Following on from the enormous success of this first edition of the LWB 100, I have followed it up with a much improved second edition. Check it out here!
The main problem for most people in figuring out how they are going to quit their job and start up their own online business is simply knowledge.
The following may seem obvious to you but is perhaps the most straightforward way to explain the requirements of success:
Your success in life runs in parallel with an understanding of what you are trying to achieve and how (tweet this).
Sure, some people can get lucky and “fall” into success. But this blog isn’t for those who are hoping that success will find them. Leaving Work Behind is for people who are ready to roll their sleeves up and work hard to achieve what they want from life.
Enter The Leaving Work Behind 100
It is all too easy to waste an enormous amount of time by applying yourself in an inefficient manner. I personally have wasted countless hours on near-worthless endeavors simply because I didn’t know any better. I would have given a great deal to have had a list such as this in front of me when I first started out on my path to leaving work behind, and I am really excited to present it to you now.
I honestly believe that the information contained within the blogs listed below can get you to where you want to be. The LWB 100 is broken up into ten categories:
- Entrepreneurship
- Blogging
- Internet Marketing
- Marketing
- Social Media
- SEO
- Niche Sites
- Freelancing
- Affiliate Marketing
And last but not least — Leaving Work Behind itself. That unique desire to make your life into something more than the typical 9 to 5 grind that the vast majority of people spend their entire lives enduring. Because life isn’t to be endured — it is to be embraced. We do not have to commit ourselves to 5 days of grind for 2 days of relief, only to repeat the cycle time and time again. There is a better way, and there is no time like the present to discover that for yourself.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at the 100 blogs you need in your life.
The Leaving Work Behind 100
A few things to consider when browsing the LWB 100:
- You can sort the blogs numerically and alphabetically by clicking on the relevant header.
- Each blog has been categorized by a consideration of its main focus. If you feel that a blog has been incorrectly categorized, please let me know.
- If you feel that a worthy blog has been missed off the list, please let me know! It may not have made the cut or I may have simply missed it.
Selection Criteria
I have visited and read posts on every single one of these blogs. I have been reading many of them for months (over 30 of them are on my RSS reader alone). Every single one of my favorite blogs is included in the LWB.
Having said that,there are also plenty of blogs included that I was not aware of until a short time ago as well as blogs that you have recommended.
Only blogs that are regularly updated were considered for the LWB 100.
The blogs were ranked by an objective analysis of publicly available data. The LWB 100 does not reflect my personal opinion of the quality of the blogs, but there is no doubting that each and every one has something to offer you.
This is a true mashup of the very best resources there are available.
What Now?
Simple – start exploring!
I would recommend that you sort the blogs by category and pick a few that are of interest. You can of course bookmark this post and come back to it whenever you want to find out more on a specific topic. I would not recommend that you try to read a lot of the blogs all in one go — this list isn’t going anywhere, so pace yourself!
Furthermore, I will be publishing follow up posts in the coming weeks such as my personal pick of the top 100 and the best of the rest (i.e. the blogs I love that didn’t make the cut). So stay tuned for in-depth coverage of some of the best blogs in the LWB 100!
Please Take A Moment To Spread The Word
The LWB 100 took me a staggering amount of time to put together. I would be extremely appreciative if you would take a moment to share it with your friends and followers. So please, share the list by clicking the buttons to your left.
If you would like to feature the list on your own blog, you are more than welcome to do so (and please let me know if you do!), but please — link back to Leaving Work Behind.
Hi Tom,
I was devastated to find the email with a link to this post somehow ended up in my Spam folder. Shame on gmail! This is a great list. While there are a number of blogs on this list I already keep up with, it is really exciting to see some that I have never heard of on the top 100. Looks like I will be getting even less sleep now. Ha! Thanks for the list.
Hey Christelle,
You are more than welcome – I’m glad you like it. Shame on Gmail indeed! 🙂
Cheers,
Tom
Tom, I am so thrilled to be on the list – and even more thrilled that you went to the trouble of CREATING this amazingly comprehensive resource! I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and explore; there are several blogs here that I’ve never heard of!
