The Power of Boundaries: Building a Startup and Raising a Special-Needs Child with BIFI’s Shante Duffy

00:00:00
This episode with Shante Duffy of Bi Fi loan servicing is really good. Shante was on episode six, I believe it was back in the day, and we in that episode, we talked a lot more about her personal backstory. In this episode, we talk about how she's able to juggle being a single mom of a special needs teenager, almost teenager, as well as a co founder of a startup, bi fi loan servicing, and how she's navigated the last few years, how she had to step away from bi fi for a brief period of time to do a personal reset and work on herself, create boundaries, create plans of action to address different areas of her life. And we really walk through a lot of the trials and tribulations that frankly, Shante and I have both faced on some level with regard to bi fi loan servicing. I am the CEO of Bi Fi, so I have some pretty intimate knowledge of the company and how we've rebounded and how we're on a fantastic track for the future and we get into that at the end.

00:01:12
So if there are any questions about whether Shante is going to leave Bi Fi again, I think she puts those questions to rest during this episode. But man, for the single moms out there, for the entrepreneurs, wannabe entrepreneurs, trying to figure out how you can juggle all of know with all the stress that comes along with a startup, being a single mom or any parent, or working in a leadership role of any small business going through the pandemic, just so much stress. How was Shante able to manage that? Manage those challenges? How did Bi Fi navigate through its adversity and reach the level of abundance where the future is very, very bright for both Shante and Ba fi.

00:02:03
This is not an episode you want to miss. Welcome to the from Adversity to Abundance podcast. Are you an entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur? Then this show is for you. Each week we bring you impactful stories of real people who have overcome painful human adversity to create a life of abundance.

00:02:25
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00:02:54
Turn your adversity into abundance. Welcome everybody to another episode of the from adversity to abundance podcast. I am your host, Jamie Bateman, and I'm thrilled today to have with us Shante Duffy. Shante is, I think, our third guest who is a repeat guest, so this is pretty special. How are you doing, Shante?

00:03:14
Good. How are you? Good. Exciting. Yeah, this is exciting.

00:03:19
I'm really excited to have you back. So I think you were one of the first ten episodes. You were on one of the first ten episodes. We had probably episode six, something like that. And we got pretty specific about your backstory and we'll jump into that a little bit here today.

00:03:37
I know today we want to focus a little bit more on the challenges that come along with being a single mom and starting a company because that is. Man, I just got stressed just saying those two things out loud. But for the listener who's unfamiliar with you, tell us who you are today. What are you up to today? I'm Shante Duffy.

00:03:59
I am the director of operations and one of the co founders of Bi Fi Loan Servicing, also known as my second child, if you ask my friends and family. Nice. And obviously for those who don't know, Shante and I work together, so we have a lot of interaction on a day to day basis. So this will be a fun conversation. Let's do kind of a high level, quick overview of the first episode, if you would.

00:04:26
You're not going to cover everything from that episode, obviously, but kind of hit some of the highlights and low lights as far as your backstory goes. Backstory. I was adopted. I was in foster care for the first three years of my life. I was adopted, ironically, into a white family.

00:04:42
And I say that because people don't know and there's just a lot of history with that alone. I was adopted. I was very blessed and I have to bounce back and forth raised. I'm one of five kids, so it's great by a single parent as well who also owns her own business and has for longer than I've been alive. So I have definitely a really good role model there within my mom and just a supportive family after that.

00:05:06
And then went through school as a child, got out of high school, started going to college and found out that I was pregnant with my son. His name is Benjamin and I love him to death. He is now twelve years old and you give birth to a child. And I remember saying this on the first time, you give birth to a child. Happy, healthy baby, ten fingers, ten toes, you're good to go.

00:05:28
You get sent home and now you're on your own to raise this child. Definitely fun and interesting and challenging all at the same time. But as Benjamin grew up and started to get older around two, three years old. I was a little concerned as I was comparing him to my sister's child actually, who's only three months older than him and realized that he was definitely a little different, wasn't really sure what was going on and took the route of finding out and found out that my son ended up being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and had to navigate his life that way to make sure I meet his needs so he could be successful in life as well as adjusting myself and learning because that's not something I've ever actually had to deal with and manage in my face. So it was definitely a lot of hurdles.

00:06:11
He has moved mountains and I'm very proud of him. It's still a challenge. As twelve years old, we're not far off from some puberty years and lots of attitude, but he is also a mini me so it makes sense. So yeah, that was a lot of it. And I stayed at home for a year to raise in the first year and realized that I am not cut out to be a stay at home mom.

00:06:32
I will always give my flowers to stay at home moms because it's hard work. I do think it's sometimes harder than having a regular nine to five job and also trying to just maintain a home. That's a lot. So I decided to start working after he turned one. Yeah, got it.

00:06:49
There's some that I can relate to there with my son as well. And just having a special needs child is not easy in and of itself. That's a huge challenge. Obviously I can't relate to being a single mom or I also was not adopted. So those are some real challenges you've been through for sure.

00:07:11
So it sounds like though that just wasn't enough in the way of challenges. So you decided to start a loan servicing company. Before we get to that, how did you find your way into loan servicing? How did that happen on the professional side? I always feel funny answering this question because most people kind of have an idea of what their career is going to be and I had no idea.

00:07:36
I just knew I wasn't staying home, honestly. I found a servicing company. I was looking for a job and I just wanted something, an office structure, a regular nine to five. I want to be home nights and weekends and holidays with my son. And I found a loan servicing company that was within 3 miles of my home and I started as an admin assistant.

