Those of you who read my column know that I often discuss the subject of change. For those of you who don’t, here’s a brief refresher.

Change is constant. In fact, that’s the only part of change that’s consistent. Planning in business and life is necessary so we can deal with change when it happens. Everything in our lives that happens that isn’t planned (e.g. change) is called “life.” Planning helps to prepare us for when the unexpected happens. Remember the old Boy Scout motto: “Be prepared.”

The year 2009 was a big dose of change for all of us. Hopefully, you were prepared and weathered the storm. In the last several weeks, our friends in Washington have placed another major helping of change upon all of us. Health care is a concern to those of us who are still kicking around on this old Earth. These changes will affect us personally and in our places of business. At this point, no one knows for sure exactly what impact it’s going to have on us individually, but you can’t deny our health care system definitely needed some work. Let’s hope that our officials in Washington got it right or at least came close.

The one thing you can count on from this change in health care is that how things in the system are done will change. Spending too much time worrying about it at this point will be wasted energy. Now is actually the time to start planning how you’re going to deal with the changes.

There’s that word again: planning. What steps can you take to assist yourself when the details are known? I suggest turning to any of the excellent automotive associations available to us as they’re all excellent sources of information. The primary role of these groups is to represent the entire industry and be a center for information and assistance. They have people on Capitol Hill and represent you on a daily basis. They’ll have information on what’s going on and how it may potentially affect you as a shop owner. If you’re a member, make sure to take advantage of this resource.

Another way to prepare is to attend one of the upcoming industry events. The Automotive Service Association (ASA) has one coming up on May 11-12 on Capitol Hill. There are always many opportunities to learn at these events and talk to a lot of people in your same situation who are coming up with their own ways to deal with these upcoming changes. NACE in October is also a great place to network and learn. I’m sure the planners of NACE will have educational opportunities to assist the industry with these changes.

We can’t always predict what’s going to happen, but we can be sure that when faced with these types of situations, we’ll react in a productive manner.

Change will continue long after we’ve dealt with this current issue, but the best way to be prepared for it is to have a plan and be focused on adapting it to whatever falls in our laps.