Muslim Life Hackers

Arfa Iqbal: How Business Growth Is Linked to Your Personal Growth

• Mifrah M • Episode 17

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In this episode, Arfa, an experienced copywriter, discusses her career, the impact of AI on copywriting, and the importance of coaching for personal and business growth. She shares how coaches have helped her navigate challenges and improve her skills. Arfa also emphasizes the significance of a strong network, continuous learning, and balancing personal health and spirituality for overall success.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
04:43 The Importance of Coaching for Business Growth
08:21 Personal Experiences with Coaching
15:09 Choosing the Right Coach
21:18 Health and Wellness Coaching
23:53 The Importance of Holistic Health
24:17 Investing in Coaching: A  Personal Journey
26:00 Empowering Others: Resources and Support
26:38 The True Cost of Time and Coaching
29:16 Balancing Business and Personal Life
35:05 The Power of Networking and Masterminds
36:51 Choosing Your Circle Wisely

About Arfa Iqbal:
Classically trained in direct response, Arfa is a 9 figure copywriter, digital marketer and bestselling author of the book ‘Mind-Hack™ Marketing – How to Turn Customer Psychology into Breakthrough Sales’. Since 2010, Arfa has worked with some of the best thought leaders, celebrity influencers and experts in the world to help them grow and scale using sales funnels.

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Arfa Iqbal:

Your business cannot grow unless you yourself are growing.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Asalamu Alaikum and welcome to the Muslim Life Hackers podcast. I'm your host Mifrah Mahroof, and in today's episode we're going to be having Arfa Iqbal join us. So Arfa is a direct response marketer and the best selling author of MindHack Marketing. She specializes in creating sales funnels and pre selling mastery, skills which hinge heavily on understanding how customers think. Since 2010, she's helped generate over nine figures in sales for her clients, which include celebrity influencers, thought leaders, and industry experts. So without further ado, let's get started with this. Asalamu Alaikum, Arfa and welcome to the show.

Arfa Iqbal:

Wa'alaikumsalam Warohmatullahi Wabarakatuhu Thank you so much for having me. How are you

Mifrah Mahroof:

Alhamdulillah, I'm doing well. How are you going?

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, I'm doing good. It's been a long day, it's quite

Mifrah Mahroof:

yeah, it's actually late for you and

Arfa Iqbal:

isn't it?

Mifrah Mahroof:

It's very early for me. This is going to be an interesting conversation.

Arfa Iqbal:

InshaAllah, InshaAllah.

Mifrah Mahroof:

So you are a copywriter. So it's a direct response marketer and you've been in this space for a very long time. So 2010,

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, since 2010

Mifrah Mahroof:

How many years is that? Yeah. 14 years,

Arfa Iqbal:

That's 14 years. So yeah, long time.

Mifrah Mahroof:

um, growing in this space and like changing a lot, right?

Arfa Iqbal:

Oh yeah, definitely. When I started it, I didn't even know what copywriting was. I'll tell you something really funny. I thought copywriting was that thing that you do when you're trying to legally protect your work.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Oh, yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

I didn't understand what it was even. So yeah, and then when I got into it, I was like, oh wow, it's not what I thought it was. But yeah,

Mifrah Mahroof:

so what is copywriting for our guests, who aren't aware of it, who still think that it's got to do with the legal stuff.

Arfa Iqbal:

So it's basically a salesmanship in either print or digital, right? Anything that you see online, like a brochure, an email, a landing page, a sales page, anything that is designed to sell something is normally written by somebody like myself.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Oh, okay.

Arfa Iqbal:

So that's how I want you to think of it, right? Like, even if you're like on TV and you're watching an advert, somebody like myself will have written that advert. I

Mifrah Mahroof:

see. And, I wonder though, like in your space, how has AI actually affected it? Or has it not affected it at all?

