Last week, I read an article that urged readers to thank someone who does his job well. Even though the article referred to thanking someone in the online community (bloggers, designers, etc.) I thought I would reach out to my college science professor, Reggie Hudson (who also happens to work for NASA), and let him know I appreciate the teachings and the lessons I obtained from his astrobiology class:

Mr. Hudson:

I read an article last week about passing along gratitude to those who deserve it. If the article was correct, most people do not get thanked much, so when this morning, I again thought about your astrobiology class I attended while at Eckerd College in Fall, 2001 (I actually think about the class quite a bit), I decided I would take a few minutes and give appreciation for a very interesting, very educational and very enjoyable semester with you.

I still think (and talk) about the lessons–both book and otherwise–I learned in astrobiology. In a post-Wikipedia world, that class stands out as the last big information digestion I’ve had in my life. I learned a lot from you and I actually had fun doing so. The class was obviously challenging (this was the last semester before the class went Honors) and thus, incredibly rewarding to receive an A at the end.

I also thoroughly remember completely failing the constellation identification test on Tuesday of Thanksgiving week and having to stay at school an extra day to study and pass the exam the next evening (I appreciate the second chance you gave me, as well). I worked hard in Astrobiology and I’d like to imagine this one class having positively affected my work habits henceforth.

Mr. Hudson, I thank you for your dedication to science, students and learning. Never imagine that your efforts are in vain.

Appreciation is a very rare currency, so it never hurts to say thank you to someone who deserves it. I hope that you’ll take 10 minutes and try it out yourself today!

It’s very important to have heroes in whichever field you choose to work. There is no doubt that I have plenty of folks who I look up to in the WordPress and web development community (Chris Coyer, Collis Ta’eed, Vladimir Prelovac, ad infinitum) and they deserve their own post in the near future, but today, I want to drop some love for my marketing heroes—guys like Tim Ferris, Jason Fried and Seth Godin—all of whom I can honestly say make me a smarter and more effective business guy than I would be without them.

Sans Tim Ferris, Item-9 wouldn’t exist. I listened to the Four Hour Workweek audio book several times while I was traveling through Costa Rica and Panama in March 2009. I hadn’t listened to an audio book since I had a go at Huckleberry Finn in fourth grade and I thought that approach might have been easier than actually reading the book. It wasn’t. I learned then that I’m a visual learner (photographic memory and such) and audio is the worst way for me to learn (imagine how poorly I did in my Spanish classes).

Anyway, Tim’s audio book allowed me something I don’t normally do while I read books—I wrote. Specifically, I brainstormed ideas for a business to start when I got back to the States. Before the trip, I had just quit my full-time web development job in Chicago and without the inspiration and case studies I listened to in the Four Hour Workweek, April’s rent (and May, June and July’s, as well) wasn’t going to be met. The book was the catalyst for starting my own consulting company and the rest is history.

As a Chicagoan, Jason Fried is obviously one of the bigger influences on how I run Item-9 Consulting. His company, 37signals, provides two very important tools to my business: Basecamp for project management and Sortfolio for advertising. I’ll admit that I got on the Basecamp bandwagon a bit late and that I often complain about the pricing (oh, how I complain), but the truth is that there is no better PM software available.

And Sortfolio—where would I be without Sortfolio? There probably wouldn’t still be an Item-9 Consulting without the revenue I generated through that site over the last two months. The well was almost dry, but since January 15, 2010, I’ve had a 600% increase in revenue, due 100% to the clients who found me on that service.

Besides these two great services, 37signals is also responsible for the brand new book Rework that I really hope redefines the way all business is done (of course, the recession already started this process two years ago, but again, I’ll save that idea for another post).

Last, but not least, I’ve got to write about Seth Godin. For those of you who don’t know, Seth is marketing. Every word he writes becomes the marketing gospel and he’s been a direct influence upon every English-speaking business person over the last twenty years. I find it hard to have an idea about marketing that this guy hasn’t written about.

Today, he republished some thoughts on the problem of the high school mentality permeating long after graduation and then into college and the work place:

Yet most of my classmates refused to choose. Instead, they treated college like an extension of high school. They took the most mainstream courses, did the minimum amount they needed to get an A, tried not to get into “trouble” with the professor or face the uncertainty of the unknowable. They were the ones who spent six hours a day in the library, reading their textbooks.

These guys don’t just write about marketing—they write about life. Their words help rookies like me continue to move towards some kind of actualization and help veterans who are surrounded by sheep whip their coworkers into shape. I’m thankful for their help and I invite anybody interested in improving their 9-5 day to check them out.

Digging into WordPress by Chris Coyer and Jeff Starr is neither boring, nor outdated, which is more than I can say for 99.9% of all the ebooks I’ve read over the years. The book was release earlier this week as a .pdf download, but at over 400 pages, you’ll definitely be getting your money’s worth.

If you want to know everything about WordPress 2.8, than look no further. I’ve learned a lot from this book already (even as a guy who’s been using WordPress for three years) and I’m sure you will, too. The authors are also promising to keep updating the book over time and your purchase secures a lifetime subscription to any new version they may release. My vote is that Digging should become the new official WordPress codex. Great job, gentlemen!

Want a sneak peak? Here’s a sample chapter. Let me know what you think below!