The outlook from SMEs

I have been running a number of workshops for SMEs in the North and Midlands this month, around Tendering, PQQs and the opportunities from London 2010.
As part of that I have asked how many businesses have seen their turnover increase over the past 12 months, during the recession. More than half indicated that it had, and I would guess about a quarter said turnover went down. That is better than I expected, and certainly better than you would expect if you took the media at face value.

Now this group of businesses is hardly a fully representative sample of the sme community - they are ones prepared to invest time and money in attending seminars about business opportunities and how to improve. So maybe I should expect them to be doing well even in difficult conditions. However they were not insolvency practictioners either, so they have got there despite the economy not because of it.
It made me feel more confident about the strength of the UK Small business sector. I hope that I am right.