Cold messages to people in my field, do they work? - any advice?

I sent 14 messages on a professional network and got two replies. There are 14 people counting on me, so I am trying to be careful. 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 12 months ago, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.