As we head into 2015, you probably have an income goal in mind for the new year. But do you know what it will take to truly make that happen?

The best way to ensure success is to know exactly what it will take—and plan for it. Then, instead of taking random actions and hoping that they work out (and going into panic, self-blame, or despair when they don’t), you can take the step-by-step actions you need to reach your goals.

Here’s the overall process for doing that:

1. Look at prices for each of your programs, packages, and services. At those rates, how many of each will you need to sell to meet your income goal in 2015? How many clients will you need to enroll?
2. How many hours will you need to deliver the services for each of those programs, packages, or clients?</li>If these numbers are overwhelming (you’ve discovered you need to enroll 600 clients this year just to make your modest income goal!), it’s time to get higher-paying clients or streamline the way you deliver services (or both!).
3. How many people do you need to reach to enroll your target number of clients, or sell your target number of programs?

If you’re more established in your business (with a steady income stream), you’ll then use marketing to reach your goals.

• What marketing will help you most effectively reach those people?
  • Choose several major marketing events throughout the year, and put those in your calendar.
  • What regular marketing efforts will you put in place to support those larger marketing events?
  • What kind of planning and lead time will each of these things take?
  • Who do you need to reach out to or partner with for each one?
• What systems or processes do you need to set up? (web pages, email campaigns, shopping carts or ticketing services, payment processors, welcome packages and contracts, etc.)
• What support do you need?

If you’re less established, you’ll focus first on reaching out to potential clients one on one or through referrals.

Either way, you want to make sure you are correctly positioned—and can talk about the solutions you offer—so that clients see the value of working with you.

By taking these steps and making these plans, you’ll put yourself in place to actually reach—or even surpass—your 2015 income goals.

My inner critic is strong. In the past, I would agonize over getting something perfect—a line in a story, a piece of copy for my website, the approach to a project. Often I procrastinated because my standards were so high, and the pressure to perform so overwhelming, that I just froze. What this meant, of course, was that everything moved slowly. Progress on my stories, the growth of my business—all of it was slow. Of course, I blamed and criticized myself harshly for this, which then made it even harder to work effectively (after all, how easy is it to get things done when two-thirds of your emotional energy is spent attacking yourself and simultaneously trying to defend yourself from that attack?).

What I’ve learned over the years is that when we demand perfection from ourselves, we make it incredibly hard to perform. And when we live with the belief that self-criticism is a virtue, we can paralyze ourselves. Of course, high standards are good. Crucial, in fact. But, when we pay more attention to self-criticism and self-doubt than to taking the next right action, we strangle ourselves with our standards. Not only that: we kill joy, fun, and pleasure.

This dynamic can take many forms. Here are some signs that your inner critic and inner “doubter” are getting in your way:

• You regularly put off taking action because you don’t yet feel ready to “do it right.”
• You tend to see everything that could go wrong with a project—rather than looking at the possibilities.
• You frequently change your mind—you worry a lot about whether you’re making the right choice.
• When you’re about to make a decision, you often doubt yourself and pull back.
• When you finish something, you don’t celebrate much. Instead, you’re looking at what went wrong, what could have been better, and what you’ll do next.

You might ask, “but what if I fail?” After all, failure is what we’re trying to avoid, right? Actually, no. When you’re trying new things in a business, it’s often more useful to “fail fast.” Rather than hanging back to avoid failure, act fast so you can find out quickly whether something works. (Of course, you want to test things on a smaller scale so that any mistakes are less time-consuming or expensive.) Then, based on what you learn, you can adjust your approach. “Failing fast” lets you move faster, learn faster, and succeed sooner.

Here’s what I want you to get: If you are someone whose inner critic or inner doubter are holding you back, it’s crucial that you transform this dynamic. Imperfect action truly does trump perfect inaction.

And if you’re stuck? Action is the way out. Any little action will get your momentum going—and then you can build up the energy to take on the bigger actions.

Want some exercises to get you past doubt and into action?
Click here to get the exercises.

Are you a creative or transformational entrepreneur who is

• Tired of long hours, unstable income, or sacrificing your personal life?
• Constantly working to find new clients?
• Wondering whether it’s truly possible for you to get paid well doing what you love?

The fact is, you can have a passion-based business that pays you well and supports the life you truly want—including time for pleasure and play. You can have ideal, high-paying clients who value your work.

 On this call, we’ll talk about

• The biggest mistakes most solopreneurs make (costing them tens of thousands of dollars)
• Three limiting beliefs that sabotage your ability to sign ideal, high-paying clients
• How to use your unique brilliance to create incredible value for clients—and get paid accordingly
• My simple, five-step system for signing high-paying clients
• The strategic steps that can end the constant hustle—and bring joy and fun back into your business

DETAILS: Friday, Sept. 19, 12 noon-1:30 p.m. ET

Register now to save your space! 

Every couple weeks, I’ll be sharing a taste of my fiction. I’m working on a collection of stories about people from vastly different times and places whose lives are shaped by tea. Characters in these stories include the mistress of an Indian tea plantation under British colonial rule and her servant, a man whose career is destroyed by the Boston Tea Party, a sailor shanghai’ed onto a tea-carrying clipper ship, the owners of a gay and lesbian teahouse in mid-1990s Taipei, and more.

Think of this as a tasting menu—a little morsel of something savory, sweet, or spicy to give flavor to your day. 🙂 Enjoy!!

From a story about a man shanghai’ed onto a tea-carrying clipper ship…

It began badly for John Syme: a meager supper, a harsh squabble, an escape to the bar, a drunken sprawl on the nighttime waterfront. He woke with the queasy feeling of water lulling somewhere beneath him, an expanse of wooden surface that filled his bleary vision. White sails stretched above him like wings.

He jerked with recognition. He was on a ship. In a predicament.

Click here to get future tastes of fiction!

EXERCISE: Hard times or great expectations?

Think of an action you’ve been dreading: a responsibility, task, or obligation in your life. Take out a piece of paper and answer these questions.

First, let’s do some “preliminary screening” to see if it’s something you truly need to do. Ask yourself:

1. Is it in line with your core values? Is this action essential to creating a life that you want? If not, consider not doing it. You’d be surprised how many “urgent” things take care of themselves if you leave the situation alone.
2. Is it important that you yourself take this action? You might also be able to delegate, find someone who would enjoy doing it, or pay someone else to do it.

If it’s truly important for you to take this action, then it’s time to look at your attitude.

1. What are you telling yourself about this action?
2. Is it true (what you’re telling yourself)? What evidence do you have that your belief might not be true?
3. What will you gain from taking the action?
4. Is it worth moving through your discomfort?

Remember, very often our dread of doing something is worse than the actual doing. And, when we put off taking actions that are important to building the life we want, we drain our energy, kill our momentum, and damage our confidence.

Give your energy to what empowers you. If this action is worth it—if it supports the life you truly want—then keep your vision in your heart. Let that be your focus. Then, just do it.