The best follow-ups have a reason to exist. Send a short update when you acted on advice, reached a milestone, or have a genuinely relevant question.

That creates continuity without forcing the person to do something for you. You are showing that the conversation had value and that you are progressing.

Keep the message specific: mention one piece of advice, what you did with it, and the result. Avoid generic 'just checking in' notes.

If a referral becomes relevant later, ask directly and separately after you have established enough context rather than hiding the request inside repeated follow-ups. For a related reference, see consulting coffee chats.

For me the biggest improvement came from writing down the decision I was trying to make before doing the analysis.