At the height of Thatcherism, when real men wore ties and expected to be taken seriously wearing red braces, the government of the day talked a lot about promoting ‘the enterprise culture’.

The prevailing thinking was that anyone with the will to succeed and the balls to set up on their own could succeed in business. The banks (remember them) ran advertising campaigns that encouraged people setting up in business to open accounts. The European Single market was even touted as a great opportunity for new businesses. Small businesses, we were told, were the driving force of the economy - they would lead Britain into a brave new world where everyone would be an entrepreneur.

I like to think that people were bright enough to take this kind of propaganda marketing with a barrow load of salt. But I suspect some people were drawn in by it all.

The truth is being in business on your own, with no safety net is not for everyone.

At the time publishers, IT firms and others contracted-out lots of people into the big wide world of self-employment. Many only ever worked for their former employer where they were more reliant than ever on their patronage and had to pay for their own holidays to boot.

Having seen a lot of this I didn’t really intend to end up a running a business. But like everything else in life, a bit of luck helps when you are setting up. After that you need to make some of your own. 15 years on owning an agency this much I know:

• There are very few ’self-made people’ who started with absolutely nothing. Look deeper and in most cases you will find a rich parent, a moneyed partner, an inheritance, a big redundancy payment or some other windfall or security that backs up the start-up.
• It can be lonely. The real story of ’start up on your own firm’ can mean many hours working solo, but feeling that there really is only you who can pay your salary next month proves too much for a lot of otherwise talented people who try it.
• It’s usually hard work. You need self-discipline and you need to treat it like any other job.
• The first person you hire will be your most vital business decision.
• Going broke goes with the territory. I’ve avoided do so thus far, but I know a lot of talented people who didn’t - the day you start to believe it will never happen to you is the first day on the road to the receiver.
• Business people who whine for Government help when times are bad but complain about paying tax when times are good are difficult to respect.

Enjoying the ‘doing’ bit of the business too much can get in the way of running it. I came into things writing commercial copy - which I still do, and these days also do some journalism. The nuts and bolts of the businesses are based around words and pictures, though in reality what we do is sell products that serve a purpose and provide solutions to problems that are design or communications led.

“Is this your first recession”, someone flatteringly said to me a short while back. “Third”, I replied.”

Maybe one day I will stop, but there’s going to have to be a better reason than playing golf and buying slippers.