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The Importance of Accountability Partners

Shae Bynes
2 min read
The Importance of Accountability Partners

If you don’t have an accountability partner as you’re starting or growing your real estate investing business, you’re at a competitive disadvantage.

I feel strongly about this because I have seen examples of the power of accountability partnerships in both personal and business matters time and time again.  Even if you haven’t personally seen the power within a business context, I am sure that you’re familiar with successful accountability partnerships in fitness programs, support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, and weight loss programs. With just two committed individuals, these partnerships work and will do wonders towards the achievement of your goals.

What is an accountability partner? An accountability partner is essentially a person who encourages another person and helps them to keep their commitments and make consistent progress towards their stated goals.  They can also assist with brainstorming ideas and help solve challenges.

What’s great is that your accountability partner does not have to be involved in the real estate business.  The partner simply needs to be:

  • Goal-minded
  • Someone you share a mutual respect with
  • Interested in your success (as well as their own of course!)
  • Someone who is willing to commit the time required to hold each other accountable
  • Someone who is willing to call you out on your B.S. whenever necessary (and isn’t afraid of being called out on their own!)

Here are some ideas for how you can set up an accountability system once you have solidified a partner to work with:

  • Be sure to exchange overall goals for the year so that you’re both clear on the “big picture”
  • Consider putting a timeframe on the partnership and agreeing on it – for example, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year
  • Use online tools to share and track daily or weekly that you’re going to be held accountable for. Be sure to mark them in prioritized order!  Don’t have a laundry list of items – really think about the 5 or 6 most important things to get done towards your business that day and prioritize them.  Possible online tools include Google Docs or free private wikis (e.g. WetPaint.com, PBwiki.com, Wikidot.com).
  • Send an encouraging e-mail, voicemail, or text message sometime during the week!
  • Schedule a weekly 30 minute call with your partner to review the week and progress made – this can done via the online tools, but always nice to get some voice to voice interaction (or you can do Skype video calls!)

If you don’t already have an accountability partner, I strongly encourage you – regardless of your years of experience or level of achievement — to begin thinking of people you can work with to support each other towards stratospheric success!

Image: Photographer: Gregory Szarkiewicz via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.