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There’s a joke we often make in Melbourne business circles that, once Cup Day has passed, the year is more or less done. The diary fills with end-of-year events. People start talking about what they’ll tackle “next year”. Decisions quietly migrate into January or February.
I understand it. It’s been a big year. Our brains are full and tired. 2026 has been a lot.
But I’m nowhere near ready to write 2026 off yet. It’s been a year full of uncertainty, that’s for sure. Rising costs, cautious customers, decisions taking longer and an unpredictable world. Those things haven’t disappeared. If anything, the world appears determined to be even less certain. What strikes me in the post-Cup Day wash up is how much we’ve learned from navigating that uncertainty so far this year.
We’ve learned we don’t have to stand still.
If we’d waited for everything to feel certain this year, not much would have happened. Instead, our community has adapted. We changed plans, made decisions with imperfect information, looked harder at costs and cash flow, invested in technology, found opportunities and had some difficult conversations.
Perhaps one of the best lessons of 2026 is that we don’t need to know exactly what happens next to make a good decision today. There’s a difference between being reckless and being brave. Good businesses understand risk. But they also understand the risk of doing nothing.
Difficult years bring clarity.
When things are going well, it’s surprisingly easy to live with things that aren’t quite right.
The contract that was never documented. The shareholder issue everyone knows needs attention. The overdue debt. The business structure that no longer fits. The important hire you’ve been nervous to make. The opportunity that keeps being discussed but never becomes a decision.
A year like this makes us ask better questions.
What are we really good at? Where are we losing time or money? What have we been tolerating that needs to change? And what might we do if we were a little less afraid of getting it wrong?
These are exciting questions.
There’s still time.
There are still valuable working weeks left in 2026. Not enough to suddenly complete everything before Christmas, nor should we try. But certainly enough to pick one or two things that matter and move them forward.
That might be:
- sorting out a shareholder or ownership issue;
- fixing up your existing lease so it matches your current handshake arrangement;
- collecting that overdue debt or tightening payment terms;
- protecting valuable IP;
- making the hire you’ve been debating;
- reviewing your business structure or succession plan; or
- exploring an acquisition, investor or new business opportunity.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be finished this year. Sometimes getting something important underway is enough.
Maybe confidence comes after action these days…
When things settle down, we’ll invest.
When the economy improves, we’ll make the hire.
When we know what happens next, we’ll make the decision.
But perhaps 2026 has taught us that sometimes it works the other way around. Thoughtful action can create confidence.
If the decision feels right, understand the risks, get good advice, put sensible protections around it, and then have the confidence to move.
That’s not ignoring uncertainty. It’s refusing to let uncertainty make every decision for us.
So, as we head towards Christmas, let’s not push every important decision into 2027 simply because Cup Day has passed.
If there’s something you’ve been thinking about, avoiding, planning or hoping to do, there is time to take a meaningful step towards it.
As a business owner, I know the important decisions rarely arrive at the perfect moment, with every question answered and every risk removed.
A good lawyer’s job isn’t simply to point out risk. It’s to help clients understand it, manage it sensibly and have the confidence to pursue the opportunities that matter.
So if there’s something you’d like to get sorted before the end of the year, we’d genuinely love to hear from you.
We’re not done with you yet, 2026.
I have a feeling you might still have a few good things left for us.
Hope you are having a good day so far.
NB
