6 Questions to Ask Yourself When Finding and Working with an Accountability Partner

If you or your clients struggle with getting more things done and accomplishing important goals in your life, having an accountability partner or group make a world of different, but there are some ins and outs to setting it up right. 

Here's a Question from Our 4X System Subject Matter Expert Training Q&A Session:

How do I find an effectively work with an accountability partner or group?

It's a great question and if you've never formalized the accountability process for yourself, it's much more difficult to stay on track. Watch the video above for 6 questions you should ask yourself or ones you should get your clients to ask themselves when finding an accountability partner or group. 

Here is a list of the 6 questions you need to ask yourself, but watch the video to get the full explanation, examples and implementation strategies:

1. Do You Get Along and Have Something to Offer Each Other?
2. Are You Both Moving Toward Something?
3. Are They (And Are YOU) Reliable?
4. Can You Make it a Habit? (this is key and you'll find strategies  in the video)
5. What's Your Preferred Method for Communicating?
6. How Can You Document the Process So it Helps Everyone?

When you regularly check in with someone and they call you out when you're messing things up, it's much easier to stay focused and on track with your goals. You'll eliminate distractions, stay productive and have a chance to learn from each other's experiences. 

To your great success,

Alice Seba and Damon Greene
Your Partners in Easy Product Creation

Letting Go of Perfection for Bigger Profits from Your Information Products and Training Programs

by Alice Seba
Owner PublishforProsperity and
Done-for-You Content Provider Since 2006

After working with information product and online course creators and hopeful product creators for over 15 years, there is one thing that holds people back from success than any other.

That is the need for perfection. The need to perfectly understand the process before starting. The need to have a perfect product before launching.

But calling it perfection is a lie.

Perfection sounds like a positive thing and people hide behind the words, “I'm a perfectionist.”

But perfection is just an extremely misleading word for procrastination.

The desire for perfection boils down to excuse after excuse for not getting stuff done.

If you want to be successful creating information products, training programs or in any business at all, it's time to let go of the false idea of perfection.

Here are a few ways you can do that…

1. You Don't Need to Know How to Do Everything before You Start

If you've been telling yourself that you'll launch your first product once you figure out A, B, C and D…you're giving yourself the biggest excuse ever to do nothing at all.

Think about all the things you've done in your life without knowing exactly where you're going. Whether it was to learn to drive, cook a meal, get married or even have a child, most of us jump in and learn as we go. We make mistakes and sometimes screw up royally, but all those are lessons for us to improve or get it right the next time.

You do not need to know who your web host will be, how you'll create your site, what autoresponder you'll use or what platform you'll sell your product with…and know each step of all those things before you begin. You'll do them and learn them as you go.

So many people I speak to want a precise blueprint and want every step outlined…but there really is no such blueprint because there are many variables that decide how you'll execute your plan. It could be your budget, personal preferences, your target market or just about anything else.

If you're looking for a cookie cutter approach to what you should do…you'll get cookie cutter results. But if you can learn what's best for your business as you go and adapt as you make be discoveries, you'll have much more success.

Which brings me to the next point…

2. Be Willing to Adjust Your Plan

Just like you might change the steps you follow or the software you use to launch your product, you need to be flexible with the product itself.

When we start, we have these grand ideas of our perfect product. But then we get down to work, we realize that it's going to take forever to get where we hoped.

That's the point where the deadline you set for yourself is more important than perfection. For accountability, tell your subscribers your product will launch on a certain day and make sure you deliver. That might mean changing your expectations of what the product will look like, but it's better than waiting until NEVER to launch. 🙁 

Because here's the thing…

3. Don't Assume You Know What “Perfection” Means to Others

We all have this idea of what our ideal product should like, so we get married to the idea and it's hard to let go…but realize that you have no idea of what perfection looks like to your customers.

And the only way for you to really discover that is by getting content out to them and letting them tell you what else they need…and then providing it to them.

Why spend months or even years creating something, only to discover you were missing what your customers really needed?

Just let go. Let your customers surprise you and tell you what they need.

