Are you accountable to your business?
How I achieve goals for the non-client side of my business.
These usually run for 1k words+ (this one’s 1.2k words), so please excuse the grammatical errors.
You might be asking - “Okay, Maria. You talk up all this stuff about marketing and how you gotta be doing it at whatever size your business is. But I just don’t have the time.”
Now, the best thing to do would be to ‘hire an expert’, an experience I talked about in this edition.
Another option could be enrolling in a course or group program with a coach for that specific platform you want to commit to. [Caveat: Don’t listen to the bozos and remember, finding the platform you do like might take time]
If you’re anything like me, you might find yourself prioritizing client work or emptying your inbox of unread emails.
Without being accountable to yourself and your goals however, nothing is going to work.
So, the next best thing? Find someone to be accountable to.
I now have an accountability buddy.
My friend, Sarah O. Vidal - an incredible brand strategist (who just launched the website for her branding agency and you must check it out).
It’s funny how it came about. I was conducting a website audit for her, and once the call was done, we ended up spending another two hours yapping.
And then we went, do you want to yap while being accountability buddies?
We’re now in month 2 of being accountability buddies and let me just say - better than any course or investment I’ve made - this might just be the best new thing I’ve discovered for my business (and mental health).
Why you need an Accountability buddy
Running a business can be lonely can be traumatizing and scary at times. Far and in between, you’ll go from feeling your lowest to feeling like you’re on top of the world the next day.
Which is why we stick to running our business 24/7 instead of getting a 9-5 (if you catch my drift).
Sarah and I don’t just discuss our goals or what we want to achieve. We reflect on what went good and what went bad.
Four things happen as a result of having an accountability buddy:
We celebrate our goals - it’s so nice having someone to root for and someone who wants to root for you.
We grow together as business owners committed to achieving the best we can.
We reflect - and by having an ‘external’ viewpoint, we feel better about all that we’ve done (forgetting that we might’ve actually gotten a lot done), and also understand why a specific goal we set out to achieve didn’t happen - with an action plan to get things done.
We actually get way more done - when we look at our goals in two-week sprints (as opposed to monthly or yearly like I have been doing). It’s also a lot easier to set these goals.
How do you find an accountability buddy?
Firstly, find a ‘colleague’.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to be in the same niche or even the same revenue level. I’d encourage you to find someone in a non-competing niche.
But you both need to be on the same level of ambition.
Sarah and I have been connected and engaging with each other’s LinkedIn posts (again, if you’re in the travel space, you should check out her LinkedIn - she’s one of my favourite writers on the platform) for more than six months.
And I could tell that we wanted similar things for our businesses.
Your energies need to match.
You’ll likely want to find someone you can talk about for a lengthy period of time.
Sarah and I also know that we can talk for a little too long, so we’ve fixed our ‘meetings’ at about 1-1.5 hours every two weeks. Otherwise, we can go on talking for three and a half hours like we did the first time we got on call.
Keep each other on track through the week.
This is something you and your accountability buddy(ies) will have to decide on but make sure you both know how often you want to check in.
Sometimes I’ll pop into her Whatsapp asking, ‘how’s your goal going’ or say, ‘This is why I might need to take longer for the goals I set’ or sometimes, ‘Well, my week is going to shit because I fell sick’.
Perhaps you’d prefer fixed check-ins or frequent calls - you and your accountability buddy can decide.
Reflect on the previous goals in the next session
Don’t just go, “Okay, completed this. Now I’m going to achieve this.”
This was a problem with a ton of accountability buddies I’ve attempted to formulate a working relationship’ with.
You want to reflect on the good and bad that happened. Discuss what went well and what went wrong - and a lot of times, discussing it with someone else provides me that external perspective I didn’t think I needed.
And when you do set goals for this next period, create an action plan to actually achieve them.
Peek into my notion board. You’ll notice I’ll set a goal for the next two weeks and add multiple steps to actually achieving it.
You don’t need to discuss client projects.
Sarah and I don’t add goals related to client work. We’re both pretty great at the client-side of our businesses and completing client work has never been the issue (that’s always going to be priority one, irrespective).
The issue has always been making time for our own businesses - specifically for me, it’s been marketing it and converting leads.
Discuss the bad.
I can’t explain entirely for Sarah but I’ve started talking about the bad side of the business a lot more lately. And talking about this with someone who understands?
In September, I was experiencing some really low points in my business and having someone to just talk this out with has been so helpful.
Then again, it could look a little different for you.
Did you get your free website copy audit?
If you didn’t already know, I provide a free 5-minute website copy audit to every subscriber of this newsletter.
Everyone who subscribed before 1st October 2024 and followed the welcome email instructions will have already received the loom video.
However, I was informed today by a September subscriber and a new subscriber that their emails bounced back (which is why I mentioned I’ll be switching over from Substack).
If you haven’t received your free audit yet or the email you sent bounced back,
please email me directly at mj@mariajohn.com (like, now) OR dm on Instagram (@mariajohnwrites) telling me you didn’t receive your free audit.
End Notes
While my newsletters will still revolve around marketing, what is marketing without sustainable practices that allow you to action on them.
So every once in a while, maybe once every 6-8 weeks - there’s a switch up from marketing to productivity :)
I’ve been really sick this week since getting back from my travels so I’ll be honest, the admin and marketing side of my business has taken a backseat (including some of the goals I set out). Not this newsletter, however!
If you enjoy these, reply and let me know! I love when I get replies in my inbox and comments!
Happy productivity,
Maria
Ps: If you don’t remember, hi - I write website copy that turns your website into a sales powerhouse with the right words.
You’ve subscribed to my weekly newsletter, ‘Room for Marketing’ where I help creative entrepreneurs learn how to make room for marketing in their business in easy, actionable steps.
If you’d like to connect, here’s my Website & LinkedIn.