Accountability Partner Discussion - Your Thoughts?

[Lynn Terry]

Do you have an accountability partner, or have you had an accountability in the past?

I would love to hear your thoughts on:

- how it has helped you
- best ways to manage that partnership
- do you prefer one-on-one or a small group?
- reasons you feel it would be beneficial (if you haven't tried it yet)
- what you hope to achieve through accountability partner(s)
- best/worst experiences you've had
- why it ended, if you've been through that

It's common to get involved with mastermind groups, or paid coaching groups. Do you find these helpful, and if so how & why? Do you prefer this over a personal accountability partner?

I would love to hear your thoughts & personal experiences!

[MikeF421]

I've tried this in the past in different ways. Never really had a good experience with it.

Tried having a partner. Everything split 50/50. Turned out the only thing that got split 50/50 was the profits. The workload... well that was another story.

The accountability partner I tried a few times when I was pretty new in the IM world. The problem I ran into was that like with many business opportunities, in the IM world too, most people give up long before they have any success. So I had accountability partners that eventually disappeared when they weren't making money hand over fist right away.

I think the accountability partner idea is much better suited for people established in the IM world.

For this reason, I think a small group (although I have never tried it) is a much better way to go. If one or two people drop off (hey life happens), the whole process is not lost.


On paper, I love the idea of an accountability partner. Working from home by yourself can be a very lonely proposition. Having some like-minded people to pick you up when things get tough, bounce ideas off of, etc. could be a huge boost to someone's business.


Just my $.02

[Lynn Terry]

Great feedback - thanks!

I've had similar experiences myself over my 13+ years in business. I do like small groups, and actually host one here on the forum, and you're right - that does work out well even with a little change in the group now and then. That of course is more a lead mastermind group than a one-on-one accountability partner. The latter is harder to find, and keep, I agree. But when you find that person... it is VERY beneficial!

[Coronado Cookie]

I love being involved with a small master mind/accountability group. I like the group format because it gives a diversity of ideas and input. Everyone has different strengths and skills that they bring to the group. The group is very supportive and really inspires me and we answer one another’s questions or research the answers together.

We regularly ‘meet’ a minimum of once a week in addition to e-mails and private chats with one another.

The best experience was a 4 hour Skype call coupled with Dropbox where we wrote an e-book for a joint venture. The worst experience was when a few of us tried to work on a site together and it just didn’t go any where – wasted too much time on that.

Although I am still in contact with the people from the first group I was involved with, it just seemed to lose steam. My current group is smaller and has a lot more energy and focus.