One of the key principles of success I am continually learning is the power an accountability partner can have on your personal and professional life.

Parents. The first ones you get are your parents. Even though you don't like it when they discover that you wet your training pants or got caught running out into the street, you knew their advice was usually trustworthy.

Unfortunately, most of us don't learn to tap into the wisdom and experience of this usually stable influence until we are about 40. Then, if we are still on speaking terms, it is often too late to take advantage of it because they have moved to Florida and drop in to visit the grandkids only once a year.

Boyfriends/girlfriends. Other key persuaders in our early years are the best friends we make along the way. They can either encourage us to stay away from "bad movies" or try things out behind the barn that could be cause for a stout butt-whoopin'.

People who learn to choose wise friends usually get ahead in everything faster.

Spouse. When we finally take that big step and commit to living with and serving just One Person for the rest of our lives, it suddenly hits us how important choosing that right person is.

In fact, this is the single most important decision I believe a person ever makes. A good spouse can help you serve God better, make more money, invest wisely and raise good children.

A bad spouse can spend all you have, ruin your children and leave you with an empty bank account and a broken heart and cause you to ask if God is even out there somewhere.

Peer. So back to our friends we go for encouragement to do the right thing in whatever the current project is.

When I started homeschooling in 1987, I had no idea what I was doing with my three children even though I had a college degree in Education. There were few books to read about how to do it because not many others had. And there were only a few curriculum materials and guides developed to use at home.

Every other day I wanted to quit. But another homeschooler, Dawn, had also entered onto the same path with her four children and was searching for encouragement and help.

So even though it was long distance for us to call each other back in the Dark Ages before cell phones and texting, we talked on the phone every day. On the days I wanted to quit, she encouraged me with what they had done or discovered that day. On the days she wanted to quit, I encouraged her with what we were learning.

Every other day for about three years, we were both one day away from giving up on ourselves and our children. But eventually, we came to a place where we were able to stand on our own two feet about what we believed and what we were doing.

In fact, we both became evangelists for home schooling. Yet without those first foundational years of working through new territory together, I doubt either one of us would have made it.

When I entered the world of Internet marketing years later, I attended a very excellent seminar hosted by Joel Christopher. He encouraged us to get an accountability partner at that event and begin calling them once a week. All we had to do was tell the person about our goals for the week and if we had accomplished the goals from last week.

I was sitting next to Alex Mandossian so I turned to him and asked, "Who should I ask"?

He said, "Tatiana."

So I found her and we agreed to be partners.

Tatiana is an engineer from Ukraine. She is very exact and technical. And to be truthful, at first I was a bit intimidated. She knew how to build websites and I didn't. She knew how to make things happen on the Internet that I didn't know how to do. I didn't feel like I had anything to offer her.

I felt like the relationship was one-sided until she sent me a Word document with a sales letter to edit.

As I read the words, I could hear her Russian accent coming through in every sentence. So I asked her if she would like me to edit it to make it sound "American."

She was elated! And I had found my skill. Although what I offered her is taught in every seventh grade grammar class, I had something she needed. That is what makes a relationship win/win.

So we continued to talk on the phone once a week for about three years until she took a very lucrative job and eventually went into a business of her own.

I wandered about for a while trying to find my focus. Being entrepreneurial by nature, I find it hard to settle on just one thing when the world holds so very many bright shiny objects to pursue.

I joined a mentoring club for direction and loved it, especially three times a year when we get together to receive critiques and advice on our current projects.

Out of that mentoring club, I found two new accountability partners who are much different from me that give a different perspective of projects.

At first, my partner Anita suggested we find another female to join us. But when a wise friend suggested we add a male to the group to get the other side of the picture, we immediately saw the wisdom in that.

Opposite Gender Peer. God made man in his image, He made them male and female. They are two sides of a coin and together represent the whole picture of God. That's why the example of marriage includes a male and a female.

People of different genders also think differently. That's why when making major decisions, men and women consider different aspects to be more important.

One of my favorite accountability partner stories is about C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein and a woman who met weekly at a Coffee Klatch to discuss their writing projects. At least two of the three are still famous today, even after their deaths. Yet I wonder why two powerhouse authors would continue to include this woman who isn't even mentioned in their biographies on wikipedia in such serious discussions.

Maybe she provided encouragement, ideas or constructive criticism they both needed. Anyway, there is power in a small accountability group of mature individuals that meets regularly.

After a few years of marriage, one's spouse can often be too forgiving and not require the dedication that an objective outsider can. So it seems that a mature peer partner or two who are on the same path to accomplishing personal or business success, although not in the same realm, can benefit an entrepreneur immensely.

That has been my experience and it has actually changed my life.

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