I wrote about listening to the audio book back in June and have since checked out the web site. I feel I have better footing now to give an assessment. Unfortunately, I have to side with the naysayers. I am not sure whether or not I would use the term "scam" to describe the book, but I would certainly go with "Bait and switch". The book claims to teach you a system to get what you want in life. It then spends the first 80% or so of the book talking about how marketers think and how they manipulate. The part that is the reason most readers presumably bought the book is underdeveloped and tacked on at the end. It contains such advice as "don't be distracted from your goal". Well, I'd like not to be distracted, but I already knew that. How? It doesn't say. It does give an oversimplified example using a glass of water. But there is nothing in the book that translates the philosophy from glasses of water to real life.
To learn what you need, you have to sign up for the "free" web site. I put "free" in quotes because although you pay no money, it will cost you in time. Joyner is a marketer by trade and this site is pure marketing. You do get some material for free, and it may be helpful. I wasn't able to get much out of it, but that could be because I was not in a place to really embrace the system. Instead, I was overwhelmed by the barrage of emails with other products and services from Mark and people he trusts (his affiliates) that would "take me to the next level" or be "the next big thing" and were "limited time opportunities". I had to get in before he "opened it up to the rest of the world". In this respect, I found Simpleology amusingly like Penn and Teller. He told us exactly how the trick was done with all the chapters on marketing. Then he used those techniques on us to get us to give him more money.
Mark seems to have used the web site to create a pool of people who are mentally receptive to his sales pitches. I'm sure some of them have made lots of money as well. But this review is not about the efficacy of his methods, it is about whether his book delivers what it says it does.
The verdict is that it does not. Save the money. If you really want to, try the web site. That is where you will get the exercises that purport to help you cut through distractions and get reach your goals. Just be prepared to deal with a lot of suggestive selling to get through it. And be mindful of the fact that, although these techniques can probably be applied pretty broadly, the focus appears to be on making money by marketing to people on the internet. If that drives you, then you will probably find it rewarding. Otherwise, I'd even pass on the site.
