There’s a saying in the stock market that goes something like this: The best time to invest was ten years ago. The second-best time is right now.
The implication is that there really is no better time than right now, unless we have a time machine. Which we (sadly) don’t.
The same goes for acquiring equipment for your company – there is almost no better time than when you need it. Forget market conditions, and forget trying to time things economically. If you need it and can afford it, get it. Because you can’t grow without it.
And it’s not just growth. You also need to keep pace with your competition. Imagine your main competitor showing up to jobs with much better gear than you have. Or sending out a better product, faster. Or handling customers more efficiently. These instances can only go on so long before they make a serious impact.
Over the years, I have seen hundreds of small businesses try and “time” things, waiting for economic conditions to be perfect, before taking the plunge on an equipment investment. In almost every case, they left serious dollars on the table. The impact of new equipment, and the revenue and profits it could have produced, far exceeded whatever they saved by waiting for market conditions to be just so.
By all measures, we have a good economy right now, but there’s also a lot of uncertainty that causes companies to sometimes pause. However, I feel that this uncertainty will be static moving forward – our deeply embedded 24/7 news cycle guarantees that. News needs clicks, and clicks come from constant new content. And the most popular/clickable content is typically the inverse of what’s happening. “Storm clouds ahead” gets more play than “hey look, another nice day coming up”.
But right now, the day is indeed nice. And new (or new to you) equipment can make it even nicer.