Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Tuesday Edition #25

Emails Systems that Scale

I’ve tried a ton of different approaches to handling email over the years. Here are my 2026 battle-tested recommendations:

1. Turn off all email notifications. Phone, desktop, laptop, tablet, everything. Fully off including the red numbers (badges). You officially have my permission to do this. Email is asynchronous communication; you don’t need real-time alerts. That’s the whole point of email.

2. Use the One-Touch Method for messages: Do it, Delegate it, or Delete/Archive it. Don’t get into your emails until you’re ready to process them. Once you do—touch each email one time only. Handle it right then and there, then move to the next one.

3. Your email inbox is not a todo list. Anything that you can’t Do in less than 2 minutes, move into a task mgmt. system (see next item), then Archive the email.

4. Tip: In Gmail, with a message open, you can copy the web address and it will give you a permenant link to that email thread. Extremely handy and I only recently learned about this.

5. 99% of manual labels, folders and filters are a complete waste of time. Stop messing around with them and just use search instead (unless you use Outlook, then idk). 99% of what you’re labeling, foldering and filtering is stuff you will NEVER look at again and is not generating revenue, or helping you achieve business goals.

6. Unsubscribe from ALL newsletters except those you truly want to receive. Be ruthless with this. And for the ones you still want (except for this publication, natch), set up a Newsletter filter that automatically tags and archives those emails. Peruse them as time allows.

7. Anytime you send an email with a request, to someone that may need a reminder or two to complete it, manually apply a “Requires Follow-up” (mine is RequiresFU) label. Go through these once every week or two and nudge the recipient if still not done. Remove the label once complete.

8. Someone sent you something interesting to check out? Apply the Free Time label and Archive it. Peruse as time allows.

9. Your email signature and OOO auto-reply are extremely valuable real estate. Use them to promote interesting things at your company.

10. You have to be absolutely ruthless with customizing business app notifications (eg Slack, Meld, AppFolio, etc etc). By default they email you about every little thing. It’s actually insane. As the business owner, 99% of these should be OFF. Fix this for your entire team as well (especially new team members).

11. You have to be absolutely ruthless with unsubscribing/blocking/muting emails from senders you don’t want to be receiving. Whatever you default setpoint is here, turn it up 3 clicks of aggressiveness and CRANK. As someone who sends a lot of email, I can assure you that if you don’t want to be getting those emails, they don’t want to be sending them to you. It ruins their sender reputation. You’re doing them a favor by unsubscribing.

12. Your default state/goal should be Inbox Zero (no emails in your inbox). I’m there now, as I write this. And I run 3 very active businesses. You can do this too, I promise.

13. Shared inboxes are for EXTERNAL communications only (tenants, clients, vendors, prospects). Team member to team member email should never route through a shared inbox. And communication to/from any of the groups listed above should always go through a shared inbox.

14. Google Groups let you add email addresses to your domain (which can be delivered to multiple users, and endlessly configured) without paying for a user seat.

15. Phishing is getting super aggressive, and as a property manager, you’re a juicy target. These days, I recommend adding a layer of IT security (we use an IT firm built by and for property managers) to your domain. This goes above and beyond the default spam & phishing protection that Google, etc offer, which is honestly pretty weak.

Enjoyed this article about email systems that scale? Wolfgang Croskey and I go deeper on this replay of last week’s Peter & The Wolf Show. Check it out:

PM Company & Vendor Updates

• I just updated the form you can use to submit news. I want your property management company & vendor news! Did you make an acquisition? A key hire? Release a new product or feature? Got an awesome webinar coming up? If you’ve done or are doing anything interesting in the PM world I want to know about it. Submission is not a guarantee of coverage but you don’t know until you try.

• PMI San Antonio has acquired PMI Profit Realty

• Rescover announced an integration with RentCast to supply rental rates & comps.

A solid solution for my ongoing battle with phone addiction

Last month, I wrote about leaving my phone at the office and feeling like I'd lost a limb. Turns out that was just the diagnosis, not the cure.

On the new Lazy Leverage, Jon and I get into the system he actually uses: uninstall the apps that hook you every Friday at 5, then route your notifications through an AI agent so you never touch Slack or LinkedIn directly. You still know what's happening. You just don't feel the pull.

We also get into Jon's upcoming AI event in San Diego and the 7 rules his team uses to actually make money with AI. If you check Slack every time you step away from your desk on a Saturday, there’s definitely a thing or two to learn here.

Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Meme Tuesday:

This generated a lot of discussion (36 comments!) when I posted it to LinkedIn.

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The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. I may have consulting agreements with, or financial interests in, companies mentioned in this newsletter. Additionally, some of the links included in this newsletter are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Always perform your own due diligence before making any financial or business decisions.