The first is this 1 percent versus the other 99 percent argument which divides the population among the winners—the 1 percent—versus the other 99 percent of us who are losers.

The exact number that divides the population varies depending on the source, but the Tax Policy Center reports that the top 1 percent earned about $506,553 in cash income in 2011, while the Internal Revenue Service says that based on 2009 tax year filing data, the top 1 percent of taxpayers have an adjusted gross income of $343,927 or more. And there’s still more competing numbers out there to define the elite.

Distinguishing between the 1 and the 99 percents is useful in analyzing economic and tax policy, but it’s distressing in terms of considering our personal goals. Each of us chooses our goals based in part on where we stand right now and what seems achievable, but combine this public discussion with lots of Internet talk on money flow and law of attraction, and suddenly even the much praised “6 figure income” looks insufficient.

I believe it’s important to keep in touch with our own life goals rather than buy into an unstated, but easily internalized, definition of financial success that is spectacularly high.

A second downer is all the exposure we have to rejection. As someone who both recommends and practices targeted phoning to build a clientele for freelance and consulting services, I talk to people who dread what is otherwise called “cold calling” because they fear rejection.

Actually, true rejection is very rare when you phone prospects. Though it is not unusual to hear “no,” this in itself is not a heart-breaking ordeal.

Where we do witness a great deal of rejection is on TV competitions, such as Dancing with the Stars, The Voice and American Idol. I enjoy watching new talent achieve fame and I’ve learned something about ballroom dancing by watching these shows.

However, I detest that the focus is more on witnessing the rejection than in enjoying the performances. I hate the way the hosts isolate those who may be eliminated and discuss it with them and build the suspense before sending someone home. I hate the way contestants are forced to beg the public for votes. I hate the way the candidates for elimination are tortured throughout the whole show.

We focus too much on rejection and overly identify with how bad it feels to be rejected and how little it matters that entrants tried their best.

The solution is to turn off these shows or to control how you watch them so as to minimize identification with rejection. I watch these shows occasionally from my desk, turning them off for awhile during the rejection phases. Another approach is to save the whole show and watch it later, forwarding past all the unpleasantness.

There’s no point in identifying with the rejection that others experience. So just say “no” with the remote.

Frankly, this is an area I am still developing a strategy for, even though I’ve been freelancing and consulting for two decades.

Opinions vary. Check out Jill Konrath for some interesting remarks on why she appreciates lots of follow-up from her dentist to set up timely checkups. She makes a valid point. However, note that she is already a client, she wants the follow-up, and showing up for a dentist appointment doesn’t require any thought, work, or unusual expense on her part. It’s routine dental maintenance. She shows up, the hygienist does the rest.

Freelancing and consulting are different from dental work. You can’t undertake an assignment without guidance, participation and even inspiration from the client. It’s not enough for them to sit back and say “Ahhh.”

Two different situations require follow-up. One is when you phone, leave a message, and ideally, send an email as well. Then you hear nothing. The second is when a prospect has requested further information or even a proposal and you hear nothing . . . or maybe a vague promise to think about it.

Call it crazy, but I like to strategize with my gut. When self-employed or even when campaigning for a full-time job, it’s a tremendous temptation to determine follow-up timing to please others. Family and friends will tell you that it takes lots of following up, so we are tempted to keep calling to win their approval. “I’ve called every day for the last two weeks,” we report back, but at a certain point we are just going through the motions, not expecting results.

Here’s what my gut says to me; yours may have a different message.

When I phone someone I have no relationship with or only minimal ties, I leave one message and send an email. Unless I really, really want them as a client, I don’t call again for a month or more. When I call back, I seldom refer to my first message since they probably don’t remember it and are not obligated to remember it. At other times, I tell them I called awhile back and I’m following up, but again, I don’t ask if they remember me. Why would they?

If I reach a prospect, they have no work at this time but request my informative email, I send the email but don’t follow up again for a month or even much longer. They are gracious to accept my email and have told me they don’t need my services at this time. So why bother them again?

If they specifically request follow up in a specified time frame, I note it in my Franklin Planner and call back as scheduled. I remind them of who I am in detail. I don’t expect them to remember me without prompting.

In both situations, I say something along the following lines, tweaked as appropriate:

Hi, I’m Diana Schneidman. I am a freelance writer specializing in insurance and asset management and I’m a CLU and CPCU. I called awhile back and I’m following up to see if you use freelance writers or if you have ever thought about it. I’d love to discuss your writing needs. Please call me back at [phone number].