Arfa Iqbal:

Do you know what? I think there was this whole big hoo ha that, oh gosh, AI is going to take over your jobs and, no one's going to want to hire you. And I'm going to be completely honest. At first, I was a little bit scared because I was like, Oh, like if the machines are taking over, what am I going to do? But then when I started playing around with it and I tried to get like ChatGPT to write some copy, I was like, no, it's not that good yet. Do you know what I mean? So you have to really understand something called prompt engineering, which is the ability to instruct the AI correctly, and if you don't understand how to do that, then that was saying like, the better the quality of the input, the better the quality of the output. But the truth of the matter is most business owners are not prompt engineers. They don't understand, how to write a really great prompt. They don't know exactly what to say. They don't know the nuances of what a prompt involves. Now, in terms of how has it disrupted my industry or has it replaced people? Yes, it has replaced people, but what it's actually done is it's replaced the copywriters that were not that good in the first place, right? So if you're a bad copywriter, or you're someone who's very mediocre, doesn't really understand strategy, you don't really understand marketing, you're just writing whatever anyone tells you, that type of person absolutely can be replaced by AI, but I think we're still a long way off AI completely replacing us. You still need someone to, sense check the copy, someone to make sure that everything is making sense, that it reads the way that it's supposed to, that you're on brand, it's still got that creative streak to it. So there's still so many things that, I mean, AI is very good at helping you get like a rough first draft when you know what you're doing. But it's not going to give you the finished article, maybe that will change in the next, five to 10 years. Who knows?

Mifrah Mahroof:

I agree. I find that even if you have the best prompt, like you still have to have that human touch, cause you can tell when something's written by AI, it just has this.

Arfa Iqbal:

Oh, I can spot it a mile

Mifrah Mahroof:

whether A or Whether B, you know, that saying that it has at the end, it's like, Oh, whether you want A or whether you want B, then this is right for you. It's like, a classic AI, AI write up. Yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

but it's not been around long enough that something would be a cliche, but already you can spot AI written text from a mile away.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. And I can imagine you can see that come up a lot. I'm curious to know, the actual workings of like how you got to where you are with this successful business. Cause I know a lot of our listeners here are very interested in starting their own business or they have their own business and they want to jump up to different levels and get higher and higher. And I know that you've spoken about your story a lot in different interviews and podcasts. However, one thing that you speak about a lot is the whole idea of having coaches to help you. And I want to hear more about that. Why would you say that coaches has been one of your most important investments in your journey of becoming a successful business owner?

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, that's a really great question. I think it's more about like how far do you want to go, right? Like, I think if you're serious about building something that is built to last and you're creating something that is going to be with you for the long haul. You have to take it very seriously, it's not a joke, right? Because I don't care if you're starting a business online or whether you're doing it offline. It requires a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of resources. But also, you don't know all of the answers, right? And many times, like I always tell people, like people who are like on the fence about coaching or they're a little bit iffy about it, I'm like, the greatest growth that I've had in my own business is when I've hired coaches, right? Why? Because they can spot the things that I can't. They can see things, or they can analyze things from a slightly different perspective. The thing is, when you are working, You're emotionally attached to what you do, right? Whereas a coach, when they come along, there's zero subjectivity. They're completely objective. They're looking from the outside, looking in, and they've got zero emotional attachment to what you're doing. So something that you think is a big deal to you, to a coach, might not be such a big deal, but they need that objectivity to be able to tell you, actually, do you know what? You haven't considered this. This isn't going the way that you thought it would, what are you gonna do in order to try and counteract that? So what they'll do is they'll give you a different perspective, they'll give you a different way of looking at things. Even if we, let's take our deen for example, right? If you look at the Prophet SAW, right? He was coached by Jibreel AS,

Mifrah Mahroof:

Hmm.

Arfa Iqbal:

right? And, so he couldn't do what he could do without Allah's help and without being coached and basically taken through it, like the verses of the Quran would come down and they would come through Jibreel, like he needed that to be coached through the process. Like it's not easy changing the world, right? And I'm like, well, Allah SWT coached the Prophet SAW, Jibreel AS coached the Prophet SAW, and he was a mighty messenger, right? So it's like, if you think about it from our perspective, we don't have all of the answers. We just don't, right? I don't care how good you are at something. You don't know whether you're doing something right or whether you think that you are doing something in the correct way until someone else comes and says, But you haven't considered this, or what about this, or what about, X, Y, and Z, right? What if this changes? What are you gonna do? And so they force you outside of your comfort zone, right? They will challenge you on things that will, in my opinion, helps you to grow. And that's how I view coaching, right? Seriously, I think like when I tried to do this on my own, it was so hard because I was making a lot of mistakes. There was a lot of

Mifrah Mahroof:

of, start of your business when you were trying to

Arfa Iqbal:

that was right

Mifrah Mahroof:

How long, how long were you trying to do it on your own for until you decided I'm going to get a

Arfa Iqbal:

So I tried to do on my own for about a year. Yeah, or maybe a little bit longer, but it was really hard because I didn't like, when you don't know what you don't know. So it was difficult because I was like trying a bit of this and trying a bit of that, and sometimes I would do something that would work really well. And other times I'd do the same thing and then it wasn't working and I'm like, I couldn't understand like what's going on, like, I think I'm doing all the right things, but clearly I'm not. My first ever coach was actually my mentor who taught me copywriting because I did a lot of like self study courses. And then I thought I knew what I was doing until I got coached by him and he mentored me for a whole year actually. And then I'd look at my work that I'd done myself and then I'd feel really

Mifrah Mahroof:

embarrassed. Yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

I'm like, oh my god, I really didn't know what the heck I was doing. Because here's the problem, when you do something yourself, how do you know you're doing it correctly? You just don't. That's the problem, right? So I think from the perspective of, because I coach students myself as well, they're not aware of what they're not aware, and it's the job of the coach to bring that into someone's awareness.

Mifrah Mahroof:

It's like knowledge is transferred, not from like just book to human. It's like human to human. And that's the best.

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, it's an experience, isn't it, right? So you have to live the knowledge, isn't it? it's not good enough to just read a book and then think that you have all of the answers, because I tried that on Believe Me. It just doesn't work like that. I wish it was that linear, but it's not.

Mifrah Mahroof:

So where would you say like books and courses and say videos and things that you watch come in then? What are your thoughts on that? Because like people say invest in courses, learn about this and where does that come in then?

Arfa Iqbal:

I think that they all have their own value, right? So it's not like they don't have value. I think it's extremely important. I try my best to read all the time because the reading will give you lots of different perspectives, right? What it can't give you is it can't give you a bespoke action plan. It cannot give you insight into something that is specific for you. Do you see what I'm saying? and it can't give you experience, like books are great for knowledge and enhancing your understanding, but it's not going to be unique to you and what you need. Right? Even same with courses, right? Like I said, I've done hundreds of courses in my lifetime, right? And, I'll go through them on my own accord, but again, it's like, it's great for the knowledge, it's great for the understanding, but actually when you start applying it, it's a completely different ballgame. It's a completely different kettle of fish. So they have their value and I would say, use things like books and courses to give you the background, understanding, to give you that knowledge, to help you to understand how something works. But, until you've actually lived it, And you've gone through it as an experience, you're not going to have the in depth knowledge and understanding that you should have, right? Because in depth knowledge only comes when you have that, it's that I've actually gotten my hands dirty. I rolled my sleeves up and I did this myself. And that's how I learned. And I always tell my students like, you learn more from failure than you do from your successes. Actually, failure is going to teach you a heck of a lot, right? Your Failure is going to teach you what success can never teach you, right? and it'll tell you where are you going wrong and it'll help you to formulate better ideas and to try different things and to try things that, quite frankly, you might not otherwise have tried. If you did well on absolutely everything, that doesn't teach you anything because when something goes wrong, then you don't know what to do.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Ah,

Arfa Iqbal:

Whereas if you've done something and it went wrong, you learned the lesson and now you can apply it to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. So yeah, it has its place and it has its usage, but if you want to quantum leap your business, then getting a coach is, in my honest opinion, the best way

Mifrah Mahroof:

So, it sounds like, growing and leveling up is possible through just books and courses, but the time is what takes longer. And when you compare it with having a coach or another human being to help you, then it's just the time is faster because now you get the knowledge and

Arfa Iqbal:

you're going to shortcut your learning curve, definitely. Yeah, you're going to, shortcut your learning, curve it. It slashes the learning time down. So the books will, like I said, they will give you the understanding.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

You don't get the insight or the experience that a coach can bring.

Mifrah Mahroof:

It kind of reminds me of that quote. It's like, you either pay with your wallet or your time.

Arfa Iqbal:

Well, a hundred percent, right?

Mifrah Mahroof:

but you can learn regardless, but it's just like, how do you want to do it? Do you want to spend your time or your money?