And yes, you could survey your followers before you release your product…but then you're getting the feedback of people who simply say they're interested. You want feedback from people who have already committed and paid you, so you know how to serve your actual customers better.

And speaking of others, this product creation game doesn't need to be…and shouldn't be…a solitary activity…

4. Let Others Help You

I was overwhelmed by things just like you. All the tasks I had to complete and learn how to do. All the content I had to create. And I had to do it all because it had to be perfect.

But that thinking was wrong for a couple of reasons:

– There are far more talented and knowledgeable people than I am…so it's silly for me to try to retain full control of each part of the process.

– I only have so much time in the day. If I'm trying to do everything, things are going to slip through the cracks. And from my experience with creating products, people get most bogged down in the creation process and they skimp on the selling and marketing part…and really cheat themselves in creating a best selling product.

The moment I started to let go and to accept help, the faster my success came. I hired writers and used private label rights content. I hired people to do my graphics and so on.

Then I was able to focus on selling my product and making it a financial success. Because after all, we create products because we want to help people…but if we can't sell them, how are we going to get them out to those people?

Free Downloadable S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Worksheet with Private Label Rights:
Stop Talking about Your Goals Like They're Dreams…Get ‘Em Done Instead

The other day, we shared our free Time Calculator that helps you discover just how much time you have to pursue new goals and achieve those things you've been putting off forever. Well, now that you know you DO have the time to work on the things that matter to you, let's get to working on getting to those goals.

You've probably heard of S.M.A.R.T goals before…and that's because it's a formula that works. Here's an overview:

SPECIFIC – Your goal needs to be spelled out very precisely and you also need to have a reason WHY behind your goal…some benefit or emotional attachment that will keep you focused. For example, a goal might be to earn $12,500 per month and onboard 5 new quality clients monthly in the next 90 days.

Using language that leaves no doubt as to what the goal is, why you want to achieve the goal, and how you will get there is very important. If you are not able to be detailed in your description of the goal, it will be hard to meet it. Take the time to do this part right.

MEASURABLE –  If your goal cannot be quantified, then it’s not a full goal and you won’t know how when you have succeeded. An example of a measurable goal would be “I want to deposit to our bank account an additional 100 dollars per week. I’ll accomplish this by writing five 500-word articles each week for a life coach.”

This is where journaling comes into play. It’s a report card and a method to measure what you want to accomplish and what you actually accomplished. And our 4X System Level-Up journal actually walks you through that and helps you achieve your goals 4 times faster. 

ACTIONABLE / ACHIEVABLE – There are different things that “A” can stand for, but it’s usually actionable or achievable. In order to achieve anything, you must take action. So, make your goal actionable, where you do something each day that will eventually result in an accomplished goal.

Goals should also be achievable or you will quickly get frustrated. Be accurate about the time it takes to reach a goal, and what actions it takes to get there. Also, know who will be responsible for doing it.

REALISTIC / RELEVANT – “R” can stand for realistic or relevant, and both are important. If you want your goal to succeed, it should most certainly be realistic or you will fail. If you’re currently making $500 a week and your goal is to increase that to $12,500 in 90 days, that’s not realistic. However, you may be able to increase it by $300. Once you achieve that goal and are earning $800 a week, you can set a new goal to increase your income by another $500 a week or something similar.

Your goal should also be relevant to your life’s vision and match your values. There’s no point in making or achieving goals that have no relevance to your long-term life goals. You could instead use that time to reach goals that get you one step closer to actually reaching your life goals. So always ask yourself, if the goal is relevant to your life goals.

TIME BOUND / TIMELY / TRACKABLE – Various authors refer to the “T” in the S.M.A.R.T. acronym as time-bound, timely or trackable. All of these t’s are important parts of the goal creating and setting process. If you don’t set a time limit and you can’t track what is happening, your goal will be hard to quantified or show as achieved.

To help you and your audience work through and create S.M.A.R.T. goals, download the quick guide and worksheet below. Of course, planning your goals is just the beginning to achieving them. From here, you'll need to implement your plans and come up with an approach that allows you to get their faster and stay motivated, which is what we do in the complete 4X System: Achieve Goals You Never Thought Possible 4X Faster training.