Hi @VisualSitemaps,
One other option that I would recommend is to add a blank email template to the beginning of the sequence. You can type your custom email into this area and send it. Personally, I like this method because it’s all in one swoop and because it helps with the reporting on the sequence. When sending that first message as an introduction it helps to have that initial e-mail’s stats to help understand the performance of the whole sequence.
In addition, you can use snippets to help speed up the creation of the initial email if you find yourself saying similar things in emails.