers. I did start a few games with different occupations, but the basic day-to-day work flow seemed identical (smith manufactures metal goods, joiner is the same but wood instead of metal, tavern keeper is the same but liquors and beer, and so on). The thief path would probably be different, I didn't try that.

Not hiring a master feels very unappealing idea to me, because of the level of micro-managing required if you do everything manually. Keeping an eye on prices to buy low and sell high would be fine, but constantly moving, loading and unloading carts is just a little bit too much.

Not being able to apply for civic rights is still a mystery, it didn't work in any of the games I started. Maybe it's a bug? The frame on the town hall wall is not interactable. The other frame on the left wall works (as well as the law books), it just tells that I can't apply for any office without civic rights.

IIRC, to apply for civic rights, your assets need to be 10000 or above at begin of a round. Usually I get the offer after I sell my first batch of goods.
YOu shouldn't constanly moving goods around, I sell and buy as a batch of ten or more. If you have too little cash, try borrow some or play easier mode, I always play easiest and have quite alot of cash to spend early game :D.

Whether there is a clear line in the game when you can acquire citizenship is unknown to me. But you should try to be successful in your business and have as much income as possible. The expansion of the house is important. You should do that anyway, because it is important for your life expectancy and for your reputation. I hire another master only very late. The game gives you the opportunity to travel and develop even though you are there giving orders to your workers. You should learn continuously in the game. A possible success in the game may already start with the choice of the right parents. In addition, you should buy products on the market, for example, to improve your own health, to give gifts to your chosen one or for the better development of your children. If you don't usually choose the carpenter career like me, you should buy walking stick and protective cross.

I wish you successful playing of The Guild!