"and the one we work in (photography)" The reason the strategy works is that generally the people you are selling to know far less than you do. So you are the

"and the one we work in (photography)" The reason the strategy works is that generally the people you are selling to know far less than you do. So you are the "expert". And you are providing value. I've done no less than 3 businesses in things I knew zero about when I started. One of those was photography which I did in high school and college and made money to start my first real business (I had a darkroom). Never had a problem being taken seriously. And the photos I took were good enough that people paid me for them (many clients were lawyers by the way). At the time I didn't even know the expression "fake it till you make it". The bottom line really is whether you are able to deliver to the expectations of the people who are going to pay you money. If so, to me that's fine. By the way in none of the things I ever did did anyone ever ask me (even on day one) how long I had been doing what I was selling them on. Had they asked I would have told them but it never happened. In fact the opposite in another (not the photo business) I went cold calling on day one and a business owner handed me some marketing materials and said "you're the expert".