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Comment by beat | Hacker News Reader

Making contact with people isn't the hard part, I don't think. Motivating them to help you is the hard part.

Thanks a ton for the comment on this and reading the article!

But see, I don't think motivating someone to help you is really that hard. As I mentioned in there, there are so many places where there's oodles of people who'd love to help. Want to ask Alexis Ohanian something? Pay attention to when he hosts another AMA on Reddit. Or use Clarity or Public Beta. Or really just email them. I answer a ton of questions I get over email.

There are a couple reasons though sometimes I don't reply to an email "looking for help":

1. The email is thousands of words long. I don't have time to read that. Very few people do. Keep these intros and notes and questions to 5 sentences or 500 characters, or try your hardest to get close.

2. Ask something. I get too many emails looking for help, but when you read the email, there's isn't actually a question inside. What do you need help with? Be specific. "Feedback" is way too open. You want Feedback on design, or features or marketing or what? It's best to focus me on something so I can save time figuring out how I can actually help you.

And if you really want to use some extra encouragement to get people to help you, flattery gets you everywhere. Mention what you've been reading of theirs. Quote their stuff on Twitter.

Totally in agreement. I've emailed business owners relevant questions to projects I'm working on and 8 times out of 10 they reply back. I keep it short, to the point, and thank them up front for their time.

Also, I see too many people that say something like, "No one wants to help me." Everyone WANTS help; to get help you need to give some. Start networking like crazy, find out what someone else needs and provide that. It takes time and dedication, but you will be reciprocated.

Yep. People generally want to help, but they're also mindful of their bandwidth (especially the successful, busy people who can offer the best help).

So ask for help, but don't waste their time.

And one of the reasons is the idea that you don't pay back, you pay forward. Everyone got help at some some point, and many are aware of this idea.

I've got a couple of quite well-known and very busy people (whom I didn't previously know) to help me, simply by asking. The article is a great reminder to do it more often.

Also, "help" doesn't have to be a one-way street. Maybe the person you want to meet is coming to your town and needs a ride from the airport.

I totally agree. After years being a lurker online I've decided to change my outlook to be able to get like minded people's ideas and opinions. I totally understand how it is. It's always easier to be alone then to get to know people as you have to make an effort to make first contact.

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