00:07:54
I knew nothing about this industry as a whole. I was very like, just pay your mortgage to your bank or you lose your home. Well, let's talk about that briefly, because similarly, I ended up working at a title company, and I knew nothing about that. I had no clue what a title company was at that time. These are things you don't learn in school, typically, right, about mortgage processing, mortgage servicing, title insurance, things that are pretty important actually, in real life.

00:08:24
But define for the listener, what is a loan servicer? What does a mortgage loan servicing company, what does that company do? A mortgage loan servicing company is a company that private lenders and investors need to use to track and maintain borrower payment histories for their mortgage payments. So essentially, we are the companies that when a borrower makes their mortgage payment to us, we process it through our system, make sure everything's applied correctly for the loan terms, and then we kind of redisperse those funds back to the lender. We're essentially that middleman to make sure that everything's coming in and going out properly.

00:09:02
We're following compliance and making sure that we're handling the collection of these mortgage payments for the clients, which are our lenders and investors. So, pretty straightforward, just on the east side. And sometimes I'll equate it somewhat like a property management company for a rental property. I think there are a good number of more hurdles from a compliance standpoint. Like you, like you referred to, licensing is very state based when it comes to loan servicing.

00:09:34
There's a lot of red tape and things like that as compared to a property management company. Those can be fairly easy to at least get started. There's not usually a lot of red tape with a property management company, but it's a very similar concept at a high level, is that you're collecting payments from, in this case, a lender. As a property manager, you're collecting payments from a tenant, and then you're dispersing those funds to, I'm sorry, collecting money from funds to a lender. I'm glad I just listened to my own voice.

00:10:07
And then on the property management side, you're collecting tenants money, rent payment, and sending that to the landlord. So very similar role. So you didn't know what a loan servicer was. You found a job ad, basically that was for a company within 3 miles of your home, because you were prioritizing being a mother and a good mother and being around for your son. Okay, so walk us through, just briefly, your career in your first, say, eight or nine years in the loan servicing space.

00:10:40
My first eight years in a loan servicing space, I climbed the ladder a lot. I learned from the ground up. I learned boots on the ground. I was watching. I was listening.

00:10:51
I like to learn. I like to gain knowledge, but I also like to share it. So that's a natural trait within me. So I started and didn't know anything. I was answering phones, scanning paperwork, and realizing, like, I'm answering phones.

00:11:02
I can't answer these questions because I don't know what they're talking about. So I was really fortunate to have an amazing mentor over those eight years who I still talk to to this day. Recently saw a couple of months ago from the there, and I just started to ask questions. And that's really kind of how I climbed the ladder. And it was, well, why does this happen?

00:11:20
How does this work? And it was a lot of research and a lot of networking that I started to do because I used to get jealous that he'd go to conferences. He always would tell me about the fun things that he did there. And I'm like, well, can I go? And it was just, I was 21 years old.

00:11:33
Can I go? And it's like, yeah, why not? And I'll never forget the first conference that I actually traveled out of state for. I went out to Texas, and it was awesome. And I didn't realize how big but small this space was.

00:11:47
You're in New Jersey. Yes, I am in New Jersey. So me jumping on an airplane, this. Is a little different than New Jersey. A little bit, but they're super cool.

00:11:53
And to be in an area where there's so many more people that are aware of this space and also aren't, it really opened my eyes, and I was like, wait, this is actually really cool. And I just kept going. And I watched myself go from an admin assistant to an office manager to the business development manager and helped hiring and creating procedures and processes, and I just grew to love it somehow. Somehow kind of made myself a big enough face in the world just as a servicer and trying to help investors with their needs, well, I think that's. A really couple of key points.

00:12:27
One is just, you do have to roll up your sleeves and kind of learn things yourself in life. I would say that's a really good lesson. A lot of people, I think, kind of expect to be spoon fed in a sense of, well, I've worked with people at some former roles where they'll say, well, I wasn't trained on that, so I can't do that. That works to an extent, but at some point, it's like, you got to figure some things out and you have to be proactive and sounds like that's how you were able to rise through the ranks. And I know for sure you definitely made a name for yourself.

00:13:06
I think it's just a matter of adding value and listening to other people and just being proactive about, like you said, acquiring knowledge, but then sharing it, not hoarding that knowledge. So that's really good. So I know that that company ended up moving out of state. Yeah. They left you.

00:13:30
I did have the opportunity to move. I want to make that abundantly couldn't. My. My life is here in New Jersey. So they moved to Nevada and got themselves set up.

00:13:40
I stayed and kind of ran the jersey office, and then we walked into Covid, which kind of changed the dynamic of the entire world. We, luckily, though, in the servicing world, still got to work. We were, in my eyes, essential, so I still worked. Covid didn't really affect me too much in my career, and just with realizing that a lot of people didn't want to keep working, kind of stayed home, whether they decided to stop working, go get a new job, whatever the case may be. And it got to a point where we kind of shut down the jersey office.

00:14:12
We didn't need it. And I went remote. And then I kind of walked into an opportunity that I tried to say no to for a while. I definitely pushed that off for months and then realized that when opportunities present themselves, they present themselves for a reason. And you're supposed to be scared.

00:14:34
You're supposed to be uncomfortable. But I've always wanted to be a part of something big. Always. And I kind of sat back and was like, I have the opportunity to create something here that I am passionate about and that I genuinely love stress at all. And I was like, I have to do this.

00:14:50
How many people get this opportunity in this corner of our world being in servicing and note investing and things like that? And I decided to take the plunge. Nice. So from a personal standpoint, through Covid, and then we'll get to the starting the company. How did you manage being a single mom through all and working at the same time?

