10+ years in media/advertising, trying to pivot to brand marketing — looking for real reps, not sure I'm going about it right

Spent the last decade on the media and advertising side Chicago Tribune, Future (Marie Claire), a couple of YC-backed marketing startups. Strong on the commercial and campaign side, but my hands-on execution with Meta ads and social campaign management is the gap between where I am and the brand marketing roles I actually want.

So I've started taking on small businesses to run their Instagram strategy and paid social to close that gap with real work instead of just talking about it. Happy to do this free for the right projects; I'm after the reps and the case studies, not the money right now.

Two things I'm hoping this community can help with: is this the right way to build brand-side credibility coming from a sales background, and if anyone's working on something where an extra set of hands on social/paid would help, I'd genuinely like to connect.

Open to any honest feedback on the approach.