How Accountability Groups Work (LA 1395)
How Accountability Groups Work (LA 1395)
Transcript:
Steven Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit:
Hello.
Steven Butala:
Welcome to The Land Academy Show, entertaining land, investment talk. I’m Steven, Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit:
And I’m Jill Dewitt, broadcasting from sunny Southern California.
Steven Butala:
Today Jill and I talk about how accountability groups work. Seems like a basic thing doesn’t it? It’s not at all.
Jill DeWit:
Accountability.
Steven Butala:
It’s incredibly-
Jill DeWit:
We know what that means.
Steven Butala:
… confusing. The feedback that we’re getting from members and non-members alike is either the people are either dramatically requesting it, like, “Wow, where’s your accountability group? How can I join one? What’s the deal?” Or they’re saying, “What’s an accountability group?”
Jill DeWit:
Or, “Don’t pick me because I can’t be held accountable.”
Steven Butala:
Or I just think… At my age, accountability just went along with being a-
Jill DeWit:
A grown-up.
Steven Butala:
Growing up. I don’t know how old Jill is for real, but I’m guessing it’s the same with her too.
Jill DeWit:
Nice.
Steven Butala:
Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It’s free.
Jill DeWit:
Age, it just changes every day, doesn’t it?
Steven Butala:
I don’t understand this whole age thing.
Jill DeWit:
I know.
Steven Butala:
But I’m not going to talk about it.
Jill DeWit:
It’s a girl thing. Come on. Guys have a thing.
Steven Butala:
What’s a guys thing?
Jill DeWit:
Probably bank balance.
Steven Butala:
That’s for sure.
Jill DeWit:
Okay, there we go. We can put that to bed now. Herbert wrote, I would like to join or create an accountability… Gee funny, you found this in our thing… slash, mastermind group to grow and learn faster with some individuals.
Steven Butala:
To grow and learn faster. I’m going to pick that apart in a minute.
Jill DeWit:
If you’re part of one now and are looking for another member to bounce ideas off of, let me know. Also, if you’re interested in creating one, let me know. Thanks.
Steven Butala:
So like a lot of things with social media that I am completely unaware of-
Jill DeWit:
Social media in general?
Steven Butala:
… this thing trickles up to me. I know all about [crosstalk 00:00:02:03].
Jill DeWit:
I’m just kidding. I’m joking.
Steven Butala:
It’s not that bad.
Jill DeWit:
I know. I’m teasing you.
Steven Butala:
It trickles up to me. I’m sure that the prevalence on this topic is probably… Maybe even in regular school, they’re having accountability groups. I don’t know. It’s just it’s a new name for something that’s been going on with successful people forever. So you know what? Let’s just go right in.
Jill DeWit:
This is a study group.
Steven Butala:
Yeah. The answer to this, it isn’t a topic, so I’m just going to do this here. Today’s topic, how accountability groups work. This is why you’re listening.
So let’s take a look at some of the oldest most successful, been around forever, accountability groups. There’s three of them. Jill mentioned the first one. A study group. “Hey, I can’t study on my own. I’m in school, high school, college,” whatever. “There’s three other people in my group that seemed to be interested in getting a good grade. Let’s all meet at the student union at 8:00 every Tuesday, right after the class and get all of our stuff done.”
Hopefully some of the people of the opposite gender are attractive because that’s a great way to meet people. Then I’ll leave it at that.
Jill DeWit:
Was that the point of the study group?
Steven Butala:
Sometimes.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Butala:
Note two: Alcoholics Anonymous. Everybody sits in a circle or at least they do in the movies. “Hey, did you drink today?” “No, I didn’t. Did you?” “Nope. Tell us a story.” Okay.
Jill DeWit:
I like the Weight Watchers version.
Steven Butala:
And number three is Weight Watchers.
Jill DeWit:
Oh.
Steven Butala:
“Did you eat today?” “Nope because I knew I had to weigh in.” “And did you eat today?” “Nope. I had to weigh in.” “How many points did you do this week?” “I had 19 Weight Watchers points on average.” I don’t even know how the scales work.”
Jill DeWit:
Okay. So wait a second. So I’ve-
Steven Butala:
I’ve never been to any of these meetings, including the study group.
Jill DeWit:
I have questions. So I’ve not been to AA but I’ve been to Weight Watchers. You’re on truth time.
Steven Butala:
I’ve seen this. I only know what I know from the movies. Go ahead.
Jill DeWit:
So I thought Weight Watchers and AA were the same, but they’re different… If you don’t mind.
Steven Butala:
Of course.
Jill DeWit:
AA is different because it’s just kind of a sharing in a circle?
Steven Butala:
Well, it’s [inaudible 00:04:12]. You are accountable. You’re accountable to be sober.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. But you don’t necessarily have to do anything. It’s better that you have to not do something.
Steven Butala:
There’s 12 steps.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. You’ve got the steps.
Steven Butala:
What step are you on? How are you doing?
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Butala:
Tell us a story of a tragic story.
Jill DeWit:
So in Weight Watchers, which I can tell you a lot about.
Steven Butala:
I want to hear this. This is good.
