Accountability

There’s no arguing that Internet Marketing can be a lonely lifestyle. Yes, there are thousands of blogs, forums, and conferences where you can connect with others, but even when you’ve been around for a while you can still feel like you’re all alone in your business. When you have little or no in-person connection with others who are in your position, you can start to feel like you are the only one on the Internet who’s worried about how Google’s latest decisions will affect your page rank, or who’s having trouble updating to the latest version of WordPress. You don’t even realize that there are thousands of other marketers in a similar situation, asking themselves the same questions and struggling with the same issues that you are.

Not only that but people in your day-to-day life, those who know you in the “offline world”, may not even have a clue as to what you’re talking about!  This generally will tend to bring more negativity than helpfulness to the picture, even when they try to be on your side. Unfortunately, that can make you feel even more alone, especially when you have a setback and no one is there to help pull you through, or to just even say “that happened to me, too!”

But you don’t have to be alone. This is where having an accountability partner can save your day.

Reading on, you will find that this report is intended to familiarize you with the ins and outs of creating and leveraging accountability partnerships, specifically for your internet marketing business. You’ll get an overview of the benefits of accountability partners, how and where to find potential partners, how to set up the relationship, and more.

My advice is to just stop here if you are comfortable in the way things are currently going for you. If you are happy with just getting by, exit now.  But if you are you ready to take your business to the next level, kick back and focus.

What Is an Accountability Partner?

Accountability partners are formalized relationships with one or more people who help keep you on task. An accountability partner is a person who coaches another person in terms of helping the other person to maintain their commitment.

The phrase “accountability partner” is quite broad, and encompasses a lot of territory. At its most basic, an accountability partner is someone you set up a formal relationship with, who will help provide support for your online business creation and growth.

Accountability partners are like personal trainers for your business – different trainers have different personalities and different specialties. And you have different needs, too. If you’re at the beginning of your business creation, you may need someone to help cheer you on. As you become more experienced and confident, you may need someone to push your boundaries and tell you when you’re slacking.

Here are some roles that accountability partners can fulfill:

v  Brainstorming Partner
Your accountability partner will help you ponder the internet life’s difficult questions, and help you find the answers. Are you constantly having trouble trying to figure out the shortest path between Point A and Point B? Do you wonder what headlines will convert the best? Do you need some thoughts on what to offer as an opt-in “bribe” on your new mailing list campaign? Grab your accountability partner and start brainstorming.

v  Drill sergeant
From Oprah to Apolo Ohno, people have trainers, or coaches, who push them just a bit farther than they think they can go. Drill sergeant accountability partners serve as a whip-cracking, rear-end-kicker to keep you on task to the goals you’ve set and committed to.

v  Cheerleader
A cheerleader type of partner can boost your confidence, give you assistance when you need it, and help you celebrate your successes. A good example of this would be running a marathon and having someone hand you a cool drink at Mile 10, hold up a sign with your name on it at Mile 20, and greet you with a towel and a bag of ice at the finish line. Your cheerleader will be there cheering you on all the way.

v  Shoulder to cry on
It’s inevitable that every once in a while things will go crazy. Projects fail, plans derail, or you just want to tear your hair out because of technical issues. You may just need someone to vent to who knows what you’re going through when Murphy’s Law proves true. That person can be your accountability partner.

I’m sure that some of these roles probably appeal to you more than others. It all depends on your own personal needs and personality. Just keep in mind that your accountability partnership is determined by you and your partner – it can incorporate whatever you decide,

Setting up an Accountability Partnership

Before you jump right in and ask your husband, wife, or best friend to be your life-long accountability partner, there are several questions that you need to ask yourself before committing to a long-term business relationship. These questions will help you to figure out what will be important to you in an accountability relationship. Take your time thinking through your answers; the only mistake you can make is to jump in too fast and to commit to something that’s just not right.

v  Where are you currently in your business?
Different stages of business require different support. Do you need someone to remind you of what your priorities need to be? Do you need someone to brainstorm ideas? To cheer you on? Is it important to have someone check in with you to see if you’ve accomplished your weekly goals? Different goals may call for different personality types.
v  What timeframe are you looking at?
Do you want someone to accompany you to the next stage of your business (for instance, until you get your product launched), or are you looking for someone to work with you for the next quarter? As your business steps change, so will the role of an accountability partner, so plan to reassess the relationship regularly. Never assume that when you start one you’ll continue the formal relationship forever. Some will eventually run their course.

v  What are your preferences?
How would you prefer to communicate with your partner? Do you prefer to communicate by email, text, in-person, or phone check-ins? Do you want someone who is in a similar industry to you, or would you feel more comfortable with someone who’s in a non-competing field? How often would you like to check in? These choices will all be up to you.

v  How much can you commit?

