Do you find it hard to find niche experts?
Over the past few years, there have been loads of times when I've wanted to ask a niche expert but never did. I hate sending out cold LinkedIn messages and don't want to pay expensive consultants for a whole day.
What I really want is to be able to pay for 30 mins of a niche expert's time so they can answer a few questions.
There are plenty of sites that do this for business advice and marketing, but far fewer for niche experts I've wanted to speak to like a carbon footprinting expert, a UK energy system expert, or an HR manager.
Is this something you've struggled with too? How have other people solved this? Is LinkedIn the answer, or could there be a product here?
I've run into the exact issue you are having here while attempting to do UX research in incrediblity niche areas of experts who work inside of central banks.
Niche experts tend to be very open to talking with strangers if they show a geniune interest in their expertise. I've rarely seen someone with a high degree of craft in a niche area turn down a chance to talk about the topic they love with someone who seems eager to hear what they have to say.
I've had success by building a geniue relationship with the person long before I ask anything more from them (following and interacting with them on twitter, their personal blogs, medium articles etc). Usually, when the right time to ask comes, they are happy to help out since we have an extisting relationship.
This method takes longer, but his more fruitful in the long term. Not sure the specifics of your situation (I know time can be a factor), but perhaps it can help you?
I find when I do other folks a favor they are willing to do me a favor.
They are often wiling to ask their friends to help me if I have been of help to them.
It has to be a bounded ask and if cannot disadvantage the person who is helping me (beyond the opportunity cost of their time).
I think trying to pay for a tiny consulting assignment is the wrong vector to follow but there are successful firms that already offer this service (see for example https://glginsights.com/ ) but they normally charge hundreds to low thousands.
Sounds like Clarity.fm
Thanks, @alchemist. I had a look at Clarity and like a number of its competitors, it seems to be really focussed on business strategy and marketing experts, rather than niche experts, like authors, or people working in construction, for example.
I've thought about this same thing. I would love to be able to book out a 30 min session with different experts or even just people generally knowledgeable in a certain field. And hey, I'd sign up for the other side of that as well, I'd be happy to get paid to talk on a more casual basis to people interested in my areas of knowledge. I'd love to know if anything like this currently exists
Ask yourself the question, why would a niche expert who has spent years developing their knowledge help a random person online?
Because they are doing a friend a favor.
I'd happily pay them for their time, I just can't afford them for a whole day. I was imagining it might be a nice side-income for some folks, but perhaps that's a poor assumption.
Depends on the niche and the level of expert but my guess is it’s a poor assumption.
Even more so if the requests for info are sporadic.
Thanks for your thoughts @gxespino 👍
Same. Cold LinkedIn messages aren’t working for me either.
I’m getting closer using referrals. But it takes time.