Jill DeWit:
This has also been years ago. There’s a point system. Maybe we should have that. I like this point system thing and whatever… So you have X amount of points to spend. So it’s working backwards. In a business world this kind of an accountability group, you want to gain points because you’re doing more stuff, not because you’re eating more. But you have X amount of points to work with for the day and the week. And when the points are spent, you’re done eating.
So here’s what I learned from Weight Watchers. If you want a banana split, you can have a banana split but that’s probably all you’re eating today.
Steven Butala:
Wow.
Jill DeWit:
Seriously.
Steven Butala:
I mean, that’s just like, AA, I’m sure. You’re working the system.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
You’re making it work for you.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
As long as you make yourself accountable-
Jill DeWit:
You have to check in.
Steven Butala:
It’s the same thing. You’re making yourself accountable-
Jill DeWit:
Worst thing about-
Steven Butala:
… in both cases and you’re working the system that’s provided for you in both cases to some goal.
Jill DeWit:
AA does not have a scale though.
Steven Butala:
No, I know, but AA… You’re right. You’re right. AA does not have a scale.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Butala:
When they weigh you in Weight Watchers, is it in front of everybody?
Jill DeWit:
No, it’s private.
Steven Butala:
Okay. Are there any men in there?
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Ask more questions.
Steven Butala:
A program like that, if it wasn’t successful, both of those programs, really all three, wouldn’t be around if they weren’t successful.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah, for years.
Steven Butala:
So accountability groups work. That’s my point.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
And I think that the prevalence of accountability is a great thing. On the flip side, the prevalence of these accountability groups, there would never be an accountability group for something like this when I was a kid because accountability was just assumed. You were just assumed that you’re going to go at whatever you’re trying to do, whether it’s get an A in math or be good at football or whatever. You’d go at it like a Marine.
Jill DeWit:
I think we’re all raised… I was raised that way too. That’s what grades are.
Steven Butala:
I know you were. That’s one of the reasons that we get along so well.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
I think that there’s a huge, especially… I don’t want to sound like an old man here but I think as we go on in the timeline of life, accountability is less prevalent and it becomes more acceptable to say-
Jill DeWit:
It’s not who I am.
Steven Butala:
That’s not who I truly am.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Butala:
And I’m not interested in answering the phone for an hour on the weekend because that’s not what I want to do. And so the people who say stuff like that, aren’t going to make it when it comes to some kind of self-taught getting rich scenario. They’re just not. And they’re not going to be a lawyer because of law school. Any academic environment is based on performance. And to perform at anything, you have to make yourself accountable with tiny little goals to get to that bigger goal.
I’m so torn by this prevalence of accountability groups, because one hand, I think it really helps people and we’ll talk about it in a minute here. We’re launching an accountability group in January. Our staff is where Jill and I are going to be directly involved in the beginning because I really want the feedback from… People who join accountability groups want to get stuff done.
Jill DeWit:
I agree.
Steven Butala:
So I’m torn. I love the prevalence of it but it’s really too bad that it’s necessary. What does it say about the world?
Jill DeWit:
Oh, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Especially when you’re starting something new. It’s just like, it could be just an… Okay, let me back up. There’s always those people that do really, really well in school but they want to do even better. They want to shine even more. They want to get the best grade. They’re a solid A but they just… I’ve never had this problem before, where you’re like, you want the best grade. You just want to be the number one in the class, like you needed to. It’s not a… kind of thing.
So maybe it could be a version of that. They just really want to do their very, very best and be recognized for it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Or they want to get there faster or they want to learn from other people’s mistakes. I see nothing but positive, even if you’re already a A student, showing up to the study groups.
Steven Butala:
I completely agree.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Butala:
When Kobe Bryant passed away, I watched an old interview with him and he said all through high school, he went to school early, made sure he shot 500 shots in the gym before school and shot 500 shots after. Six days a week, he said.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala:
If that’s not self-accountability, I don’t know what.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Butala:
I mean, that’s amazing, when you think about that. It’s so simple.
Jill DeWit:
You know what I think of this too? Some people just need a kick to get the ball rolling. It could be a version of that.
Steven Butala:
That’s you, jumping off the cliff thing.
Jill DeWit:
Right. It’s like sometimes people just need someone to kind of say, “Watch me. Here I go. I just did it. I’m going to do it again. Okay. Now you’re going to hold my hand. We’re going to walk to the edge and do it together.” Could be sometimes it’s just a version of that.
Steven Butala:
Right.
Jill DeWit:
Go ahead.
Steven Butala:
Yeah. No, you go ahead. I mean more accountability. Just more is always better in this environment, I think, until you outgrow it. And at some point, if you do everything right, you’re going to outgrow the accountability group or be teach it like us.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala:
I keep coming back to this and it’s hard for people to imagine. There was no Land Academy when we started this. Nobody told me to send out mail. Direct mail campaigns to real estate owners were not anything that I read about. There was no internet so it’s just something that… I’m not patting myself on my own back. I’m just saying I held myself accountable to find out a better way to buy property based on the way that I was doing it at the time, which was traveling around the country, going to tax sales, in a car. How inefficient is that? And then going to take pictures of the property that I bought afterward. Crazy inefficient.