There is a lot to explore, that’s for sure! Thanks for your kind words Ruth, makes the obscene amount of time I spent putting this together worth it 🙂
Thanks for including Passive Panda on this list Tom!
My pleasure James – you know I’ve been a fan of your blog for quite some time! It would be remiss for it not to feature.
Thanks for including me on your list Tom. Means a lot.
You’re a shoe-in Justice. There aren’t many genuine affiliate marketer bloggers out there 😉
Tom,
Just got your email and came over- awesome list, and I’m proud to be on it. Thanks for taking the time to put something like this together.
Hey Nate,
Thanks for stopping by! I’m glad you like the list; I had a lot of fun putting it together.
Cheers,
Tom
Thanks so much for including Convince & Convert Tom. This was quite a project to tackle. Well done!
It was, I need to go lie down now 🙂 thanks Jay.
Fantastic list Tom! Well done.
I know most of these bloggers and they are all fabulous. Will be sure to check out the ones I haven’t had the privilege of getting to know yet.
Thanks for putting this together and thanks for including me on the list. 😉
Take care and keep up the great work.
Hey Michele,
Thank you! You are welcome 🙂
Cheers,
Tom
Good thing you didn’t include “only” in the title. 😉
I’m so excited about this list! Thanks for doing the legwork.
Anything for you Bon 🙂
Epic post Tom.
This will keep us occupied for some time 🙂
Thanks for pulling it together!
Thanks Steve! It certainly kept me occupied for a while 🙂
Wow, I’m in the list. Thank you for listing my blog, it’s a great privilege to be here. It shows I’m doing something good. I appreciate.
You certainly are Michael – keep up the good work 🙂
Tom,
Great list here. I guess it speaks well that I have (at least a few times) visited about 90% of these sites. But quite a few of these gave me an ah ha moment.
(Oh, darn I haven’t checked XXX site out in a while)
I think I will be using this list for a few weeks to re-visit those sites i have gotten out of the habit of trolling. Not to mention that golden 10% I haven’t seen yet.
Great stuff, great list and a valuable resource.
…and of course thanks for including me in the 100!
Steve,
You are the networking king 🙂 I see your name popping up all over the place. Which is of course a good thing!
Cheers,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Thanks for including me on your list! I am truly honored.
It’s my absolute pleasure Steve!
Thanks for this great list. While about 20 of them I have been reading myself. 2 of them Steve Scott and Corbett barr are the ones that I have used for info to always make mine better.
Now I have yours and will work through this list little by little to get to know some more.. As im working in a online RockStar s for mine to post one day a week telling about people who just stand out online so this helps with find new ones..
Thanks Again Rock On
Hey Tim,
Steve’s and Corbett’s blogs are easily two of the best in the entire list, and will definitely feature amongst my personal picks in a post I run next week.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tom
Thanks Tom for putting this together. It sure is a valuable resource to have especially starting out. I too, follow many of these blogs and couldn’t agree with you more with adding them to the top 100. Sometimes you can’t help but think – it might be a small blog world after all :).
Thanks for making it sortable!
That’s what struck me John – you may think that there are a million people out there doing it, but when you actually start listing them, you surprise yourself 🙂
Most of these people use products that Matt Mullenweg developed and founded- a product used by 15% of the ENTIRE Internet!
Matt Mullenweg – ma.tt rather than Brian Gardner. They blog more frequently. WPCandy and WPBeginner – a lot of these sites learned from them and Blondish.net. Lisa Sabin-Wilson of LisaSabin-Wilson.com- She wrote WordPress for Dummies, WordPress All-in-One, and BuddyPress for Dummies! Nile of Blondish.net- She speaks at a lot of WordCamps and very influential in WordPress and blogging.
Lists are great, but there are MANY sites I could mention that should be on the list more so than some of the ones listed because of the sites being around longer and teaching a lot of these people who’ve been only blogging for less than 3-4 years. A lot of these people learned from someone more influential, right?
