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Today, Colson Steber joins Sima on the podcast. He is the Co-CEO of Communications for Research and Co-CEO of Ag Access.
In this episode, Colson dives into the origin of Communications for Research and his journey to becoming Co-CEO. He also discusses his passion for personal evolution and relentless learning and explains how he integrates his learning into his personal life and work.
Communications for Research
Communications for Research is a research logistics business. They provide services for recruiting and data collection. They are unique in that they have a proven process for getting to the research outcomes and doing whatever needs to get done.
The history of CFR
Colson’s Father started CFR 26 years ago. Colson, along with his business partner and co-CEO, bought the company six and a half years ago. The company could no longer continue operating as it had before. So they had to figure out how to make it work as a business. The company is now almost triple the size it was when they bought it, and they operate as Ag Access in addition to CFR.
A struggle
In the first three years of his entrepreneurial journey, Colson experienced continual cash flow problems. He spent almost all of 2019 within seven days of insolvency.
The least risky thing
Through his entrepreneurial journey, Colson learned that the least risky thing was to bet on himself and find the most real-world way of developing himself personally.
Transformation
Colson wanted to be a leader and understood he was not the leader he needed to be. However, he did not realize the depth and breadth of transformations he would have to go through to get to where he is today.
Ag Access
They had always done a significant amount of work in the agricultural sector, but none of it stood out. Then, Colson realized that they knew a lot about that sector and it was a niche they could stand out in because it was so unique. So, after the great pause in the spring of 2020, they launched Ag Access. It was an excellent decision because it is the work they do best and has the highest margin. It is also unique. So people can find them easily.
Relentless intentional action
Relentless intentional action has become part of the fabric of who Colson is. That means he is always working toward aligning his life and business through self-expression and how he sees his purpose in the world. His word for this year is relentless.
Reading
Colson’s desire to be his own person, design his life, and act intentionally, led him to start reading something every day. He has continued to do so for the last four years.
The Art and Science of Joy
Colson volunteers for and supports The Art and Science of Joy. His goal is to 10x the joy and abundance in every facet of his life.
Living his best life
Colson has structured his life so that by the time he sits at his desk at 8 am, he has already spent more than three hours working on his personal development.
An entrepreneurial operating system
In 2019, Colson took a deep dive into listening better and asking better questions. Since then, they started implementing an entrepreneurial operating system into the business, ingraining the practices, and teaching people how to be the right boss.
Trust
Even though Colson has built enough trust in his team to be completely open and transparent about their projects, workflow, and mistakes, he feels they are on a journey, so they still have to keep improving on where they are now.
Links:
Email me your thoughts
Sima@Infinity-2.com
Communications for Research Inc.
Books mentioned:
The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz
Atomic Habits by James ClearMastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz
