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.

Welcome WELCOME The pool party is ON. You can find the margaritas and soft drinks over in the corner... ... the DJ has set up and is playing already... ... and after you've had a chance to dip yourself in the pool, and as the party heats up... ... perhaps you'd like to also take a look at this little offer I am making? The offer in a peanut shell: I am offering to take the winning bidder — let's imagine it's you — and... 1. To give you a NAME and credibility on the Internet, along with MY FULL ENDORSEMENT, and... 2. To DRIVE MY RESPONSIVE READERS to the optin for your list, and... 3. To work with you and co-create a SEXY ACQUISITION FUNNEL (free giveaway + paid thank-you page offer), which you can use to build up your email list AND make money on day zero by turning new subscribers into buyers right away, plus... 4. I'm guaranteeing, with my two hands, that if you win this auction you will MAKE BACK 100% OF YOUR MONEY before I'm done endorsing and promoting you. Again, I will send out a dedicated email to endorse you and your offer, and to drive my audience to you. If you don't recoup all your investment with that first email I send, I will keep sending more dedicated emails, for as long as it takes, to promote and endorse you until you do recoup your winning bid. (If needed, we will also keep working together to tweak your funnel to make sure the right people sign up AND turn into buyers.) That's the little auction offer I'm making, for you to consider while you baste in my pool. I'm also offering a few POOL PARTY FAVORS if you happen to win the auction: 1. Wine and tapas on me whenever you get to Barcelona. (I know a good place around the corner from my new apartment, in the Gothic quarter. Once you finish with the pool and dry off, we can head over there.) 2. A list of newsletters you can run ads in, so they drive their own readers to you, and so you can keep growing your list at breakeven or at a profit, regularly, month after month. (And yes, you can approach these newsletter owners and tell them, "John Bejakovic already endorsed this offer... and his audience loved it.")

The first step of the updated Daily Email House mission statement is: Email daily. So lemme ask you: What's your email about today? And if you don't have an email going out today... how come?

My friend Marci has a note on his phone that's titled: "The last time I did something for the first time" In this note go things he's done for the first time, plus the date that he did it. A few PG-rated examples: March 2. First time eating jelly fish March 8. First time going to midget boxing March 10. Swimming with a million sardines June 7. Pickleball June 19. First time I tried an electric bike August 23. First time I saw a Lamborgini Countach It's a great habit to keep track of this, and something I started doing also. Not only does keeping track of this make life more interesting, both during (encourages you to try new stuff, like eating jelly fish) and after (helps you remember that your life is indeed rich, or richer than you think)... ... but it's useful if you are trying to use your email list to pay for a house. As Samuel Johnson said back in the 18th century: "Novelty, great novelty, is the soul of an email newsletter" (I mean, it's called a NEWS-letter...) "Great novelty" doesn't mean you have to have something tremendously important to share, just as long as it's new. So let's play a game. What's the last time you ever tried... a new drink? I'll go first to give you an idea. Last week I went into a Mexican restaurant around the corner from my new apartment. I didn't feel like drinking beer. So I ordered something called an agua fresca. There were different flavors (I had tried a few previously), but this time I chose pineapple, for the first time ever. I don't know what an agua fresca de piña is made from, and I probably don't wanna know (water, sugar, and artificial pineapple flavoring?). But it was delicious. And had I not been thinking right now about the last time I ever tried something for the first time, specifically a drink... odds are this experience would have disappeared into the darkness of the past. Now your turn? Comment below and share the last time you tried a drink for the first time?

I updated the mission statement for this group. It now reads... "Email daily, make a $1k offer, pay for a house." Your thoughts? Doable? Suspicious? Exciting? Overwhelming? Lemme know. Thanks in advance.