Hey Automation community! 👋 This took me 2 hours to put together. If you're looking for a proven way to get clients AT SCALE and actually make money for your AI automation agency, then this is for you. I run an AI agency that basically made no money because I had a hard time finding new clients. I tried cold email starting in November and it quickly become one of our most profitable acquisition channels. I knew NOTHING about cold outreach when I started. I learned A LOT along the way (including plenty of expensive mistakes), so here’s everything I wish I had known from day one. If you don't know what cold email marketing is, it's when you send out thousands of emails to potential leads you haven't spoken to before. The goal is for them to book a consult with you where you'll then close on a deal. If you do it badly, it will look like spam and nobody will respond. Do it where you target relevant people ready to buy and offer a lot of VALUE, and you will generate sales. Part 1: Technical Setup Domain Strategy - Buy dedicated domains just for email campaigns — never ever use your main company domain. - Set up DNS records immediately: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. - Use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for better deliverability (roughly $4–6 per account per month). Email Account Setup - Create 1–4 email accounts per domain. - Start slow: 10 emails per account per day, then increase volume by ~10% each day. - Max once warmed up: ~25 emails per account per day. - Example: 4 domains × 3 accounts × 25 emails = 300 emails/day to begin with. IMPORTANT: Always warm up accounts for at least 14 days before ramping up. Extra tips that help a lot: - Add real profile photos and complete the accounts. - Older domains tend to perform better when you can get them. - Set up a custom tracking domain for accurate open/click data. Choosing Your Sending Platform You can do it manually with the technical setup above but it's way easier to buy an email account that's already configured and ready to go. I ran high-volume campaigns using Instantly.ai because it has good deliverability, analytics, and tons of guides on it since it's used by many agencies to get clients. It’s not perfect but probably one of the best for cold email right now. But honestly, your lead list and outreach message matter more.

Hi everyone! 👋 I've decided that cold email will be my primary prospecting channel in the construction industry. I've researched the strategy and some tools, but I've never created a sending system, so I would greatly appreciate the practical experience of those who do it daily. 3 questions: 1) Lead data: For a local/traditional niche, what allows you to obtain the email address of the decision-maker? Apollo, Hunter, Apify, or manual data extraction? 2) Email setup: How to achieve a good deliverability rate from scratch? Dedicated domain(s) + lead warm-up + which sequencer (Instantly, SmartLead, or another)? And what daily inbox volume should I aim for to avoid spam? 3) Response rate: What factor has most influenced your response rate: the copy, personalization, follow-up, or the offer itself? Does anyone have experience selling in the construction sector? I'd love to know what the differences are between these markets. Any input is appreciated 🙏

Can anyone who has used both Hermes and Openclaw tell me which one they recommend and what the difference is?

I switched Claude Code over to GLM 5.2 and ran it all day. It's a 756 billion parameter open source model you can route straight into the Claude Code harness for about five times cheaper than Opus, and for most of my knowledge work it held up fine. In this one I show you what it can build, where it beats Opus and where it doesn't, and exactly how to set it up so you can switch between models per project. Here's the config I use. Drop this into your .claude/settings.local.json and swap in your own Z.ai key: "env": { "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic", "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "your-z-ai-api-key-here", "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "", "API_TIMEOUT_MS": "3000000", "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "glm-5.2", "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "glm-5.2", "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "glm-5.2", "ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL": "glm-5.2", "CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL": "glm-5.2" }

Let's get to know each other! Comment below sharing where you are in the world, a career goal you have, and something you like to do for fun. 😊