Cold messages to people in my field, do they work? after 13 years as a school bus driver

I want to talk to people in a new field but I hate cold messages. I want advice, not a job directly. How do you phrase the request?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 4 months ago, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

I asked what they wish they had known at my stage. People enjoy answering that.