AskPro

Leila Maham, the immigration consultant who handled my own file, pitched it to me in my first months in Canada. People who need professional advice often do not know which kind of professional they need, or which kind of session to book. Consultants, for their part, want to sell their time without building a booking and payment system of their own. AskPro takes care of both sides.

A client can describe their situation in plain words, and AskPro suggests the right service. They pick a consultant and a free slot of half an hour or an hour, pay by card, upload their documents and answer a few intake questions before the meeting. The meeting link arrives by itself. On the other side, the consultant sees the booking in their calendar, along with the client's documents and a short summary of what they need, and is paid their share without sending an invoice. Consultants set their own weekly hours, block time off and price their own services.

I built AskPro on my own, and two things had to be right from the first day. Money: the client pays AskPro, the consultant receives their share and the platform keeps its commission, and the numbers have to add up every time. Time: two people can never book the same slot, even if they click in the same second, and a slot someone is still paying for is held for them and released if they walk away. Then consultants asked for the same booking on their own websites, so I opened it up for that.

It is live and growing. Its booking also runs on consultants' own websites, such as farinaztaheri.com and leilamaham.com.