How to find industry experts to communicate with without connections

In the process of career development and learning, communicating and interacting with industry experts is a valuable resource. They have rich experience and deep insights, and can provide us with valuable guidance and inspiration. This article will provide you with practical advice and guidance. Let's explore how to overcome the barriers of personal connections and communicate with industry experts.

Many people are confused: they have no industry experience, and they encounter some problems at work. They want to consult with industry experts, but they don’t know how to start . What should they do?

Don't panic, in fact, the industry experts also hope that you will seek help from them . You will understand after reading this.

1. Analyze the problem

In my future columns, I will try to analyze first and then talk about methods.

Let's first analyze how to break down this problem. If we want to consult with industry experts, we can choose to break down the problem in a chronological order using structured thinking.

In chronological order, there are at least three sequences:

First, you need to find an expert.

Second, you need to contact an expert.

Third, make experts willing to help you.

2. How to find experts

Let’s talk about the first one first: find an expert .

You are working in a startup company with dozens of people, you don't know anyone around you, and you have just entered the workplace. Where can you find experts among the people related to your position, that is, the few colleagues around you?

The answer is simple: the Internet.

You are reading my WeChat article now, which means you are aware of learning data analysis through the Internet. You must know that there are many people on the Internet who share their experience and methods with others.

So the only thing that matters in finding an expert is your own execution. Just search for more relevant information and visit more websites.

Even just in the field of data analysis, I believe you can find at least ten such authors.

In addition, when looking for experts, you should look for those whose articles you find very helpful.

Don't look for people with very high-sounding titles or very high positions.

Because you are looking for an expert to help you, the most suitable person is someone who is one or two levels higher than you.

These people have just gone through the same pitfalls that you are going through, so you will be particularly touched by what they write and find their content very inspiring.

For those people in particularly high positions, they are a little far away from you. The problems they think about, the knowledge reserves, and the thinking efficiency are all things that you do not have for the time being.

Even if you get in touch with this kind of person, it will be difficult for you to follow his thoughts.

3. Contact an expert

The next step is to contact an expert .

Through the previous step, I have found so many authors. Some of them put their contact information directly in their profile or in the article link. For example, I will put my own link under the public account of each article, telling you that I have a group and you can add my WeChat.

There are many people like me who do this .

If the other party has not set it up this way, you can be more proactive and leave him a private message or a message. What's the problem?

If you succeed, you can connect with the experts. If you fail, you have no loss. Why not do it?

4. Let experts be willing to help you

The last step is to get the experts willing to help you .

First of all, don't think that all experts are cool . Of course there are cool people. Sometimes when I'm very busy, I see some very basic questions that Baidu can answer, and I'm too lazy to reply. But if you ask more people, you will always find someone willing to help you.

Many experts are not only not aloof, but also very enthusiastic. This concept may be different from what you think.

Many experts actually hope that others will ask them questions.

Because the reason why many authors output content is actually to help themselves build their own knowledge system through writing .

But the questions he thought about and the framework he built were only from his perspective and constructed using the cases he had experienced.

As an outsider, if you raise a question that the author has never thought about, it is actually a good opportunity for the author to hone his thinking framework and prevent him from getting stuck in a dead end.

I started writing about this in 2018 and 2019. That was also the time when I discussed issues with my WeChat friends most frequently. During that period, I had an idea about the overall framework of data analysis. But I was not sure whether this idea was applicable, so I was very happy when friends from other types of companies came to me to communicate or ask questions.

I will try to use my analysis method on other people's problems to see if it works. If not, I will continue to polish it and think about why it doesn't work.

Although I am busy with work now, I communicate less with netizens. But there are new authors emerging every year, and you can always find such authors.

For example, I was recently nominated for the annual author of Everyone is a Product Manager. When I looked at the list, I found that many of them are newcomers I have never seen before. I believe these newcomers are looking forward to communicating with you.

And another point is to be proactive .

From my perspective, I have added more than 3,000 friends whom I met through data analysis. There are two extreme types of people who left a particularly deep impression on me.

One is asking for help with a sour face .

After this kind of person asks me a question, I will ask him for some other information about the question. Every time they reply, they only have a few words and have no intention of communicating at all. Basically, I don't reply to this kind of person.

Because he treated me as a chatgpt and refused to say even one more word to me.

Such people must lack communication skills in normal times. So I think it is difficult for such people to grow, and it is a waste of time for me to spend time on them.

Another situation is unconscious refusal to communicate, that is, people who use rare characters, emoji expressions, or a string of numbers in their online names.

Sometimes I really want to help this kind of person.

But when I remembered how to answer his question, I had a hard time finding him among my more than 3,000 friends, and so the matter ended there.

There is another type of people who are particularly active and proactive and left a deep impression on me . Many of these people have become good online friends and often ask each other about their recent situation.

The characteristics of these people are that they will either compliment you or praise your article for being well written. Although I am not sure if this is true, at least I find it very useful to hear it. Some people will use cute expressions to appear harmless. When you see such a request, it is difficult for you to refuse. And you will leave a good impression because he makes you feel good.

For such a person, even if he doesn't take the initiative to contact me sometimes, when I have some ideas, I will take the initiative to contact him. After all, communicating with him will not seem abrupt.

I believe that human nature is universal. I have this idea, and other people have similar ideas. So you must be more proactive. By providing some emotional value, you can quickly get into the state of communication between you and the master.

V. Summary

In fact, expanding industry social networks is not that difficult. It is something that can be achieved as long as you do it. I think the difficulty lies in the fact that many people feel embarrassed to ask for help. After this mental demon is broken, I hope everyone can take action.

Author: Jason

Source: WeChat public account "Sanyuan Variance (ID: sanyuanfangcha)"