What about proposals that have been requested but have been neither accepted nor rejected?

I follow up a few times but not as persistently as some would. If they are not responding to my messages, there’s a reason. For instance, they chose someone else to work with or they are postponing the project or they are short on money. I don’t want to work with people who require too much pestering. That may be OK for dental hygienists, but it’s not OK with clients who will require a collaborative approach. I’m not their mother, nagging them to do their homework.

My reader asks if follow up calls are a form of supplication, as if I am begging for an assignment.

It doesn’t feel that way to me. I offer a service that may be of use to them. Therefore, I am calling to offer help, not to beg for anything.

Can I put these names of prospects on my list?

My phoning list is an Excel spreadsheet where I track what I have done. I don’t use it for any automated emailing, so of course I can add whoever I want to this list.

I do not add prospects to any automated list, such as Constant Contact or Aweber, without their request. Prospects are invited to opt into my list and receive my free report at www.DianaWrites.com.

The experts used to say that you have to contact a prospect a specified number of times, such as eight or twelve. I believe those numbers were developed before contacting was so heavily automated with newsletters, autoresponder email campaigns, and such.

People who are not open to our messages shut down quickly and assign us to their spam file, I believe. Don’t most of us read our email with a heavy finger on the delete key and delete many of our voicemail messages before we hear the whole thing?

Just because we have decided to contact someone persistently doesn’t mean they have to listen to us with that same persistency.

Do you see this differently? Please persuade me….

C.J. Hayden recently posted a meaty article outlining seven ways to sabotage your marketing. She makes solid recommendations on how to correct these failings, not trendy tips on what to tweet or how to use Pinterest.

Sabotage number one is “You’re doing plenty of marketing, but almost no selling.” She defines marketing as how to initiate contact with the prospect, while selling is what happens after you connect, and advises that in offering professional services, marketing should lead primarily to sales conversation, not direct sales.

The remaining six recommendations also address important fundamentals.

Here’s the link to C.J.’s article: http://www.getclientsnow.net/2012/05/03/sabotaging-marketing/#more-1720

I also invite comments to this post.

I’ve had a similar problem myself when doing targeted phoning for freelance and consulting assignments (sometimes, unfortunately, called “cold calling”).

I make a hundred calls or more over the course of a few days and someone calls back without clearly identifying himself. Or he says, “This is Mike,” without any further information.

Sales expert Jill Konrath addresses this problem in a recent brief video.  She recommends saying something along the lines of, “Mike, I’m in the middle of a project but I’ll be done in 10 minutes. Could I have your phone number and I’ll call you right back.” Then you get off the phone and check your database of leads before returning the call.

As may be expected, some readers commented that they love this idea.

Others hate it. They say when you finally get someone on the phone, don’t let him off in the hope that he’ll actually take the call when you call back. Instead, fake it until you figure out who is calling, perhaps using caller ID to find a match if you can do this while holding a conversation at the same time.

Of course, there’s a third way: Simply ask who is calling. You may even admit that you’ve talked to more than one Mike this week.

This is an interesting dilemma. What to do?

Figuring that the truth is always, well, truthful, and therefore acceptable, yet a little game playing is OK if I don’t get trapped by it, I start by saying, “Mike, what can I do for you?”

If I still don’t recognize the individual from his answer, I ask for his company so I can address him and his needs as accurately as possible. If that doesn’t clear up the problem, I ask what I need to ask to identify him. Nothing to be ashamed of.

What’s wrong with not recognizing Mike’s voice when I have probably never talked to him before? Furthermore, he may be calling back on his cell phone but I have saved his office phone number. If this happens—and it’s not unusual—then I may have a bigger problem. Plus Mike, who didn’t answer on my first call, may never take my return call.

Have you ever experienced this problem? How did you handle it? Please comment on my blog.

Within this article I’ve inserted some of the questionable blog comments I’ve received lately that are in some middle space between useful and clearly spam. These are all comments that I have labeled as spam, reprinted in full exactly as they were submitted. What do you think?

Great points altogether, you simply gained a brand new reader. What could you recommend in regards to your publish that you made some days in the past? Any positive?

First, background on the mechanics of a blog. As many others do, I maintain my blog in WordPress. I have it set up so that if I have already approved a comment by an individual, their future comments will go live without my approval (though I can delete them later). A comment from a new person must be approved by me; if I do not approve it, I label it as either “trash” or “spam.”

