Who do you have to support you and hold you accountable in your business?
I might already know the answer to that question. If you’re an online marketer or you have your own business, then you might not have anyone by your side—no one to support you or hold you accountable.
It’s easy to feel like you’re all alone in your business. From your current perspective, that might even seem preferable. You like being alone—you like being able to make your own choices and do your own thing.
However, that comes at a cost. Sure, you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck and that’s a great thing. You get to do what you want to do. You get to build wealth in your business in the way you see fit
But, you’re giving something up with that. You’re giving up that accountability. You’re also giving up the easy ability to brainstorm, problem solve, and be creative with others.
I’m not saying you should take on a business partner or go back to a day job, necessarily. You’re a self-made entrepreneur for a reason.
What I would like you to do is be honest with yourself. Has your productivity, output, and enthusiasm suffered as a result of working for yourself? You’re certainly not alone if that’s the case.
It’s easy to put things off when there’s no one else to hold you accountable. It’s easy to let self-doubt creep in and hold you up from taking action.
There’s a great solution that can help you with that so you can become more productive, get more done, and build more wealth in your business. It doesn’t matter whether you have a new business, you’re just contemplating starting your business, or you’re old hat when it comes to running your own business, this is something that can work for you.
It’s time to get an accountability partner.
What Is An Accountability Partner?
An accountability partner is someone who you confide in about your business. They help to hold you accountable with your goals. They can also be valuable for brainstorming and problem solving.
In turn, you’ll help to hold them accountable with their goals. You’ll help them brainstorm and solve problems in their business.
There’s a lot of value in interacting with others. You might interact in person or online via email or Skype or something like that. You might interact in a variety of ways.
Simply knowing that there’s someone out there who knows your business and will be checking in on you can make a huge difference in your action taking. You’ll want to have something good to report to your accountability partner!
Since you’ll be sharing personal things about your goals and your business, your accountability partner needs to be someone you really trust and respect. Ideally, this person will be someone who has similar goals and is on a similar wavelength as you.
The Good Things That Can Happen Once You Have an Accountability Partner
Do you have days when you feel like you just can’t take a single positive step forward in your business? You have good intentions, but you just don’t think you can get it all done.
You sit at your computer, look at your to-do list, and feel instantly overwhelmed.
You decide to check Skype and social media sites before you get started working, sure you’ll return to your to-do-list and get it all done later.
But, before you know it, the day has passed you by and you haven’t gotten anything done at all. Ugh, depressing.
You decide you’ll do better tomorrow—you’ll work double-time, if you need to. But now, you’re working with feelings of guilt. You’re beating yourself up for not having done a good job the day before.
You start to panic. If you don’t work, you don’t earn. What are you going to do now? You have deadlines you’ve set for yourself and you really want to get it done.
Unfortunately, you repeat the cycle. You’re only accountable to yourself. More often than not, your self-doubt or just plain old procrastination sets in.
Rinse and repeat. You don’t move forward in your business and you don’t achieve your goals. It’s easy to put things off when you’re the only one checking in on your business. It’s easy to put things off when no one else cares whether you succeed or fail.
That’s a pretty negative outlook, isn’t it? Now, let’s talk about the wonderful things that can happen when you get an accountability partner.
Suddenly, you’ll be more motivated to get your work done because you know you’ll have someone checking in on you. That’s often enough on its own to spur you to action.
There’s something really invigorating about knowing that someone is on your team. If you’ve been feeling like your business has gone stale lately, this could be a great move for you.
You’ll be making positive progress and great moves in your business and that’s something that really matters when it comes to your productivity. Make one good move (such as getting an accountability partner) and then it will be so much easier to keep making great moves.
This isn’t to say that the act of getting an accountability partner is the sole thing that will help you become more productive. You won’t instantly work perfectly and always get everything done on time. You won’t show up to work every day and always feel great. You’ll have a much better chance of doing so, but it won’t always happen.
When things don’t go right and you aren’t feeling your best, your accountability partner can help you figure out what’s going on and what you can do to improve things. They can help you get going when you’re at your lowest. That’s something we can’t always do on our own. It’s truly refreshing to have someone else on your team, even if you’re running your own business.
Accountability partners can also be wonderful for creativity and problem solving. You can get your best ideas when you bounce those ideas off of others. Sometimes, you’ll have problems that you just can’t seem to find your way around. An accountability partner can help you see around things you’re simply too close to.
If you have the right kind of accountability partner, there are so many positive benefits that will quickly become apparent as soon as you get started.
How to Choose the Right Accountability Partner
When I talk about all of these benefits, I'm assuming you’ll have the right kind of accountability partner.
There are some who will start off with enthusiasm but then become unreliable. They might not show up for your scheduled meet times or won’t check in with you or won’t seem into the arrangement after a while. Those people simply aren’t on your level at this point and aren’t ready for such a partnership.
It’s important to think long and hard about who you choose before you enter into a partnership like this. You want to make sure they’re absolutely a great fit.
It’s ideal to find someone who is at the same level as you are, business-wise. You don’t want someone who isn’t quite at your level because they won’t be able to understand where you are and what’s going on with your business.
You may not want to choose someone who has more success than you because that creates an imbalance. You might start to feel like you’re not able to give as much to the partnership, which can be distracting and uncomfortable. It may be better to look to those who are more successful as a mentor or coach rather than an accountability partner. With that said, never say never. If you find a good match that you’re sure of, just go with your gut.
Choose someone who you get along with, someone who can be tough with you and give it to you straight when you need it and isn’t just going to tell you what you want to hear.
Choose someone who you think can help you move forward and be more productive in your business—and someone you think you can help.
Choose someone who’s reliable and isn’t going to leave you high and dry after a short time.
It’s so important to find a good match for you. Take a little time to make sure. Make sure you’re both on the same page as far as what you expect of each other.
How to Find a Great Accountability Partner
Now, let’s talk about how to find a great accountability partner.
Think of the relationships you’ve developed with other people in business—other self-starters. These can be relationships you’ve formed online or off.
If no one comes to mind, think of the business groups you’re in. Maybe you belong to forums or social media groups. You can find someone who’ll suit you based on having similar goals.
It’s ideal if you know the person pretty well before you enter into a partnership like this, but it’s not an absolute requirement. Sometimes, you can just go with your gut.
The Logistics of Having an Accountability Partner
The specifics are totally up to you. You can meet in person or online. If you’re going to meet online, then you can communicate via email or social media messaging. You can contact each other via FaceTime or Skype.
You can use a variety of methods. Maybe sometimes you’ll meet face-to-face and sometimes you’ll use Skype and email.
Come up with regular meeting times. Maybe you’ll check in every day. Maybe you’ll check in once a week.
Maybe you’ll leave the lines of communication totally open—texting or messaging each other whenever the need arises.
Maybe you won’t talk about all until your scheduled meeting times.
What do you need from your accountability partner? What do they need from you?
Think about what will work for you. Come to an agreement before you formally start your partnership. Make sure you’re on the same page so no one is disappointed.
Using Your Accountability Partnership the Right Way
Make sure you stick with it! Remember—someone else is depending on you for help now and you’re depending on them.
Focus on becoming more productive. Take your partner’s suggestions to heart.
Smile, because you know someone else is on your side. You aren’t alone anymore and you still get to run your business your way. It’s truly the best of both worlds.
Get started by finding your accountability partner today. I think you’ll find that this is a very smart decision you can make for your business. It’s a free, easy, and motivating way to get more done in your business and to stay in touch with a like-minded thinker even though you run your own business.
This decision alone could be what leads to a dramatic improvement in productivity and success in your business.