We seem to have hit some sort of plateau in our company's development and growth. I haven't quite got a handle on it as yet, and it may just be an aberration caused by some production and product introduction delays. These delays have come at the start of our busiest season and have raised our collective frustration level. Last October was our busiest shipping month in our short history. This October is being strangled due to vendor quality problems and late part deliveries.

I had expected a bigger bump in orders due to our marketing efforts. but like most things, it will probably take much longer to bear fruit than I thought it would. The real trouble, I think, is a very late product introduction. We have customers waiting for a new model that is at an attractive price-point and which was due out last summer. The company building the plastic injection mold is six months late! Their excuses are never-ending and the whole deal has been terribly frustrating, but a very enlightening learning experience.

Besides taking legal action on an out-of-state company, we really don't have any leverage in this case. We put a down payment on tooling and issued a purchase order with a specific delivery date. The date has been missed and has cost us sales and credibility. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in this situation and how they handled it. Also, what specific words should be put into a purchase order to attempt to prevent such a gross lack of performance?

Starting your own company will demonstrate to you that Murphy's Law is non-negotiable. You will also learn more than you care to about the Law of Unintended Consequences!