You are so right about the recommendation thing. On the one hand, I have clients who write me letters and offer to talk to people on my hehalf, show their pictures and they even offer that I can post their full names on my web site along side their recommendation (because they are finished, and confident that they don't need to see me anymore other than to enjoy my effervescent personality). Others write or post recommendations and yet want those to be listed under initials, or a screenname or email address, and in one case, a celebrity client wrote me a glowing recommendation, but ended it with a line that said something like, "but sorry James, I can't let anybody know who I am, so I am just signing this C.C. from somewhere on your radio and TV dial."
I don't know if I should even use that, as it would only get me more questions attempting to get me to violate my confidentiality agreement than it would get me future client trust. I can't even answer the question is CC the initials for this person's name, or the name of a character, or a stage name. It was a heart felt letter about going from looking shy and standoffish in public to becoming more outgoing an confident at personal appearances, and is great for that point, though.
After all, your fans don't know that you are looking down at your feet because you don't want them to see what's going on below your chinny chin chin.
One more thing on the lying about your experience thing. It actually works both ways. For instance, I have a friend who says that when she started out, she had the newest equipment, and had spent much time, effort, and money on her education, and was giving more comfortable and faster treatments than many in her area. She found, however, that when she was honest about her experience, people would not even take a free sample treatment with her, so she told people she had ten years experience. Now, here is the funny part (and the part that I identify with) as she has watched the odometer of time flip to zeros and start over again, when people ask how much experience she has, she tells them... TEN YEARS! "Hey, why should I tell them the truth, when that blows my chances of passing for a hot babe of 30 years old?"

Once I made peace with my balding head, I had a much easier time telling people that I have cough, choke, wheeze, over 20 years experience. I would hazard a guess that the only reason Fino ever told people how many decades he had been in the business was he got his silver hair so early.
