Wait-Till-After-the-Election Excuse No Longer Valid

Wait-Till-After-the-Election Excuse No Longer Valid
Time to start making (and sticking with) decisions

The elections are over….thank God. Within the next 24 hours we’ll finally get a break from those inane political ads and we’ll most likely found out who the new President is. And now what excuse will you use for procrastinating about your next big hire or capital expenditure? C’mon already.

As we’ve said many times before, campaign promises aren’t legally binding and Congress isn’t on commission and doesn’t have specific deliverables to hit like the rest of us. The election process shouldn’t be taken lightly, but you’re mostly voting on faith…not on hard facts.

Sure, there are significant differences between the two main political parties in this country. But either way, you can be sure we’ll remain a democracy. Either way, you can be sure we’ll be in a slow growth economy for the foreseeable future (emphasis on growth, rather than on slow). Either way your corporate and personal taxes are likely to go up. Either way, major cities in the Northeast will be untangling a hornet’s nest of legal, ethical and financial issues from last week’s storms for months to come.

As for the “fiscal cliff” looming on January 1, don’t expect a series of all-nighters from Congress to solve it in late December. Expect a series of strategic delays and stalling tactics. Again, not much will change for your business and your portfolio exactly on New Year’s Day 2013.

If that’s what’s really keeping you up at night then things won’t really get scary until Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke likely steps down from his term in 2014 regardless of who wins today’s election.

So here’s the deal. We have 55 days left in 2012—about 40 quality work days left. That’s practically half of a fiscal quarter. Be bold and be smart, but by god make some decisions or get the heck out of the way for those who can make decisions.

The on-ramp’s going to be a lot more crowded than the off-ramp in 2013. You better start making some media buys while you can still get quality audiences at a fair price. You better start hiring good people while you still can and you better start filling up that product pipeline fast.

The only certainty for next year is that the pace of business will never be faster and the competition for market share will never be more cut-throat.

Are you ready to get back in the game?
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