If you’re involved in small business right now then you’re probably looking at what’s happening with the world’s economy and wondering if you’re going to survive all the turmoil.

The fact is that a lot of small businesses probably won’t survive the next year or so but if you’ve been taking my advice and working hard to reduce your debt levels these last few months then you’re probably in a much better position to survive than most.

If you are in a good position financially then now is not the time to go spending money on luxuries … now is the time to put even more money into building your business. Now is a good time to purchase new equipment if you need it. Prices are coming down as suppliers find it harder to shift their stock.

Now is a good time to increase your advertising. There are still people and other businesses out there looking for what you’re selling so advertise your business so those potential customers can find you.

Now is a good time to look around for new staff. As more and more people lose their jobs the chance of picking up some very talented employees is increased but don’t hire people unless you have the work to pay for them.

Now is the time to look at expanding your business into new areas. As other less well-managed businesses fold new opportunities will open up for those that can survive so watch for those new opportunities as they appear.

Now is the time to be a little bold and not run and hide until the economic storm is over. It’s at times like these that some small businesses have the opportunity to make money so don’t be afraid to be out there in the marketplace.

And what have we done? Are we following our own advice? You bet … we’ve purchased new equipment this week … we’re expanding into some new areas and we’re increasing our advertising and we’ve got new leads and new orders coming in.

So if you run a small business now is the time to see whether you’ve got what it takes to survive.