The Escape Manifesto: Quit Your Corporate Job. Do Something Different! by the team at Escape the City is the book the founders wish they had access to when they decided to leave their corporate jobs and start their own business, with no real clue of what they were doing.

As indicated by the title, the book is a bible packed with strategies and practical considerations to adopt when seriously considering leaving a corporate job, either to start up your own business or to move into a new field. Getting to grips with “the Hit” – the minimum amount of money you can live on each month once you quit corporate life, finding new work by searching for people and not jobs, types of funding available for new businesses, and dispelling the excuses that stop us from taking the leap, are just some of the areas covered.

The book is peppered with stories from other escapees who have moved into work that lights them up day after day, and the thread of the authors’ own career change stories runs through each chapter too. Nine core ideas or thought patterns unite these people who have successfully ‘escaped the city’.

The Escape Manifesto in a nutshell: “You have to live the life YOU want, not the life that someone else wants for you – especially if it’s easier not to.”

And for a dose of no-nonsense straight talk, have a read of Escape the City’s free e-book Top 5 Career Change Myths & How To Avoid Them. There are some recommended career change books (from other authors) included too.