00:15:15
I can tell you that at that time, actually, my wife was working for my company. She was working for me, which is a whole, probably ten episodes we could do. And once my kids were essentially doing school from home, she pretty much had to stay and become my son's aide or teacher. So she kind of threw me to the side and focused on him, which made sense, but how were you able to navigate that? So I'm fortunate enough to have family where almost everybody in my family wasn't working, and I was the one that still had to.

00:15:53
So it was very easy to have Benjamin watched and have him do homeschooling. So the toughest part was the end, like, 2020, from March through June. But as we all know, Covid still went on because he has special needs. In New Jersey, special needs kids were the ones that a lot of us, we were concerned that they were going to be affected the most. All kids end up being affected in some stance, but he was able to go to school.

00:16:18
So when the new school year started, as everyone else is still home, all the special needs kids got to go to school. It's smaller groups. So as September of 2020 rolled around, he went to school every day, and we kind of went back to regular routine. We were very fortunate to not get sick, but I did miss out on time. There was points where I was waving at my child through a window because I was going into an office where other people still were there.

00:16:44
And I would not be able to live with myself if I contracted Covid and passed it along to him. So I would buy little. He's obsessed with Legos and super Mario, so I would buy little things. I bought him a drone, so he'd fly these drones around and just stuff to keep him occupied. But it was probably the saddest moment of life, because you never picture not being able to just hug your kid and feed him dinner.

00:17:09
There's things that I take for granted or I think sometimes are stressful on a daily basis, aren't, and I miss that on that. But I also look at Covid as a blessing because I also ended a serious relationship. All this is happening at the same time. So, to me, it was like, this is my chance for a reset and to clean up and really figure out what I want out of this life moving forward. That's really important.

00:17:29
It's just the perspective, because that comes up on this show quite a bit, is we don't seek out bad things to happen to us. Nobody really wants to go through adversity. Right? It's not fun, but there's always a bright side and always something that comes out of that. That's either an opportunity or growth like you talked about, or ending something bad in your life and moving.

00:17:51
So. All right, so bi fi loan servicing. This opportunity gets presented to you from a guy named Chris, and talk about what was the impetus? And obviously, I have some inside information on this as well, but I'll pretend for now, I don't. So what's the reason?

00:18:13
Why start a servicing company? Why call it. What's. What's going on into your mind at. That time, there were several different reasons.

00:18:20
So in the opportunity of like, hey, Shante, why don't you start your own? It was a mix. Know, my prior employment moving, and then me working. I don't like working from home at all. I'm an office girl all day long.

00:18:33
But it was that, and then it was okay. I kept, no, it's too hard, it's too expensive. I can't do it. And lovely Chris, who we love to death, he wouldn't take no as an answer. And I should have known that because I know him very well.

00:18:49
But I trusted him, and I trust you. So I sat down and was like, okay, Shante, here's an opportunity. You want it because it gives you a chance to chase your entrepreneurial goals and dreams that I've always had and someone's literally willing to support and help. You have people that are going to do this with you. It's not you solo at all.

00:19:09
And I think that was a big part of my fear. And I sat down and really thought, if I'm going to do this, I want to be different. I don't want to just be like every other servicer. Servicers don't get a good rap in our space. I say this to everybody.

00:19:23
I've probably said on every podcast I've ever been on, nobody likes a servicer. But you need one. Yeah, exactly. I kind of equate it to, like, a referee. We talked about this before, but say a basketball game or basketball referee, no one goes to the game to watch the ref.

00:19:42
They're not excited about the referee. Right. But you absolutely need a ref to keep everyone compliant and to keep score. Right. Call the shots.

00:19:53
Exactly. So it's a vital role for sure. Absolutely. And I just wanted to somehow bridge the gap. I wanted to be needed and wanted as a whole.

00:20:04
And I worked with many different investors over the years, and it was like, okay, if we're going to do this, we have to do this right. And it took a lot of brainstorming, and it was definitely challenging. It was fun. It was exciting. The beginning parts are super fun.

00:20:19
But sitting down and getting a group of investors that I trust to be honest and vocal and blunt and bold in the things that they look for in their servicers, I think was my favorite part to this day of setting up wifi, and it was getting feedback. What do you like about servicers? What do you don't like? Why do you pick this one over this one in certain scenarios, is it just a licensing scenario or is it they just handle certain things better? And we basically kind of pulled all that information in and was like, okay, so how do we address all these pain points?

00:20:50
Because if we can address these, we're already ahead of the game. And that's how I thought we could bridge that gap. So that was the most fun part of it. And it got to a point where I was like, I think I can do this. And at that point, it was like, all right.

00:21:04
And I struggled. I'm not going to lie. I struggled with departing from the place I learned my mentor. They were family. They weren't just bosses and people I worked with.

00:21:14
They were family to me. And that's almost nine years of my life that I was walking away from. And I felt so od. I felt like I was doing something wrong, but they also understood it. So when know was explained, Shante, you're going to do great.

00:21:30
You're going to be fine. There was no love loss, because on the flip side to it, I'm technically about to be a competitor of yours. And that made me really anxious because they're family. I still feel like it was a good move, and it was the right move for me, and it opened up my eyes and my mind and the opportunity, and I learned a lot, and I'm still learning a lot to this day. Well, that's where I'd say.

00:21:54
I mean, for one, we have a good working relationship with that company still. And I know you send loans to them sometimes, so there's no love lost. There's a good relationship, I should say. But the other thing is framing it as even if versus what if. And this is something I end up saying a lot on the show, and you and I have talked about this before as well.

00:22:18
But let's say you left that company, and even if Bifi was a disaster, let's just say it failed. Well, even if. I guarantee. Even if that happened, I guarantee you could find another job in this space, whether it's with that old company, former company, or a different company. Right.

