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When Joey Gonzalez entered Barry’s Bootcamp class at age 26, she thought she was just signing up for a good workout. He loved it so much that he became an instructor. By 2015, a decade later, he was running the company as CEO. His advice for Gen Z and young millennials who want to climb their careers at the same speed? Start sending cold emails.
He should have known. Last year, the self-made millionaire moved into the role of executive chairman of the upscale boutique fitness brand. But despite his busy schedule, Gonzalez still makes time to read unsolicited messages sent to him by ambitious young people—and he even found his successor that way.
“I used to dedicate, and I still do, most of my day on Friday, to anyone who wants to talk about careers, even random people in LinkedInwho helped me,” Gonzalez exclusively said luck.
“I take the day to help meet an MBA student who has questions about my career and how I got here. Or a trainer who works somewhere who wants to open their own place.”
Even if you don’t plan to leave your current company, Gonzalez argues that reaching out and building relationships is essential for landing that promotion.
“Look around and notice, what are the qualities of the people around you who are growing with the company? What do you see? Ask them: can i have coffee?”
Instead of finding your cold outreach annoying, Gonzalez insists that most bosses want to help the next generation of workers learn the ropes and climb the ladder. If anything, she says confidently raising your arm for help is a green flag.
“People are generally very nice, and want to help, and you can learn a lot, especially from other individuals who are in the same company as you, and they will thank you for having that kind of ambition and dialogue.”
Job seekers: Here’s how you can showcase your cold email (or LinkedIn DM).
Gonzalez isn’t just paying lip service when he says leaders want to help—he’s literally putting someone into a senior role on the back of a cold email.
“It’s funny because my CEO now cold emailed me. And that’s how I hired him to be the first CFO, then president, and now CEO,” the 47-year-old chairman and father of 2 remembers. “You never know. You always have to take that risk.”
What makes a cold email stand out? Passion.
“What really interests me is his love for the brand,” said Gonzalez, adding that young people should notice the brands they wear and use, the hobbies they like, and try to align their careers with those.
“If you’re emailing someone, and you can’t be passionate about the product service or whatever it is, it’s not going to be a compelling email,” he explains. “But if you send someone an email that’s like, ‘Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I did Barry’s for a year, and it changed my life. This is my resume, and maybe one day you’ll have one for me’ — it goes a long way.
For example, JJ Gantt, the CFO-turned-CEO of the boutique gym. That’s exactly how he got Gonzalez’s attention: “He’s ready for change, and a huge brand evangelist. Most of the executive team are clients and fans first.”
And it’s a win-win hack for young people. The worst that can happen is that you stay in the same position you are in, so there is nothing to lose.
“Just be honest,” advised Gonzalez. “I really believe that honesty can get you anywhere.”
“And it’s a system that doesn’t fail, because if you email and you’re honest about how you feel, and the recipient thinks it’s corny, that’s not the job for you. And that’s not the right person you should be working for.
Billionaire Figma CEO Dylan Field, self-made Skims entrepreneur Emma Grede, and Nespresso boss say cold emails are the secret to success
Gonzalez’s story is not a one-off quirk. Many high-profile execs, in various industries, have admitted that their big break came off the back of a cold email—or cold letter, or cold call, for that matter.
For example, you may have heard of British Entrepreneur Emma Grede because of Skims, the $4 billion shapewear company she runs with Kim Kardashian. He also invested in other brands with the family, such as the cleaning products company Safely and Kylie Jenner’s clothing line, Khy.
But what you may not know is that the growing empire can be traced back to a phone call he made to Kris Jenner in 2015, which changed everything.
“There was an idea, and I formed the partnership in my mind,” said the self-made millionaire luck in a exclusive interview. “The difference between me and the others is that I made the phone call, I took the meeting, and I did it.”
Grede had never run a fashion business before, nor had she worked with the Kardashian-Jenners, but she wasn’t waiting for the stars to align. He picked up the phone, put Good American Denim in “momager,” and the rest is history.
Likewise, if Figma’s billionaires CEO Dylan Field is 19 years old and looking to get his design tool, millennial cofounder cold emailing his tech “heroes” to invite them out for coffee. He also hit the inbox of former fellow interns and peers from LinkedIn, Flipboard, and O’Reilly Media—and it worked.
And then there’s Nespresso UK CEO Anna Lundstrom, who got her foot through the door of the notoriously hard-to-break-in luxury industry thanks to a cold email to an LVMH boss. He immediately offered him an internship, which snowballed into a 5-year career at the likes of Louis Vuitton, Chaneland Gucci.
