Are You in a Delay Pattern?

As some of you may know, I fly a lot in my consulting travels across the U.S. I believe I have 1.4 million Lifetime Miles on United Airlines, as well as miles on some other flight providers. In those travels, “Delay Patterns” are not unusual, due to heavy air traffic flows & some weather challenges. Frankly, the airlines do a decent job of handling most of these hurdles.

A bigger concern I have is the number of delays that businesspeople experience in their ongoing activities. Bank approval of loans often gets delayed, with no apparent reason… Likewise, operators get delayed in making decisions, sometimes due to these loan approvals, but other times due to self-imposed postponement.

One example I can think of is the dairy client who stated that he would never pay $2,200 for a fresh two-year-old, so he paused. Today, 18 months later, the market prices of these cows are $3,500-4,000! Another prospect thought that $3.5 Million was too much to invest in a new rotary milk barn for his herd. Today, the cost has climbed to $6 Million…

To clarify, I think it’s essential that we realize we are in a different arena today. Post COVID, political handouts, government borrowing and the inflation that all of that has created, costs have increased and may very well continue into the foreseeable future. Now, that is not the only reason to move forward. They are just examples above.

However, let’s set a new course and simply make sound decisions, based upon their own merits, not just because something seems “too expensive.” Weigh out the pluses and minuses and then make the decision – Yes or No.

If there are risks associated with the decision to move forward or not, can they be mitigated? If so, go for it. If not, consider an alternative route.

Do you need one more reason to make a decision? Lack of good, well thought out decisions often can “mortgage the future” for your successors and leave the next generation in a deferred and often less enviable position. Who pays for this delayed action? They do.

Additionally, there are often positive results that are missed by delaying decisions. One client, in spite of having the funds available, deferred on building a new Bed-Pack barn. The result? They missed out on better cow comfort, more milk, and more revenue. They also failed to achieve an improved debt structure, as a result of their decision to not add an Asset to their Balance Sheet with no additional debt. Why wait?

What decision have you been deferring? Weigh the pros and cons before you decide and then move on to the next step today!

Let’s take your business to the Next Level!