#176 · When will AI automation become saturated?
You can’t hide your identity on Upwork because they ban new accounts, and people would recognize you. Instead, use alternative social proof like a NAN creator page or a simple agency website to show competence without relying on your YouTube fame.
Yes, you absolutely need some form of social proof. Without it, it's hard to win because anyone can claim they can do something, but few can point to something they've actually delivered. The work you do becomes your biggest differentiator—far more valuable than flowery language in a proposal, which no longer matters now that AI can generate polished text for everyone. You don't have to build a project for a client to get proof. You can create something for your own business or a side project that adds value, then say, 'I built this for myself,' or 'I built this for an IT company.' It's really just about being resourceful. Regarding self‑studying computer science through 'Teach Yourself CS': I don't think it's still relevant, but I like the idea. I was reminded by a friend named Arturo that talking about the fact that you never took a programming degree resonates with people, so I'm going to weave that into my own content.
Of course hiding client identity would be interesting and helpful. I actually do this and make money with Make. I have one or two intro sales calls. Honestly, that's a big point of the value of joining my programs—me showing you stuff like that. I feel like a lot of people are asking me to put all this super deep stuff online for free, but I don't like gatekeeping knowledge. However, the risk-to-reward would be unnecessarily large. One reason people don't do this is because nobody actually shows sales calls; there's a fair amount of liability if something gets found. For example, I've revealed two email addresses in past videos, which is tough because clients might look you up and find a recording of your voice. It's different in a paid program with a limited number of people who respect you and where you don't make a big deal of it. But yeah, I'll be real: there's just a lot of liability. I do have a couple of actual sales calls where I do this and make money with Make. So do whatever you want with that. Everything is obscured and anonymized—super anonymized.
No. But you can get away with saying, "Hey, you know, I built this stuff for an AI agency." You don’t need to specify that the AI agency is yours, just that you built it for an AI agency—your own. It’s like pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, which is super cool, and that’s what I recommend. Start there. Visualize it: you start with a project you built for an automation company, then use that to land a gig with a personal trainer company, and so on. Create multiple portfolio pieces or case studies—one for an automation company, one for a personal trainer, and one for an AI agency. With three simple systems you’ve built, you can sell a lead‑gen system that adds, for example, $1,535 in revenue in the first three weeks for a B2B SaaS business. Starting with a modest case study builds credibility, and once you have dollar signs in your case studies, it becomes much easier to attract higher‑paying clients.
I’m not saying you can’t use automation – you can, but if you’re underage you can’t sign up for Upwork. For people in that situation I recommend treating the platform like a straightforward sales funnel: you don’t need to master every sales skill, you just pitch why you’re the better pick among thousands of freelancers. Talk to the client, explain how you can solve their problem, and close the deal. If you can’t use Upwork, replicate the same approach by sending custom video DMs that solve a specific problem, distributing them via Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, or email. Search for “Loom outreach” or “video outreach” to see detailed tutorials I’ve made, and check out the Maker School community for a step‑by‑step guide.