00:22:36
So you got to be willing to take some calculated risks in life. And I love that you were able to get yourself to that point where you were comfortable enough. Comfortable with being uncomfortable. Exactly. Just to say that you had to be uncomfortable, but comfortable with it.

00:22:51
Yeah. There's no one size fits all in. How to kind of approach that.

00:22:59
Absolutely. That is one thing. Obviously, I was involved in that from the beginning. As far as developing all the plans and everything, a large part of 2021. That's all we were doing.

00:23:13
That's all we did. We weren't operating for most of that year. We were getting licenses, setting up planning, creating sops, figuring out what should work, what won't work, et cetera. So a lot of work went into that from December, January almost for that first year. About a year, yeah.

00:23:35
We didn't open our doors till November. Service for other investors. And, I mean, Chris and I are still active fund managers. So the whole Bifi by investors? Yes, we did take a lot of input from other investors, but it was actually created by active investors.

00:23:54
And I know you have been an active note investor as well. I finally jumped over that bridge.

00:24:02
That's a key point as well. It's not just for investors, which is critical, but it was actually created by investors because we understood the pain points of using other servicers. There's no perfect servicer, let's be honest. Right. But I still use other servicers myself.

00:24:19
Yeah. I think that research component and that work is critical up front. What would you say looking at that first year specifically? Maybe one or two lessons learned or takeaways from that first year? I know you and I talk about this all the time, but for everybody listening, we definitely bit off more than we could chew.

00:24:40
And I hate admitting it, but it is the lesson that was learned. I think we were all so eager and so excited and watching it come to fruition, I think we all were like, this is happening, this is happening. And I was excited, you were excited, everyone was excited. And then we just kind of went, like headfirst in like a no diving situation. We obtained a lot of licenses out of the gate without really, we wanted to be open to a lot more investors to be able to use us, but didn't really process how that was going to happen.

00:25:11
So I think we skipped a step, and I think it's just our eager that kind of got into it, and we definitely felt that the end of. 21, I would agree, 22. And it's one of those things where, again, there's no playbook on how this should work. Exactly. There's no one size fits all answer, because a lot of investors, they only want to work with one servicer.

00:25:32
So we have clients, or potential clients who aren't going to move loans over to Bifi to be serviced unless bi Fi is licensed in all the states that they have loans in. So if I have loans in Texas and Florida, but Bifi is not licensed in one of those states. Oh, I'm sticking with my other servicer because they're licensed in both states, so it made sense that we would want to get that many licenses that quickly. But in hindsight, 100% agree. I think it's one of the biggest mistakes we made, is getting too many licenses too quickly without the revenue to justify those costs and the cost of it, the time and the actual financial cost of getting those licenses.

00:26:11
I think we shot a little too high in that we had the least. Amount of knowledge in it, in my opinion. I was never in charge of licensing, so I always had somebody to handle that. And it turned around. It was like, no, Shante, this isn't the front of your face.

00:26:26
And I was like, okay. And I remember going. I remember being like, I don't think this is going to work at some point, but you learn. And that's kind of why we pumped the brakes a little bit. Yeah.

00:26:36
And one other quick thing I'll say mean, yeah. Chris and I have started businesses before, but nothing like this. Exactly. And we bought office space. We became landlords.

00:26:50
Bi fi became a landlord immediately. So all of a sudden, you're up there in New Jersey, HVaC goes out, you don't know what to do. This is not something. You're not a landlord. I'm not even a homeowner.

00:27:04
So the other things I don't. You're not a homeowner. You hadn't been a business owner at that point. I mean, there's a lot. Forget the servicing side, right?

00:27:14
Forget the licensing and the management of people and the processing of payments and all that stuff. That takes a ton of work. All that was brand new to you. The rest of it.

00:27:27
Challenges and lessons that we can learn from and move forward better. Yeah. Okay. 2022 hits second year that Bifi is in operation, I think we start taking on more loans, we start taking on clients loans, start building the portfolio, start getting some revenue. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say most of 2022 actually went fairly.

00:27:54
Well from a business pretty smoothly from a business standpoint. That was also the year that we all got to be in the same place at the same time. I still have those pictures just as proof. We had gone to some conferences, and we were okay. It was moved not as quickly as we originally had anticipated and projected, but it made sense.

00:28:16
And I wasn't too upset about it because it wasn't too much to handle, necessarily on obtaining new business. That wasn't the issue. And it was fun to go out and represent wifi to investors and things like that and let them know who we are because we spent a lot more time putting ourselves on the map. Yeah, that's the flip side. You have a brand new servicer that's popping up and competing against all these other servicers that have been around for at least a decade plus.

00:28:44
Some of these servicers, again, have been around for, like, 40 years. So the first and second quarter of 2022, I think, was okay. It kind of got a little crazy in that summertime for me, at least, personally, for me. Well, and I can say that I think part of the issue, too, was you had kind of two people that were between Chris and me. We weren't necessarily always on the same page, and we don't have to get into the weeds too much, but I think what?

00:29:15
I would have three different ideas. Exactly. Three strong personalities, and we would get along. It wasn't a matter of us not getting along. It was just we didn't have the same vision, necessarily, on every little part of the business.

00:29:27
So Chris might tell you one thing, I might tell you something else. Not even then. You have your own opinion. And so, second half of 2022, things didn't quite go as planned. Can you elaborate on that?

00:29:42
Yeah. I think part of us all being together, I started to feel overwhelmed. I started to feel confused. And, of course, I still have my son. My mom had gotten sick, but she was the caregiver of my grandmother.

