Life is full of surprises. Some good, some bad. Some joyous, some sad and some problematic, but all must be addressed. In the business arena, those surprises seem to happen with daily regularity.

The inflated prices you must pay to keep your business running fluctuate with inconsistency. 

In the contracting business, the use of vehicles to get your techs to your clientele is essential. The cost of the fuel you use in your cars to get to your clientele has been erratic and certainly higher than you paid only four years ago. Surprise!

Because of the inflated fuel prices, many other necessary business expenses have been effectuated surprisingly in ways that cause your business operating costs to rise. 

The insurance costs for those vehicles have also risen dramatically. Surprise!

The cost of the materials you must purchase to get the job done has risen. After all, the suppliers’ vehicles delivering your material have rising vehicular expenses, too. Thus, the price of said material increases. Surprise!

Any legitimate business cost affected by rising and ever-fluctuating fuel costs has a domino effect on the profits you would like to attain. Those fuel costs directly and indirectly affect your true business operational expenses.

Tech Salaries, Consumer Funds

Here’s another of the domino effects on your business costs, profits and selling prices: tech salaries. I began this column by saying that life is full of surprises. When your business costs rise, your techs’ cost of living increases, too. Guess what? They now need to make more money.

They can do that by hitting you up for a raise due to their living needs that now cost them more money to maintain the living standard they had before costs rose and ate away at their wallets. They might start doing side work that takes work and revenue away from your business. Perhaps they will do both. 

Regardless of what is done, your business is affected. Surprise!

I can go on and on about the domino effect high-fluctuating fuel costs have on your business. Let’s take a look at some other surprises.

Inflation has also taken its toll on the public who you serve. When the high cost of living attacks their wallets, those consumers have less money to spend on your services. 

Therefore, the selling prices of your services that should have risen due to the aforementioned high fuel prices affecting your true operational business costs, directly and indirectly, conflict with the amount of money consumers have to spend on your services. 

When consumers have less discretionary money, they must tighten their belts and do with less. If consumers have even the slightest perception they can do without your services, you lose. Surprise!

Have you considered the insurance rates you are being charged in your personal and business lives? Those costs are rising, too. That’s only an example of another surprise affecting your business. 

Fuel Prices And Inflation

You might wonder what caused the inflation affecting your personal and business lives. 

In my opinion, and the opinions of anyone with a modicum of intelligence, it started with the war on fossil fuels. It was exacerbated by the government’s excessive spending habits, the printing of money, and mishandling ways to address inflation. 

Once our energy policies changed, those aforementioned fuel prices rose by leaps and bounds. Then, instead of controlling the costs incurred in running the government, politicians kept on spending. So much so that the interest paid on the national debt is climbing to heights of absurdity. Are you surprised?

Then, keeping up with the foolishness of governmental policies, the powers that be kept printing more money that, in turn, assisted the climb of inflation.

Throw in the amount of money American taxpayers pay to fund money given to other countries and inane studies and programs, and you should understand the reason you have to eat hot dogs instead of steak.

Callbacks

Murphy’s Law (anything that can go wrong will go wrong) is another surprise affecting your business’s results, as well as stress and frustration levels.

Customer relations must be addressed to have a satisfied and repeat clientele. Murphy’s Law raises its ugly head when callbacks arise. 

Callbacks are no surprise except for the liars claiming they have no callbacks. Obviously, those liars don’t know the definition of a callback regarding the contracting business.

A callback is any issue that must be addressed after a task has been completed and takes time away from performing other duties or tasks. Callbacks come in three varieties; all three cost you money.

The most prevalent type is pilot error. This can be addressed by constant monitoring and training of techs.

The second is manufacturers’ defects. Using top-quality material lessens the chance of this type cropping up.

Finally, the third is consumer perception. If the consumer has not been properly and thoroughly informed about what the task entailed, it is the tech’s fault. However, if the consumer is informed but is too dense to understand, the blame for this type falls on the consumers.

Here’s the surprise: You must address the type of callback in a manner that is satisfactory to the consumer to keep the consumer as a loyal client.

Bad debt — it happens. Someone may not pay you in full. Others may pay you part of what you agreed to after completing the job. Surprise!

How about breakage and loss when you drop a new water closet, smashing it to smithereens before you install it? Or there are the materials or tools that sprout legs and walk off your truck — it happens. Another surprise: that costs you money.

I could sit here and nitpick all sorts of things that can happen and issues that can pop up.

However, the point of this column is to make you think of all that can happen and I hope you address it when calculating your budgetary business costs. Give yourself a chance to recover your true operational business costs and make a profit rather than being surprised.