As we end January and a month of trading on the books, how’s 2023 looking so far? It’s amazing how quickly the weeks whizz by and, while February can still be a pretty cruel month for weather, the lengthening days offer a slowly widening chink of light towards spring, when many of our region’s leisure and tourism businesses burst into life.

There’s no denying that last autumn’s mini budget was a seismic moment for the economy, following on the heels of the pandemic, Brexit, labour shortages and spiralling operating costs for many businesses. While it would be foolish to ignore the adverse impact of these events, the way a company reacts and responds to challenges can often be the difference between success and failure – or, to coin an old English expression, is your glass half-empty or half-full?

I’m always interested to hear the views of business owners and at the start of the year two surveys caught my eye. The first was the British Chambers of Commerce’s quarterly economic survey in which 36 per cent of businesses said they expect lower profits this year, compared with 34 per cent who anticipate a rise. Meanwhile, a separate study by the Bank of England warned that rises in interest rates mean that UK companies are cutting investment by, on average, eight per cent.

As someone who has seen first-hand how investment can help a business to grow and prosper, the latter survey causes real concern about how headlines can shape and adversely affect the perspective of business owners. Locally, we have some of the UK’s finest manufacturing businesses, and time and again I have seen investment in machinery boost productivity and lead to new, highly profitable contracts.

In agriculture too, a sector often challenged by uncontrollable factors such as weather, market conditions and, increasingly, overseas trade agreements, new equipment can bring efficiencies and increased productivity which would have been unthinkable even a decade ago. Life doesn’t stand still, and moving forward is essential for a business to succeed.

A recent report by the EY Item Club forecast that the UK will enter a recession, yet other predictions by JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs suggest that the decline will be milder than anticipated. It’s easy to get blind-sighted by negative headlines and to talk yourself into a standstill, but by looking at the outlook for your sector and using finance to meet the challenges or take advantage of opportunities, you can best navigate the months ahead.

Finally, a headline which I found heartening was a study by Enterprise Nation, the organisation which represents small businesses in the UK, which shows that one-third of adults in the UK are considering becoming their own boss. Times are tough, but starting and growing your own business is still a fantastic opportunity. As a sponsor of the King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Mayor’s Business Awards, we’ve been privileged to learn about some of the incredible achievements of companies in our area and look forward to celebrating these when the winners are announced in March. Whatever the challenges ahead, a positive outlook is one of the best things any business owner can have.