The economy is in a death-spiral and we're heading for the Second Great Depression.

Well, that's what everyone seems to be saying. Bad time to be a small software company. Bad time to be self-employed. Start heading for the exits because les bon temps cessent de rouler. Maybe all of those things are true, but I'm actually pretty happy to be where we are right now.

First, we have the advantage that we're not a startup, per se. We're self-funded through our client work. That might not seem glamourous, but glamour isn't all that it was six months ago. We're not as concerned with burn rates and getting to revenue because we don't burn and we have revenue. We looked at our cash flow and projects for the next six months this week, and we have a pretty solid idea of what we will be doing through the winter. Jamie's done an awesome job of developing solid relationships with our customers, and they know that they are getting good value for money with us. Second, we're not as deeply tied to the US market as some companies. We do work for companies here in Canada, the US, but also in Europe; that diversification helps weather the rough times. Third, we are confident that the products that we are developing are solid offerings in their respective (and currently under-served) markets. We will be blogging more about these in the future. These aren't $100M killer app products that the guys at StartupNorth seem to want everyone to build, but they don't have to be. They'll make money and serve a need. Unlike Facebook apps, which do neither, or even Twitter, which AFAIK doesn't make money. We're confident enough that we're spending our money and equity to bootstrap them, and that's how it should be.

Finally, I find it a lot better to be in the position of knowing what's going on with my livelihood than being an employee in the dark about the health of my employer. Knowing where we're going in the next six months gives me a sense of control that helps mitigate all the fear out there. As my Dad says, "Rule #1: Don't worry about those things you can't do anything about." I can't control the size of the $700B bailout, but I can work on controlling our expenses, finding new clients and developing our products.

There are folks out there that seem to agree that it might not be a bad time to be a small software company:

• Ian Landsman at UserScape
• Nat Torkington at Radar O'Reilly. Plus he says we'll only have to wait until 2013 for the return of "stupid money"

and I tend to agree with them. It may be tough times, but I feel we're in a good position to get through them.