Richard Branson has a new book out called Screw Business As Usual, about how it’s time for businesses to shift from being purely profit-driven to caring about people, communities, and the planet.

Sounds good in theory, but a better title for this book would have been “Richard Branson’s Résumé.” At least that’s the feeling I had in the beginning.

About a third of the way through, it gets better, and you think, “Wow, Virgin Unite really is doing good things.” But it’s an awful lot of stories, and not a lot you can really put to use.

Great message, but not such a great book. The book I’m reading now, Shake the World, looks like a much better book on a similar topic.

Would you like to quit your day job? Then check out Ali Hale’s new free ebook, Quit Your Day Job: Getting More From Life.

If you read my review of her Staff Blogging Course, you know that Ali quit her day job a while back and now supports herself with her income from freelance blogging. But her new ebook is not specific to any particular type of work.

She tackles three main ways to make an income:

• Freelancing (a passion you can sell)
• Small business (a passion you think you can’t sell)
• Passive income (a passion you don’t want to sell)

This ebook oozes with Ali’s experience and insight, as she covers everything from mindset to specific details. As well as sharing her own thoughts, she also includes many links to great resources for more information, many of them cheap or free.

Here’s the part where I’m supposed to go on and on about why this ebook is worth the purchase price. But seeing as how it’s completely free and doesn’t even require an email address, why don’t I make it simple and just give you that link again: Quit Your Day Job: Getting More From Life.

I think anyone with at least a passing interest in self-employment will be able to get something out of this. Even though I’ve read a lot on this topic already, I very much enjoyed it. (I also learned a new British English word (barmy, meaning crazy or foolish), and where the word “freelancing” comes from.)

If I had to pick one thing I didn’t like about this ebook, it would no doubt be her negative reference to The Simpsons. Really? The Simpsons? How could anyone not like The Simpsons? However, seeing as how she was making a valid point about time management when you’re starting a business, I think she can be forgiven.

Jonathan Mead, one of the faculty members of Project Mojave, has just released a manifesto called The Liberation Revolution.

It’s about creating a “freedom business” in order to “cut the cubicle umbilical cord.” While most of the information on how to do this is reserved for the paying members of Project Mojave, the manifesto is free and a pleasure to read.

Here’s what’s inside (I hope he doesn’t mind me ripping off his bullet points!):

• Why we’re tired of choking back vomit because we’re going another day doing a job we hate, with people we don’t connect with, working for someone we don�t respect.
• How we’re transforming our relationship with work, through breaking down social conventions and overly politicized nonsense.
• Why we think entrepreneurship is one of the highest forms of self-actualization.
• How we’re in this together.
• How to cultivate the “Free-man” (or free-woman) mindset and seven things you can do right now.
• The importance of getting to Game Over.

Being free, it’s not as earth-shattering as his paid ebook Reclaim Your Dreams. But it’s good, and well worth taking a few minutes to read. I’m a sucker for freedom manifestos.

Naomi Dunford at IttyBiz just posted Why We’re Broke and How To Fix It. It’s about the history of how we went from being Jacks of all trades to being helplessly dependent on so many people for our survival.

At the end, she drops the fact that IttyBiz has made over $176,000 so far this year from six different types of income streams (and if you didn’t know, she used to be homeless). And she’s going to turn this thing into a series. Part 2: how she did it; part 3: how she helped a client make $500 an hour for consulting; part 4: answering our specific questions about creating a “a safe, non-scuzzy portfolio of online income streams.”

It’s free, but you have to sign up to receive the free updates. Naomi uses AWeber, so you know she couldn’t spam you even if she wanted to.

However, Naomi has turned off comments. But you can leave comments here. Go check out her post, then come back and let’s talk.

*** INTERMISSION – Go read Why We’re Broke and How To Fix It, then come back to comment ***

Here’s what I’m thinking. Back in the 1950s, it was OK to be specialized because jobs were safe in the U.S. If your job was to optimize the performance of widget A for company X, you could count on having that same job at the same company for 35 years.

But today, jobs aren’t safe, and you can lose any job through no fault of your own. What happens when company X has layoffs, or shuts down, or moves overseas? You now have to try finding a job with company Y. Only company Y doesn’t make widget A, they make widget B. So what happens to all your years of experience in optimizing widget A? It’s all wasted.

Think that’s a stretch? The last time I went looking for a job as a .NET developer, every recruiter asked if I used C# or VB. Their clients wanted them to ask, but I had to explain to the recruiters that these languages are functionally equivalent, they have only minor syntax differences between them, and anyone can switch between the two. So whatever the client wanted, that’s what I had.

Somehow we’ve been reduced to a skill set that keeps getting narrower. Shouldn’t things like performance and drive matter a lot more than what model of widget you worked with?