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50 guides

Guides. Written from work we actually do.

These are the notes we would give someone starting out — on reaching people by email without burning a domain, on running AI where your data already lives, and on deciding what is worth automating.

Where a competitor is the better answer for your situation, that is what the page says. A guide that only ever points at our own product would not be worth writing.

Cold outreach

Deliverability, authentication, volume, writing and targeting — the craft of reaching people who did not ask to hear from you, without burning your domain.

Deliverability checklist
The complete pre-send checklist for cold outreach: domain separation, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, warm-up…
SPF, DKIM, DMARC
What SPF, DKIM and DMARC actually do, why cold email fails without them, how to set all three u…
Emails per day
How many cold emails you can send per day without damaging your domain, why the safe number is …
Email warm-up
What email warm-up actually does, why a new sending domain needs it, a realistic four-week sche…
Sending domain
Choosing, buying and configuring a separate sending domain for cold outreach: naming that does …
Why mail goes to spam
The actual reasons cold email lands in spam, ranked by how often each one is the culprit: authe…
Writing a cold email
A practical structure for cold emails that get answered: how to open without flattery, how to e…
Subject lines
What makes a cold email subject line get opened: the principles behind short lowercase specific…
Following up
How to follow up on cold email without becoming a nuisance: how many messages, spacing, what ea…
Personalisation at scale
What genuine personalisation in cold outreach requires, why merge tags fail, how AI changes the…
Finding business emails
Where business contact details legitimately come from, how to verify them before sending, which…
Ideal customer profile
How to define an ICP specific enough to change your results: the difference between a segment a…
Metrics that matter
Which cold outreach numbers are worth watching: why open rates have become meaningless, what re…
Email vs LinkedIn
Where cold email beats LinkedIn outreach and where it does not: reach, cost, platform risk, aut…
Costly mistakes
The outreach mistakes that do real damage, ordered by cost: burning your main domain, buying li…
B2B lead generation
How a small business generates B2B leads without hiring: comparing referrals, inbound content, …

Cold email law

What the rules actually say in each jurisdiction. Plain-language summaries of legislation, not legal advice.

Cold email law · NZ
What New Zealand law requires of cold email under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007:…
Cold email law · AU
What Australian law requires of cold outreach: the Spam Act 2003 consent, identification and un…
Cold email law · US
What CAN-SPAM actually requires of cold outreach in the United States, why it is more permissiv…
Cold email and GDPR
How GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive govern B2B cold email in Europe: legitimate interest as a l…
Cold email law · UK
What UK law allows in cold outreach: how PECR treats corporate subscribers differently from ind…

Choosing software

Honest comparisons, including the cases where a competitor or a subscription is the better choice for you.

Instantly alternative
How the Cold Outreach Machine compares to Instantly: subscription versus one-time purchase, whe…
Smartlead alternative
Smartlead compared with a one-time-purchase alternative: where Smartlead's scale and rotation g…
lemlist alternative
lemlist compared with a one-time-purchase alternative: how per-seat pricing changes the maths, …
Apollo alternative
Apollo compared with a one-time-purchase outreach system: what you are really paying for with a…
Choosing software
A framework for choosing outreach software: the four categories that exist, the questions that …

Local & private AI

Running AI on hardware you control: what it takes, what it costs, where it falls short, and the sectors where it is close to mandatory.

Running AI locally
What it takes to run AI on your own hardware: which tasks work well locally, what you need, whe…
Ollama for business
A practical introduction to Ollama for business use: what it does, choosing a model, connecting…
Hardware requirements
Hardware for running language models locally: how memory determines model size, why unified mem…
Local vs cloud
Where local AI wins and where cloud AI wins: quality, cost at volume, privacy, latency, mainten…
AI and your data
What AI providers do with business data, how to read the terms that matter, which questions to …
Private AI · law firms
How law firms can use AI while keeping privileged material in-house: which tasks suit local mod…
Private AI · accountants
How accounting practices can use AI on client financial data while keeping it in-house: the tas…
Private AI · healthcare
How healthcare providers can use AI without sending patient information to third parties: suita…
Personal AI assistant
What a genuinely personal AI assistant is, why one that knows your own files and history beats …

AI by trade

Where AI saves real hours in specific trades and sectors — starting from the working day rather than from the technology.

AI for electricians
Practical AI for electrical contractors: quoting from voice notes after a day on the tools, com…
AI for plumbers
How plumbing businesses use AI where it actually helps: triaging emergency calls, quoting from …
AI for builders
AI for building companies: estimating support, variation tracking, subcontractor coordination, …
AI for real estate
Practical AI for real estate: vendor reporting, buyer matching, appraisal preparation, database…
AI for recruitment
AI in recruitment: candidate matching, screening support, business development and database rea…
AI for marine
AI for the marine industry: seasonal booking pressure, quoting survey and refit work, maintenan…
AI for hospitality
AI for hospitality operators: booking friction, group and event enquiries, rosters, supplier ad…
AI for accountants
AI in accounting practices: document processing, transaction coding, client queries and advisor…
AI for e-commerce
AI for online retailers: product content at catalogue scale, support deflection done honestly, …
AI for non-profits
AI for non-profits: grant applications and reporting, volunteer coordination, donor communicati…

Automation basics

Agents, workflows and the decision of what to automate first. Concepts explained without the vendor gloss.

What is an AI agent
What distinguishes an AI agent from a chatbot or an automation: tools, decisions and loops. Rea…
AI for small business
A practical sequence for a small business adopting AI: how to find what is worth automating, wh…
Automation examples
Concrete workflow automations small businesses actually run: quote generation, enquiry triage, …
AI or hire?
When automation is the right answer and when a person is: cost, ramp-up, judgement, flexibility…
How to start with AI
A realistic order for adopting AI: what to do in the first week, the first month and the first …

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