It occurred to me this week that I haven’t talked about my proper business for absolutely ages, which may have created the impression that I’ve totally ditched it to spend all my time on our exciting new venture. In some respects I’d love to say that was true (the start-up phase is always the most fun part, isn’t it – not least because you’ve hardly got any staff to give you headaches). But in fact I’ve continued to spend the vast majority of my time on it all year, particularly since the arrival of Ace to act as my salesman-supreme. And I’ve got to say: it’s been a slog.

The good news first: sales seem to be holding up, and have done pretty much all year (we had a nasty dip in March that had me worried briefly, but things seemed to perk up again in April). None of our big clients have gone bust (touch wood); none of my best people have left (possibly because nobody else is hiring); and my bank has been fairly accommodating (probably because I hadn’t borrowed heavily). I’m well aware that in all of these respects, we’re a lot better off than many small businesses in the UK, as my encounter with my bankrupt friend last week reminded me. Naturally I’d argue that this is a mark of skill rather than luck, but I suppose I would say that.

All that said: it’s been bloody hard work. I feel like in the last six months, we’ve all had to work twice as hard for every pound that ends up on the bottom line. I’ve been sitting on my salespeople to put the calls in; I’ve been pestering my delivery people to hammer down costs, and I’ve been obsessed with numbers and metrics. In short, I suspect I haven’t been the easiest person to work for lately, and there have probably been times when one or two of them hated my guts. But everyone’s pulled together incredibly well, and since they all still have a job, and the company’s still making enough money to pay them, I suspect they won’t really hold it against me.

I mention this now because to be honest, I’ve seen no sign that things are getting any easier. All this week I’ve been reading about green shoots – suggestions that the worst is over, and we’re heading back to the promised land of growth. To some extent I can believe it; there’s definitely more confidence around now, and people are starting to think about how they’ll flourish in the upturn, rather than how they’ll survive the downturn.

But it’s not getting any easier to make people sign on the dotted line. Everyone’s still a bit nervous about what will happen next; about what will happen when we start getting taxed up to the eyeballs and consumer spending dries up. Personally, I’m not convinced things will ever go back to the way they were before, with people spending money so freely and easily. Even if things do perk up a bit, we’ve all been shown the error of our lavish ways. Perhaps we’ll all be a lot stingier as a result.

Still, let’s hope I’m wrong. I liked it when people had more money than sense.