The pool of professionals on the Timon ‘gig economy’ platform is growing by the day.

For people like John Smit, Euphonik, Goldfish, Jack Parow, Ard Matthews, Tracy McGregor and Ryan O’ Connor, it’s tough to make time to talk to everyone. Timon (pronounced ‘time’ + ‘on’) makes it easy by facilitating one-on-one text (and images) chat time with a variety of experts in various fields.

The beauty of Timon is that you don’t have to pay exorbitant hourly rates just to say hello, or pick someone’s brain. You pay per six minutes and you do it when you want, on-demand. They will also be rolling out voice notes, and then VOIP voice chats, in future versions of the app.

I get it. If you want to book John Smit for an hour in the flesh he will probably charge a fortune. He has to prepare, travel, meet and greet etc. It ends up being a lot more commitment than just one hour. That’s why he and most public figures charge by the hour.

Professionals don’t offer less than an hourly rate because they can’t justify the opportunity costs away from the family and other commitments unless it’s a minimum of one hour.

The same goes for lawyers. They’re not going to meet you at their offices for just 15 minutes. It has to be an hour, because that is the minimum amount of time they can justify on a time for money basis. But with Timon, it’s at their convenience. They don’t mind a quick chat, as the preparation and upheaval in their lives is minimal, and they’re earning money every six minutes.

Here’s a screenshot someone sent in of the chat they had with John Smit the other day, before he put in his own score prediction bet with his mates before the Sharks vs Lions Super Rugby game. You can see at the top of the screen that John’s rate is R250 for six minutes.

I think that’s great.

He kinda had to go for the Sharks, though, given that they’re his team.

Download the app (iOS and Android) here to check out the full list of gurus that are available to chat to.

Timon has a clock at the top of the chat to show how long you’ve been chatting for, and the total price so far.

They will be rolling out voice notes and then VOIP voice chats in future versions of the app.

Here’s a recent chat a user sent us, where he sought the opinion of a lawyer on Timon. You can even send a screenshot of contracts or photos – just like WhatsApp.

But these aren’t the only gurus on Timon. These cats share Timon ‘guru’ status with other professionals (insurance, legal, politics, wine), and a bunch of local celebrities.

Maybe you have a mate who is a big fan of Tracy’s – you could ask her to send a pic holding a message for your friend!

Check out Timon here.