00:29:56
So my mom getting sick affected my entire family. And I'm, like, the only one who ever shows up to do certain things. So there was just a lot of stress going on, personally. And then I'd come to work and I was like, wait. We're getting different ideas, different wants and goals, and I just felt lost.

00:30:12
And I remember all of us talking about, I'm really good at servicing. I don't know how to be a CEO. And that's the God's honest truth. I've never done it. I know I kind of put something together and created it because it was policies, procedures.

00:30:27
I knew what was needed. But when you walk through it, and a year later, you're looking and you're like, wait. There's a lot of things I've never done and didn't understand and would just end up being so overwhelmed. And then that's also managing staff and being a landlord and dealing with things. So there was a lot of moving parts, and my entire emotional state just went down the drain in every capacity of my life.

00:30:52
And it's not just personal. And a lot of it came from Wifi, and it was a lot of stress, and I know that we all were working together to know. We all talked about, like, we need help, Shanti needs help. We got to help her. We just weren't sure where to land on that.

00:31:06
And we got to a point where we did. And I think I had checked out. And I was so overwhelmed that I was growing resentment for something that I created, something that I loved just six months, a year before, and I was excited about, I hated, I was miserable. And then just the stressor of my mom and my grandma and my son, and I was just like, this is too much. I have to walk away.

00:31:31
And I did it for my sanity, for my piece as Shante Duffy, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, an employee, a co founder of a company, all of it. And I really needed a heavy reset. I lost myself and that all that was happening is going down. This downward spiral of, well, I did all this and I wasn't paying attention enough to Benjamin, and I was picking myself apart because I needed to, but I also had to build myself up. So in September, the end of September, 2022, I decided to leave.

00:32:05
I needed to do that for me. And I think it also was the best thing for my son, my family and wifi at the time. I think there was just too much going on, too many just anxieties and stressors, and I had to back out. And I don't think that's what any of us expected, but it's what to me personally, to this day, I needed it.

00:32:27
No, we started to hit rock bottom as a business at that point. We were starting to get there. We hadn't quite got there because when you left, you are such a key player. And it was already headed south a little bit, but it got worse after you left. And that's not to make you feel bad.

00:32:49
It's just the reality of. It's also a compliment because you're such a good servicing person, for know. And just from my perspective, look, Chris started a massive fund. He had a ton going this. He quit his job.

00:33:07
I don't know when exactly, but he had a lot going on with his regulation a fund. You quit your job? Yeah, I quit my. That's true. And that's right.

00:33:17
My achilles and all that stuff. And it was a lot going on. And then, yeah, I like to throw in that I ruptured my Achilles playing the manly sport of badminton. But no, we started to have a lot of struggle at home with my son as well. And it got really super challenging about a year ago.

00:33:36
Now, if we're talking just wifi in a vacuum. It's all of us. But it's like, I don't think we would have hit that rock bottom. But there's so many other factors. Health, relationships, financial things going on in your personal life.

00:33:56
Right. And so. But when you say taking care of yourself and it was the right thing to do, I 100% agree. Hindsight helps me agree with that. But on an airplane, put the oxygen mask on yourself before you could help everybody else.

00:34:15
I mean, it's so true. It's corny, cheesy, whatever, but it's really true. You couldn't have helped the people in your own life or bifi like you are. I already wasn't, and everybody felt that. And I will always feel, I don't want to say bad because I'm not going to feel bad for being me and genuinely just dealing with life and everything is throwing out at me, but there's a part of me that's always as much as I needed it.

00:34:43
There was a part for a while, the first couple, I was gone for six months, essentially. But there was a part of me that felt guilty for letting everybody, not just you guys, like being co founders. And my staff, it's the clients. I worked so hard to get them through the door. So there was a part of me that felt like I lost a lot, but I needed to regroup, and that was more.

00:35:07
I'm useless to the entire world if I don't. Right. Well, and if I'm honest, I was super disappointed. Not in you, but disappointed that because I wanted to see you succeed, and I was genuinely disappointed that apparently that wasn't going to happen. At least with this venture, it was not looking good.

00:35:26
So before we get to how all the improvements we've been making with bi fi and the future of bi fi, during that six months when you were gone, how did you approach that kind of internal work? Be as specific as you'd like, obviously. But what does that mean? Because people say, oh, I had to work on myself. That sounds good.

00:35:51
No, I had to shut down. I shut everybody out. I shut my family out, I shut work out. I focused on my son because that's my responsibility. That's the only person I can't shut out, ever.

00:36:02
And he wouldn't get along far in his life without me. So it took a lot of therapy. I realized that how I was feeling. It was stuck. It was stuck in here.

00:36:14
And all that kept is every time something happened, no matter how small of an issue it might have been, it could have been that my son had a hard time tying his shoes and I'm having a mental breakdown over it because I'm dealing with so much other stress. So I've been in and out of therapy since I was twelve years old. I am a true person. That's going to push it. And I knew that's what I needed.

00:36:34
I was so angry. And that wasn't. Anger is a secondary emotion. Yeah, I've learned that. So on the outward, everybody's looking at me as angry.

00:36:44
And I thought I was angry because everyone was telling me I was too. Like my family was like, shauna, you're so angry. No, I am stressed out. I am overwhelmed. I don't feel adequate enough in certain aspects of my life, which I was bringing into other aspects.

00:36:57
So if I'm working really hard at work, well, I'm neglecting my kid. I didn't know how to balance. I had gotten to a point where they're both important. Those are the top two things that were important to me, at least. Your first child and your second child.

