We may not be in great shape at the moment, but things will  get better. This is not mere reckless optimism, but observation based on experience. The business cycle moves from expansion to contraction and back again - almost like breathing. You can't have one without the other.

It was always thus. Yet it's extraordinary how timid people are when times are tough. Yes, we're in some kind of a recession, whether people choose to call it that or not. Recovery may take a while. But so what? We've had recessions before, and we'll have them again. We are where we are, and as far as I'm concerned, the only question worth asking is how we set about growing again. And I'm convinced there's no time like the present.

Now is the time to lay the foundations for growth. There has never been a better opportunity to strike bargains with suppliers. Everyone is desperate for business, so this is the moment to invest in the things you need - and your supply chain is one of the keys to long-term growth.

This is also the moment to look for new markets. If you have capital, put it to work now. Invest in expansion. Take risks. This doesn't mean taking on more debt than you can afford. But if you do have to borrow money, there may never be a better time than now. Interest rates are low. Governments are desperate for growth and willing to hand out grants in the right circumstances.

Look around  you. Where is the greatest scope for expansion? Every sector is different, and so is every continent and every country. In South America, service industries are proliferating rapidly, from insurance and other traditional financial services to more IT-based services like customer relationship management.

In Asia, where success has often sprung from the use of plentiful local labour to deliver established products and services, the new challenge is to create entirely new categories of

products and services to cater for a rapidly expanding and highly educated middle-class clientele.

But what works in Brazil may not work in Chile. And your clients in Shanghai may have quite different priorities from those in Delhi. Wherever you go, you've got to do the research and make the connections. And don't be afraid. If you want to make it big, you have to grow.

It's when the growing gets tough that the tough get growing.

Mark Dixon, Regus