Lyndon Wood, chairman and chief executive of Caerphilly-based the Moorhouse Group, becomes a dragon for the day and seeks more enthusiasm from fellow brokers.

The Cardiff International Arena was, last Friday and Saturday, host to a Dragon's Den style New Start Event. I sat as one of four judges waiting to be presented with 31 business pitches followed by questions to the candidates.

Among them all were no financial services pitches but it did not surprise me.

Brokers often talk about their businesses in uninspiring terms such as "we get by" or "we are doing ok". In 20 years of building the Moorhouse Group organically I have never once heard a broker say "we are doing fantastically well" or "we are growing at a rate of knots" or "we cannot get enough staff to cope with demand".

I speak to many brokers weekly and, while I admire individuals for taking the leap at some stage and setting up their own business, it amazes me how quickly the very essence of what they set-up disappears. I have met some really nice people and a few fantastic and genuine souls along the way but it's noticeable how fast the initial inspiration can desert insurance brokers not long after start-up. I have personally been inspired by business people outside of the insurance industry but never by those inside it, which begs the questions: why is that? And why do brokers seem to lack the focus to build a great business?

My conclusion and reasoning is that many brokers do not know how to harness their determination and drive to focus on the right channels. They also often seem unable to identify what they are great at and are not quick to grasp opportunities therefore leaving it to the next man or woman to take it from them; it took me 15 years to learn that one!

To start a business is relatively easy and the process of selling a business is also straightforward - it's what is left in the middle that is always the challenge. It is sometimes frustrating how, compared with other sectors, brokers seeem the ones least willing to take advice and learn from people who have set-up, built and continued to build with a clear focus and an exit strategy in mind. It is important not to miss opportunities - especially at the moment - and getting good advice can make all the difference to broker's business. To ask is a moment's shame but not to ask and remain ignorant is a lifelong shame.

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Having seen Michael Jackson's film This is it this week, it is surely the best way to describe the latest money printing measure (sorry, quantitative easing) of £25bn by the Bank of England and £30bn or so of taxpayers' money pumped into our nationalised banks writes Andrew Tjaardstra, editor of PB. For the economy, for the banks, for our policymakers - this is it - this works or nothing does.

The economic crisis has been so severe in the UK that the Bank of England has created an extra £200bn so far to throw into the economy to buy up corporate and government debt. The problem with this unprecedented approach in the UK is that we have no way of knowing whether it will work in the long run, and how much it could contribute to inflationary spirals.

The other concern is the additional money we are pumping into RBS - it has posted another large loss for the third quarter, and we can question if the investment banking arm are worth their £2.5bn in salaries each year. The insurance division, a huge revenue and profit generator needs to be sold, or IPO'd - something the weeklies are going to be writing about for months. However I don't think RBS is in a rush to push this through - and it has four years to play with, although expect once again speculation over the future of NIG, despite RBS insisting the division will remain as one. The European Commission has asked  RBS for a host of other concessions in return for the government bailout, and it is going to be a long, hard road to recovery for our nation's largest bank.

The government is running out of time, and ran out of money along time ago. Fingers crossed the economy returns to growth sooner rather than later and keeps on growing.

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