I would love to hire a proven expert (2-4 hours) at the start/middle/end of my projects—paid mentoring essentially. Anybody doing this already?

We do have those people on Clarity. Jason comes to mind https://clarity.fm/asmartbear

That being said, anyone on this list (who have software background) would be great
https://clarity.fm/search/entrepreneurship

Depending on your ventures, my expertise revolves in the ideation and development phase and growth (start & end) But I agree there are a few key people here that can help you out :)

I've done consulting for various startups/online businesses and provided exactly what you describe. Spending a couple hours at project milestones to discuss with an expert can make a big difference in clarifying the project so that it continues smoothly and effectively.

Yes, you can figure things out on your own, and while it is great to learn from your mistakes, having a few pointers along the way can save a great deal of time in getting you to that next step effectively.

What type of projects are you looking for a mentor on specifically?

My company is a software consultant that also mentors our startup clients on the product management process. I typically do "process" update calls with our clients on a weekly basis to make sure that they are gathering the right kind of information from their clients, etc.

If this is the kind of mentoring you are looking for, then I would be happy to give it a shot with you. If you are looking for technical wordpress mentorship, I am not the person you are looking for.

I have experience in both Wordpress and Advanced CSS, but the more important CSS these days is for responsive web design.

Responsive web design forces websites to fit in all devices including smartphone and tablets as well as regular computer monitors and laptops.

For Wordpress, I can show you theme development and plugin development and how CSS works into those tools.

Bruce

I'd be more than happy to help in this arena.

Models... no. Been there.. done that. But There are bunch of questions one has to ask hirself, time and again, and in most cases, one does not dare ask them. Esp. if u wear 5-6 hats (in most cases with contradicting goals). For everyday life u may get those asked in a pub by next stranger, but not for work-related topics needing huge amount of technological background... There comes the expert/mentor who would not mind sending your hopes/illusions to hell and back, or suggesting something unthinkable. Things like 360' exploration (in begining), building correct product vs building product correctly (all the time), release unfinished but early or all perfect but late (at end), etc. See this http://www.svilendobrev.com/rabota/metodologia.html or this http://alistair.cockburn.us/Cooperative+game+manifesto+for+software+development ; and although these mostly talk about human-side, it's same stuff on technical side, just with different names. Have fun.