Here in South Florida, a lot of business is conducted during rounds of golf. The Good Ole Boy Network is alive and well. As a professional woman that doesn't golf, it's sometimes hard to compete with those relationships cemented on the greens.

A lot times, price and service doesn't even factor in. It's more like, "well, my wife's brother sells that, so I have to buy from him" or "my boss has part ownership of XYZ company, so we buy from them." Those kinds of parameters are hard to get around. In fact, it's best to walk away from them and move on to someone else.

Recently, I've been thinking of taking up golf, though walking/riding over a course of 18 holes in order to hit the little ball into the little hole holds absolutely no interest for me. But with the economy taking a dive and sales getting harder to come by, I may need to become the Ole Girl in the Ole Boys Network.

Your comments--priceless!