Ginsburg’s Podcast Preview: The Minimalists offer surprising connections to startups

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone.

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If you’re new to either podcasts or this occasional column, click here for background information. We preview specific podcasts to reveal their topics, formats and lessons from listening. Podcasts are heard weekly by nearly 50 million listeners age 12 and older, according to Edison Research in 2018.

Featured Podcast

Every little thing that you think that you need,
Every little thing that you think that you need,
Every little thing that’s just feeding your greed,
Oh, I bet that you’d be fine without it

— Peter Doran, singer-songwriter

Byron Ginsburg

And so begins The Minimalists podcast, which has surprising and ironic connections to the startup and entrepreneurial community. Though it’s directed more at a consumer than business audience, the podcast provides many lessons on business-building and scaling up, even though the premise is about, well, scaling down — at least the possessions or distractions that can hold back you or your organization.  

Hosted by childhood friends Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Milburn, The Minimalists are among the most visible representatives of the minimalism movement, which forgoes bigness and overconsumption in favor of right-sizing to a lifestyle of value and meaning. The Minimalists and their movement are not about living meagerly — as is often assumed — but more about efficiently managing daily living, redefining success, and gaining control of one’s time,  surroundings and resources.

Begun in 2009 with a nascent blog — which now boasts more than four million readers, according to the website — The Minimalists have expanded to multimedia including books, documentaries and worldwide touring. Their journey has taken them from early-career corporate roles in Dayton, Ohio, to years of Montana living and a recent relocation to Los Angeles, where they office at entrepreneurial haven WeWork.

Applying The Minimalists’ strategies to business could result in:

• Focusing on what you or your organization do best
• Not trying to be all things to all people, clients or customers
• Using one social media platform or other technology tool well, instead of using many half-heartedly
• Avoiding overcommitment that can lead  to stress, or straying from your mission
• Forsaking “bigger is better” for managed growth and progress

The pitch:

• Name: The Minimalists
• Hosts: Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus
• Source: The Minimalists website
• Find it here: Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube
• Genre: Personal growth and satisfaction
• Motto: Share the things that add value to your life, because adding value is a basic human instinct
• Length: up to two hours
• History/In the Can: 125-plus recordings; begun December 2015
• Format: Two-guy dialogue, topic driven, interspersed with listener-submitted questions via voicemail and also “lightning-round” style questions
• What can be learned: How to find greater satisfaction by right-sizing and reconciling the physical possessions and goals that inspire you
• Where to start: Episode No. 000 is a jump-off point for background and perspective. Thereafter, you need not listen to each episode sequentially — or even completely — because of length. Popular topics include decluttering, debt, relationships, health, focus, shopping and moving. Provided resources include program notes and quotes titled Minimal Maxims.

Although The Minimalists’ philosophies are consumer-directed, the central themes of finding and adding value — and making focus a foundation for success — easily apply to establishing, scaling and expanding any venture.

Have a favorite podcast? Let me know by leaving a comment or email me at byron@byronginsburg.com

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Byron Ginsburg provides content writing, media outreach and marketing consulting services to individuals and organizations seeking to raise their visibility, recognition and revenue.