Messaged a few advertisers I liked. They need a reference. Being a first timer I got nothing.
how do I prove credibility?

When I have someone without a provider reference, i have to ask for personal information so I can do a work verification and a few other things behind the scenes and sometimes I also ask for partial or full prepayment to reduce the risk.

You may want to try a verification website like Date-Check.com depending on your location.

If you are able to spend the money P411 is one of the best verification sites.

Verification site is your friend.

is that once you've been verified there and seen a P411 lady who is newbie friendly, then you are on your way.
There will be 10 lifetimes' worth of great ladies who will be willing to see you without you needing to provide them with your personal information.  That is all I needed to know before I choose to enter this hobby.  Let's compare risk:  provide your info once to P411, or, provide it to potentially to hundreds of different ladies over a period of years?  Even if I only have 1/2 the selection on P411 (I have absolutely no idea what the real statistic is), that is still thousands of great ladies to choose from!

The mating rituals of the poor always amazed me.
Toot A Loo

to have you email her a picture ahead of time?  I'm not sure I'm too comfortable with that.  Granted, I'm also a newbie and I know I'll have to trust 1 or 2 providers before I'm established but a picture seems like a bit much.  Any thoughts?

... since you didn't respond with a cogent point, but rather what I can only guess was an attempted insult ("mating rituals of the poor") - even though it was completely disconnected from anything that I said.

Or think that she's representative of other providers.  

Having your age, name, and ethnicity (though i no longer have to give a real name and age for years now ) are enough.  
Again, this is not a commentary on a lady's right to screen the way she wants.

That would be HIGHLY unusual and a BIG red flag to me...  Not once have I ever been asked for a picture.  If I was, that would be end of discussion.

My advice Sam is to do what Jstgttnstrtd suggests regarding P411.  It opens the entire playbook for you once you have it along with a couple ok's on it from ladies.  The problem is getting the first ok (or reference).  Just because you join doesn't mean most will see you without that 1st ok.  You could search around and ask (per DonJohn's suggestion) or you could do what I did and find one provider that you think is safe and stable and give her some personal info.  Your area, whom you ask, and the manner in which you conduct yourself in your communication with her will dictate how successful that strategy is.  Try to pick someone who has been at this for a while, is highly reviewed, not from Backpages, and probably not 20 years old.  You'll have to make the call based on your own risk vs reward comfort level as to which route you'll take.  My route was faster and DonJohn's is safer but will involve a lot more work to find someone.  It's annoying standing outside knocking but once you make it inside your golden.  See her, get her reference, and then you're set.  Good luck.  

her state when writing that, but thought I'd take the high road in my reply - especially since this is the newbie board and a pissing match could derail the thread from the important points that newbies should understand in order to make informed decisions.  Also, I just read her post in the earlier thread, where she expresses her opinion that only guys with something to hide (i.e., something bad, not just reputation protection), aren't willing to share their info with her.  Who knew?? I guess I'm poor and hiding things. I'm dissappointed to discover the former (better go check my bank account), but I can roll with the latter, as it actually makes me feel like a bit of a badass!  I guess I should thank her for enlightening me.

Finding a well-reviewed lady is especially critical for that first date, because you REALLY need to maximize the odds of a good experience so you can get that first provider "okay."

true dat!

A physical description, sure. But a picture has nothing to do with safety.

see if there is a match with the top 10 most wanted.

I will spare myself by not reading your post and simply say, be mindful of passing out poor advice.
Poor advice way/will get one of us killed and that's unacceptable.
Ask yourself, if you were a Provider, would you require a thorough screening or would you take take extreme risk? Would you put your life in the hands of another Hooker.? Another Hooker you do lot really know?
Ask yourself exactly what level of screening would make you comfy to be naked in a room with a stranger twice your size?
Think about the advice you giving when you've never been on the other end of the deal....the riskier end.
That being said, think about who/what kind of person would skimp on screening to accommodate such a person coming off as shady from the beginning?
So yea, piss poor advice is deadly.

doesn't bother to read what you write.  That really pretty much says it all.  But I'll pretend for a moment anyway...
Sorry you consider those who have been screened (full name, driver's license, called at my high profile work location) by an independant 3rd party such as P411 to be "shady" just because we don't want to give someone like you our info too.  But that judgement and what makes you feel safe is your prerogative.  There are thousands of wonderful ladies who DO accept P411 screening as sufficient.  So that is the sandbox that I and thousands of other gentleman will choose to play - with much less risk for US.

"Someone like you"? Guess we know now how much respect you have for providers. Classy.  

He means a BSC provider like HL4U. He's using a euphemism because this is the newbie board. Anyone can pm me for the rest of the links to her showing her BSCness.