If you’re looking ahead and wondering how on earth your business is going to survive and what to do next, my advice is ‘Take advice.’

If the state of your order books doesn’t give you a rosy glow, the prospect of limping on with challenges ahead is tough. The temptation is to panic, to pull the plug and take drastic action.

But there are often real alternatives which you might not have considered, and some professional advice can make all the difference. Every business goes through tough times – each sector faces pressures at different times of year, for instance, and changing legislation can cause problems too, never mind unknown challenges such as Brexit, but solutions are often possible.

Many businesses are facing uncertainty, just as various sectors hit problems at different times, such as construction sub-contractors suffering the knock-on effect of a major developer’s problems or the care sector facing challenges in recruitment or pay.

Panic can cause people to overreact – if everyone pulled the plug on their business as soon as they saw the difficulties ahead, there would be no entrepreneurs left.

We deal with the whole range of businesspeople, from sole traders to major PLCs, across the country, and we know that anyone can experience real difficulty in the lifecycle of their business.

It is how you respond that makes the difference – if you as a business owner are ready to acknowledge that you need help, identify where the problems are and will consider a range of solutions, there is every chance that your business will go forward in much better shape.