This is your business, so you will need to make the time to communicate with your partner. You should always get back as much as you give. Just keep in mind that your partner is not a mind reader, so you need to communicate your wants and needs as frequently as possible.

Once you’ve seriously considered and answered these questions, you’ll be in a good position to start evaluating potential accountability partners. In the next few sections we’ll discuss some options so you can determine which accountability partnership type will work best for you.

An “IRL” Accountability Partner vs A Virtual Accountability Partner

Are you the type of person that can’t get things accomplished unless you are face to face? Or are you the type that likes to hide in your office all day and just deal with “electronic communications”? There is no right or wrong here. You need to be comfortable in order to produce and delegate. Both scenarios have pros and cons, and we’ll just lightly touch upon those:

“IRL” Partner

Having an accountability partner you can get together with “in real life” (IRL) adds a new dimension to your partnership. Knowing someone “in real life,” not just online or via phone, is very different than communicating virtually. It will also bring different nuances to the table that a virtual partnership wouldn’t.

Having an “IRL” Partner does have it’s advantages: it allows you to get out of the office for a bit and away from your desk; you can re-energize by being in a new environment; you may feel more comfortable with someone you know outside the computer screen; teaming up with someone you meet regularly for lunch or coffee can help keep you on task; etc.

Even though these sound good on paper, just keep in mind that there are downsides: meeting in person can take more time than virtually, especially if a meal is involved; it’s more likely that you will get distracted with your new surroundings; the meeting time may not be convenient for you; trying to find someone in your area may not be that easy.

“Virtual” Partner

In this world of online living, meeting friends online is no longer outside the mainstream. We make little distinction between online buddies and those who live across the street. And we often feel more connected to these virtual friends than we do with the people we encounter in person.

It makes sense to reach out to your online connections when looking for an accountability partner: no need to have to live near your partner, or even in the same time zone; your pool of potential partners is almost limitless; conversations can stay very targeted, therefore cutting down on the amount of time it takes to connect; you don’t have to worry about coordinating schedules; by corresponding via e-mail, you can catch up when it’s convenient for you.
Once again, there are downsides: it’s easier to drop the ball; taking an extra day or two to respond to an email is nothing compared to standing your partner up for your weekly coffee meeting; the anonymity of the internet means that people aren’t always what they present themselves to be;  your accountability partner may have claimed to be making a certain amount online and so you take his or her advice, not knowing that the truth was stretched considerably.

Whether you decide to go “IRL” or “Virtual”, there are ways that you can protect yourself, as well as making sure that your partnership is successful: really get to know your partner; pick someone you’ve had a positive relationship with for a while, or someone that comes very highly recommended from someone you trust; set an agenda for your meetings and stick to it; take time to establish a preliminary level of trust before baring your soul; do not settle for someone just because he/she is convenient; set up a trial period before committing to a long-term partnership.

These suggestions may sound like overkill, but the risk is high enough to make the extra diligence worthwhile. Your time is valuable, so choose wisely.

Tips for A Great Partnership

Finding an accountability partner is extremely common, expands your horizons, and has proven successful for many marketers.

You should now have a good overview of what accountability partnerships are, and what kind might be best for you. Let check out some ways to make sure that your relationship will work smoothly and successfully for both you and your partner.

• Set Goals
  First and foremost, decide specifically what you’d like to accomplish during your time with your accountability partner. Do you want to create an e-course? Double your site’s traffic? Release new products? Know what you’re going to aim for so your partner can remind you to stay on task and not get distracted.

• Create Ground Rules
  You may feel it’s not necessary to set out on paper the rules of engagement for your relationship, but writing down some details will help you avoid misunderstandings and confusion later. 

