The Cost Of Waiting: How Canadian SMBs Are Quietly Paying For Indecision In 2026.

We have no more surety as of January 2026, than we did exactly one year ago when I wrote about the impending U.S- Canadian Tariff war [Navigating economic turbulence is nothing new - but are you prepared?]. 

2025 in QUICK REVIEW: 

• Foreign and Domestic investment have left economies such as Canada, U.K, EU and Australia, sinking once global investment and infrastructure powerhouses into dizzying debt-GDP levels

• Once growing politicized trends of green energy policies and infrastructures are backpeddling in almost every major Western economic centre (positively correlated with point above)

• Technocratic governance is now stepping into the forefront of said major western economies; not only through the AI boom but the modern warfare unfolding

• Despite massive global and local Canadian backlash, President Trump’s America First Economy is leading the world in strength and investment commitments across all standardized metrics

The takeaway for business owners is not to forecast geopolitics correctly, but to recognize that prolonged uncertainty is not temporary, it is the operating environment.

REFLECTION POINT: After 365 days in the books:

• Where is your business today compared to 1 year ago? 

• Are you still trigger shy on hiring that new employee? [or exiting ones that are underproducing?] 

• Did you hold off on installing a new software, process, or management tool until calmer waters would make it more digestible?

• Were you any more profitable at year end than you were the previous year?

A simple gut check:

If your net profit, owner income, or operational capacity has not increased by at least 5–10% year-over-year, your business is functionally standing still, regardless of how busy it feels. (We’ll touch on the joys of inflation briefly down below)

If you answered yes to any of the above questions (or the infinite other markers that are implicitly noted), keep reading for a 2026 refresh on the principle of Cost of Delay (CoD) and how your business is seeping thousands of dollars annually without you lifting a finger (literally).

DEFINITION: Cost of Delay (CoD) - the ongoing monetary loss (lost revenue, opportunity loss, competitor advantage, customer satisfaction etc.) that is incurred for each unit of time that a project, feature, or idea is delayed.

EXAMPLE: You have a service business; whether a plumber, automotive mechanic, or hair dresser. Though you and your work are the main value drivers of the business, you’re at your capacity. You understand that you cannot reach the next phase of your business - whether revenue growth, area serviced, or number of customers you ultimately wish to have - without hiring more ‘technicians’ (the term technician here means any person performing the service work). 

It’s January now, your high season starts in the Spring, however the Cost of Goods, service fees, inflation, and even wages keep rising. Your trepidation speaks loudly to you, you spend weeks mulling the decision over to hire or wait until you bring in more business before you hire someone to service the work.

How can you break through the indecisiveness and analysis paralysis?

 

“If you only quantify one thing, quantify the cost of delay” – Don Reinertsen

The Math (Conservative Assumptions)

→ Cost of 1 Full-Time Technician (Weekly)

$30/hour × 40 hours = $1,200

+20% employment burden = $240
Total weekly labour cost: $1,440

→ Revenue Capacity Added

30 billable hours/week (75% utilization)

$120/hour average billing
Weekly revenue: $3,600

→ Variable servicing costs (20%)

$720

Net Result

$3,600   Revenue

– 720    Variable costs

– 1,440  Labour (all-in)

—————————

$1,440   Net contribution per week

This hire is cash-flow positive immediately.

The Cost of Delay

Every week you wait costs you:

$1,440 in lost contribution  per week

This revenue cannot be “caught up” later in a capacity-constrained business.

Fear Check: What If Demand Isn’t There Yet?

Break-even point: 15 billable hours/week

The technician only needs to be 50% utilized to avoid losing money. Anything beyond that generates profit.

CONCLUSION: The decision wasn’t whether you could afford to hire, it was whether you could afford to keep delaying a hire that was already profitable on paper.

This same process can be applied to any and all decision making scenarios in your business regardless of size, revenue, or tenure. The larger the business the more variables may impact the decision, however the more data points you’re likely to have access to for greater accuracy and larger scale financial impact. Therefore practicing quantitative assessments in your decision making process while your business is smaller or newer, will lead to positively compounding impact and ever-coveted agility as we continue to face evergreen hurdles in our business’s lifetime.

Even businesses that choose not to grow must actively defend their value as markets do not pause out of respect for contentment.

Being “done” with growth does not insulate you from inflation, wage pressure, pricing compression, or valuation decay. Whether your goal is stability, longevity, or exit, inaction still carries a cost, it’s simply less visible until it’s irreversible.

Neutral decisions in non-neutral environments are still decisions; and they compound.

WHEN CONSERVATISM BECOMES VALUE EROSION

We’ve likely all heard the adage ‘a dollar today is worth more than a dollar a year from now’. This Foundational Business Principle (Time-Value of Money) encompasses inflation, Cost of Delay and future-proofing your enterprise. 

While you may have stated that you’re content where your business is today, that absolutely leaves out the value of your business in years to come. Where a $2M valuation today will erode year over year if your business doesn’t grow, sustainably. Of particularly concern for those of you banking on the sale of your business as some or all of your retirement plan.

• Delaying hiring/exits

• Deferred pricing adjustments

• Postponed system upgrades

• Under investment in brand

These are just a handful of examples that come across my desk on a weekly basis that absolutely, positively, unequivocally erode real and yet-to-be realized value in SMBs across Canada. 

In market contractions, such as we are experiencing over the last couple of years, what’s worse than negligence, is willful negligence. Where you understand what’s happening but cannot or will not address it at its core. 

To bring back some form of agility and diligence to any business, young and old, here are some real world examples of where imperfect action out paced and out performed conservatism:

EXAMPLE: ZOOM  - “Let me Skype you….. Cool send me the Zoom link” - Hasan Minaj

With a 17-year head start, Skype dropped the ball on a cataclysmic scale. Primed to be the household name of 2020’s, Microsoft Skype’s misalignment of values with its core customer base cost the once front runner in video-conferencing technology the throne once Covid-19 dismantled in-person businesses in a matter of weeks. 

Zoom’s leadership did not wait for clarity in the midst of the global pandemic, but used early operational readiness to quickly adapt to the massive demand for its product. Even if high network demand on Zoom servers caused some resolution lags or there were features to be desired, every one of us can attest to the overwhelming success story that Zoom has become. 

Zoom’s stock price and market share continuity are clear evidence of the necessity to be agile, be tactful in decision making, and to not rest on the existing laurels of today’s success.

CONCLUSION: Every small business faces its own “Zoom moment”; a demand surge, a labour crunch, a pricing reset. The difference between those who benefit and those who miss it is preparation over certainty.

APPLICATION: I have included a Cost of Delay worksheet as an appendix to this article. Before your next major decision, write down one number: the weekly cost of waiting.

If you can’t quantify it, that’s the real uncertainty, that’s the real risk.

Click HERE to download the Cost of Delay worksheet for your business.

 

Lauren Roberts
Owner | Sage Advisory Co.

(548)708-2848

Strategic advisory for owner-led businesses navigating growth, profitability, and change.