Cold messages to people in my field, do they work? - first time posting

I sent 11 messages on a professional network and got two replies. I have read a lot of threads here and could not find my exact situation. I worry about bothering people.

Follow up with a thank-you and a short update. One of my chats led to a referral a month later.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 7 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.