How to overcome the chicken-and-egg problem of selling first vs building later when starting with zero case studies?

You don’t have to choose strictly between selling first and building later; you can do both. On platforms like Upwork, propose to build a small draft system for a client as part of your application, build it quickly, then offer it for free just to get in the room and show what you can do. When the next client asks for something similar, you already have a system you built recently that you can share—again for free—to build credibility and move the conversation forward. Over time you accumulate a library of demo systems. You can also sell confidently without prior builds by offering a guarantee or by framing your pitch around the value you’ll deliver, and you can use cold email to propose building a free prototype to get a foot in the door.