Many business owners will have noticed an increase of sales in the last quarter of 2009. Speaking to clients and small business owners, we're (Media Street) noticing a general sense of complacency and optimism around 2010. People are thinking it's getting better, but sadly it's not.

November sales were up only 1.8% compared to last year, but this isn't to be looked at in a positive light, if we cast our memories back to November 2008 we'll remember the collapse of the Lehman Brothers. Lehman Brothers were one of the largest global financial services companies and started the domino effect, that turned into the recession, in September 2008 when they declared bankruptcy and a debt of over $613 Billion US dollars.