i hate credentials

i was never qualified on paper for any job i ever got. but i got them anyway.

i hate credentials. pieces of paper to “prove” you’re capable. a supervisor’s letter to “prove” you are who you say you are.

as if a stranger’s signature makes your life more legitimate than your own experience.

before i ever started my own business, i lived in that world.

the traditional teaching career path. the “climb slowly” mindset. and i didn’t really fit.

i didn’t even have an education degree. after graduation, i worked in restaurants & realized i really wanted to teach.

so i pivoted. i became a college professor at a sketchy school, with a salary that made me question all my life choices.

i left, went home, & decided to get ‘real’ credentials this time.

i studied. i taught esl to japanese professionals at night to survive. i took the board exam. i got my professional teaching license.

and somehow, still unsure, still underqualified, i shot for a top private school, the kind of place where only the best teachers go.

i had 0 classroom experience, 1 semester of education units, and nothing on paper that said “hire this person if it’s the last thing you do.”

but i had belief.

i still remember eating kfc the night before my demo. i love fried chicken but i swear i couldn’t taste anything. because i was imagining crashing & burning in front of actual children.

i did the demo. i went home. 2 weeks later, i got the job.

that moment tattooed itself into me:

you can be “underqualified” on paper & still be the best damn choice in the room. i taught for 6 years.

then i moved to japan. i went from respected homeroom teacher to an assistant language teacher nobody listened to, that punched my ego in the throat. but i stayed for 3 years.

japan broke & rebuilt me. i realized i couldn’t stay small anymore.

i built a writing brand (failed). built an ielts brand with my partner (succeeded), rebranded it & built a yt channel. then finally we built yōso studio.

and now, almost at the end of 2025, here i am: still terrified.

not “can i teach?” terrified. now it’s “we need clients to survive, rent is due, food costs money, and this time it’s all on us.”

and tomorrow, i have a meeting with a 7-figure company’s ceo.

my inner child is screaming run. my adult brain is overthinking.

my ego whispers, “who the hell do you think you are?”

i feel like that younger jo again.

and yet… i also know this: when they doubt us, i don’t get shaken.

i just tell them the truth: we’ve already done what you’re trying to do, multiple times.

not hypothetically. for ourselves, with our own money & mistakes.

our network is tiny. our client list is tiny. but our lived experience is massive.

that same strange, persistent belief is the same belief that helped us sign our first client.

maybe it’s the same belief that’ll help us sign another one tomorrow.

i was never special. i never had the “perfect path” or the “perfect degree.”

but i’ve always had grit, stubbornness, & the audacity to bet on myself.

turns out, that’s the only credential that ever mattered.

~~~
stay soulful,

jo from 要素 yōso studio