Can you do a step‑by‑step for somebody looking to do their first cold email campaign at a small scale? How would you structure a campaign on Instantly?

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Can you do a step‑by‑step for somebody looking to do their first cold email campaign at a small scale? How would you structure a campaign on Instantly?

I already recorded a video that does all this called "Watch Me Start and Sell an AI Service in 10 Hours" where I go through the process of finding a need, picking niches, finding needs via Reddit, converting them into offers, putting offers into Instantly, scraping and uploading lead lists, reaching out, and I usually get about 10 interested people who want to book calls within an hour and a half of work.

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Related answers

youtube ↗Cold Email

What quickfire tips would you give someone setting up their first cold outreach campaign with Instantly from scratch?

No links or HTML in cold emails; write informally, like you're texting someone at a bus stop with a 30-second pitch. Treat each second of their attention as something you're buying with the previous second—make the email worth their while. Frame email as a successive purchase of attention; assume they're also scanning other messages, which raises the bar and keeps you focused on what makes you different. Technically, limit to about 30 emails per day per mailbox; if you add images, HTML or links, cut that volume significantly. Don't worry about bounce rates with Instantly (auto-shutoff at 5%); prioritize speed to lead and market, and optimize later.

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youtube ↗AI & Automation

Hey Nick, what are some automations, builds, and offers that can be easily sold by beginners on cold traffic? Is it strictly stuff that brings new money or clients to the company? And is there something automation related rather than say cold email?

Cold email isn't really automation; you can easily build an AI‑enabled cold‑email agency, which is a top solo‑freelancer model right now. But the simplest, highest‑leveraged system you can build for a client is a 'speedtole' system—a glorified autoresponder. You watch a mailbox for incoming mail from a filter (e.g., Facebook lead ads sending an email), then using Make.com, n8n, or cloud routines you scan the mailbox, get the trigger, and immediately reply via email. Then you send a Twilio SMS, and a team member calls the prospect. This cuts response time from minutes to under a minute, boosting pickup and conversion rates because of the perceived professionalism of your system. I’ve seen this system add over a million dollars in revenue for clients and improve existing funnels by 10‑20%, easily generating an easy $500k per year.

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youtube ↗Cold Email

What is the best strategy for sending cold emails, when did you start your first campaign, how many days did you send them, and after how long did you get your first client?

I started cold emailing around 2018‑2019 with my business partner Gurinder; those early attempts didn’t work well. I kept sending emails for about three to four years before I made any money, and it was probably closer to two years before I saw real revenue. The breakthrough came in roughly 2021 with what I called 'one second copy': I ran many cold email campaigns and offered free sample articles that were produced cheaply using AI, which hardly anyone else was doing at the time. That got me attention from big companies like Kixie. The best cold‑email strategy is to front‑load value—give the recipient more work or benefit than you’re asking for. Instead of asking for free labor, identify a problem they’re suffering from, solve it, and attach the results to your email. For example, I once rewrote 40 YouTube titles for a follower, provided a one‑click doc, and they saw immediate CTR improvements. That’s how successful, ‘rich‑people’ cold emails work: you save them time or make them money, not the other way around.

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youtube ↗Cold Email

What makes a lead generation cold email system valuable and how does it compare to traditional outreach?

The most valuable part of a lead‑gen system is its scale. In the past I had to door‑knock, walk to each business, deliver a pitch, and wait for a decision—maybe one or two minutes per prospect plus travel time, so I could only reach 50‑80 businesses a day. With cold email you can send thousands of messages in the same amount of time it takes to write one campaign, instantly multiplying your leverage. Once the email is written you can reach a million people, giving a much steeper rise‑over‑run curve than cold calling or manual outreach. After the initial setup, the results far surpass the effort of doing it yourself, especially when combined with AI personalization that makes each email feel one‑on‑one.

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