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.

Installed, Trusted, Exposed: The Risk of Using AI Tools Without Verifying Them The main lesson from this case is not only about Hermes Agent or Parallel.ai. It is about a common mistake: people install AI tools, plugins, agents, and dependencies without checking what they actually do behind the scenes. What happened is a warning sign. A tool that looks normal may have a default setting that sends searches, URLs, or context to an external service. Many users never notice because they only want the tool to “just work.” That is where the risk starts: convenience replaces validation. The core message is: Do not just use technology. Audit it. Before trusting any AI agent, library, or integration, people should check where the data goes, which external endpoints are called, whether web search or telemetry is enabled by default, whether the documentation is clear, and whether the user gave real consent. The lesson is simple: Free tools, easy integrations, and fast installs do not automatically mean safety. When you do not validate the path your data takes, you may be giving it away without realizing it. In the age of AI agents, trusting without verifying is like opening the door and never asking who walked in. https://www.reddit.com/r/hermesagent/s/7AzvWqEuNe