For the multi-tasking solopreneur, one email address is never enough. But setting-up and managing multiple accounts is a time-suck you could live without.
With Gmail, you can have your cake and eat it too.
How to Create Unlimited Addresses in Gmail
Use your domain-based email addresses (i.e., you@yourdomain.com) for business. For everything else – road-testing software, registering for free webinars, you name it – use a Gmail address.
When one isn’t enough, add a “+” sign and then add other characters after the “+”.
For example, if your regular Gmail address is yourname@gmail.com, use any of these…
- yourname+test1@gmail.com
- yourname+softwaresubscription@gmail.com
- yourname+whatever@gmail.com
To Gmail, these are all the same. To any site where you have to sign up or register, they are all different. Why is that so great?
It’s particularly useful when signing up for free offers…
Put a company’s name (ex., “supersoftware”) after the “+” to find out if it spams. When you see email coming from a business that you don’t know, and if they are sending it to yourname+supersoftware@gmail.com, you know that “supersoftware” sold your account! Report it to…
- abuse@supersoftware.com (or whatever their domain is)
The beauty of this approach is that you can create an infinite number of addresses and have them all arrive in your Gmail inbox!
Another important use? Use them as disposable addresses to take back total control of your email..
You Can Also Filter Unwanted Messages!
Finished testing that software? No longer want to receive messages from that company? Most folks click the “Unusubscribe” link. But what if they don’t obey? Or what if you later change your mind and want to catch up on missed emails?
“Gmail Unlimited” offers you many useful options. For example…
To stop receiving email from “test2” (an account you set up to test a product), set up a filter to direct these messages to the trash (or anywhere you like). Here’s how…
1) Open your Gmail and click on the down arrow in the search box at the top…
2) Add the customized email address (yourname+test 2@gmail.com) to the “To” box, then click “Create filter with this search”…
3) Select the action you want Google to take (“Delete” in this case) and create the filter…
If you figure that you may want to catch up on posts by a blogger at some point, choose to store these in a folder instead. The options here make “Gmail Unlimited” super-useful!
Bottom Line Takeaway?
Time is the most precious resource you have. Don’t waste it on needless tasks like managing multiple email addresses. Instead…
- Set up a “Gmail variation” whenever you need a different address.
- Filter it (usually to the trash) when you’re through.
Oh, and if you’re worried about what Gmail thinks of this hack… they suggested it on their official blog!
Since time is the commodity you have the least of when operating as a solopreneur, be diligent about freeing more of it up. Use these 3 simple hacks (in addition to the email hack above) to create more time for your business.
Source: B2C
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