While we are certainly not out of the woods yet, it does seem that the green shoots of recovery have arrived. President Obama has announced that the US economy is showing positive indicators, which usually means that the UK will follow. Bankers are now preparing to award themselves big bonuses, and the promised lending to small businesses is slowly trickling through.

I have been actively talking up the imminent recovery for over a year with a presentation called “Preparing for the Next Upturn”. This has an upbeat message designed to motivate early stage entrepreneurs, with practical advice on how to stimulate good ideas, generate revenue quickly and expand companies organically. It is based on the methodology outlined in my book, The Beermat Entrepreneur, which was published in 2001 – as an antidote to the ‘dotcom’ madness of the time.