I run a small plant business(it's part-time), and my inbox gets messy fast with customer inquiries, supplier emails, order confirmations, and newsletters.
I'd love to automatically sort things like orders, invoices, and customer emails without having to set up complicated automations.
How should I go about doing this?
I run a small plant business and almost everything I have sold has come via word of mouth. It used to be like.. someone sees a plant at a friend's place, finds my IG and orders when I post new plants. I now realise that I never built a real system behind it. A couple of months ago, a few orders finished around the same time and then nothing. Word of mouth went quiet, fewer people saw my posts, and now I have no idea where the next sale is coming from.
And with plants, it is even worse because the stock is alive. It does not just sit and wait.. but everything needs water, light and space every day, whether it sells or not. So, a slow month means my costs keep going up while the plants get overgrown and tired-looking, and I am just waiting for buyers who cannot even find me. I would love to do this full-time, but I cannot with this situation.
For anyone selling plants or handmade stuff, what actually helped you stop relying on word of mouth/referrals?
My friend runs a small local business, and her first 10 customers came from people who already knew her and it got difficult when she tried to grow beyond that circle. She is now trying to use AI more sensibly so that her work is less dependent on things like:
- writing better posts and offers
- drafting follow-up emails
- organizing leads and finances
- creating simple ad or flyer copy
(there's more but this is what I recall at the moment)
Is there any specific AI tool stack that can help her grow?
I’m managing two businesses and getting around 50–70 emails a day across two different email accounts...
At first, keeping up with everything felt manageable, but lately I’ve been missing follow-ups, losing track of conversations, and wasting way too much time searching for old emails. I’ve tried using folders, but I never stick with them consistently.
For anyone else juggling multiple inboxes, how are you keeping things under control without living in your email all day?
What's the most frustrating feedback you've received from users?
I run a small event planning business, and one piece of feedback always gets under my skin: "The event looked great, but it felt expensive."
The frustrating part is that people often don't see everything happening behind the scenes, vendor coordination, last-minute changes, setup logistics, troubleshooting, and all the hours of planning before the event even starts.
I completely understand budget concerns, but sometimes it feels like the work that makes everything run smoothly is the least visible part of the job. What's the most frustrating feedback you've received from your customers or users?
I am using zoho's free plan for my side plant business but the mailbox storage is too less and to get more, it is asking me to buy a paid version. I am really not a fan of their costs so I am planning to switch.
I am looking for an email service that is fully automated on free/starter plan so I can focus on growing my business as of now and also primarily could design email templates to send to clients (html feature not required). I also am not willing to put big money into this so the price is important and I am planning to migrate my emails too.
Any suggestions for a good email provider that can work well for a small team?
Last night a client texted me at 11:48 PM asking if we should “change the entire event color palette” because she saw a TikTok she liked better. The event is this weekend.
And honestly… I created this problem myself. When I started my event planning business, I wanted to seem super easy to work with. Fast replies, always available, super flexible, all that. Now clients message me like I’m part of the friend group. “Quick questions” become 30 minute calls. Weekend texts. Last minute changes while I’m eating dinner. I even had someone send Pinterest inspo during another client’s event setup.
I know good customer service matters, but I think I accidentally removed every boundary possible. How do you guys stay client-friendly without making clients think you’re available 24/7?
Currently, I am at that stage of my startup where reaching out to the right investor(s) could really change everything. So, I am trying to find ways to extract right email address of potential investors who might be interested in my startup (FYI, I do not have a LinkedIn Premium subscription).
The only problem is that sending a connection request takes a lot of time to get accepted and also, LinkedIn inbox does not feel like a relevant place to be pitching to someone professionally, in my opinion. On top of everything, let’s not forget the fact that how easy these LinkedIn DMs are to miss.
I tried GetProspect and Apollo.io to extract the email address but most of them were wrong. This brought me to my last resort, asking ChatGPT, but even it did not help.
So, are there any reliable AI tools, chrome extensions or email finder tools to find the correct business email address from a LinkedIn profile?
My sister recently opened a plant nursery and is trying to set up a custom email domain for it. She asked for my help but the more I research, the more it seems like Google Workspace and Outlook are the default options, but they might not be the best for her small business needs.
From what I have seen, google workspace looks easy and convenient at first, but the costs add up very fast, especially when you need multiple inboxes. On the other hand, Outlook seems good too, but I have heard mixed reviews about its usability and setup, especially with those recent issues with it not working on Android and Apple phones. Since she wants to keep her costs low, she is looking for a provider which is easy to use and manage for professional emails.
I feel that it does not make any sense to pay premium pricing for neither Google Workspace nor Outlook. I also came across some other business email providers like Proton Mail, Zoho Mail, and others too, but the information I find just feels overly promotional and frustrating.
So, people who have been using these providers, what is your take on them and what made you choose it?
What professional email provider should I go for that is affordable and easy to set up?
My gmail inbox is a complete mess and everything just keeps piling up there. So, I am trying to decide whether to use a custom email domain and use it for personal email only for something like me@myfullname.com for personal/main use, then social@myfullname.com for logins/newsletters and maybe even different email addresses for random websites and signups. I am still deciding between self-hosting and using hosted providers like iCloud+, pDrive (to save on costs long-term).
Is it worth the effort?
You know anyone who is doing this?