Networking without feeling pushy after 7 years as a line cook

I want to talk to people in a new field but I hate cold messages. I have read a lot of threads here and could not find my exact situation. Some people reply with short answers. How do you phrase the request?

Keep everything in writing and save the confirmation numbers. It made the follow-up calls so much easier.

I wrote three short lines: who I am, why them and a small ask for fifteen minutes. About one in four said yes.