1. Keep costs low. "That's the best recession-proofing advice I can give startups," says Shel Horowitz, a business expert who publishes the Web site FrugalMarketing.com. He says some of the most successful companies start on a shoestring budget, without a fancy office or elaborate furniture. With the savings, these fledgling companies are able to set aside money to grow their business.

2. Fire unprofitable customers, keep profitable ones happy. Curt Finch, the chief executive of Journyx, a developer of expense management solutions for businesses, says good customers can get you through bad times. "Most managers know how profitable the company is in general," he says. "But few of them know how profitable it is on a per-project or per-customer basis." This level of understanding is necessary to develop and implement the right growth strategy in a recession. "Think of it as the difference between performing surgery with a scalpel and performing it with a chainsaw," he says. Ouch.

3. Do business outside the box. "Diversify and explore alternative sales channels to reach into new markets around the state, country or globe," says Paul Gerbino, publisher of Industrial NewsRoom. He's seen industrial businesses that have used the most recent recession as an opportunity to actually grow. "Those companies who have a strong online sales strategy to attract and convert customers, and shorten the sales cycle, are the ultimate winners," he adds.

4. Use free resources to promote your business. Those include social networking opportunities and e-mail marketing applications, says Rich Sloan, an expert on entrepreneurship and small businesses who runs the site Startupnation.com. "By being active on sites like Facebook and using micro-blogging sites like Twitter and your own blog, you can significantly expand your contacts and prospects and develop interaction with them that can lead to revenue with stunning speed and scope," he says. "It's basically schmoozing -- without ever leaving your office."

5. Find inexpensive way of attracting new customers. Seph Skerritt, the chief executive of a startup apparel business called Proper Cloth, did it by adding a new service. "We offered international shipping," he says. "Now we're also selling to customers in Canada, Singapore, Russia, and other countries all over the world." The net effect? Proper Cloth is hedging itself against a specific geographic or country-specific risk, he says.

6. Negotiate with your vendors. No one wants to re-negotiate a contract, but when the survival of your business is at stake, you're often left with no choice. "Go to your service providers, lawyers and accountants, and negotiate reduced fees," says Divya Gugnani, chief executive of Behind the Burner, a food community Web site. Another place where you can save is rent. "It may be your single biggest cost each month, particularly for a startup," he says. Why would your vendors and landlords give you a break? Because they would probably be worse off without your business, so they have a vested interest in keeping your company alive.

7. Make sure your paperwork is in order. James Rosenblatt, an attorney based in San Antonio, Tex., who works with small businesses, says having a fireproof business plan is crucial when you're enduring a downturn. "Have a solid business plan that has been vetted by people familiar with the industry and can help identify weaknesses and poor assumptions," says, adding that a thorough review of the plan is a kind of stress test that makes sure "you have the necessary staying power if revenue does not grow as fast as anticipated."

8. Change your marketing. "Emphasize those products that are a necessity," says Michael Epstein, president of eDimensional, which offers flight simulator products. For example, his company now touts the cost savings of using a flight simulator over actual flight lessons or flight school training. "With flight simulation, spending just $50 or $100 can give you a great many hours of added enjoyment for customers who consider flight simulator to be one of their primary hobbies," he says.

9. Stay ahead of the trends. One way to ensure this is to perform a company-wide SWOT analysis. SWOT is shorthand for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats," and should be performed once every six to eight months, says Deborah Osgood, co-founder of the Knowledge Institute. "A business that systematically uses such an approach to respond to changing conditions rapidly and as a team, has the best chance of surviving an economic downturn," she adds.

10. Team up with a bigger company. Yao-Hui Huang, the chief executive of the strategic design firm Gigapixel Creative, says the best way to make it through a recession is to make new friends. "Create as many partnerships and form as many strategic business alliances as possible," she says. "There is a huge opportunity for smaller companies to partner with larger, well-known brands." Indeed, many larger companies are hamstrung for cash and welcome the opportunity to forge partnerships with all types of companies, especially startups.

11. Stay put. Travel and entertainment expenses are a company's second- or third-biggest expense, after payroll. It doesn't have to be. "The idea that meetings have to be face-to-face to be effective isn't just dated – it's carbon-dated," says Elizabeth Knuppel, the chief executive of Group Dialogue, a training and communications company who specializes in startup businesses. "Web conferencing can be every bit as effective and far less costly than an in-person sales meeting," she says. And far less expensive.

12. Keep your employees in the loop. "A key to business survival is an engaged workforce," says Rick Maurer, a speaker and trainer who consults with small businesses. During downtimes, employees often feel like their job is on the line and managers don't listen because they are under so much stress. That causes morale to plummet and can hurt a business. Maurer says keeping your employees engaged and informed is one way of averting disaster.