Yesterday I wrote a post about unwritten rules that strengthen groups. That post got... 10 likes and 5 people to comment, in a group of 483 members. Maybe it was a particularly bad or irrelevant post. In any case it seems like a good time to talk about written rules. I recently joined a Facebook group. The group is about the same size as Daily Email House, but it's much more engaged. People are enthusiastically introducing themselves in the group as soon as they join (as did I)... ... spontaneously writing up new posts and starting new discussions all the time... ... commenting on others' posts all the time. How? Simple. The group has written rules stating that you have to introduce yourself when you join, and participate once you're inside, or you will get kicked out. And the moderators follow through on these rules. What do you think about that? Please comment below. Or don't. But I've decided to start doing the same: Periodically and randomly and brutally removing people who don't participate inside Daily Email House. Your choice.

This morning I watched a video about unwritten rules in baseball. (Bear with me if you know nothing about baseball or care nothing for baseball.) I had no idea, but baseball has had, for 100+ years, dozens of unwritten rules about player conduct, for example: - You cannot flip your bat after you hit a home run - You cannot have a beard (all teams, once upon a time, New York Yankees still today) - You cannot score from second base on a single if your team if the game is a blowout and your team is winning Now here's what got me: These unwritten rules are enforced BY THE PLAYERS THEMSELVES ON THE PLAYERS THEMSELVES... often by members of your own team! If you break one of these unwritten rules, odds are great that you will be beaten up, ostracized, or sometimes worse (eg. have a 100mph baseball launched at your face on purpose). Here's what else got me: - If you're a big star and you break a rule in a big moment, exceptions are made - If you're young or inexperienced, then you will be consistently and brutally punished by other players for breaking a rule I remember reading in, I believe, Robert Cialdini's Influence about the importance of hazing rituals to form a sense of in-group identity. That's what this reminds me of. Seemingly arbitrary rules, enforced by group members, as a way of reinforcing the importance of the group and of recommitting their loyalty to that group. Now I've really never belonged to any group, unless that group is the group of outsiders who don't really belong to any groups. But without getting too weird about it... I'm curious: What seemingly arbitrary rules have you experienced or seen in real-life groups you've been a part of? And in online groups you've been a part of?

UPDATE FOLLOWING VITRIOL WEDNESDAY: Thanks to everyone who participated. For 24 hours, we roasted, very mildly, the winner. As promised, the Vitriol Wednesday post and all the comments have been deleted to protect the vitriolic. Frankly, it's not an experiment I plan to repeat... but it was worth doing one time. ***** In another thread about joint group projects, @Robin Timmers suggests: "Let’s all verbally attack the same guru." Let it never be said I don't take member suggestions seriously or that I don't implement them quickly. So at the risk of completely going against the vibe of this community, and of poisoning the well of promising future relationships forever... I designate next Wednesday "Vitriol Wednesday," where we can all pile on and say nasty things about some guru who really rubs us the wrong way. But who is that? Who should we pick? Who do you ☠️LOVE🐀? Cast your vote below, and as always, it will influence reality

I'm curious what you think: Why do sales calls typically convert at 20%-50%... ... while sales pages typically convert at 2%-5%? If you had to put it down to just one thing?

The past couple days, I've been writing emails about what I call the Most Valuable Offer: A live workshop, delivered on a specific day that's coming up soon. In my experience, the Most Valuable Offer is most valuable because it: * Provides a quick injection of cash * Makes your list come alive and keeps it from rotting * Creates an asset you can keep selling for years to come * Forces you to move and deliver something now rather than never (relevant if you're prone to perfectionism and procrastination, like me) Since I know Daily Email House members are fond of cookies, and since I have recently found out they really hate oatmeal raisin cookies, I've baked up a batch of chocolate-chip Most Valuable Offer cookies. Would you like one? Specifically, the cookie I'm offering is made up of the following ingredients. I'm offering to directly work with you to: 1. Figure out a sexy, exciting topic for a live workshop you can deliver, which is likely to sell to your audience now and in the future 2 Come up with the structure + content for your Most Valuable Offer, so that you actually deliver something interesting and practical to your buyers, without going crazy or feeling like an imposter, which they will consume and (gasp) maybe even implement 3. Help you sell it via a launch to your list, and hopefully bring in millions or perhaps billions in sales, or barring that, at least create a real asset you will own and be able to profit from forever And now I guess the big question: Why might you want my help instead of just planning, creating, and launching a Most Valuable Offer on your own? Simple. Because I'm offering you my help NOW. Not "some time soon, maybe next month, as soon as I get this other project finished etc." I genuinely believe the Most Valuable Offer is the easiest, fastest, and most profitable way for folks to launch their next (or even first) info product, to make good money, and to engage their list. People still don't do it, or don't do it nearly as often as they could benefit from it (myself included).