  At a minimum, lay out …

• The overall goal of the accountability partnership. (Is it accountability to meet your goals? Or a weekly support connection? Brainstorming? What’s the purpose of connecting? Make sure you’re on the same page.)
• Expectations. (Is each member expected to bring a resource or question to the meeting? Make the preparation clear.)
  • How often you will meet. (Frequency. Will you check in daily, weekly, monthly?)
  • Where/how you’ll meet. (Skype, phone, in person, etc.?)
  • What dates/times you’ll meet.
  • How long the meetings will be. (Try to set up a specific time limit, and keep to that as closely as possible.)
  • The basic agenda for your meetings. (This schedule will help the meetings be more productive and less chatty.)
  • Requirements. (What happens if your partner misses several meetings in a row and thinks nothing of it? Do you have your requirements set?)

Also decide if you’re open to communicating between meetings; are you willing to field phone calls or answer emails, or do you just want to confine your partnership to your regularly scheduled meetings? Either way is fine, as long as you agree on the boundaries.

• Agree on confidentiality.
  You may assume that your partner isn’t going to spread the news of the security hack on your website, but he may have no qualms about using your situation as a cautionary tale in his latest blog post. Talk about what kind of confidentiality you expect from your partner, and make sure you’re all on the same page before starting to share the ins and outs of your business. It would be wise to have a Confidentiality Agreement drawn up. This will protect you as well as your partner.
• Appoint a check-in time.
  If your partnership is brand-new, set a time a few weeks or a month out to reassess and troubleshoot any problems you may be having. You can take this chance to set new guidelines, or reaffirm what’s working well for you. If things are just not working out, this is a good time to cut the ties, rather than continuing on for the duration of the original time period.
• Take notes.
  Things can move so fast in the online world that we become fixated on what’s right in front of us, and forget about how far we’ve come. As a result, it’s easy to overlook the progress you’ve made and focus only on how far you still have to go. If you take notes during your accountability sessions, you’ll have a track record of your accomplishments.

Next Steps

After you’ve successfully worked with your partner for a while, you may wonder what options you have for furthering your relationship. Here are some of my favorite next steps:

1. Commit to another session.
   If you’ve completed six months together and like how things are going, sign on for another six months, or a year together. If it’s working, keep it going! Set new, higher goals, and commit to helping each other meet those milestones.
2. Meet and greet.
   If you’ve only been connecting online or by phone, think about taking your relationship to the next step – the “real world.” A great option is to meet up at one of the many excellent Internet marketing conferences or seminars around the world. I guarantee that when you meet each other in person, you’ll feel like you’ve known each other for years, even if you’ve just been corresponding via email for a few months.
3. Create a Joint Venture.
   After connecting with an accountability partner for some time, you get a pretty good sense of their strengths and weaknesses, and how they like to work. If your styles (and businesses!) seem compatible, you might want to think about creating a joint venture (JV) partnership. Think about teaching an online course together, or creating a case study of your partnership successes. Turn your experiences into cash!

1. Move on.
   It may seem a bit callous to just move on from a successful partnership, but it doesn’t mean you’re saying goodbye to the person. As your business enters different stages of development and you encounter new challenges, you may require a different type of accountability partner – and that’s okay. Think of a new or different way you can work together. Or if you want to keep the relationship up but at a lower level of commitment, spread out your meetings (once a quarter is the minimum to keep the flow of things going).

All healthy accountability partnerships, as with businesses, change and grow over time. Recognizing the new stages you’re entering, and honoring your current needs, is a critical part of being a successful businessperson.

Conclusion

After reading this report, I hope you were able to get some great ideas about how accountability partnerships can enhance your online business. Whether you’re just starting your web-based journey, or you’ve been online for years, accountability partners truly are one of the best investments of your time. It’s like having your own million-dollar mastermind group ….without investing the seven figures!

Creating an accountability partnership not only gives you the opportunity to get help in the areas you need support, it also lets you apply your knowledge and wisdom to someone else’s business, helping them reach new levels of success.

Regardless of what type of accountability program you form, you can definitely grow your business quickly when surrounded with others who are committed to helping you succeed.

Accountability partnerships are, after all, powerful things.

Here’s to your ongoing success