The devastation of marketing budgets that has resulted from the atmosphere of fear and uncertainly should change the way you do business in the future but maybe not in the most obvious ways. And while many may feel we are in the depths of the recession, many are beginning to see the recovery. Here are ten telling questions that can give you some direction about where you need to go now.

1. Did you use the recession as an opportunity? And if not, can you now?

2. Did panic cause you make decisions you wish you could have made differently?

3. What kept you up at 3 a.m.? And have you done anything to fix it?

4. Did you make hard decisions that you should have made anyway?

5. Did you find yourself more or less worried about results?

6. Did you do things cheaply that ended up hurting your brand?

7. Did you do things cheaply that cost you more money in the long run?

8. Do you have plans to take advantage of the recovery?

9. Would you change the way you reacted to the recession? If so, what would you change?

10. Given what you’ve been through, what are you going to change in the future?