How do I ask for an informational chat? - what worked for you?

I want to talk to people in a new field but I hate cold messages. There are 7 people counting on me, so I am trying to be careful. I worry about bothering people. Did any turn into leads?

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 3 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.