A – Accountable

hello my name’s Tim Walterbach with IBBTalks today where I’m going to be continuing with the series on favor that acronym spelling out those five areas that we need to examine as we prepare to receive investment partners of your nonprofit donations covered faithfulness and – tonight today I’m gonna cover accountability accountability a good quote from Thomas Paine a body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody not to be trusted by anyone and as you build your business or seek investor seek partners they’re gonna want to know maybe without verbalizing what are your connections they’re going to trust and trust you with with money what ensures them that you’re not out using it for other means there are a whole number of topics that we can talk about in this area a number of ways that we all hold ourselves accountable to the governing board that were under advisory groups peer mentoring trade associations internet reviews and networking if you have if you’re incorporated your by law have my organization have to have a board I’ve had they been formed in a corporation for years and there’s times when I was not as tentative too attentive to following the bylaws and procedures but seeing the value of it over time when when time gets tough or somebody gets called into question it’s very important that you have your officers and that you keep keep the minutes because you could be called in into account it’s also good if you have investors looking at you that you have a track record of going through that process not only of just fulfilling the law but a consistent input from qualified people on your board as you develop your business strategies and it will just if it’s all you it will you can’t help but communicate that if it is a group of qualified people have come around you that will also communicate as you’re trying to attract people this because most successful people operate under different levels of accountability and they’re going to they’re going to have a sense whether their investments safe with you or not and then there are so many other ways that we need to network through advisory groups score Senior Council of retired executives some free help for anybody from retired executives you know sociologists will tell you that when we turn about 55 65 we have a need to share the information that we learn to make sense of our life to make sense of the trials and the struggles that we’ve gone through it helps us to help somebody else not make the same mistakes that we made and you’re giving somebody an opportunity by letting them come into your business there is never a lack for somebody that would love to help you in your business if you’re really open to inviting people and using their opinions just to attract people to get support not a good idea they’ll sense that too then peer mentoring there’s all kinds of different peer mentoring groups inspiring better business is a peer mentoring group we do it through videos we also do it through conference calls we in local chapters so who’s in your area that you don’t have to give away your secret sauce when you meet with them but you could sure share all those principles that you both struggle with and find a great deal help that way you better beware nowadays be the type of business you do we have to be more aware now than we probably ever had there’s something called the internet reviews Yelp etc etc I think this is possibly the best accountability that’s come along in years if you if you’re a bad egg and you’re not doing good business now you won’t get good reviews I’m a I’m a home builder I like to get a contractor that has some dependence upon reviews they’re gonna come back and finish their business better they’re gonna respond to me better because they want a good review it’s just it’s just who we are naturally one other one very important one to you that are married I think my first line of defense on the in this area of accountability is my spouse I can’t tell you how many mistakes I’ve avoided by running things by my wife I learned that by making a lot of mistakes and very rarely we come together in agreement I don’t make a mistake in you know partnering up with somebody or a new venture or something like that but I’ve made many mistakes when I’ve ignored her warnings and cautions I’m sure many of us can to attest to that networking you know you got a you got a share and and some of us are just more reticent to share than others and you know and with a little illustration Francis Crick was one of the first to develop the the the gene you know the draw that ladder design and the spiral lateral design somebody had to figure that out and they did all kinds of radiation photography and there was a lady that was a this proficient at radiation technology and she was the one that kind of got the piece of the puzzle but she wouldn’t share it and she kept it all to herself and her boss saw it and shared it you know he was a networker because he just cared about getting the answer and he shared it with Francis Crick and another scientist well guess who won the Nobel Peace Prize they did for their work in discovering the genes and and being able to draw him out diagram them and and she didn’t she didn’t get credit for it and as she had been more of a team player and I thought what a illustration we think we’re giving something away by sharing information that most often we just we gained okay thank you for your time