3. Cold email setup (start warmup)
We’re starting here because this step makes everything else possible. Without working cold email accounts, you can’t run outreach campaigns, you can’t test copy/offer, and you can’t book calls.
What cold email is for
Cold email is one of the fastest and most scalable ways to start conversations with potential clients. You put your offer in front of people who’ve never heard of you before — and if the message resonates, they reply and book a call.
My background: I’ve spent five years in sales, where sending cold emails and building outreach campaigns was literally my daily job. I’ve probably sent hundreds of thousands of them.
Volume Negates Luck. If you send more emails, you’ll book more calls.
- Emails are just a communication tool, you need to make it work - ensure the highest deliverability rate.
The challenging part is understanding your niche, your* ideal customer profile (ICP)**, and the problem they’re facing—then highlighting that specific problem in your email copy.
So, the goal for today: we’re not writing any emails yet. We’re making sure that when we do, they actually land in inboxes.
Rules of thumb for the best deliverability rates
- Never send from your main domain (buy secondary domains just for outreach).
- Stick to .com domains, no dashes or numbers.
- 1 domain = 2–3 mailboxes.
- Warm-up inboxes for at least 14-21 days before sending real outreach.
- Gradually start sending emails while still running the warm-up
- Week 1: 5–10 emails/day/account
- Week 2: 15–20 emails/day/account
- Week 3: 25–30 emails/day/account
Following these rules means you don’t get flagged as spam, and your campaigns scale cleanly.
Today, I'll set up:
4 domains x 3 mailboxes/domain x 30 emails/mailbox/day ~ 10,800 emails/month
How to set up your mailboxes
A few years ago, cold email setup was painful. I had to manually configure:
Domains + DNS records, SPF, DKIM, DMARC
It was a technical headache. I had a full checklist for each domain and inbox, and one mistake could tank deliverability.
Now, we have done-for-you mailbox providers like Zapmail. They:
- Buy the domains for you
- Create the inboxes
- Configure DNS, SPF, DKIM, DMARC automatically
...and it's cheaper!
That’s why I recommend Zapmail — less headache, less cost, and you can focus on outreach instead of troubleshooting DNS records.
Warming Up the Inboxes
Once your mailboxes are ready, you need to start warming them up. This simulates sending/receiving emails in the background, so Google and Outlook trust your accounts.
Two main tools for this:
- Smartlead
- Instantly
For this program, I’ll be using Smartlead. It’s cost-effective, easy to set up, and more than enough for our tasks now.