Why do people post comments to blog articles? Of course, one reason is to engage in conversation about the topic up for discussion. In practice, commenters also seek to create Google-juice-creating links to their own websites and to generate curiosity so that readers click on the link to the commenter’s content, creating incoming traffic.

Because of reading your blog Ive decided to create my own I had never been interested in keeping a blog until I saw how helpful yours was then I was

The problem is that most of the comments I receive don’t add anything. In fact, they are so unspecific and suspicious that I label them as spam.

What is spam? Spam is in the eye of the beholder, I believe. I’d like to say that I know it when I see it, but I’m not sure of that. I have some comments that reside in my in-box for awhile while I look at them over time and try to decide what to do with them.

I’m pretty picky. I look at other people’s blogs and see comments that I would exclude. But then, I write my articles and blogs for human readers with much less attention to scoring well on Google, given that I don’t post in the quantity needed to be really successful in that realm.

some genuinely howling work on behalf of the owner of this internet site , absolutely outstanding subject material .

Here are criteria that I use in making a decision on which comments to approve for my blog:

• The comment is poorly written. I am not concerned with minor typos, but some comments have such an unusual choice of sophisticated yet poorly used words that they appear to be written by spinning software or by an uneducated person pulling words from a thesaurus.
• The comment does not relate specifically to the article to which it refers. Some people write that they really appreciate what I wrote and it has changed their lives and will help so many other people. Much as I love a compliment, I do not take a comment seriously if it doesn’t respond to something specific in my post.
• The product or the service offered by the commenting individual in no way relates to my business. One of my blogs is about freelancing and consulting; the other supports my practice as a freelance writer specializing in insurance and financial. I don’t see why people who sell irrelevant consumer goods want a link from my blog.
• The commenter does not appear to be working from a valid email address or website. Signs of a throw-away email account may include long strings of consonants or other meaningless gibberish. I expect to see at least a first name or initials with a number that may be a house number or birth date. When I get a comment from someone at zgyz43azq.12.36.z4@aol.com, I get suspicious.
• The extension on the account is for a foreign country for which I have few if any followers.

Of course, one of these criteria on its own isn’t a deal breaker. For instance, I’m pleased to have residents of other countries connect with me. However, sometimes things just don’t feel right.

I simply wanted to appreciate you all over again. I’m not certain the things that I could possibly have taken care of without those creative concepts contributed by you over that theme. It had become a very intimidating circumstance in my position, however , taking note of a new well-written tactic you handled it took me to cry for contentment. I am happy for the support and even expect you realize what a powerful job you have been carrying out teaching other individuals using a blog. Probably you have never come across any of us.

The list above focuses on characteristics that I avoid in approving comments and those who write them. Now I’d like to change them around and show what I welcome:

1. Well-written comments with excellent grammar, spelling, punctuation and word choice.
2. Comments that mesh with the topic of the original post rather than vague statements that could fit any blog entry or any blogger, no matter how full of praise they may be.
3. Comments from people whose online presence is relevant to what I offer and the subject matter of my blog.
4. Email addresses and / or websites that appears to be valid and a primary account.

I simply wanted to thank you so much yet again. I do not know what I would have made to happen in the absence of the tips and hints shown by you on this topic. It was a very depressing condition for me personally, but observing your skilled style you handled that made me to weep over contentment. Now i am grateful for the assistance and thus trust you know what a great job you have been putting in instructing most people by way of your website. Most likely you haven’t encountered any of us.

Do you agree? What has been your experience?

I have been thinking about how to handle this situation—and then write an article about it—but I still haven’t come up with a resolution that really pleases me.

So I am asking:

What do you think?

Here’s the story:

I belong to several LinkedIn groups on insurance and financial marketing. I seldom comment because as a freelance writer who works on my own, I do not have first-hand experience with many of the sales and industry topics discussed in these groups.

Several weeks ago I decided to publicize my services in these groups. So I wrote what I thought was a professional post and posted it to each of these groups under the category of “promotions.”

Alas, I got no response at all.

A week or two later, another member posted the following under the category of “discussions”:

I am in a career transition and looking for a new financial writer position, full-time or freelance. Any info and recommendations are welcome. I can provide intel about my old job, which is open.

The posting showed only the individual’s first name, but I discovered his last name by clicking around for a little while.

