Business journalist Trevor Franklin offers condensed advice to Cheshire's small to medium enterprises or SME's for short.

After almost 20 years of growth consumer spending had the life choked out of it by the credit crunch.  The recession may be over but we know there are tough times ahead, These are conditions we haven’t experienced for a long time…But remember: keep your glass half full.  This is a chance to think hard about what your business could do differently. So in at number 10: look at the downturn as an opportunity.

At 9, be transparent…don’t keep secrets from your bank or any investors.  Open up a positive dialogue about how you’ll cope with hard times, about opportunities you have identified, about your strengths and how you intend to eliminate weaknesses.

In at number 8, it’s motivating staff…it may well be hard to reward performance when money is tight, so talk to them about why they should stay on board, be patient, and wait for the upturn and the success in which they will share…

Identify your best customers – and your worst…Use hard facts and relationships to ensure that your good customers keep on spending with you no matter what.  Making the most of customer loyalty…that’s at number 7.

Maintain your profile.  British business can batten down the hatches when a storm breaks…but remember this: during the last recession the majority of businesses that pulled through were those that maintained or increased spend on advertising.  At number 6, it’s visibility…

Moving up to number 5, take advice…You run your own business, you like to mind your own business, it’s one of the reasons you’re an SME.  But pride comes before a fall.  There’s free advice out there and it can work. An hour on the web can pay dividends.

At number 4…be flexible…It’s the name of the game when it comes to improving the way you operate in a downturn…Your business may have run on the same lines for a decade or more…Now is the time to explore other routes to profitability…

At the same time, be prepared to be hard nosed…It is not necessarily the right time to slash budgets.  This kind of short term gain can cause long term pain when the downturn ends.  But you do want to be 100% sure you know exactly where your money is being spent and how…At 3, toughen up…

At number 2…plan ahead…when the downturn ends you need to make the most of the upturn…It’s just like taking on any enemy: you should never fight a war without planning the peace…that way chaos lies.  So as you deal with the present make time to think about the future…

But straight in at number 1, it’s two simple words: DON’T PANIC!  Times are tough but we are not back in the bad old days when interest rates hit 15%.  “Act in haste, repent in leisure” – don’t let that be you and your business.  Keep cool, think hard and make the decisions that need to be made.