Fast forward to today where I was able to interview Astronaut Clayton Anderson, thanks to Source Sleuth, a service that finds experts for people telling stories.

Clayton and I talked about what it felt like to ride a rocket ship into outer space, the 15 year path he took to get there (including 14 years worth of rejection letters), the 5 months he spent on the international space station, how this perspective shapes ones worldview and what he's doing now as an author and public speaker.

I'm very grateful for the time Clayton gave to speak with me, and inspired by hearing his story of determination.

You can keep up with Clayton by following him on twitter at @astro_clay, checking out his facebook page at http://facebook.com/astroclay, and visiting his website at http://astroclay.com.

For an excellent resource on the JOBS act and a variety of other topics, check out Williams home on the internet at http://wac6.com.

They took the time to talk about the growth of their organization, how they go about getting clients, being a small business that works with big clients, and the point at which they turn business down.

We also talked quite a bit about pricing, managing teams that are geographically dispersed, and the benefits and challenges that come with working from home or in a small office.

We talked about how teams work together, design, how work gets prioritized, and the kinds of things that influence their decisions - about both design and the process of getting their work done.

The People and links Ryan mentioned:

Kent Beck and Test Driven Development
Ed Catmull - How to Keep your Crisis Small

Lance spoke candidly with me about launching new ideas, scaling a business, failure, success, investing, and more.

Nate is one of my favorite bloggers, super intelligent and a really nice guy to boot. I had a blast talking to him about starting projects, running a business, and the creative process that goes into building software and writing great blog posts.

Over the course of about a year, Mari has built a fun, profitable, growing business without a storefront - instead leveraging Twitter and Facebook to get the word out about her company.

I'm really grateful that Tracey joined me on the podcast.

We had the opportunity to talk about the creative process involved with writing the book, the path she took to get the book published, and some of the main things she learned along the way.

We talked about the creative process involved with making a new dish, the challenges involved with running a restaurant, the process of training new chefs and a host of other things. I had a blast doing this interview with Dale and am really grateful that he took the time to sit down with me.

Dale also writes and video blogs on The Sprout Crowd, which has quickly become one of the most popular food blogs in the city of Chicago.

Daniel oversees numerous Human Rights projects, and in this episode the primary topic of our discussion is The Iraq History Project. Taking a victim centered approach to documenting various Human Rights violations under Saddam Hussein’s regime, this project is one of the largest independent human rights data collection and analysis projects in the world

We discuss how a project of this size got going, how interviewers were recruited and trained, how the stories of victims were shared, and how that information was carried through Iraq - often times without power and always without internet access - to offices in Northern Iraq.

Daniel shares some fascinating information about the specifics of their project and provides numerous lessons not only for project managers or those in business, but anyone interested in how amazing people do amazing work.

Daniel has been a guest on NPR's Worldview, and is also the author of With These Hands: The Hidden World of Migrant Farmworkers Today.

I truly can't thank Daniel enough for his participation with the Project Idealism podcast.