“In order to get to that next level, you have to break through those fears,” Rifai told Mortgage Professional America. “And every day, I’m teaching that to myself still. I admit that there’s lots that I don’t know, and I’m okay with that.
“It blows my mind that even I was afraid to ask that question, when what’s the worst that was going to happen? People were going to say no or ignore the post? I wouldn’t have been any worse off than I am now. But that’s not what happened.”
Finding a helpful community
It was an adjustment for Rifai coming out of the banking ecosystem and into the broker world. In the banking space, information between competitors is more protected. She said one example of a difference between the two came when she was working to establish a comp plan so her new brokerage could grow.
“I’m trying to build out a comp plan so that I can recruit and grow and scale,” Rifai said. “It’s one of my goals. It’s why I opened this company, not just for me to operate myself, but to bring in a community of like-minded folks. And I’ve been working with an HR firm trying to build a comp plan based on what I know and what I think is kind of out.
“And I wasted so much time because I was afraid to go into the ‘Brokers are Best’ community, and say, ‘What are you guys offering on a comp plan?’ I was afraid because I knew that at the bank, it was very guarded information. You know what US Bank’s comp plan is, or Regions Bank or Truist. I have all these banks in my community. They don’t want to tell you because you’re the competitor.