Andy asks: I'm a business student graduating soon, looking to help companies or get freelance jobs on Upwork, but I lack industry experience. What type of social proof can I use to stand out?
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.
Everybody suffers from this exact problem at the start line — it's not just an entrepreneurial problem, it's the job-market problem too (a junior dev job asking for 10 years of experience). You have to go through this like everyone else, but there are ways to fake it until you make it. The simplest: take systems I build on my channel (a lot of the free ones, plus more in Maker School) and rebuild them yourself. Then ask what kind of business each system would help — often digital agencies, since that's my niche. Once you've built a few systems yourself instead of just copying mine, you can say things like 'I built an automated cold email system that enriches contacts and adds a thousand leads a day' or 'I built an automatic proposal generator.' That's real social proof, even if it's not client work yet — you can honestly say you built it for an AI agency (your own) without claiming it was a paying client. That's pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. From there, use that first thing you built to land one real gig, then use that gig's result to build proof for the next one, and so on.
no experiencesocial proofgetting startedhigh school
The Clawed Partner Program is good; it gives perceived social proof. You need 10 people in your organization to apply, but you can gather friends to apply as a group. Once certified, you can tell prospects you're certified by Anthropic, which is strong social proof. Notion Partner is also good, especially for ad budget and media spend, letting you borrow Google's credibility. The NAD partner program, though the industry is moving away from NAD, is still useful for free social proof. The Softer partner program is good too; you get listed on their partner page for social proof and legitimacy. The key is the quality of social proof—borrowing credibility from a big company whose software you use. It's free and positive, so it's worth pursuing.
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.
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.