Required Reading — Say No! to the Office

So you’ve decided you want to be a Non-9-to-5′er. You’re going to set up a small business, start out as a freelancer, or work for your current employer from home. You’re going to turn yourself into a super-productive entrepreneurial wizard and achieve that worklife balance you’ve always wanted. Here’s what I (and many others) currently consider required reading.

First, Get Inspired

The Art of Nonconformity
For motivation, Chris Guillebeau should be your first port of call. If you’re not sure whether breaking free is the right move for you, go and read this blog and then come back and tell me you’re not interested. Sod it, I’ll just tell you. This man travels round the world writing inspirational articles about building your own worklife freedom and the benefits it can bring AND manages to make a living. Wow.

eDragonu - The Choice of a Personal Path
eDragonu writes sense when it comes to life and work. If you’re OK with metaphors (’Money as Energy’) and raw-food diets, this is the place to come for spiritual enlightenment combined with concrete practical advice and experience.

Escape 101
Career sabbaticals are increasingly popular and might prove to be the ideal testing ground for many people looking to get away from their jobs permanently. If you’re not quote ready to go cold turkey, then maybe this is for you.

Then, Get Working

Entrepreneurs Journey
First things first - you’re going to need some ideas. Yaro Starek is the don of all things ‘Make Money Online’ without the scams/tack that usually implies. If you’re planning on blogging or any other internet based activity, this is your number one starting place. There’s good discussion of truly contemporary business models and opportunities and a vast array of learning resources.

Ittybiz
Once you start to appreciate how difficult it can be making a name for yourself, turn to Naomi for No Bullshit advice on running a small business with some seriously clever marketing wisdom thrown in. This is great advice for traditional and modern businesses alike.

Signal vs. Noise
The self labelled ‘design and usability blog’ doesn’t do itself justice. The guys at 37signals are among the original innovators when it comes to 21st century business models and practices. Not only are their products slick but they choose to share the thoughts, inspirations and techniques that go into their design, production and use with us regular folk. That, and a load more intelligent content. Think “model company gives away internal secrets”.

Now, Get Productive

43 Folders
Running your own affairs can be stressful if you’re not extremely organised. If you’re the kind of person who still writes to-do lists on post-it notes, don’t turn away now. You need to get efficient. If the letters ‘GTD’ mean nothing to you, grab a copy of David Allen’s ‘Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity’ (Buy from Amazon UK | US) and read it. It should scare the living crap out of you, but that’s just the way it’s got to be. Once you’ve got a system in place, turn to 43folders for seriously advanced productivity.

Lifehacker
This is practical advice turbo-charged. Lifehacker covers just about every topic of interest to Non-9-to-5′ers with straight to the point tips and tutorials on how to live and work better. If you can take the constant stream of information, this is a key resource that can lead you to previously unknown levels of productivity. Beware though, this site generates a lot of information and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up reading little else.