Why Having An Accountability Partner Will Help Your Business

We hear many things about what makes a successful business. From Pinterest strategies and list building, to sales funnels and webinar planning.

However, if you look to the successful and thriving business owners online, you might notice some other things in common.

Personal coaches for life and business, mastermind groups, week long retreats. These are all things that many business owners have attributed a portion of their success to.

It might seem odd, for those of us just starting out, that our business coach has their own business coach. But once you get past the basics of business, it becomes much less about the physical form of your business and more about the mindset.

When you play a sport at school, for example, you are drilled on the basics before you begin to master more advanced strategies. Without a complete understanding of the basics, you would certainly not be getting into the pro leagues.

But when you start rising up the competitive ranks, a new element of skill become involved. Ever heard of sports psychologists? At first you might assume that a sports psychologist might be called in to solve a specific problem.

Perhaps to tackle pre-game nerves or to help them cope with the pressure at crucial moment.

Indeed, there is an element of this. However, sports psychologists also help to enhance  performance generally, to help athletes reach their goals and unlock their full potential.

And whilst without mastering the basic skills of the game, of course, you aren’t going to be winning any championships – similarly, by ignoring the mindset aspect of the sport, you are leaving potential on the table.

 

What does this have to do with my business?

 

The key skills of business are fundamentally important. If you don’t have a good foundation then no amount of positive thinking is going to will the income into existence.

However, if you’ve got those basics down but you feel like you are really struggling to grow, maybe it’s time to look at that crucial mindset element.

So How Will An Accountability Partner Help My Business Grow?

1. Consistency

 

As creative people, we often have a hundred different ideas  that we want to tackle at once. We see new shiny ways of marketing and increasing revenues and we want to try them all.

Having an accountability partner will help you stay on the straight and narrow.

It’s not the most glamorous aspect of being a business owner but building your business is all about consistency. Building it up month by month, little by little. In order to do that you need to be consistent, otherwise it ends up being a little growth here and then a little growth there without anything really stable and predictable.

Your partner can help you stay on track with those tasks that you need to be working on and help nudge you back to reality should you fall of the wagon.

 

2. Brainstorming and Confidence

 

How many times a day do you wonder ‘will this work? Will people like this? Is this a good idea?’

Now, of course, at the end of the day it’s your audience that really needing to be asking this of. They are the people who are potentially buying into this new idea.

However, you can’t bombard your poor audience by asking them about every little idea and concept you come up with. It would be exhausting for them and you would probably come off as a little bit flakey.

Until the idea gets to a stage where it’s fully formed enough to start getting feedback, we can often be gripped by self-doubt. Over thinking things and becoming trapped in a loop, going around in circles, can become a frightening norm.

Although you may have friends and family to talk this through with, what we really need is someone who ‘just gets it’.

It’s not really that we need an accountability partner to give us permission but rather someone to help give us a confidence boost and a way of running through our own thoughts. Explaining a plan out loud can often be an excellent first step in ironing out the kinks.

And you are less likely to sit there wondering, is this a crazy idea?

3. Built In Support System

 

Self doubt and uncertain idea aside, sometimes business can take an emotional toll. Technical issues, failed promotions, frustrating clients.

In a traditional 9-5 you might be able to go blow off steam with your co-workers, but when it’s just you and this overwhelming behemoth of responsibility it can be pretty overwhelming.

Your partner might not be able to help fix all your problems but sometimes just having some nod sympathetically when you call the Instagram Algorithm all the names under the sun is super helpful.

Conclusion

Consistency, productivity and mental health.

Things not so talked about in the business world. Not as glamorous as perfecting your Instagram feed or as exciting as a re-brand.

But crucial to business growth and, quite frankly, our own happiness and sanity.

We got away from the traditional job in order to have more control, happiness, flexibility and creative fulfilment. So making sure that we are a happy boss in our own business should be a top priority for us too.

Plus happiness means you work better. Science says so.