It has often been said that the engine of our economy, indeed of any free enterprise economy, is driven by the passion and vigor of entrepreneurs. These are the folks that risk it all to pursue a dream or new idea, and establish a business along the way. Having worked with entrepreneurs for years, we have learned that without them, our economy and our very way of life would look completely different.

One of the most common questions we are asked at our M&A conferences relates to timing. I.e. When is the optimal time to exit a business? In general – unless you are forced to exit due to personal considerations such as health – the best time to exit is when the market tells you it is time. External issues such as overall market activity, valuations, buyer interest, and available cash all should play a role in your analysis of when to exit your company.

We certainly live in interesting times. For some reason the first lines from Charles Dickens' classic novel, Tale of Two Cities, have been running through my head the last few weeks. To quote Mr. Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

During the past few weeks I attended a number of webinars focusing on post-election expectations regarding M&A activity in 2013. Surprisingly, despite all the concern about the Fiscal Cliff (or slope), most M&A professionals are quite optimistic about M&A activity in 2013 and beyond. Here are just a few comments from the folks on the webinar panels.

Amid all the doom and gloom we hear daily about fiscal cliffs and debt ceilings that need to be raised, I recently came across remarkable projections regarding U.S. energy independence that indicate great economic conditions are in the country's future. Many of you in the oil industry probably are already aware of this, but others may not be.

I recently came across an interview conducted before the election with a very optimistic economist. The discussion was in conjunction with last month’s ACG (Association for Corporate Growth) meeting in Philadelphia. The ACG sponsors regional and national meetings for its members to enable dealmakers to mingle with professional buyers, corporate strategic, and private equity groups.

As we all know, the Great Recession has changed our business paradigms, and in some industries, it has changed them radically and for the long term. If you are the owner of a privately held business and you are still in operation today, you deserve a huge pat on the back. Your ability to survive the past four years and hopefully position your company for long-term success is a testament to your hard work, skill, and creativity.

The most interesting and troubling issue with our current economic malaise is that our status varies depending on which economist you listen to – we are either heading into another recession or we are just recovering from the last one. On a daily basis we are bombarded with “experts” telling us their latest statistics and providing us with their analyses of where we are heading (or where we have been).

I came across an interesting article in Fortune recently, which focused on the impact that political, economic, and social uncertainty has on business planning. It was a fascinating analysis and did the best job I have seen in quantifying the impact that the past few years’ uncertainty has had on the U.S. business community.

Unfortunately it appears that we are going to be hearing a lot of misinformation about private equity and its focus during the next few months. I was thinking of this not long ago when one of the largest pension funds in the U.S. released its returns for the past fiscal year. Overall, CalSTRS showed slight growth of 1.8% on its investments in its fiscal year that ended June 30. CalSTRS is the pension fund representing the California State Teachers Retirement System. Its members are comprised of 856,000 California educators and their families.