Hey Lydia,
Are you getting this post confused with the WPMU 100 that I produced last week?
This isn’t a best WordPress blogs list 🙂
Tom
Very kind of you to include me, Tom – quite an undertaking!
My pleasure Ana 🙂
Woo, this post is blowin’ up!
Excellent list and sincere thanks for the mention :).
Greg my man, you were one of the very first people I added to the list. Freaking awesome resource.
Hey Tom.. this list is amazing bro.
I’m sure it took you forever to put this together. Great stuff and thanks so much for the mention. I’m sharing this all over..
talk soon
Hec
Just slightly less than forever 😉
Thanks man, I really appreciate you sharing it.
Excellent list, Tom, thanks for including us! I’m either currently reading or have read from many of the blogs listed above…it’s great to be in such good company!
Not that you need any more, but I thought I’d include a few others that I found to be extremely useful that might have been missed or didn’t make the list:
http://sivers.org/blog
If you included Seth Godin, you might want to include Derek Sivers. I’ve found many of his posts to be perception-changers for me. Not sure how to classify, but he has AMAZING insights.
http://www.flipfilter.com/blog/
If you’re looking to buy or sell websites regularly, Justin from FlipFilter puts out some awesome analytical content. We’ve gotten many of our tips for selling sites on Flippa from here.
http://www.lifestylebusinesspodcast.com/
It’s really a podcast with attached blog, but brought to you from the same guys who write at TropicalMBA. This is the FIRST podcast I end up listening to each week…can’t wait for each new episode.
Awesome – three fantastic additions for the next list! I’m a huge fan of Derek’s, so a bit disappointed that I missed him off first time around. Thanks for the suggestions!
What a smart list! Glad to be included 🙂
Glad to include you 🙂 you were after all my first (and still only) podcast interview!
Thanks for putting me on there. Have re-tweeted. Will send the money via paypal now 😉
Much obliged Joe 😉
I dream of one day becoming a full time blogger doing what I love and having a blog that could sustain my future family. I know that it is not impossible to achieve that and with 100 blogs to guide me, I think that I am one foot forward in reaching that dream.
Great attitude Fauzul – that alone will get you a long way to where you want to be.
Great work in compiling those awesome blogs 🙂
Thank you Fauzul:)
Tom this was a huge undertaking mate. It must have taken you quite a bit of time to pull this off. Great stuff!
Cheers
I did pull a few late-nighters – hardcore blogger that I am 😉
Very nice list, Tom.
This list is nice ’cause it includes the big well-known bloggers, plus it gives an opportunity for the less-known ones to be discovered. I’m checking them out right now.
Thanks!
That was the plan – there are so many useful resources out there that remain relatively below the radar. This is my way of trying to showcase them. Thanks 🙂
Hey Tom, you have a great list of blogs here. I know some of these blogs already but some of them are new to me. Your blog was also new to me until I saw it on facebook.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks Kharim; appreciate it! 😉
This is a great list but surely not complete! Haven’t you heard of http://www.entrepreneurshipsecret.com ? I discovered the site from Wikipedia external links and I’m always ready to read their interesting articles. They’ve also got great number of back links which is visible on alexa. Tom, you need to add this site too
Can’t say I’m familiar with that site Sam, but it will certainly be considered for inclusion on the next list. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
Make new habits, Tom. It’s good to get out there and explore. A diverse diet for mental bodybuilding.:
Work:
http://www.danpink.com/
http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/
http://www.allthingsworkplace.com/
Innovation:
http://timkastelle.org/blog/
http://bbh-labs.com/
http://www.digitaltonto.com/
Creative thinking:
http://www.rajeshsetty.com/blog/
http://edwardboches.com/
http://www.brainpickings.org/
Enjoy.
That’s a lot to keep me busy Valeria 😉 thanks.