Arfa Iqbal:

The alternative question to think about is how fast do you want to

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

If you've got all the time in the world and you'd rather just figure it out for yourself, good luck. I wish you all the best. Because that is something that you have to be then prepared to put in as much time as, and that could take years for you to get to where you want, right? And I've seen people who do this. They're like, nope, I want to figure this out for myself. I want to figure this out for myself. And it's three years have gone by, five years, I'm stuck. But yeah, did you ever get a coach? No, I didn't get a coach. Why not? Oh, I thought I could figure this out on my own. Whereas the people who, you know, you take two people, one can be incredibly knowledgeable in their subject matter, but you compare that to someone who maybe doesn't have anywhere near as much knowledge, but because they've hired the coach, they will get to where they need to go faster than the other person.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Hmm. Yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

That's the beauty of that. So yeah, a hundred percent. I have a coach who's been coaching me for the last 10 years and counting. And I think at one point I had like five

Mifrah Mahroof:

coaches. Oh, wow. Five coaches. So, was it like different areas of your life or like, how was that?

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, totally different areas of my life. I had one was helping with time management. Another one was helping with podcasting. Another one was helping me with my business. Another one's helping me with my health kind of thing. So at any one point, I had multiple coaches at any one point. And so for me, because I understand the value of that, it's not something I think I can't grow unless, like, your business cannot grow. And I think this is like the key takeaway here. Your business cannot grow unless you yourself are growing.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Hmm, that's a very important point. Because there's even this thing I heard when like people are like, I'll invest after I make the money, like I'll spend on myself after I made some money in this business that I'm doing.

Arfa Iqbal:

good luck with that. That might take you a long time to do.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Okay. So, that's interesting. So it's like, the more you want to grow, the more you need to invest in yourself so that you can be able to get the results that you want. And that brings me to a couple of other questions. When you say get a coach, would you just say, get someone, one to one or what about group coaching and what about those community

Arfa Iqbal:

mean, I've done both.

Mifrah Mahroof:

what are your,

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, I've done both and there's definite value with both of them, right? You have to look at what you are comfortable with. Normally when you go private, you're paying a lot of money, but that's totally okay. But again, it depends on what it is that you're looking to achieve, right? There are certain instances where you're not comfortable sharing your private life with a group of strangers, right? And so in that instance, I would say to you, go private with the coaching, right? But if you are in a space or let's say it's just like business and you're in a group that is better than still doing it on your own.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. I see.

Arfa Iqbal:

Because there's a lot of, I mean, even I do a lot of group coaching. I do private coaching. I do group coaching and the group coaching works extremely well. And actually what I found with the group coaching, people learn from other people.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. They do.

Arfa Iqbal:

Right, so I've done this many times. So, I actually coach for Marissa Peer, she's one of my Clients and basically, I've noticed like a student will ask a question. I'm answering the question everyone is writing down notes, right? So there is that because it's a community, you know learning environment Everyone is learning from everyone else and I think the thing that I have found, because I've been doing this for a number of years now, is students are actually quite surprised at how much they learn from the other students. I think in their head, they probably thought, well, I've got the questions that I wanted to ask, but actually so many times students have said, I came here with just like one question and I've ended up making pages and pages of notes because this was so valuable. It really helped me to learn, and I'm like, that's the reason why we have these group coaching calls. But the private, of course, it can be done in so many different ways, right? That might involve the coach. Physically, like for example, I have a coach that is coaching me privately. I share all of my business financials. I would not be comfortable doing that with, you know, I would not be comfortable pulling out all of my numbers In front of a group, but because my coach has been working with me for over 10 years, he sees what my cashflow says, he knows exactly what's coming in at what point, he knows how much profit's coming in, how, what my cashflow is saying over the next 12 weeks, he knows how much my net is, he knows what my projections are, like he knows all of that, and that is fine because I'm doing that on a one to one basis with him, but I wouldn't be comfortable sharing that in a

Mifrah Mahroof:

group. Yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

So you have to choose your poison, basically, you know, if you've got to, yeah, if you know that you need the coaching, you've got to figure out, what am I comfortable doing in front of other people? And if the answer is not very much, then go for the private coaching. That's what I would say.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Okay. Then that makes sense. So how would you go about finding a coach? Because there are so many coaches online and then you want to, let's talk about how you'd find it in business. And I'm also curious to hear about how you find it for your other areas as well, but let's start business.

