Mail and productivity for a one-person company

Business email on your own domain

Google Workspace puts Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs and Meet under your domain. Point the domain's MX records at it, then add the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records it gives you so your mail is not marked as spam. One user is enough to start; add a mailbox when someone joins.

An inbox that sorts itself

SaneBox works on top of the mailbox you already have. It moves lower-priority mail into folders it creates and learns from what you move back; there is nothing to install on the phone or the laptop.

One place for notes, docs and lists

Notion holds pages and databases (tables, boards, calendars) in one workspace, with templates for the usual documents. A page can be shared publicly, which makes a lightweight site or a changelog, and its API lets automations write into it.

Automations between apps

Zapier runs an action in one app when something happens in another: a new order adds a row to a sheet and posts a message. Each run counts as a task and plans are sized by tasks, so keep the automations few and give each a name that says what it does.

A setup order

1. The domain, then Workspace on it.
2. SPF, DKIM and DMARC records at your DNS provider.
3. SaneBox on the mailbox once mail is flowing.
4. Notion for the documents you keep going back to.
5. Zapier last, for the two or three hand-offs you repeat every week.

All the tools, by category: Tools for a one-person company.