If you’re just starting out with your business, you may not have a clue as to where your money will come from. Or maybe you’ve given it a go and are not bringing in the income you need and deserve. The topic of how to have multiple income streams is a murky one for most people.

I find that there are five huge mistakes entrepreneurs make when thinking about their upcoming income. Are you making any of these? (Don’t worry –I did too –until I was coached by the best to expand my thinking and to translate my big visions into doable steps!)

1. You don’t set income goals. You just toil away at this and at that maybe bringing in dribs and drabs of money but not enough to be confident that you can make a living. You’ve got to create a clear blueprint of where the money will come from.

If this is you, you probably don’t like thinking about money and tend to stick your head in the sand. The need here is to make it very practical.

2. You don’t think about the idea that you can bring in several income streams. I coach my clients to decide on 3 income streams at a time. This allows you to offer different services/products, in alignment with your purpose and mission of course. It also takes away the risk of having all your eggs in one basket. You don’t want to have one client that you depend on for the bulk of your income.

3. You don’t create an action plan for each income goal. This is probably the biggest mistake I see. You set some great goals, you’re excited about them, but then you don’t spend your daily actions working in baby steps towards them. You need to know, step-by-step how to reach your clients and sell your products or services to meet each income goal. And then you need to move forward each day.

4. You don’t have a calendar system that lets you know what to focus on each quarter/month/day. This alone changed my life from one of confusion to one of extraordinary focus and clarity. I now have a good sense of what the entire year looks like as far as my major projects. I have a clear, detailed plan for the next three months. This helps me stay focused and helps me to say no to those opportunities (and there are plenty of them!) that don’t fit in with my current values and goals.

5. You don’t track your results. I was guilty as charged on this one for way too long. I didn’t think I’d like the detail oriented task of tracking...I was wrong. It’s empowering to know exactly where you are in reaching your income goals and gives you the ability to make adjustments as needed so you don’t completely derail or look back at the end of the year saying, “what the heck happened!”

You need to look at the money coming in and out each week. You need to track specific reports (they are simple not complicated) each month to see if you are on target with each of your three income streams and to make sure they are bringing you profit -not just revenue.

So now is the time to get your business on the right track. Take these steps to set your income goals, to create three income streams, create your action plan for each, calendar the steps and track your progress...you are on your way to doing the work you are here to do while making more money than you ever imagined.

Let this next decade be YOUR time to live YOUR life.