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah. So this is a really good question, actually. It involves a couple of things. Number one, you've got to be willing to have a lot of introspection. So, you yourself have got to be willing to understand what are the areas of my life that I need serious help with. And that means that you have to do a lot of reflecting and you have to figure out, and sometimes this also looks like you swallowing your pride and removing the ego. Because, I think this is with everyone. I think once you've, especially when you've been doing something for a long time, You almost feel like because you've put in the hours or you've put in the years Oh, I don't need a coach for that because my knowledge is sufficient. Do you see what I mean? So and I've seen people who have this problem. They're like, no, I don't want someone telling me what to do. No, a coach is not there to tell you what to do. They are there to help challenge you and help you to grow past the blocks that you otherwise wouldn't have seen, right? But it first involves you having a little bit of humility and figuring out, actually, do you know what? This area of my life is not that great, I need help here. So it's that, first it's that admission that I need the help and then I always prefer to work with coaches that I've got a personal recommendation of, right? So I will ask, Alhamdulillah, I'm very well connected. So what I will do is I will ask the people around me, listen, you know what? I'm looking for someone that can help me solve this particular problem. Does anyone recommend, does anyone have any recommendations? And so I always go by recommendations and then I don't even just go hire the person as is. I'll go check out all of their reviews. I'll check out their case studies. I'll check out the testimonials. I will even have to, if I have to, I'll go speak to some of their clients, right? That's how serious I take the approach of coaching because I think there's nothing worse than getting yourself a coach that doesn't align with you or your values, right? And not everyone, not every coach is suitable for every person. You have to find the coach that is right for you.

Mifrah Mahroof:

I agree, also in that researching phase, even going through their content and material makes a difference because it gives you that whole, like,

Arfa Iqbal:

That makes a

Mifrah Mahroof:

yeah, like it gives you this feeling about like, can I really resonate with this person? Or is it just like, they're totally off? Hmm. What if you reasonate with the knowledge

Arfa Iqbal:

right? So the things that they are sharing. If you share that viewpoint, then actually it makes it 10 times easier for you to say yes. Because when you read their content, their emails, you're consuming their videos, that actually gives you a really good indication as to whether or not someone knows

Mifrah Mahroof:

what they're talking about. Yeah, and also, I guess this research also shows it's who that person is. And essentially when you work with someone, you want to become like them. Do I see myself becoming them? And if so, then, okay, well, that's a good sign.

Arfa Iqbal:

Exactly, exactly.

Mifrah Mahroof:

that's an interesting one. Okay, what about in other areas? Like, how would you go about with that? for example, help or so no, that's a big one

Arfa Iqbal:

So I think with health, health is a very interesting one. Simply because you have to align with their philosophy. For example, I'll give you a really good example actually. Unfortunately, I do have an autoimmune disorder and I firmly believe, like when I go to the doctor and I said, I'm experiencing, problems here, problems there, I'm very stiff in the morning, I can't move my fingers kind of thing. They're like, the first thing they want to do is they want to put you on really harsh medication and what not, but they're not willing to go to the root cause, right? Whereas, My fundamental belief is that, your body, your immunity lies in your gut, right? So if I'm going to go work with an expert, I'm going to work with an expert that understands that first of all, immunity is found in the gut. But secondly, you don't treat the symptoms. Cause what I found with doctors is they're very good at prescribing medicines for the symptoms of the problem, but not so much helping you get to the root cause and helping you figure out why you're sick in the first place. So for me, when I'm working with someone, I want to know, does this person share the same philosophy as me? Do they believe that my body is an entire system? And not just compartmentalize. Oh, you've got pain in your shoulder. You've got pain in your fingers kind of thing. Oh, so what we're going to do is we're just going to give you a bunch of painkillers, but we're not going to get to the root cause, right? We're not going to figure anything out, right? Like for me, that is just a waste of time. Because yes, it helps to a point, but it doesn't help you get better. And so I think when, especially when it comes to your health, like you have to find someone, like I go for functional practitioners because they view your body as an entire system, and they know that, let's say, for example, if you have, Typically as entrepreneurs, we have highly stressful jobs, right? you go to a normal doctor, they will tell you that the stress doesn't have any impact on your body. That's nonsense, right? That's a classic one, by the way. I've been told so

Mifrah Mahroof:

many times. Yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

And I was so grateful that the doctor that I had, the first question he asked me is, have you been under a lot of stress lately? And I was like, Yeah. And he was like, yeah, that's why.

