"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary" - Vidal Sassoon.  Fortifying your business takes work and protects you during recessions and emergencies. Diversify with new profit streams. Share costs to help lower operating costs. Be efficient.

In part two of this podcast, Sean continues to share the things that can kill a partnership.  Learned from years of experience and several mistakes these nuggets can help you set up successful partnerships from the very start.

Sean explores 12 partnership killers starting with a partner that is missing one of the big 3 - expertise, capital, or time. Digging deep into some of the uncomfortable scenarios that should be warning signs in your partnership.

Value creation is the genesis of your vision statement. What is the primary aim of your business? What are you bringing to your customers? Be aware of changes within your core offering. Your value creation may need to evolve.

As a business you can choose to serve the easy 80 percent or the hard 20 percent, but you can't successfully serve both. Sean-ism, "I have never regretted walking away from a client, I've only regretted the one I took that drove me bonkers!" Be selective and clearly define your customer and then go for it!  Easy 80 or Hard 20.

From setting the vision to investing in their personal growth, you must train your partners.  Sean has shared the importance of scouting talent and attracting excellent partners but they don't all come "ready made".  You must invest in them to best understand how to run the company and grow as business leaders.

Simply put, if you aren't selling enough of your products and services at a profit margin that covers expenses you will be out of business.  All business is not good business. "People love to buy but hate to be sold." Solve a problem, meet a need for your customer. "Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her to solve a problem or achieve a goal not of selling a product or service" - Brian Tracy

Thinking can improve your business more than anything else you do.  "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it." Henry Ford. Thinking is a skill that must be developed for an entrepreneur to truly be successful.

Marketing is helping customers buy your product or service.  Communicate well why and how much the customer needs your product. Sean's layered marketing approach.  Develop a consistent key message and think about how you are using available channels to communicate to potential customers.

The game Risk teaches you what it takes to be a great entrepreneur.  Monopoly approach spends too fast, expands to fast, and depends on others too much.  Risk teaches you what it takes to be a great entrepreneur.  Start with a small area anywhere, slowly grow footprint methodically, fortify what you have, take over the world.