Ryan DeissCo-Founder & CEO, The Scalable Company

On today’s episode of: Worth it or Waste of Time?

6 Nov 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:54

A short, snarky episode of "Worth it or Waste of Time?" where the speaker (Ryan Deiss) delivers micro-reviews of several business and self-help books and their authors. The speaker questions readers' loyalty (e.g., preferring Patrick Ben David to the book itself), gives explicit star-style ratings (Built to Last: 2.7/5), dismisses BHAGs, criticizes marketing-advice books as virtue-signaling rather than practical, and assigns mixed ratings (one item ~1.9/5, Essentialism framed as useful but impractical for those who need it, later given ~3.8/5). There's also a remark crediting "Greg" for rebranding minimalism and selling millions.

Chapters

If this is your favorite book, you're likely more a fan of Patrick Ben David than you are of the book. And I'm not even saying that's necessarily a bad thing. You just can't pretend like you actually read the thing. Pre quote 1 out of 5 stars Decent mindset shift, but given the chess analogy, I was hoping for more of a playbook. Half the company's profile in Built to Last went out of business, which means they actually weren't Wait for it. Built to last 2.7 out of 5 stars because it aged about as well as Blockbuster. Also, bhags are stupid. This book doesn't teach you how to market. It teaches you how to tell other marketers that what they're doing is wrong, even though they're probably making more money than you. Get up your high horse and go sell something. 1.9 out of 5 stars so I don't think anyone who needs Essentialism has read Essentialism, because if you need it, you don't have time to read it. Still 3.8 out of 5 stars. There's some good ideas and helpful tips, but mostly I just respect the fact that he rebranded Minimalism and sold a few million copies. Well done, Greg.