A BEARD grooming entrepreneur believes businesses must stay ‘resilient and adaptable’ after new statistics showed small firms were fed up of experts predicting financial doom and gloom.

Steve Sanger set up The Beard and the Wonderful from his Heybridge home back in October 2015.

He has now sold more than 150,000 beard grooming products across the world and by the end of 2016 had a turnover of £120,000.

Data from the annual eBay for Business Index survey found 52 per cent of small businesses were tired of experts’ pessimistic financial forecasts.

The survey also found British online businesses were better prepared for risks.

A weak pound making imports more expensive concerned 22 per cent of start-ups while only 36 per cent feared the uncertainty caused by Brexit would affect sales.

Steve, who launched his business via a website and eBay store, said: “Obviously you can never know for sure how well a business will perform when you first start up, but I realised that launching the business through both an independent website and an eBay store would remove many of the start-up costs and allow me to reach millions of customers further afield.

“To anyone looking to start up a business but concerned by what they read in the news, I’d say that there are always ways for entrepreneurs to respond to changing circumstances and take matters into their own hands.

“If anything, the weakness of the pound means there’s never been a better time to export. What’s important is to stay resilient and adaptable.”