Much like Harvey MacKay before him, he often writes for the Center of Really Obvious Things, but I must admit I enjoy his stuff…and I did learn two things from him this week.

First, he commented on the Disney Rule, which you should follow when your product involves both pain and pleasure, by separating the purchase from the activity by geography and/or time. He cites the example of Disney, the buying of the tickets is separate from the actual rides wherever and whenever possible. See here. I have never heard that explained in such an obvious way, before. This might be helpful someday.

And then, today. In his blog, here, he invited me to join his Tribe, a clever internet buzz word which implies we are “shhhh, finger to lips, insiders,” but first, I have to pre-order his book. Then, after I send him my paid invoice, I will be invited to join his Tribe, …you know, maybe.

From his blog today—

One of the ideas I talk about briefly in the book is that powerful tribes aren’t open to everyone. The exclusivity makes it work. In this case, the exclusivity comes from two things:

1. I’m only announcing the Tribe here on my blog. (Though it would be great with me if you want invite your friends to join, because your friends are my friends and they’ll probably appreciate an early invite).

2. You have to be committed enough to pre-order my book, sight unseen (in some places for less than $14), months in advance. It’s not about selling more books, of course, it’s about creating a small hurdle to get the right people in the door.

I knew it was a ploy to get me to buy his new book, but it worked, and hey…I didn’t buy anything at all from Chuck Norris today.