For example, today I encountered someone whose business I could help and vice versa and voila networking time. Instead, I gave him my elevator pitch:

I ghostwrite ebooks as a PR and marketing tool for entrepreneurs to help them gain more recognition and, ultimately, more revenue because of quality lead generation.
Skeev, smarm and perv heard:

I’m young, I’m hot and I am really just speaking this business language as a way to show you that I’ve entered this cafe just to enact some dirty fantasy of yours. Please make inappropriate comments and try to hit on me after I tell you I’m married.

The last skeev, smarm and perv I came across was a completely awkward sitch. I had to turn away from an exciting and mutually beneficial opportunity because the bastard (yeah I said it – my blog!) stuck his hand down my shirt. I’m married, his married (with a pregnant wife) and during regular conversation about business he goes for a big ol’ reach.

This happens. It sucks. You can probably take some legal action should it get extreme like that. I didn’t because what a friggin time commitment (yeah, I know) but I definitely won’t work with him again. Ever. Or ever recommend him to anyone. Full on blacklist for that guy.

That was / is the biggest encounter of skeev, smarm and perv for me in my professional life. So I just had to handle it directly like I do everything else. As I encountered this again today, I was equally professional and made a point to emphasize that my interests were professional.

It sucks, but us cute “young ‘uns” have to deal with this bullshit all the time. Really. My husband and my mother have decided that anyone that seems interested in my business are just in it to try and sleep with me. The sad truth is that while it may not be the entire motive, I find a lot of otherwise sane business owners have decided that it is something plausible and professional to pursue in addition to our work. UGH!

So, how do you deal with these unprofessional encounters of the skeevy, smarmy, pervy variety?

Well, I scoured the planet for some clothbound resources and found two. One’s at my local library and I cannot for the hell of me think of the name. The second is by Suze Orman: The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke.

Why yes I’m young and fabulous…but, err…broke. I’ll admit it. I’m not rolling it. I am so working on it. Really. Hence this whole wonderful self-employed thing.

Well, shit. What’s a girl to do? I say a gal’s to get in to Suze’s book and use the integrate online tools. First things first for me (and probably you) are to know your FICO. Turns out I don’t have one and you could be in the same damn boat. Check out www.annualcreditreport.com to get your free report from all three credit bureaus (Transunion, Equifax and Experian) and see where you are…if you don’t have one like me, then here are the moves to make:

• Get a secured card that reports to all three bureaus and has a low annual fee. Check out all the terms and conditions and fees and such beforehand. You can find a secured credit card at www.bankrate.com. I’m looking at applying to the Public Savings Bank secured credit card right now.
• Get a retail card that you know you’ll pay off in full each month. You have to buy one thing you need each month and then pay it off. High scary interest rates abound there so be careful and have discipline. I’m looking at a Fingerhut card right now.
• Pay the balances on time and in full every month. Do this for several months to build a credit history…then we’ll be moving on to getting a low-interest credit card.

For now, this is the credit strategy at hand. I know that I’m going to get this in motion by January’s end and I’m looking at six to eight months down the road trying to get a low-interest credit card. Until I get some credit, however, I’ve got to get onto this. If you think living without credit is doing yourself a favor, it actually isn’t. Now take advantage of that youth with me and get to business on building credit!

Okay, beyond being crappy news, it is true. You need to be able to be able to appear in no way harried or hampered by your age. You have to be the picture of vitality. Always energetic. Even peppy.

Here are some quick tips for the best networking you can pull off:

• Present yourself as professionally as possible. Look professional. Talk professionally. Present yourself with professional interests. A lot of people don’t want to take the younger girl seriously, even in expensive shoes. Break out the shop talk and create an engaging conversation (or enter one) and handle yourself like a smart entrepreneur. So no drinking at mixers, no playing games at events: you can’t do anything that makes you look young (even though you need to be so peppy you may have just gotten a tad euphoric off the fountain of youth) because people sometimes pigeonhole you into a young, naive idiot. You have to hold your ground firmly as an intelligent, successful woman entrepreneur.
• Always be prepared. If you know who will attend an event, know things about them. When you’re out and you want talk shop, always have business cards. No looking lazy: see the warning of judgment above.
• Never use slang.
• Always focus on the other person. Talk about the benefits of your services to them, not about how great of a provider you are. This keeps the focus on the other person and their bottom line–ways they both like it–and it helps you close the deal.
• No flirting unless– you are married to or will be married to the object of your affection. If you want to close another deal, you should use absolute subtlety and discretion. Otherwise, you acquire another harmful reputation and damage your credibility.
• Don’t react to any negative comments about your age.

Now that I’ve made networking sound scary, here endeth the cautionary tale. Networking is fun and it is the best way to get new clients and build your platform and credibility. Keep in mind the stringent rules and use good common sense and everyone will be thrilled to work with you–they’ll be bragging about you.

Then, after the first few months, I was still aggressively seeking clients. I wanted both one-shot gigs and long-term gigs to get a feel for freelancing. I started to deal with people that treated me like dirt because I was young and they didn’t want to hire someone the age of some of their kids. Some of this I get. You may not trust that I know what I’m doing. I was able to convince most people I was worth more than my weight in gold and I could help their businesses. Some people, however, I could not convince. I encountered some ageism–I think that they felt threatened by me. I was a young go-getter and they didn’t like it. They looked back on what they did in their youth and I pissed them off.

I share these things not only because I just love talking about myself and my business savvy but because I want young entrepreneurs, especially us young chicks, that some people will get a thrill from you being a young savvy entrepreneur. Some will need a little convincing but you can show them why you are in business and why you succeed. And some people will waste your time and try your patience. Leave those people alone or call them back in a year when your business is booming and everyone else in town is already using you!

When you encounter the middle group–the people who need extra convincing of your abilities, you must have:

• Real, ready-to-be-referenced testimonials of how you operate and what your results have been.
• A sterling portfolio of real clients or great mock-ups if viable with hard data
• A wondrously intricate proposal of what you’ll do for them and every benefit for them it entails

I have succeeded very well in every business because I always focused only the benefits for prospective clients. You’ll notice from the above list I had things every business person should have, but as you can guess, I’ve had to go the extra mile. You have to pay your dues when you’re a young entrepreneur to establish credibility. I’ve done things other entrepreneurs probably haven’t had to do or never would do like work for free, create 50 page proposals. Just pay those dues and get to work. The more clients you have the more time goes by and the less ageist people will be toward you. Be willing to volunteer, work on-spec and other things that might insult other entrepreneurs. Sometimes this is just how young chicks in biz have to get ahead.

I’ll be posting semiweekly–small-ish tidbits of business information that help the busy chick business owner to sustain a profitable and growing business. I’ll also share my personal business, finance and marketing struggles and invite you to share yours as well.