Mifrah Mahroof:

is so important

Arfa Iqbal:

wow.

Mifrah Mahroof:

in like, it really affects us a

Arfa Iqbal:

lot. So important, but I was so shocked because I was like, this is probably the first doctor I've ever spoken to that acknowledged that my lifestyle might actually have an impact on my health, right? So it's insane. So yeah. I,

Mifrah Mahroof:

So it sounds like, having that alignment in belief and actually seeing that, okay, are they going to approach health for example, in the way that I'm looking at it. That makes sense.

Arfa Iqbal:

Oh my God. Yeah. That's so important. Yeah. Because if they compartmentalize, and they just, No, it's just like this and it's like this and almost like putting your condition into boxes. But you don't really get anywhere with that because then it's just you're on a rollercoaster of drugs

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. Do you

Arfa Iqbal:

what I mean? And there's no to it kind of thing. Yes

Mifrah Mahroof:

actually the reality for so many people, right? So I want to step back a bit and also ask you about, in the early days and you investing the money for coaches. What if you don't have enough money and you want to get the business started, to what extent would you prioritize this?

Arfa Iqbal:

When I got started, I actually didn't have the money to do the mentoring with my coach. And I still remember, I went to my sister in law and I just basically said to her, I really need your help. And bless her heart. I always make dua for her. She paid for my mentoring, and then Alhamdulillah, within three months of me doing the mentoring, I was able to pay her back, which was fantastic. So, the way that I look at it is where you can either find a way to make the money, okay, get the money, or you can make a lot of excuses, but you have to choose that like you either decide I'm going to do it and then you figure out how to do it or you wait with a full intention that when I've got the money I'm going to save up for this and then when I've got the money I'm going to go invest. But the way that I look at that is that's just putting off. It's just putting off something that you could get done a lot quicker. You could make the money so much faster and when you have that help, make the money and then pay the person back. But that in itself is a big responsibility because obviously you have to put a lot of work into it. So it's one thing having the coaching, it's quite another actually doing the

Mifrah Mahroof:

work. Yeah, it is. And also it did actually also comes back to, if we really need something and we make du'a for it, and even if we don't want to go to, through the root of debt, then Allah SWT will always open up a way for us in ways we don't

Arfa Iqbal:

Oh yeah, of course. Of course, I believe that.

Mifrah Mahroof:

So, it's, yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

You know, I've had a student who come to me and said, I really want to work with you, Arfa.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Hmm.

Arfa Iqbal:

But do you know what? I physically don't have the means, I don't have the money. And so what I will do with those people is I will like literally I'll send them a copy of my book, right? And I'm like, right, okay, let me send you this, go read the book, go put things into action. So basically what I'm doing is I'm helping to empower them to be able to make the money so they can go work with me. You know, or that I will point them to resources, if they don't need my book but it's something else, I'll point them to other resources that I've got, or I will pass them on to someone that I think can definitely help them, even if that's not

Mifrah Mahroof:

me. Yeah, of course. I think it's easiest to dismiss these things like coaching and saying, Oh, it's too expensive, but then it doesn't cost you any money to actually want it in your mind. Like, it doesn't cost you any money to dream it or at least say, Hey, I want this.

Arfa Iqbal:

Well, it doesn't cost you any money. No, but it does cost you, doesn't it, right? Because your time has a value attached to it, right? And I think that's the great myth that people like get rid of. Oh, I've got loads of time. Yeah, but at what cost, right? That's time that you could be spending with your family, with your loved ones, right? Like there's an associated cost with that, right? I don't ever look at coaching as a cost. I always look at it as an investment into my well being, in an investment into my business, an investment into whatever it is that I need help with, right? That's how I view coaching. It's always, it's never a cost. It's always an investment.

