I've found the EC to be great - in fact I'd go as ...

I've found the EC to be great - in fact I'd go as far as say almost essential to small business owners! They give you a way of getting expert business consultancy on growing and improving your business, and their team have genuine, real expertise across the whole range of skills needed to run a business. Of course using them is no guarantee of success as you still have to implement stuff yourself to succeed (though in some areas they can arrange to do this for you), but they are very serious about supporting and helping you in a real-world practical way and I think many businesses would find a lot of value from it.