With fuel prices and inflation rising, consumer spending falling and the credit crunch biting, this is a difficult time for starting up your own business – but it’s not impossible, and could even be a fantastic business opportunity, one expert believes.

One woman who defied the critics and set up her own business at the start of the last recession was Jane Asher. With her passion for home baking leading to a best-selling cake decorating book, Jane Asher set up her own small business. After persuading her bank manager to give her a loan to refit a shop and kitchen, Jane Asher Party Cakes opened in 1989. It has since grown to become one of the country's foremost bespoke cake makers.

Jane admits to being completely unprepared when she set up her own business at what was a frightening time at the start of the last recession. But like many successful entrepreneurs she had a vision and a passion for her product which saw her through the tough times when the business wasn’t breaking even.

In this video she shares the struggles she has encountered as a small business owner and reflects on what she would have done differently, offering tips and advice to budding entrepreneurs and to worried small business owners on surviving an economic downturn.