Mifrah Mahroof:

True. Of course. I mean, like actually desiring it and actually wanting it, for example, like a person may not immediately have the funds to pay for a coach, but there's nothing stopping them from actually wanting it in their hearts, because, because like at that point, like a person could make excuses and say, Oh, I can't do that and they're already dismissing it at the start. Like, Oh, I can't do that. Or I can't afford that. So that kind of becomes their reality. And then they never get to buy it or invest in it and move forward. And that's actually pretty sad. Cause you kind of like cut it off at the roots.

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, it's definitely sad, but what you know the way that I would look at that is if you're not ready to work with a coach, there are other ways like read the books, do the courses, do the self help, right? Get yourself in a supportive environment with other like minded, people who are also on that same journey. And find ways to help yourself, right? Like one thing I have learned from being in business for 14 years, you cannot do this on your own. You really can't. It's impossible to do it on your own. And I think if you're looking at doing it on your own, just be prepared to put a lot of, time and effort and energy, into trying to figure it out, right? Whereas with the right coach. They're gonna literally just shortcut that learning, something that might take you two years to do, you might be able to do in three months with

Mifrah Mahroof:

the coach. Yeah. And like time, and time is limited right at the end. Whereas money you

Arfa Iqbal:

Well, time is your most precious resource, right? You can always make more money, but you absolutely cannot make more time. Once that time is gone, it's gone. You're not making it back. It's not

Mifrah Mahroof:

That's So true. Subhanallah. Okay. We're actually getting close to the end of the interview and I want to present to you the questions that we have for all of our guests. So what would you say is one life hack that's improved your life? Well, other than coaching, since we've explored it.

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, so I'd say read a lot. Definitely read a lot. Actually, there's two life hacks that I would say. Read a lot, and that also includes the Quran. So have a daily Quran habit. I think that I don't believe that you can have success, without, having success in that area, right? Like, for me, success is about having success in every area of your life, not just, Oh yeah, I'm great at business, but you know what, my deen completely sucks and I'm not praying five times a day and I'm not bothering, like, you know where you need to level up, right? And so for me, it's when I do my planning, especially when I'm doing my planning on how my business or how my life is going to improve, there's always a section on how is my spirituality going to improve, right? Am I developing a better relationship with the Quran? Am I, really exerting myself in worship? What am I doing to try and help myself, right? So, definitely that. And also, You have to understand, look, we're Muslim at the end of the day, right? We do things with excellence. We're supposed to do things with Ihsan, but you can't do that if you don't have a good relationship with God. But so you can't expect to be successful if you're not doing the thing that He's telling you to do, right? So I think that's really important. And then I'd say that the second thing which I think is a non negotiable is taking care of yourself and that looks like getting to bed on time going for a walk like literally getting in the gym, eating healthy, like, this for me, I would say in of all the different areas of my life, the health part has always been the most challenging. Because when you're a parent, especially if you're doing things on your own, like I did for the last, well, I've been a single parent for a long

Mifrah Mahroof:

time. Yeah. And you, started when your children were like very young, like 10 months, right? It's

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, literally, Yeah. I mean, I started, my business when I was going through a divorce, right? So this is my point, right? And so I've been on my own for a long time and I got so good at taking care of everything else and everyone else and putting myself last, but that is such a, that is the

Mifrah Mahroof:

worst thing. Yeah. Cause it comes back and then the consequences.

Arfa Iqbal:

thing to do. Yeah, absolutely. So you have to dedicate time, get outside in nature, go for a walk, do your dhikr while you're walking, make du'a while you're walking, get out there in nature, reconnect with what your real purpose is and that is going to make you a better business owner. Definitely.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. A hundred percent. It's not just about the hustle of the business. It's all the other areas of your life. Yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

That's true success, right? It's not, how much money you've got in the bank, that's a nice, that part is like, yes, that's great. We'd love to have that, right? But the real wealth that I would say is spending time with your children, right? Being able to have a nice relaxed morning, not having to stress about deadlines. This is what I call true success and not being tied to anything, being able to travel where you want, do what you want. That's what I call true success. Having it all, you can have it all, but it's going to come at a cost. And you just have to choose your heart. That's what I say.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Okay. And what

Arfa Iqbal:

is. Yeah. Being successful is hard, right? But being a failure is also hard, right? So choose your

Mifrah Mahroof:

heart. Oh, true, right? Being a failure is hard because then you're always finding the consequences of that, that start coming up and biting you in every area of your life.

