I was doing work for household names such as Sony and Pfizer when I got a call from some dude who wanted to implement some Facebook + Youtube grand idea for $1k

I was doing work for household names such as Sony and Pfizer when I got a call from some dude who wanted to implement some Facebook + Youtube grand idea for $1k and "I could put my name at the bottom". Admittedly, this merely falls in the realm of "annoying waste of time", but alas, reputation can haunt you in unexpected ways and the point is you want to cultivate networking prospects that actually provide real hard income, not low quality ones that think they can hustle you at every corner. Our company actually got paid big bucks to work on these household name projects and they used the portfolio to full advantage to land new contracts. But here's the key thing: there was a business development team reaching out to prospective clients and putting blood and sweat into presentations and proposals. At one point, leadership decided that they were going to try the "let our brand/portfolio speak for itself" idea (which amounts to the same as expecting credits to do the work for you), and in the next town hall meeting, they were very clear that that was the worst idea they had ever tried in the history of the business. So, sure, having a recognizable brand under your belt can serve as leverage, but as they say, a large number times zero is still zero. If a single high profile thing is the only crutch in your portfolio, or if the description of responsibilities looks inflated, people will notice that you're a one trick pony. You're still going to have to invest the time to build a proper network and reputation if you expect to be on fast-dial for household name projects.