Are you feeling the economic crunch? You do not have to. Many of the small business owners I know are doing very well, even in this economy. The people who are most affected by the downturn are the ones who do not adapt and keep working toward success.

If you want to stay successful, no matter what is happening elsewhere in the economy, you need to look for opportunities and act on them. This is no time to accept defeat. See this article for ideas on how your business can do well, even in a bad economy.

Here are some things you can do right now to help your business not only survive, but thrive.

Listen to your customers because they will tell you what they need from you. They may identify opportunities for you to create new products or services, or move in to new markets. Pay attention.

Leverage your time. If you had someone to handle routine, repetitive tasks, could you spend more time on the activities that actually generate revenue for your business? Hire an assistant (it can be one of your kids) to take care of stuff you should not be doing. Paying someone else $10 or $20 an hour to free yourself up to bill $75, $150 or $250 an hour should be a no-brainer.

Leverage your assets. Do you have a piece of equipment you use only part of the time? Or an extra office? Consider renting it out to another business. Or sell things you no longer need.

Simplify. Get rid of parts of your business that do not earn their keep. Do you have a product line that has never done well? Instead of spending more time and money trying to make it work, get rid of it. Stop throwing good money after bad.

Enjoy small successes. If you are always looking for the big score, you may never find it. Do not focus on getting that one big client to the exclusion of getting several smaller ones. When most of your revenue comes from one or two major clients, your business is at their mercy.

Keep a positive outlook. You have more control over your life than you may believe, and bad economic times do not last forever.

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