Ever heard of an accountability partner? Maybe you’ve heard it mentioned online in groups and forums. But do freelancers really need to have one? Here’s what you need to know about accountability partners, where to find one, and how it works to have a business buddy.
According to the American Society of Training and Development found that people are 65 percent likely to meet a goal after committing to another person. Their chances of success increase to 95 percent when they build in ongoing meetings with their partners to check in on their progress.
Benefits of having a business buddy
Benefits of having a partner includes
- Staying motivated
- Helping you to plan and create strategies that work for your freelance business
- Reminds you of your goals whenever you lose sight of them
- Stop you chasing shiny objects and stay focused
- Give advice for improvement whenever they see somewhere you need it and have experience in that area
At the start of my freelancing career, I used an accountability partner. She was local to me and at a similar stage of her business journey to what I was. But having that helped me to create goals and make sure that I do what I can to achieve them.
How an accountability partner works
When you get a partner you can expect to have a business buddy who is keeping you on track to achieve your goals. Then in return, you do the same for them and their business. It’s a real friendship with the aim of helping each other.
If you turn to friends and family for this outside of your business, yes they will give well-meaning advice but it’s not something that will really help you. Having a business buddy you’re getting someone who can take an objective look at you and your business. Then share with you their experience that helps whilst keeping you motivated to achieve your goals.
You can have friends as accountability partners, but also find people within your network. People that are part of various different groups, because, you need objectivity. If that level of objectivity is there, you get to a point of pulling each other to actually be accountable to each other. Rather than getting into each other’s emotional and messy business as well.
Imagine if somebody hasn’t done something because they said X, Y, and Z. You never want to get too close to people emotionally in that sense.
You want to get to a point where you’re working with someone who can at least be objective. Now I’m not saying it’s impossible to work with your partner or with your sibling. But you need to be really careful that the objectivity can be there
Finding a partner
To find an accountability partner, you can find one easily. Join a group on a social media platform, the favorite for this being Facebook. Choose a Facebook group that’s specific for people in your niche such as graphic designers, writers, SEO freelancers, virtual assistants, or female entrepreneurs.
Within these groups, you can post that you’d like to find a business budy. Or start talking with people when they post something. From doing this you see who it is you naturally gel with and ask if they’d like to partner with you for accountability.
Just make sure that any request is mutually beneficial. You’ll find yourself with plenty of people who would love to help you if they are getting something in return.
Choosing the right accountability partner
Now, the first thing you need to remember when it comes to accountability partners is to make sure that they are ambitious, objective and integral.
If they’re ambitious, it will pull you to want to do more. Again, if you’re seeing them getting results and see them thinking big working a specific way, that’s going to rub off on you. You’re going to get to a point of making sure that you do more and doing the best that you could do as well.
If they’re objective, they’re not going to succumb to your emotional state. Getting to a point of making sure that they’re helping you do the things you said you were going to do.
Emotions can get in the way. Your emotions are really useful when it comes to actually make decisions in terms of preferences. But if you want to get results, you have to be consistent enough in order to understand what the data is showing so you know what to do next.
Objectivity is going to be key in terms of helping you move forward. There’s also integrity. Integrity in what their level of communication is. Are they making sure that they want you to succeed as much as they want to succeed and vice versa? And so integrity is key when it comes to making sure that you have an effective accountability partnership.
Working with an accountability partner
To work with a business buddy you need to consider the method of communication. How frequently you want to meet with this person. Do you want to meet with them face to face? Meeting with them on the phone, Facetime, Skype, or Zoom? This is something you both need to discuss and both are comfortable with.
Also, it’s important to make sure that you have some sort of status check. Such as created pending, completed, or closed for tasks you’ve set each other. Therefore, you know where you’re at in terms of your specific task or project. Now, don’t put so many different tasks on there where it becomes ridiculous, but do anywhere between one to four at the most.
When on a call with your business buddy, ensure you give yourselves enough time to speak. A call with your partner will be a 30 mins – 45 mins check-in with each other. So you need to give each other room to speak and really listen to each other. That way you get the best objective opinion from your accountability partner.
When you finish needing to work with each other, give feedback. Giving feedback helps you the next time you partner with somebody. It shows you where you could improve as a partner and what you got spot on.
In A Nutshell,
Having an accountability partner is great for freelancers to have. Helping freelancers to stay motivated and achieve the goals that you’re aiming for. Use Facebook groups to find your perfect business buddy and help each other with an objective viewpoint of each other’s business.