00:37:10
Exactly. And I'm both with bees. I didn't know how to juggle it. And I realized that a lot of my feelings and emotions came. I needed to compartmentalize them a little bit.

00:37:21
So I needed to deal with my feelings, with my family, because there was stress. Like when my mom was sick, I expected my family to step up and help, and they didn't. And that drove me nuts because here I am trying to be an entrepreneur, run a business, raise my kid, and I have to do all this extra. So I had to separate everything and basically dive into each situation, every scenario, to really figure out what it is that you're actually feeling. How are you going to fix that?

00:37:43
I had to put in the work to not feel this anger, this anxiety, this overwhelming, and had to figure out, Shante, moving forward in your life, because life is life. Things are always going to happen, good or bad. How are you going to save yourself so that this doesn't happen again in any aspect? And that's where I spent a lot of time in. Okay, so I figured out what the issues were.

00:38:06
Here's how I solved them. What do I do now to fix that? And I set boundaries. I'm not good at setting boundaries. And that's something that I've always.

00:38:17
So, so I know those are important. Boundaries are important, right. Especially nowadays, if you're talking like, working from home and with COVID and all that. Everything is all mixed into one thing. If you let it go that way.

00:38:30
So what did you do boundaries wise? I had to recreate basically my priorities, and obviously my son is first, no matter what. And a big part of my overwhelming mental space was that I didn't feel like I was giving him the attention he needed. As my son, yes, I'm taking care of him, but most people sit down and spend time with their kids every day. I was over here, like, yeah, working and just kind of like talking over my computer to him.

00:38:57
And that's not a life for him. That's not fair. And I definitely didn't want him to be more excited to go spend time with other people than me. So the first set was Benjamin's always first and make sure he is not just taken care of, but that you are being the mom that he needs you to be, not just his responsibilities and necessities. So not just getting him the quick fast food burger and putting him to bed, actually being present.

00:39:25
I know you do cook him dinner. A good bit all the time. We play a lot of scrabble. My son's really. And I can't stand scrabble.

00:39:34
It's not the game for me. He loves Scrabble. He loves puzzles and things that I can't stand, but I love watching his brain move. I love watching him be happy. So I make it a point.

00:39:44
Like, Shante, there's no reason that you're working till 10:00 at night when your kid gets out of school at 330. So the first boundary is to make sure that I did things with him and kept a routine. And as of now, we're still on this routine. I actually like it. And then the second part was, I did still work during that six months that I just didn't work for a servicing company.

00:40:06
I was an asset manager for a fund. And because that was way less challenging, I also realized this is not what I want to do for rest of my life because I'm used to a little bit more challenging. I need to keep moving and keep my brain thinking. And as much as, yes, borrowers need to be talked to and things like that, it's not my favorite thing to do. So I knew that wasn't my end all, be all.

00:40:29
But I also wasn't rushing myself to go anywhere. I wasn't even 100% sure that Bifi was going to be an option for me that I would even take. I'm not sure it happened, and I feel like it was like divine timing, but I was actually entertaining other opportunities when firefight came back onto my plate and I had to think long and hard on that one. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot going, uh, we internally said, you know, it, we got to take this shot again to try to get Shante back because you're such a key piece to the company. And when things were going well is when you were rocking and rolling.

00:41:13
And so if we were going to recover as a company, we knew we had to reach out to you, man. Okay, let's talk from your return through today.

00:41:25
So you came back in around March, I guess, of 2023, came back to Bifi. Originally, we had more of personnel doing operations, so we thought, well, we need more loans. Let's put her in business development. Well, originally I started with, hey, Shante, just look everything over, which is why we didn't announce that I was back, because I just wanted to make sure everything was the way it should be, at least from the servicing standpoint, and then put me into the business development role, because essentially that's where I shine. That's what I like to do.

00:41:56
And I think everybody knows that. And that's why we were like, yeah. And as time went on, we realized very quickly it didn't take long at all. That right now, at least at this time, this is not where you need to be, because we need expertise in your operations side. And I 100% agreed with it.

00:42:16
I was like, no, I don't think I should be doing this. I think this is where I need to be for now. And we kind of switched that role and made sure that I kind of oversaw and still oversee all the operations of Biasa as a whole. So my hands are a little bit in everything just to make sure that everything is still functioning and making sure the processes that were originally put in place, either they're there and still working, or if they're not, tweak it, change it, help anywhere that's needed. Which is kind of where I thought, okay, let's turn this ship around first and let's keep it moving, and then we can rearrange and replay.

00:42:53
Well, the reality is, too, not only did you have the long history of servicing experience, default servicing with foreclosures and bankruptcy, and all the servicing experience you had, you also had intimate knowledge of how this company had been formed, the intent of what was put in place, what was supposed to happen, also familiarity with the loans themselves, a lot of them. So we probably couldn't have found anybody else who we could plug and play like we were able to with you. And then. So, yeah, quickly roped back into operations. The comment you made about having your hands in many things.

00:43:30
Part of that is just, we're a small team. We're a startup. Yeah. It's not a negative. It's more of just to make sure everything is moving the way that we intended it to originally move.

00:43:38
And if we need to change, change and fill in the holes. I think there were just some holes, and it was okay. You of all people know where these holes need to get filled, so just take a look, and so it's not a negative. I love doing what I do. That's why I'm here.

00:43:50
So it definitely was that. And we've had some personnel changes. We've had a lot, I guess, over the course of Bifi's existence, myself included, which I never thought I'd be on that list, but it's really just, again, I knew why we originally want to start this. So it was plug and play, and I fill in anywhere. I mean, with the turnover and things.

