The Most Expensive Decision You're Making Right Now — And You Don't Even Know It | Ep 2

Most business owners carefully track their financial decisions. Almost nobody calculates the cost of the decisions they're NOT making. In this episode, Meagan breaks down the three hidden costs of staying stuck — and gives you a simple exercise to put a real number on what your indecision is actually costing you.

Transcript

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I'm Megan Van Wart, and today we're talking about the cost of not deciding on a particular decision and why it's almost larger than the risk you've been trying to avoid. Now we're talking about the invisible cost that is visible. It's actually giving a number. If you've ever told yourself that you're waiting for the right moment, then this episode is right for you. Guess what? There's never any right moment to try something new, to make a decision, to say no. All those things. There's so much fear and a sense of false being, of things can wait just another day, or it's just not the right time. There is no better time than today because there is a cost of delaying that action. There's a cost of delaying that decision. Now, in last week's episode, we named a decision. You had a little homework where you were thinking of one decision that was standing out for you. And this week we're going to calculate what it's actually costing you. Now, most business owners track financial decisions carefully. Revenue, expenses, margins, and some folks do this, you know, many of you do it for many reasons, tax reasons, measuring the success, measuring your cost to services, etc. Almost nobody calculates the cost of the decisions that we're not making. Because we don't know. If we don't spend the time to think through that, then you're not that awareness is not there. That invisible cost is almost always larger than the risk that you're trying to avoid. So let's talk through this exercise. What if we actually put a number on it? So in this episode, I want you to take the decision that you named last week. And if you don't have a decision from our last episode, think of a decision now, something that you are stalling to make a decision on. And you can use that during our episode today. Estimate how long that you've been sitting on it. Multiply that by what it costs you per week in energy, in the distraction, or the lost momentum, and how that has impacted you and your business. So how long you've been sitting on that decision, number of weeks, number of days, and multiply it by what it costs you per week. That is your invisible tax. Keep that in mind as I walk you through three costs. And those are gonna hit you a little bit differently once you understand all three. So we're gonna talk through these costs together. And if you need to take a minute to do the math, take a minute to do the math. It's really important that you do that. So grab a pen and paper if you don't have one already. And you can always do it later too. Okay, let's talk about the first top the first cost. So staying put with all of this feels neutral, and it isn't. It's a decision to keep paying all three of these costs. So by not taking action, these costs are incurred every single week. And it is so painful to think about that. Some of you may be thinking, you're right, Megan, I have no idea how much this has been carrying a burden, how much it has been costing me and my business. And these are three different costs that will go through, and these are all gonna resonate for you like incredibly an incredible amount. The first cost is time. Every week, circling a decision is a week of not executing it. So one interesting thing is maybe you're trying to work on a new marketing campaign, and you do a little bit, and you do a little bit, and then you don't like it, and then you think about it, and you're like, I don't know. And then you talk to your friend about this marketing idea, and then you realize six weeks later that you just don't like the idea anymore. And it doesn't have to be a marketing campaign idea, it could be anything, it could be about hiring a new person, it could be changing your business model. Those are things that stall that take up your time, and it is scary to think about how much time in a week you may not even notice. You may spend an hour in the morning while you're having your coffee, or you know, 4:30, 5 o'clock when you're trying to wind down your day about thinking about these things, or maybe you're trying to do a little work on it, but you don't make progress because you haven't made a decision on how to execute it, or you haven't made a decision if it's something you really want to do, and you're taking up a lot of time. That time is a lot, a lot of money where you could be spending your time doing a lot of other more effective things for you and your business. Maybe you didn't eat lunch, really eating lunch, taking a break, maybe that 15-minute walk that you should have taken today, that was your time. And that time would have been so good for you as a person to breathe in that fresh air. Instead of you were just monkeying around on that decision that you just no progress. So think about that time loss. And that is so scary. We all do it, and it takes so much discipline to build in time for each of ourselves during the day to eat food, to uh drink water, to get up from our desks, to take a break, but also all that other time uh to focus on what is most important and why. So it's really fascinating. The math is a six-month delay on a decision is 26 weeks of potential lost momentum. I'm gonna say that again. A six-month delay on making a decision is 26 weeks of potential momentum lost. So let's break that down. By not making a decision more quickly or moving forward on it, maybe it's that marketing campaign, that marketing idea. You're losing momentum to gaining the potential, to gaining the traction, to gaining the new leads, to gaining new visibility to your services, to making that higher to add value and benefit to your business. Six-month delay is 26 weeks of potential momentum lost. That is the first cost. It is a time loss. And at their revenue level, what is what does this look like based on the revenue you're generating today? What does it a week of lost momentum actually cost your business? And that's a little scary to think about, but it may help you make decisions, think through