5 Smart Ways Entrepreneurs Can Stop Inbox Overload
Practical, repeatable habits that keep you in control.
As a new entrepreneur, your search for trusted guides for the journey will lead to offers that provide “free” access to useful training videos and webinars. The only requirement for access: your email address. Thankful someone has paved the way before you, you oblige and register using your email.
And that’s when the inbox barrage begins, each marketing email with a FOMO-inducing subject line: You’re driving clients away if you do (or don’t do) this one thing or I had 1,000 comments in 24 hours…and you can, too.
Boom! With just one webinar registration, your inbox has blown up into a cacophony of somebody else’s noise.
I learned this first-hand. After registering for a free, 30-minute marketing video, the emails started hitting my inbox immediately – 11 emails in just over a month—with nearly daily hits during one stretch.
Behind these marketing emails is a clever strategy. Although a single email is just a data point, a company’s full email list is an asset that can be worth millions.
But for new entrepreneurs, surrendering your email address comes at a cost: your focus. Each marketing email represents a FOMO rabbit hole that, frankly, can be hard to resist.
As you’re ramping up your back-office operations, remember this: the inbox you use as a tool is someone else’s marketing pipeline. Here are a few tips to help you take control and manage it.
Train your email’s AI assistant. Teach it what you value so that its summaries skip what you don’t want.
Use a second email for free courses or downloads. Keep your primary inbox clean.
Unsubscribe early. Find and use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the very first marketing email that hits your inbox.
Set up inbox filters. Let the rules move distractions out of your inbox before you see them.
Use opt-outs. If opt-outs are offered prior to clicking the submit button, take them. Sample of an opt-out is shown below.