I looked at his profile, which is impressive relative to financial writing, but I was unimpressed by his message to the group. (For starters, why is his old job open if he doesn’t have any solid opportunities for which to leave?) He has never commented to this group before (or since).

To my surprise, he got four comments, three with solid freelance leads, if not offers. And who knows how many private responses?

I debated about what I should do. Comment to the entire group and say “me too”? Follow up individually with each of those who commented and compete for the assignment semi-offered to him? Protest to the group organizer or even the entire group that this should have been posted as a promotion?

All the possibilities sounded whiny and / or Johnny come lately.

I thought social networking is about Know, Like, Trust but here it seems to be about Pity.

What should I have done? Am I too sensitive? Should I simply repost my email about freelancing as a new “discussion”?

What do you think?

When: Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 8pm

Where: The fabulous Rock’n'Roll McDonald’s 600 N Clark Street Chicago, IL – Parking lot available adjacent to restaurant! – We will claim a set of couches or another seating area on the second floor for our Meetup. – Aside from the standard McD’s fare, coffee and gelato can be purchased on the second floor, if the cafe is open.

Meeting Agenda: – introductions and networking – brainstorm topics of interest – brainstorm meeting formats of interest – discuss next meeting time, date, location – designate organizers We look forward to connecting with you in this exciting, brand new industry. We hope to see you there!

The MeetUp group is called Chicago Professionals (eBooks, eReaders and Digital Content Publishing) and there is a related LinkedIn group, “Ebooks, eReaders and Digital Content Publishing.”

Here is the link to the MeetUp group: http://www.meetup.com/eBooks/

Please join us at both the MeetUp and on LinkedIn.

From time to time I scan Elance and similar job boards for assignments of interest. I haven’t been moved to apply for anything yet, but I see how easy it is to hire someone else to make phone calls to prospective freelance and consulting clients.

And based on the rates I’m seeing, it appears you can hire someone inexpensively.

However, I do all my own phoning. It makes sense for me to do it myself because I do the most phoning when I have the least work. So even though the experts would say that my time is too valuable for this activity based on my hourly rates, this ignores the reality that I roll out intensive campaigns only when I have time available to do more work, and therefore, to make my own calls.

This seems pretty obvious to me, but based on the advice I see on the Internet, the time of the self-employed is so valuable that it always makes sense to hire someone else to mow the lawn, shop for groceries and teach the dog to fetch.

At this time I am engaged in a phoning campaign.

Sometimes you have to focus on marketing, and that time for me is right now.

Last week I was combining phoning with emailing (to the same prospects) to generate writing and research assignments in the insurance and financial / asset management industries. As is my practice, when the prospect does not pick up the phone, I leave a message and simultaneously email an introductory note.

Some of these people do respond, even if they have no assignments to offer at this time. Even if their companies are so fully staffed that they never use freelancers.

Some sign up for my ezine in support of my writing business. (You can sign up at DianaWrites.)

Some forward my request to the individual at their company who uses freelancers for specific content or who maintains a corporate database of freelancers.

Last week someone told me how to request a speaking slot at the national conference of our mutual professional association.

Any simple, pleasant response to my email is, by itself, very heartening to me.

I believe these responses happen because I make my own calls and leave my own messages.

I hypothesize that the people I phone identify with me as someone who is much like them rather than a nuisance, like swarming bees at the picnic table. Some of them have freelanced in the past; some of them will freelance in the future.

And some of them use freelancers and consultants or are working on projects awaiting funding.

I have two businesses, both with an online presence. My writing and consulting practice is at DianaWrites. My help for those who want to start freelancing and consulting is at StandUp8Times. I’m aware that possible writing clients read this article targeted to freelancers. And if that is you, I appreciate your help and support!

I’ve never found a reason to try anything else seriously . . .  until now.

This reason to switch is DuckDuckGo, an open-source search engine that believe it or not, has no advertising and is funded by donations.

Launched in 2008, on February 13 it finally conducted over one million searches in a single day.

In a moment I’ll list its most recognized benefits, but first I’d like to point out one that gets almost no attention (for a service that as a whole gets almost no attention).

Drum roll.

Rather than breaking up a search into 10-item segments so that you have to keep clicking to access more, you can scroll down through all the links without clicking on anything.

Yes, just grab your mouse and scroll away.

We’ve all read the findings on Google usage, that hardly anyone passes beyond the first page of search results and the percentage who forge beyond the first 30 or so is tiny.