decisions a little more clearly and um be a little more organized on taking the time to do that. The second cost is around energy cost. So energy cost is unresolved decisions, they just don't sit on your desk, they sit in your mind constantly. They show up at dinner at 2 a.m., maybe when you're showering, right? This is the bandwidth that's not available for what is moving. So it is so important to recognize when something is just stagnant or when it keeps showing up and you're not taking the appropriate actions on it. It's just taking up your energy. It could be stalling on that new hire. I think we should do it, I'm not sure. But then maybe you feel the pains that the new hire could help you with, and you're still thinking about it and you're spinning energy, and that's a lot. It's a lot on you. You're doing a lot during your day, and by not making that decision and looking at it, sitting down with that decision, working through that decision, doing it or moving on. Maybe you have to dig into um ways of making that decision happen. Maybe you need framework and structure absolutely. That will reduce your energy cost by facing your decision. The third cost is around opportunity cost, and this one is exciting and scary at the same time. An example may be I really need to hire someone to do X. Now, if I would have only hired them last year or six months ago, I bet I could have done this differently. I bet you we could have doubled our sales, our business could have grown in this way. We would have driven more traffic to our website. So the opportunity costs, I love thinking about this because it's tied back to your goals. And this is one example on how a stalled decision can impact your business. Maybe you don't know what you need to do, but it's about starting somewhere and saying, hey, I need some more help. I'm missing out on an opportunity here. I know that I need to do something around this decision. Maybe I need to talk through with it. Maybe I need a thinking partner, maybe I need to come up with a plan, but I know this is important. That opportunity cost sometimes takes a little bit of extra help. But recognizing that you're going to take action versus stall allows you to be in a better place, right? I love tying back the opportunity cost to the energy cost and the time cost because they all kind of tie back to one another and relate. And it is really interesting to look at all three of these and say, Well, I know what it feels like to stall, and I can feel the time costs, and I know that there's an opportunity cost missing. Now I just want to encourage you just to pause and just do some math right now and think through some of these things, because these things happen to us every single week, sometimes every day, around it depends on how organized you are or not, and just know it's common, you're not the only one, but I love raising awareness to this because this will help you. This will help you. And the question is is that can you actually afford to not make this decision? Maybe it's a small decision. I'm gonna either do this or not, rip the band-aid off, decide if you're gonna make that higher or not. If you think you need the hire, then do the analysis on the hire. If you think you're gonna add a new product to your product line, what do I need to do to make a decision on this? I need to make a decision. Is this what is the time to execute this new product or service? Do I have the capacity? Do I have the people to help me execute this? What is the potential revenue opportunity to create a new product or service? If this is something you want to pursue as a decision, say I'm gonna I'm going to invest time and maybe resources to figure out how to make this happen. That's ripping the band-aid off and moving forward or not. You cannot afford, you can not afford to make the decision. It will allow you to move on and move more quickly as a business owner to be focusing on the most important things, allow you to run your business during the day, but also more importantly, move on to other ideas and decisions that you need to make. Now, this is a pattern that we're starting to see, right? And we're all starting to feel this. And as a business owner, I go through this all of the time, and I love having this like real conversation with you. Now, one of the hardest things to accept is staying put, is also making a choice, and it has consequences. So you're making a decision and you're gonna move forward to to dig into that decision, right? Because sometimes decisions are not easy. You can't say yes or no, you can't turn on the light switch on and off, right? We have to give ourselves permission to wait indefinitely because and it feels neutral. We have to stay committed and have the discipline to see a decision through. And this is a pattern I've seen. Um, owners who finally make a decision often say, I cannot believe I waited so long to make this decision. And it could be a really big decision or it could be a small decision. And this is a direct observation that I've seen over the years, and even for myself, is that the regret of waiting is almost always greater than the regret of deciding. I'm gonna say that one more time. The regret of waiting is almost always greater than the regret of deciding. The question isn't whether you can afford to make this decision. It's whether you can afford not to make this decision. Now, in our conversation today, we've talked about all three of these costs: time, energy, and opportunity. I want you to go back to the number that you wrote down. Does it feel different now? Yeah, it should. That invisible tax is real for you and your business. And it compounds every week that you wait. Write it down if you haven't. It's really important to do that. And that number is your permission slip to finally move. How does that make you feel? I hope that resonates for you. I hope that you had a little bit of a reflective practice during our time today. Again, I am here as a resource for you. So if you have any questions on how to overcome these challenges or taxes, please let me know how I can support you. And until next time, I want you to amplify your thinking and act on it. Next week, I'm sharing three simple layer framework that helps you figure out what decision you're actually trying to make. Because most of the time, it's not the one you think it is. See you then. Have a great rest of your week.