For this newsletter, I am changing my “normal” procedure of discussing various aspects of engineering design and how things like a product’s appearance, cost and robustness can be affected. Let me start off by first giving you a disclaimer, stating that I am neither a lawyer nor a financial advisor and do not give legal or financial advice, herein or otherwise. But, I do have opinions and observations, and would like to share some of them with you.
The first three (3) quarters of 2010 will end tomorrow. I hope it has been a good year, to date, for you. The fourth quarter starts on Friday. Laws, under which we plan and operate our businesses and other activities are changing all the time. It’s good to know what will be happening in the future so we are not hit with unanticipated surprises. The more lead time we have of what changes are coming and when they will be implemented, the better we can plan. It has been said that knowledge is power. I agree with that concept wholeheartedly.
If you know that there are changes coming but the nature and direction of these anticipated changes is not known, nor is readily able to be determined, you become kind of stuck. It is actually the indecision of the situation that sticks you. How can you “unstick” yourself from such a situation? As a very simple example, suppose you know that the price for something will be changing. Up or down? You don’t know. The indecision because of this often results in no action being taken. In my opinion, the “no decision” choice is the worst one possible!
In the above example, suppose there’s a product or service that you need for your business. How do you evaluate whether to buy it now or wait until later, knowing that it will cost you more or possibly less at that time? Some questions that need to be posed and answered: Do you really need the product or service? Is the current price a fair one for what you’ll be getting? Is the time lost between making a decision today versus deciding once the price has changed, worth the benefit of waiting? What is the value of the lost time between now and then? One final point to consider. Suppose your decision is to wait for the price change and when it does, it goes up! Now you have lost the time between now and then, and, it is now costing you more to boot. But, actually, the biggest cost was the time that you totally wasted by “worrying” about what to do and when to do it.
The main point I want to emphasize is that “indecision” itself is the killer, which manifests on many levels: financially, temporally, mentally and spiritually. You will in fact accomplish more by energetically executing a less than perfect solution, than by waiting for every last duck to “get in line,” stand still and stop quacking.
New laws that affect business operations, taxes, health and other matters are in the pipeline and heading your way. Specifics are not always available. (It is a very sad commentary on our society, that tax law changes, the results therefrom, become the main guiding principle of what should otherwise be “pure” business decisions.) However, there will probably not be any changes between now and 1-1-11. (At least, that is what I think.)
If you have any projects that you would like to get started on and even completed this year, while you are certain of the tax ramifications, now is the time to make the decision to do so and go for it. I am available to get with you and get started. If it requires mechanical design of products, tooling or equipment, I’m sure that I can deliver exactly what you want.
I do not have a crystal ball and therefore I cannot tell you what is coming. Why not take the viewpoint of YOU making the decision as to what is coming and then make it come out exactly that way! It may seem a bit unreal but could just be the way it really works.