A lot of you out there are not feeling overly optimistic right now (it's admittedly hard to blame you). According to Discover, 51% of small business owners said their business's conditions were getting worse; Silicon Valley and its attendant venture capitalists are freaked out by last week's events too, which from their perspective included Apple's losing over 15% of its market capitalization and AMD allegedly having trouble raising enough money for a planned spin-off.

MSNBC has put together a good, brief segment on what the economy of the next twelve months likely holds for small businesses.

(Our favorite interviewee is Fred Belinsky, a "Hat Shop Owner"--this appears to be his store--who is sporting a very natty, well, hat).

Takeaways:
-Pessimism is probably not inappropriate--which should clue you in to what your assumptions of what the next several months will be like should be.
-Keep up on stats, especially consumer confidence indices, retail spending, and the credit markets' statuses. So read the business section of your daily paper. May we also suggest a good blog for small business news?
-Hoard cash. To be frank and blunt: you need to operate on the assumption that revenues won't be what they should be, and that you can still fulfill your credit obligations.
-Apres le deluge, stronger companies and entrepreneurs. One person they talk to points to the aftermaths of the most recent severe economic downswings to demonstrate that at the other end of them, the fittest companies come out stronger than before and a ton of space is created for new entrepreneurs and new ventures.