And if you are at slot number 50? You might as well simply not exist.

Try DuckDuckGo and you’re past the 30-hit point in mere seconds.

Furthermore, without ads (generally speaking), as well as Google+ links and other garbage, you get a cleaner look that is distraction free.

As you play with DuckDuckGo, you quickly perceive why Google allows only 10 hits per page. They intentionally slow you down so that you have to accept their choices in the interest of saving time. Plus each click for another 10 hits increases awareness that if you have passed “the best,” you are heading into inferior hits.

In addition, the Google style pushes you to look at the ads. Before you click away from page 1, you are more likely to look at the ads than if you just start scrolling down.  In addition, Google may place ads on other pages in addition to the first, while DuckDuckGo doesn’t really have multiple pages, so no place to place additional ads even if they ran them.

Now for two additional benefits of DuckDuckGo.

First, it protects user privacy by not recording user information (unlike Google!). Founder Gabriel Weinberg claims it “does not collect or share personal information. That is our privacy policy in a nutshell.”

And second, it excludes perceived content mills, such as Demand Media’s eHow.

Why not give DuckDuckGo a try?

Start exploring DuckDuckGo by searching your own name or the name of your business / website. It’s instructive to see how a search engine other than Google presents you.

What do you think? Please comment.

Lately, I’ve been playing the “what if you were wrong” game with my coaching clients. It goes like this:

Client: Jane at XYZ Company hasn’t called me back. They must not want to hire me.
C.J.: What if you were wrong about that?
Client: Hmm, maybe I should call her and ask what’s up?

In this example, a moment’s consideration about the possibility that his thinking might be off base transformed my client’s discouraged paralysis into productive action. Examining where you might be wrong about marketing can be an extremely useful exercise for any entrepreneur. Consider these examples:

Client: I don’t want to limit myself by choosing a target market. I think I’ll market my business to anyone who might need my services.
Coach: What if you were wrong about that?
Client: I might be spreading myself too thin if I market to everybody. Maybe it would be a good idea to narrow it down a bit.

Client:: The economy is so bad right now, I’m never going to get any big-ticket business. I’d better concentrate on small contracts until things pick up again.
Coach: What if you were wrong about that?
Client: I guess that could be a mistake. I’ll never get any big-ticket business unless I ask for it, right?

Client: I introduced myself to all those prospects already. They’ll call me if they need me.
Coach: What if you were wrong about that?
Client: They could forget about me if they don’t hear from me in a while. Maybe I should try to keep in touch.

Client: I heard that social networking is the best way for solopreneurs to market themselves. I’m going to stop my other marketing and put all my effort into Facebook.
Coach: What if you were wrong about that?
Client: Maybe I should ask some other solopreneurs what their experience has been first.

Client: I don’t like making follow-up calls. It should do just as well to send emails instead.
Coach: What if you were wrong about that?
Client: I could lose out on a lot of sales if people don’t read my emails. Maybe I should make a few calls, too.

Client: I got a great offer from my professional association to run a display ad in the conference program. I bet it will bring in lots of clients.
Coach: What if you were wrong about that?
Client: Perhaps I should call my friend who advertised last year and see what results she had.

Client: Now that my website is up, I should start getting plenty of business online without having to do much about marketing.
Coach: What if you were wrong about that?
Client: Well, I think pay-per-click ads would be a great way to attract more clients to my website.
Coach: What if you were wrong about that, too?
Client: Maybe I shouldn’t let go my offline marketing until I see how well I do online.

As you can see, questioning your assumptions about marketing can lead to designing a much more solid strategy. You can try asking yourself what if you were wrong, but it can be even more powerful to have a friend, colleague, or coach ask you. And, as in the last example above, keep asking until you feel satisfied with your new conclusions.

There’s one more type of assumption about marketing you might want to question – not what you’re planning to do, but how you feel about doing it:

Client: Marketing is scary. It’s uncomfortable, too. I’ll never be any good at it.
Coach: What if you were wrong about that?
Client: I guess I can learn to do it better. Maybe then it won’t be so scary or uncomfortable.

The next time you decide to do something about marketing – or not do it – take a moment and play the “what if you were wrong” game. You may discover an entirely new perspective, and ultimately, be right more often.

Copyright © 2012, C.J. Hayden

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients Now!™ Thousands of business owners and independent professionals have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of “Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You’ll Ever Need” at www.getclientsnow.com.