You have a great product of outstanding quality and you have devised a brilliant marketing campaign that supports a premium price for it. You have built up your business with modest financing and it now has a loyal customer base, impressive sales revenues and excellent profitability.

You have a cushion of cash in the bank and you have also been paying respectable dividends to the business's shareholders, who include yourself. Even though a storm last year cut off your supplies and one of your major customers went bust and didn't pay her bills, your business is thriving.

Is it time to relax a little, to put in an extra game of golf or take a second summer holiday? No. It's time to be afraid – very afraid. Because any business that is doing as well as yours is going to attract competition. It doesn't matter how unique or innovative your product appears to be, or how well it is marketed – sooner or later another company is going to enter the arena with a product that is better, cheaper and more actively promoted than yours.