00:44:18
Look, hiring is a real. It's a difficult thing in a small business or anything. Not our favorite. And your people are critical. Your team members are everything.

00:44:30
So if you pick the wrong person or it just doesn't work out, it can really end up hurting you. That's another area I think we've come a long way with, as far as lessons learned in hiring the right people and also getting them in the right seats on the bus. So talk to us about the last six months specifically with Bifi. What improvements have been made and what's looking good. So we have cleaned up a lot.

00:44:59
A lot of missing information, a lot of missing data answered a lot of, you know, they were lacking a lot of communication. So that was the biggest thing about Bifi, like, why we want to be different. Nobody communicates. And with the kind of the downfall of everything, communication stopped, too. So it was trying to get everybody back up to speed and get these lenders the customer service that they deserve.

00:45:22
So that was a big push. We recently just went back to our weekly summaries so that it hopefully eliminates some questions that lenders are naturally asking right now, because they're not getting that communication. We definitely had personnel change, so we have a lovely new CEO, Jamie Bateman, which I think made a really big change in the past couple of months. I think that was needed to have you, a founder, in the driver's seat.

00:45:49
We definitely cleaned up with staff and kind of rearranged and made sure that we got the right people in the right seats on the right bus. We are fortunate enough to get another employee to come back and join us. So I was very and will forever be grateful for that because I don't know how far we would have gotten without her either. I don't want to take all the credit for helping this either, because it's not just me, it's everybody. And then we definitely leaned on some resources that we weren't always aware were available to us to help us grow and be better and get back on the track of success and being the servicing company that we want to be.

00:46:26
And I think that we would not be having this conversation today if we didn't have the resources that we do have. Yeah, absolutely. And there's been not only team member turnover, but we have had some changes on the ownership side as well. And as of today, we can't get into too many specifics with regard to the ownership. But suffice it to say that in December, things really took a turn for the better with Bifi.

00:46:55
And like you said, our resources, the financial resources that we have backing the, you know, just looking back from a founder's standpoint, I think one of the mistakes Chris and I made was at times being too passive. We thought, oh, we can invest. We're investors. We invest some money in this company, and then it just grows, and we ten x our money and, sounds great. Well, that's great if it's a functioning operation that we're buying, buying an existing company, but when it's a startup, so many challenges.

00:47:33
So, yes, I got a business coach. He's been on the podcast as well. Chris Steer, one of the first things he did for me was say he restructured. We restructured my own weekly calendar together, and bi fi became the focus. This was before I formally came in as CEO, and so I started to make bi fi every morning.

00:47:59
That's what I'm focused on. And so not trying to make the episode about me. But you are right. I've made a very big, concerted effort, just individually, to be much more actively involved in overseeing the company and getting you what you need, because you are the servicing expert, and your team members are obviously experts at certain parts of the servicing as well. But I've personally gotten much more involved, and I feel like we've really made a ton of progress in the last six months specifically.

00:48:34
And I'm really excited about the future. I am so excited about the future. Watching how things have moved, I know that we definitely had some worrying concern, and I'm not going to lie about it, there was a genuine fear at one point as to where is this going? What are we doing and we always talk about the lights end of the tunnel and more recently that this light is not far and as of realistically past like two three weeks I think I've actually realized Shante this is happening, this is working. These are positives.

00:49:11
I think we've been so used to being on edge that for now it's so we're changing so many things to be successful to be the servicing company that we wanted to always be and to do the things that we want to do correctly and so for me it's exciting because I don't know if we had this conversation a year ago if we would be saying the same thing and none of us saw this coming but I'm along for the ride and I'm here to stay. There will not be any more Shante mental states again the boundaries help with that. So that's been working for me at least for the better part of a year. Absolutely. I think taking the long term view is critical because we can all grind, we can all have stressful difficult weeks and work 60 70 hours that's fine for period of time.

00:50:03
It doesn't work in the long term and it doesn't do anything for you as a mother or the other parts of your life. So. Couldn't agree more. I don't know. Honestly a few months ago I think people were looking from the outside in thinking there's a fine line between sort of stick to itiveness and just stupidity or stubbornness.

00:50:32
I knew that we had never really done full marketing campaign. There were so many things we hadn't actually done so I felt like we still had a chance. We just needed time. We just need some time and the right relationships and some things connected through some relationships and we've got like you said a lot more resources now just financially also system wise that we're able to plug into as well as just expertise on servicing that other parts of servicing that maybe we're not experts in. Right.

00:51:12
So just being able to have that backstop has been phenomenal. Like you said, for me to be able to take a breath and say okay if we're going to do this long term which I am excited to say that I truly believe we're going to be a big success long term you've got to be able to take a step back, take a breath, take a break, take a day off. So before I get to my rapid fire questions before we close up, what's one or two lessons or takeaways for a single mom out there who wants to start a business.

00:51:50
And I say this to my friends now, some of them are single parents as well. They're having newborns. So I'm definitely a decade plus ahead of them. But do it. Take the leap, because it's worth it.

00:52:01
I think as a human being, as a woman, as a mother, I've grown so much. I've grown so much in the past three years than I have in the past ten. And that I like who I am today. I love who I am today. And I'm realizing that once you just stay organized, I think that's really where I kind of just went down the drain, is trying to juggle and staying organized.

00:52:24
Yes. There are going to be times. We have long nights. Yes. Your kids get sick.

00:52:27
Like, it happens. I had a huge incident with my son earlier this year, and we're still battling through it. Things happen. But don't let it run you and don't let it stop you. Because the end of the day, I just look at this.

00:52:40
Hey, Shante, you're working to create something successful. You want your kids to look up to you and be know. My son knows, oh, mommy, you're working behind your. Like, he knows. And it makes me feel good when I hear him talking to other people, like, oh, well, my mommy works behind it.

