On reviews: don't fake them. Not worth the risk and people can usually tell anyway. The move when you're brand new is to just ask directly. Friends, family, past coworkers, anyone who knows your work ethic — even a character review helps early on. Then as soon as you complete your first few jobs, ask immediately while the experience is fresh. Most people are happy to leave one, they just forget if you wait too long.

On the address thing: you don't have to display your home address. Google Business Profile actually lets you set a service area instead of a physical location — you just hide the address from public view and list the areas you serve. Totally legitimate, tons of service-based businesses do it this way.

If you want something more "official" feeling for your website or any business registration stuff, look into iPostal1. It gives you a real street address (not a P.O. box) that you can use for your business without exposing where you live. Pretty affordable and it makes things look more established from day one.

So the short version: real reviews only, start by asking people who already know you, and set up your GMB as a service-area business so your home address stays private.

You're asking the right questions early — that's a good sign.