Sadly, my blog was not listed, but anyway, thanks for the list because there are some blogs I don’t even know and they are quite awesome, well… feel free to read my blog when your door is lock 🙂
Hello Mr. Bad Blogger 😉
Sorry your blog wasn’t caught first time around – it has been added to the list for contention next time. I added your feed to my RSS reader too – although I had to do it manually – couldn’t find a RSS link on your home page…
Cheers,
Tom
Hey, thanks for adding me. Well… my RSS button is at the top right hand near the search box, where a row of social button is beside it, but of course, that’s a button for subscribing to my RSS Feed 🙂
Good list except for the Get 10,000 Links site. This one attempts to download a malicious file when you open it up.
Hi Jay,
I presume you mean Get 10,000 Fans? It’s a reputable site…I don’t notice anything when I access it. Are you getting prompted somehow?
Cheers,
Tom
Thanks for the list. The Top 10 I’m familiar with, but I’d a few:
Ittybiz- Naomi Dunford
Live Your Legend – Scott Dinsmore
DIY Themes- Derek Halpern (for Thesis owners, but is well known in the blogging world).
Chrisg.com- Chris Garrett
uBounce – free landing page software, but they have an excellent blog.
One of the best ways to tell who is in the top list of bloggers is to take a look at who guest posts fairly frequently on Copyblogger. The really good ones are always there…
Enjoy
Ah, just noticed Chris G. is already there :).
As is Live Your Legend 😉
I remembered that DIYThemes should have been including as I was chatting with Derek Halpern about this list (he writes for them). I’ll check out the other two for next time!
Hey Tom,
Great stuff, as always. This is a great list, dude. I’m going to tweet this post, as soon as I visit all of these blogs.
-Dev
Thanks Dev! 🙂
Tom
thank you for the follow up on Twitter! You altruism truly deserves to be praised:: Thank you so much for sharing this list with us and with unknown people like me: I started following you an Twitter (thx for following me in return)! There are quite a few names on your list I already follow, which confirms to me that I could be on the right track! Above everything the credit goes to you for reaching out and empowering others with the tools to make a better contribution to others as the wheel turns around! May God bless you for your giving attitude and I know He will! Thank you agin for sharing and let’s keep the ball rolling!
Regards from this side of the pond: Bruno @brunogebarski
Hey Bruno,
You are more than welcome for the follow, and I am genuinely flattered that you consider me altruistic – I do try my best 🙂
Cheers,
Tom
Great list, buddy! Glad to see it’s getting so much traction!
Me too 🙂 made it worth all the hard work.
We are going to include SearchMarketingPost.com in that list next year 😉
Great list! I already have some of these in my RSS feeder, but I will be adding more!
It is just too bad that I didn’t realize I could sort them by topic until I had already looked through the list. That would have saved my poor eyes a bit of strain, but now I know.
Thanks!
Sorry, my bad – probably should have put that note before the list!
Thank for the hard work Tom… The list introduced me to lot’s of interesting blogs and bloggers that I had been unfamiliar with, including yours…
Glad to be of service Mike! And thanks for taking the time to comment – it’s good to have you here 🙂
Fantastic, Tom! I have just added some new blogs to my FeedDemon thanks to your list.
Subscribed to your blog too 😀
Glad to hear it Tung! 🙂
Hey Tom –
Much thanks for including my little blog on your list – I’m very honored. There are quite a few blogs that I’ve never heard of and I’m super excited to get to know them.
You put together a very valuable resource for our community – thank you!!!
Jennifer
~PotPieGirl
You are more than welcome Jennifer – was my pleasure 🙂
This a a really great list Tom and I am very glad that I was directed here whilst reading a post on Shane Melaugh’s blog, as this resource that you have provided is going to come in real handy 🙂
Cheers
Mike
Glad to be of service Mike! 🙂
Hi Tom, That’s a great list. I can really see some of my favorite blogs listed. I’m expanding my list from yours 😉
Thanks Enstine!
Awesome list, I already subscribe some of them and will add in rss reader rest. Thanks for sharing
No problem Manish – my pleasure! 🙂
Hi Tom, awesome curated list. Some really good blogs on there, a few I read, but many that I don’t. This has given me the inspiration to produce a list of my own, albeit on a different subject matter.
