Success and failure in equal measures has befallen many an entrepreneur and none more so than former Dragons' Den panellist Rachel Elnaugh.
As the present decade began, Elnaugh was riding on the crest of a wave. Her experiences company Red Letter Days was flying high with a £17.5m turnover and she was the proud recipient of several high profile awards including the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. But in 2005, it all went horribly wrong. Red Letter Days collapsed with debts of £12m and in a cruel twist of fate, the company was bought by Elnaugh's fellow Dragons' Den panellists Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis.
Elnaugh has now returned to the business world and is running a successful consultancy where she advises other entrepreneurs on how to avoid the kind of failure she experienced.
At last week's Business Startup show in London, I joined others at a seminar conducted by Elnaugh where she outlined 10 top tips which the budding dragons among you would do well to adopt.
1. Is your business worth saving? If it's simply not working, move on.
2. Don't let the doom and gloom get to you. There are thousands of businesses doing brilliantly well in the current climate.
3. Why aren't they buying? Build in feedback loops about why customers don't buy. And remember, price cutting may not be the answer.
4. Is your marketing working hard enough? Keep a track of how your customers find you. If it's referrals, reward the referrers!
5. Banks aren't the only source of finance. Think who has interest in your business: key customers, key suppliers, joint ventures etc.
6. Money isn't the only form of wealth. Bartering, for example, is a powerful way to accelerate your business.
7. Spend time every day planning. If you're on output all the time, you won't get as far as if you step back and think about where you're going with your business.
8. Get help if things are going wrong.
9. Don't let the fear get to you. Everything you think about you get more of so think positive!
10. If you do 10 things and 9 go wrong, focus on the one that worked!
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