00:52:54
He doesn't know what I do, but he knows I work behind a computer and then I talk to people and he thinks I'm just helping people, which essentially I am. That's how I explain I'm just helping. Sure. It's something like in your core that it ignites, that you don't even know that you have. So don't stop.

00:53:11
It's hard. I will put this on everything. This is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Raising a child as well as starting a business at the same time simultaneously and maintaining that. But it's not as bad.

00:53:26
You have to go through hurdles. That's life. You have to go through these speed bumps and things like that. But don't give up and don't pass opportunities even. I mean, my story had an opportunity, got to a point.

00:53:37
I was like, I can't do this. I left. The opportunity came. It's like, no, no, Shante, like, you're still supposed to be here at this point. And there's reasons and seasons.

00:53:45
I go by everything. The world works in a weird, mysterious way. Everything happens for a reason. And I was supposed to go through that. I was.

00:53:55
And that was my path, and I'm still on my path. That doesn't end until I'm not here. But just go with it. Trust your gut, trust yourself. And just remember, there's always a bigger picture.

00:54:06
It's to get to a point where you can. Some people, it's financial security. Some people, it's to leave stuff to their children. Whatever it is, don't shy away from that. That's really good.

00:54:16
Well, I can say it's not only your son who's proud of you. My daughter is also very proud of you. Telling you I'm going to have to make a trip down there and actually meet her. I don't think she ever listens to my podcast, but I'm sure she'll listen to this. She listened to last one.

00:54:32
All right. So you ready for some rapid fire questions? Yes. If you could go back and give your 18 year old self some advice, what would it be? You're stronger than you think.

00:54:47
Love that. Really good. If you were given $10 million tomorrow, what would you do with it? Buying a house first for me and my kid. I'd invest in notes.

00:54:57
This is what I love as well as I'd give back. I want to do more for autism research and things like that. I want to understand things better. I'm really intrigued by the human mind and how it works. So I would give back.

00:55:13
I would invest to keep the investments rolling. I would never give up my job. I don't care if I won the lottery or anything. I would stay. I'm not that person I like, so love it.

00:55:24
If you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would it be? Oprah Winfrey. I think you said that last time. I definitely did. And I'm going to stand on that until the day it actually happens.

00:55:34
That's a goal I set for myself. Not a bad choice. Yeah. I just heard a podcast. I may have sent it to you, actually.

00:55:43
Happiness. It was with the diary of a CEO he had a happiness expert on. And Oprah had actually reached out to this guy because he had a regular column that he wrote, and Oprah called him up and said, we need to do a book together. So maybe one day she'll call you up to do a book. I'm just going to call her.

00:56:02
Knock on her front door. What is a challenge that you're facing in your business right now? Time management. That's the God's honest. I.

00:56:15
I know where we're going, and so it's all up in my brain, and it's exciting and the wheels are moving, but it's like, Shante, things take time and having to accept that things take time. I'm not a patient person naturally, and I'm learning a lot about myself. I just took this assessment, which I read through, and it's exciting, but it's true and scary at the same time. But it leads me to improve. And I'm young.

00:56:46
I have so much life to live and so much more in my career that I haven't seen yet. So I need to really work on my time management a little bit better. But I think that we're already kind of working on that, and I'm kind of getting used to delegating a little bit more and passing stuff off. And it's the boundary setting. Sure.

00:57:05
How about a book or two that you could recommend? I don't really read too often. I'm not going to lie. I'll read an article.

00:57:15
The podcast that you actually shared with me, I am drawing the biggest blank on the name. I listen to it. Yes, I love her. I would love to meet her and somehow talk to her in person. I was intrigued.

00:57:27
I'm still intrigued. I'm still listening. I listen to podcasts more than anything. Not always business related, though. Sometimes I just need, like, sound.

00:57:36
So I'm a true crime junkie as well.

00:57:40
This has been awesome. I mean, a few quick takeaways, I think. Boundaries, that's been critical in our discussion today and obviously in the work you did on yourself, just setting boundaries, prioritizing, taking the long term view, realizing that there's a bigger picture. Right. It's not just when you're going through a really hard time.

00:58:04
It's easy to get super caught up in just that and that stress. And it's a big deal, of course, right? But it will pass. And there's a. It does pass, even though you think it doesn't.

00:58:14
It does. I mean, how many times do I tell you I can't do this. I'm not doing this. And the next day I'm like, today's a great. Just.

00:58:21
I'm just not going to talk. Give her. I'll let her be. That's how it is. I think we all get like that on some level, but awesome.

00:58:30
Shante. This has been great for our listeners. Out. They. How can they find you?

00:58:35
Where can they reach out to you? You can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me on Facebook. Shanteduffy. That's my name.

00:58:42
You can also email me at sduffy@bifiels.com or if that's easier, I won't leave this phone number. You could visit the website bifiels.com and it has our contact information and email addresses there as well. Bi fils.com any private lenders note investors? Hard money lenders? Any mortgage holders?

00:59:08
Commercial? We started taking those in recently. Absolutely. So don't hesitate to reach out. Shante, this has been great.

00:59:16
Thank you so much. I know you said you're struggling, you're improving with time management. So we do know that your time is very valuable. So we appreciate you taking an hour out to talk with us today. Thank you.

00:59:29
Anytime. And to the listener out there, thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us. And that is your time. Thanks everyone. Take care.

00:59:39
Thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us. Your time, if you like the show, please share it with your friends and fellow podcast listeners. One entrepreneur at a time. We can change the world. See you next time.