Thanks,
Anthony
Great Anthony – I think producing lists such as this can be a great way of creating a valuable resource for your niche! 🙂
Tom:
Great list! There are a ton of blogs there that I am not familiar with…guess I need to explore some of these. And a big THANK YOU for including my blog on the list!
Thanks Spencer! It was my pleasure 🙂
This is a wonderful and through list! I found it via http://kikolani.com/fetching-friday-resources-mashup-hdr-skies.html and I am glad that I did. There are some great resources that everyone could use here. I only wish I had a site that could make this list one day!
If you want it badly enough Walter, you can have it 🙂
Hi Tom,
So far everyone has said great list. I just want to extend that and say great presentation too 🙂 I love the idea of using a table and the sorted columns. If you don’t mind me asking are you using a plugin for it? or is it a HTML/CSS tweaks?
Hoping that I will make it into the next list you make 🙂
regards
Shamelle
Hey Tom,
Great resource!
I know most of these blogs – some of them are new to me 😀
I am just a bit sad that many of my favorite blogs didn’t get in the list. Anyways, thanks for the list. This list will help me with my commenting and writing challenges 😉
Nice list Tom – I concur with the majority that I recognize, and will be exploring those that I am not familiar with.
It’s an honor to be included on this list!
Massive list Tom, thanks! And after seeing a few of your articles making it on my twitter feed and reading them, I’m adding you on Twitter. Keep it up!
I appreciate that Tommy; thanks! 🙂
Hah! This is brilliant. Many of these I’ve found already just by searching, but there are some real gems hidden here that I was unaware of. Thanks for such a great resource!
It’s my pleasure Dariene 🙂
Awesome list Tom, an honour to be included thank you so much 🙂
My pleasure Michelle 🙂
How about an OPML version?
Working on it 🙂
Awesome! Thank you for this!!
You are welcome – thank you for all the comments! 🙂
So many blogs, so little time. Amazing list you curated.
Thank you Clara 🙂
SEOMOZ blog is no 1 . No reason for it not being on the top of the list. Well compiled resource. This will come in handy for our new SEO trainees.
This is a great list. Have been working through the blogs this afternoon.
Glad you like it! 🙂
Amazing Compilation Tom. Thanks for sharing!
So many blogs, some of them already in my RSS reader.
Maybe you can export your RSS reader into list that can be exported by anyone, to they can automatically add all of this list including the categories you give to each of them. Maybe this link can give you a clue to do that in Google Reader http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-create-a-rss-feed-bundle-on-google-reader/
Hi Tito,
My RSS reader is a jumble of all sorts of blogs, so that wouldn’t really work. I would like to produce something like this for the 2nd edition though – it’s just a case of figuring out how…
Cheers,
Tom
Tom, this is an awesome list, thanks.
I feel that I could spend the next year going through this lot and still only scratch the surface.
But, it gives me plenty of reading on my to do list.
Cheers,
Karl
Hey Karl,
Stay tuned – I’ve got a hugely improved 2nd edition coming out soon! Just to overwhelm you more 😉
Cheers,
Tom
Absolutely amazing work. Favourites bar – enough said.
Thanks John! New, much improved edition coming up very shortly.
Hey Tom. great list of blogs, I’ve come across many of these but some not, so thank you. Good to see Smart Passive Income blog on the list, definitely one of my favorite to read.
It’s probably my favorite blog of all time Fabrizio – Pat’s been a huge influence on me over the last 12 months or so.
Awesome list mate. Thanks for sharing such great resource nice and neatly for us.
My pleasure Rick 🙂
Congrats Tom for being listed in top 100!