Jill DeWit:
But it worked.
Steven Butala:
Yeah, it worked.
Jill DeWit:
It got us here.
Steven Butala:
It did work. It worked. It’s great actually.
Jill DeWit:
And now it’s working for a lot of other people too.
Steven Butala:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jill DeWit:
That’s the great thing. So tell us more about what the groups are coming up or do you have anything you can share now?
Steven Butala:
Yeah. So there is a smattering of accountability groups that people have with Facebook and other types of social media and Zoom and stuff. It’s real easy for our members to get with each other and have accountability groups. And so they’re asking us, just like this person asked today. Herbert asks, what’s the deal? I’m either going to start one or I want to join one.
So we’ve heard this 100s of times in the last few months, so our staff put together a program that starts in January. We’ll announce it here soon, where we will have a closed accountability group with a set number of people and we’ll provide instruction and accountability the same way that Weight Watchers, AA and a study group is. “Hey, where are you in your life right now?” “Well, I haven’t even picked a County yet. “Okay, great. That’s fine. We need you to go watch these chapters and please make sure you watch them. And next week come back with the top three counties or ZIP codes or however you’re you’re doing it. That’s where you want to send mail and you need to really support why you think those counties are good and why they aren’t, based on your education. “Great. That’s you.”
“Next. Where are you?” “Well, I sent out 10,000 mailers and I’m in tears because I got 15 properties that I need to analyze and I can’t do it fast enough and I just had a baby.” “Well, okay. Great. We’re going to help you. We’re going to do this, this, this and this.”
Jill DeWit:
Those are two separate groups now. First… Yeah.
Steven Butala:
And I’m trying to think of any type of… with very few exceptions. I don’t know who wouldn’t benefit from a group of like-minded people and it’s basically-
Jill DeWit:
Of course.
Steven Butala:
… a support group that says, “Okay, I get it. I’ve had babies too, and I’ve sent out 10,000 mailers too and I’ve failed at both, so we’ll talk about that.” I have succeeded at both and failed at both and here’s why.
Jill DeWit:
You pick.
Steven Butala:
And here’s what happened in the success one and here’s what happened in the failed one.
Jill DeWit:
There you go.
Steven Butala:
So that’s the accountability group.
Jill DeWit:
That’s funny.
Steven Butala:
And we’ll do it. I think what’s missing in a lot of accountability groups, including groups like… I don’t know anything about Weight Watchers but I think there’s not a lot of… You know this whole notion of taking minutes? And some of the younger people are listening to this, like, “What the hell are these guys talking?”
Jill DeWit:
I know.
Steven Butala:
The whole notion of taking good notes or minutes in a meeting and then posting them in a place where everybody in the meeting can actually see it, review it, look at their own homework, look at the guy next to him’s homework, and then the minutes continue for the next week to see if Johnny next to you actually did his homework or didn’t and why. That I think is real life, real world experience that people can seriously benefit from. So we have a plan for that in Google Classroom, actually.
Jill DeWit:
Super cool. I’m excited.
Steven Butala:
It will be launched. We’re ready to launch it. So how people are going to sign up?
Jill DeWit:
That’s the last piece.
Steven Butala:
Yeah, we’re not sure.
Jill DeWit:
It’s done and ready to go. Our team is working out the release schedule.
Steven Butala:
I did a bunch of re research on this. I’m kind of heading this thing up and these groups don’t work if there’s too many people in them. And so that’s going to be the challenge is like, if 50 people sign up, the groups need to be 10 or 12 people.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). I’m excited.
Steven Butala:
Me too.
Jill DeWit:
Happy you could join us today. Monday through Friday, you can find us right here on The Land Academy Show.
Steven Butala:
Tomorrow, the episode on The Land Academy Show is called How Great Marketing Generates Sales. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. This topic came from Jill.
Jill DeWit:
Yes, it did.
Steven Butala:
Jill comes from a lifelong background of sales. I will get kicked under the studio desk here, but also from before the internet, so marketing before the internet was unattainable for the vast majority of us, us included. It was too expensive. You would either radio advertise or television advertise or print ad. Advertisements were crazy expensive.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Butala:
Which is why like four or five sodas got incredibly popular and the other ones didn’t. Because they had the money, Coca-Cola and Pepsi had the money to just barrage the space of any football game, so nobody could penetrate the market. That’s just not the case now. Marketing is so efficient and with social media, so efficient and affordable that you can pick at some tiny little niche of people who are interested in trying new sodas every day and really market a product to them successfully, or land sales or perhaps you buy land or whatever. So that marketing, it’s kind of flipped. Marketing now drives sales.
Jill DeWit:
Yep. And we’ll talk about that tomorrow. Thank you for tuning in. We hope you find our content valuable and we appreciate your support. Please zip on over to our YouTube channel when you have time and hit the subscribe button.
Steven Butala:
And your comments and suggestions help us to create the type of content you’re here for. Hitting the like button helps to support our channel’s algorithm, engage your interest for future shows.
Jill DeWit:
We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Butala:
Information.
Jill DeWit:
And inspiration.
Steven Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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