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Patty Arvielo never had access to the typical paths that lead to professional networks. The 60-year-old entrepreneur never went to college. She started her career as a maid. Plus, she has no interest in golfing. Instead, the co-founder and co-CEO of New American Funding, one of the largest private mortgage lenders in the United States, had to build her own rolodex, in her own way. Arvielo, who landed on the cover of this year’s Inc. Female Founders issue, spoke at the Inc. 5000 Conference in Phoenix last week alongside Michelle Kluz, who is the former CEO of Pure Barre and the current CEO of Stila Cosmetics. The two CEOs, who have both led $1 billion organizations during their careers, offered some lessons in leadership to the crowd of founders, who are scaling some of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. Here’s how they advised entrepreneurs and executives to level up their professional networking skills. Don’t waste people’s time When reaching out to people for help or for mentorship, don’t veer into overly broad questions about their career path. Tailor the request. Make it as precise as possible, and get to the point quickly. Featured Video An Inc.com Featured Presentation “Being really specific and being really respectful of people’s time will get you so much further than a less specific outreach, because in most cases, people do want help but they’re busy,” said Kluz. “I’m happy to help—I think—but I need you to tell me exactly what you want.” Keep following up Because people are so busy, do not get discouraged if you do not hear back from someone right away. Likely, the person meant to respond and forgot. Be relentless and keep following up. “I don’t care what they think of me. I’m calling again,” said Arvielo. “In business—and no matter what sector—respectfully handling the ask is really key to getting what you want.” Be willing to pay for the help you need One common mistake founders make: assuming that their network needs to be completely organic. That’s not the case. When Kluz joined Stila Cosmetics, she was an experienced CEO, but had never worked in the beauty industry. So as part of her sign-on package, she negotiated a caveat that allocated funds to hire two outside advisors and a professional recruiter to find them. “Sometimes the network that you have organically can’t help get you in the room,” said Kluz. “Sometimes you need to buy that advisor and that expertise and build that network…because they are incented to get you in the room.” Be like Teflon Like plenty of other female founders and CEOs, Kluz and Arvielo have been diminished during plenty of networking meetings. People have mistaken them for lower-level employees at their company or simply spouses. When that happens, resist the urge to apologize or make an excuse for them, they said. Just correct them, and allow the other person to be uncomfortable.