Tom,
I happened to find your site quite by accident. I was searching Google for a good way to insert tables when I came across a wpmu.org article you wrote recommending a plug-in for inserting tables. That article linked to this post which ultimately led me to your blog. It seems to be right along with what I’m trying doing. I am starting my basic site (75 Beans) to document and teach what I am learning about passive income and online business. It’s not my primary focus but I figure I might as well document as I go and see what happens.Still have some work before officially launching my site, it’s close to ready. But my primary focus is a different niche site which I am working on.
I love this list of 100 blogs and I’m quite familiar with most of them. I probably won’t look into too many of them because I’ve found that information overload can lead to analysis paralysis and procrastination (which I will be writing about early on and how it’s stalled me for over 3 years). But I’m sure I will check out a lot of them.
Anyway thank you for your site. I have subscribed. And I also added the plug-in you recommended, WP-Table Reloaded, well sort of. It is being replaced by TablePress but your recommendation led me to it. Thanks again.
Jeremy
Hey Jeremy,
The first thing I was going to say was make sure you install TablePress rather than WP-Table Reloaded so I’m glad you figured that out yourself 🙂
Good to have you here and nice to know how you found me!
Cheers,
Tom
Tom , with the table plugin u used can u use a search button?? i am searching for a table plugin that my visitors can search in it… are u aware of something like this?? thank you
Better late than never…
I have bookmarked all LWB 100.
Cheers!
Louie Sison
You’re behind the times Louie 😉 there’s a third edition of this list: http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/lwb-100-3rd-edition/
Great list… but whats a guy got to do to get listed? 🙂
Seriously though, I need to do a lot of reading now. haha
They’ve got to get on my radar 😉
This list can recharge any blogger, thanks for share this list.
You’re welcome Al 🙂
Great work Tom. Your list is really helpful to me,specially the site about seo. Thank you a lot for sharing with us. 🙂
You’re welcome Fakhreddine 🙂
Hi Tom, awesome curated list. Some really good blogs on there, a few I read, but many that I don’t. This has given me the inspiration to produce a list of my own, albeit on a different subject matter.
Thank you for this long list. I know some of those blogs but some I have never heard of. It is very helpful to have access to those blogs when you are just starting to create your own website.
Hi Tom,
I came to know more websites information in this article, till now I use to search on Google to find best websites regarding various categories, but this is awesome to find so many best websites information in a single article, I am bookmarking this article to refer back.
Thank you so much for sharing the information, see you soon.
Hi Tom,
Indeed great list. There are lot of blogs there that I am not familiar with. I need to explore some of these blog.
Thanks for sharing this with us.
No problem, Alex. Thanks for your kind words!
Very good this article Tom, what a fantastic list! Thank you!
I loved this article, grateful!
The first thing I was going to say was make sure you install TablePress rather than WP-Table Reloaded so I’m glad you figured that out yourself ????
Good to have you here and nice to know how you found me!
Cheers,
Tom , with the table plugin u used can u use a search button?? i am searching for a table plugin that my visitors can search in it… are u aware of something like this?? thank you
I loved this article, grateful!
The first thing I was going to say was make sure you install TablePress rather than WP-Table Reloaded so I’m glad you figured that out yourself ????
Tom , with the table plugin u used can u use a search button?? i am searching for a table plugin that my visitors can search in it… are u aware of something like this?? thank you
Thats an awesome and helpful post by you for the people like me. you really made my day. The tips you have shared will surely help the bloggers in growing.
Do you know what i like the most about your blog? Its the easy language and well explained content. i really love visiting your blog.
Thanks again
Great list! These articles contains very useful and easy to comprehend information.
Excellent article. You’ve shared a lot of awesome tips lately. This post is not an exception. I’d love to become a part of your inner circle, however, I’m too late for it.
This stuff is incredible. First blog post in a long time that I’ve actually taken time to sit through and read the whole thing.
Amazing job – and thanks SO much for detailing us in on it.
One thing – could we possibly have an update on the 2013 scenario?
Regards (and thanks!)
Great list Thanks for sharing
Great list. I loved this article. Thanks for sharing.
Great Post. This list is incredible and very helpful. Thanks for sharing.
Great content… much needed words for bloggers like me.
Hi
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