Yes, I understand very well when you suspect me of doing something I shouldn't have done, also because I see a lot of fraud committed by people, moreover I am a relatively new person in this space. I will prove when what I plan has been realized.
Building a reputation on this forum starts by staying longer, and doing small business first. If you just registered and make one or two posts, it will be difficult for others to trust you since nobody knows who you are, and there is no trade history either. Participate in forum discussions, make valuable posts for others, be helpful, etc.
Most scammers don't want to use escrow for any transaction, so you might want to use them for a start regardless of how much your deal is worth. There are many escrows with years of reputation here, so there risk is lower for both your client and yourself as mentioned above. Of course, you'll still get a negative reputation regardless if you use escrow or not if the deal/business itself is scammy.
If you're not going for P2P and instead build a website/platform where the user needs to trust you without any safety net, it would be incredibly difficult to get customers IMO. Unless you post more details about yourself or your business, nobody will use it since there are other reputable alternatives. You also need to be unique, if what you can offer is only a cheaper price, you'll probably struggle a lot in competing with other businesses. At the end of the day, you'll need to be flexible and react according to the situation, so good luck.