I am a private person by nature, so sharing so much about my business and personal goals was outside my comfort zone. But I will tell you it was worth it.

Last year, a friend from one of my networking groups and I were talking about goal setting and how we need an "accountability buddy." That conversation led us to become just that for each other--the beginning of a journey in which we learned a lot from each other and supported each other to have a very successful year.

From quitting smoking to fitness to weight loss and more, efforts have been proven to be more effective with a buddy rather than going it alone.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9744131

Source: http://weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=170791&sc...

Source: http://www.neamb.com/insurance/buddy-weight-loss.htm

The results were worth it. I set a big goal for myself as a self-employed person, and I came darn close to meeting that. It would not have happened without my monthly checkins with Carla, my supportive friend and colleague in this journey.

The key here is trust. You don't necessarily have to know a person super-well, you just have to know them enough to trust them. Carla and I knew each other only through our marketing network group, but she is one of the most genuine people you'd ever meet. I knew I had a good buddy before this even began.

In the corporate world, I had never encountered a development system that was made for me--and I know I'm not alone on this. I'd always felt that I was just picking goals to make other people happy, so until last year, I don't think I've ever set so many concrete and meaningful goals. And setting them and sharing them with a peer I respect meant that I might get ideas for goals I missed from her list as well.

Because I knew I was in this with someone else, I had confidence to set more audacious goals...and I reached them, or came damn close on the ones I didn't reach.

My accountability buddy said: "Without the commitment of our accountability meetings I certainly wouldn't have accomplished as much as I did. Quite honestly, I'm not sure I would have even created or voiced my goals--and that would have been a regret."

Set regular check-ins. We found that monthly worked well for us. And then at the end of the year, we went out and celebrated our accomplishments.

Self-employed doesn't have to mean you do it all alone. The idea for having an accountability buddy originated from two self-employed people; however, given the state of corporate development plans, if you really want to succeed, consider recruiting a buddy to help you to get where you want to go. I wish I had done this when I worked in the corporate world.