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Welcome back to Section Nine of the Progress Pyramid.

At Kelly+Partners, the Progress Pyramid is our trademark process—designed to help you, as a business owner, get on top of the many, many issues that come at you every day.

By now, I hope you’ve got a pen, you've drawn the pyramid, worked out the 12 parts, written them down—and committed them to memory.

Repeat after me. You should be able to walk through the pyramid:
Mission. Values. Behaviour. Vision. Strategy. Structure. People. Process. Clients. Financials. Risk. Exit.

That’s your framework. Memorize it. It’ll change your life, and it’ll change your business.

Now, we're up to Risk—which is often the most forgotten part of a business.

At Kelly+Partners, we help clients protect themselves. Imagine this:
We put your business assets over here. We build a brick wall.
Then we keep your personal assets over there.
The two should never mix.

Make sure you’ve had that conversation with your accountant. Ask:
“How can I protect my assets in case of a disaster?”

In many families, one partner works in the business. The other doesn’t. That separation allows us to keep one person outside of directorships or risky appointments, so personal assets can be safely held.

Now, let me take you through a practical exercise using the Progress Pyramid.

Step 1: Personal Risk Audit

Go through each of the 12 areas in the pyramid. Ask yourself:

• Where am I personally at risk?

• Do I have personal financial risks?

• Do I have digital risks?

  • Where’s my laptop at night?

  • Is it secured?

  • If someone steals it, have they taken your whole business?

• How are you managing passwords, cloud storage, and devices?

• Are your personal finances creating risk for the business?

• Are you in a personal relationship with a client or staff member that could bring risk?

Step 2: Business Risk Audit

Now, flip it. Ask: What are the business risks across each area?

• Do we have proper digital security?

• The right insurance policies?

• Are we protecting our brand, not just building it?

• If we're expanding into new regions, do we understand local laws and compliance?

• Have we built barriers against people who may harm or steal from the business?

Step 3: Exit & Succession

One of the biggest risks in most businesses is the lack of succession.
There are people in your business who know everything.
If they leave, get sick, or worse—what then?

So, here’s your action:

Grab your Progress Pyramid.
Write down your personal risks.
Write down your business risks.
Then come and talk to us—we’ll help you create a real plan to mitigate those risks.

Now, our team knows something I say often:

You don’t win through offense. You win through strong, aggressive defense.

Defense means that everything you’ve worked for—you get to keep.
That’s how you build compounding progress. You don’t go backward.

So take this seriously.

At some point, something will happen:

• You might get sick.

• A team member may leave.

• You might get hacked.

• A major client may walk away.

These aren’t black swan events. These are brown swan events.
It’s not rare. It’s just a white swan with mud on it.

So let’s stop pretending it won’t happen.
Let’s aggressively identify risks, make the list, and put plans in place to manage them.

That’s how you stay in the game—and win over the long term.