The challenges range from the perils of networking, especially with men who want to be more than clients, to finding a spouse willing to share work at home so women can equally pursue paid work.
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Networking, essential to building a business, can be challenging – especially with male clients who may misread a young woman’s motives or simply think it’s okay to hit on women advisors.
“If you’re single, where do you draw the line?” she asked, citing one advisor who would pay to take his client’s older mom and her friends out for a pizza lunch on her birthday to cultivate clients. She noted that tactic doesn’t translate equally to a woman advisor taking six men to a hockey game. That’s not only expensive, but risks sending the wrong message about the woman.
“If you’re a single, young female, the challenge is that it’s normally the guy who is still the one cutting the check and there’s a high risk of the message getting confused with them. So, you have to be really strong and push back. You have to be firm and say, “Listen, I’m here to do business. If you’re not interested, that’s fine, but let’s keep this professional,’” said Rubach, who said she’s had to deal with that many times.
