"I Want to Pick Your Brain..."

I want to pick your brain, Pinky and the Brain.Image by drumecho via Flickr

and do what?  I'm sure other entrepreneurs who have been building their businesses for a while now and those who are already successful have been approached by an email that involves the words "I want to pick your brain..."

Most of the time I'm left wondering...where does this person think I can help him?  Usually these emails do not clarify what it is that the person is actually looking for.  A complete request would be: "I want to pick your brain because I am trying to build my own retail business." or something like that.  In this case, I would be able to say that "My apologies Sarah/Jack/Jim/Ben (whatever their name is), my background isn't in that area and I wouldn't be providing enough value add if we were to meet."

So, help us out by clearly stating what it is that you want, because maybe we can point you in the right direction even though we can't help you ourselves.  Saying "I just want to pick your brain." isn't even a complete sentence unless you tell me what it is you want to pick my brain about. 

That's my weekend rant :)