Arfa Iqbal:

Exactly. So choose your

Mifrah Mahroof:

heart. like that deadline you put off starts to chase you and then this one that, your health starts to chase you and everything starts coming back to you. So,

Arfa Iqbal:

Well, every single thing that you do, there is what we call that consequence to it. So you have to get clear on what is the consequence, right? If you want to be successful, what does that look like? It's going to look like being disciplined. It's going to look like, being focused, being consistent, showing up when you don't feel like it. Everyone has days when they roll out of bed in the morning and they're like, I can't be bothered today, right? But it's like, What do you do when you're feeling like that? This is all important things, there was a saying actually, what was the saying? It was something along the lines of, if you want to build character and you really want to build your character, go start a business. I don't know who said that, but whoever said it was very

Mifrah Mahroof:

wise. So true. It teaches a lot about you.

Arfa Iqbal:

Of course it does. And how you do everything is really determined by how you show up for yourself and for other people.

Mifrah Mahroof:

That's a really good food for thought. My next question I have here is, what's a book that's helped you level up in your life?

Arfa Iqbal:

Oh, that's a really good question. There's so many

Mifrah Mahroof:

books. Well, you can name a couple.

Arfa Iqbal:

The one that I think, hands down, everyone should read is Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet. David. That is what a spectacular book. that

Mifrah Mahroof:

I've never heard of that one.

Arfa Iqbal:

that really got me thinking. Have you never heard of that

Mifrah Mahroof:

Okay, it's going to be on my list.

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah. So, so good, like really good. I'm like, every single entrepreneur on the planet should read this book. And the other one that I would recommend, actually, there's a number that I would recommend. So the other one, I'm going to recommend three actually. So that one would probably be number one on my list. Number two would be How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, like the greatest book on sales ever written that was never meant for sales. And then the third book that I would highly recommend is Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestly. Brilliant books. All three of these are

Mifrah Mahroof:

really superb. And it's actually quite interesting that you're mentioning Dale Carnegie's book as the best sales book and was like, how to win friends, right?

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, how to win friends and influence people. So this is a really important thing, right? So aside from the coaching, what else is going to help your business to grow? It's your network. Your network equals your net worth.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yes,

Arfa Iqbal:

Right? So the more you level up with your network, the more money you will make. That's just a natural, it's a natural byproduct because you're literally the sum of the five people that you hung around with. So if you're not making very much money, look at the five people that you're hunging around with and change your company.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Does that mean you would also spend money on masterminds, how do you find these people? Yeah,

Arfa Iqbal:

totally. So I've been part of a mastermind now, 2014 I joined a mastermind and I'm still part of it.

Mifrah Mahroof:

That's very interesting. So the mastermind would be different to like a group coaching, like the community there, for example.

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, it's different. Depends on what kind of program you go for. So the one that I'm currently on, that is the masterminding element, which is the physical get togethers that you do once a quarter for two days, and then it's combined with coaching and then they have like skill sessions in between. So every quarter they'll work on different areas or they do things like workshops, like cash flow is one of them, sales is another one, operations is another one, scorecards is another one, kind of thing. So it's quite a well rounded education, I think, if you're looking at being a really fantastic entrepreneur, I would say is definitely, that should be on your hit list of things. But I think at one point, I was in three different masterminds at the same

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah, it does really go to show I'm so glad that you brought it up about the people around you as well, and the network, because it's sometimes we just get stuck with oh, the same friends from our high school or our neighborhood, and then we're trying to get better, and then it's just not happening. Like we're trying to figure it out on our own. We don't have a coach. We don't have the people around us. And then we don't really get far because the people around us will be like, what are you doing online? You know,

Arfa Iqbal:

That's a really interesting point that you've said, because I do want to pick up on this, because I think one of the things that I have definitely seen is if you're doing better than the people that you're hanging around with, either they're going to level up to you, or you will find them. somehow no longer wanting to hang out with you.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Interesting.

Arfa Iqbal:

And so what I've noticed is that over the years, as I've gotten, as my business has grown, my circle of influence and my circle of friends has gotten smaller, I've And smaller And smaller. Like, I'm connected to very well to do people, right? So when I say well to do, like, very successful in this, right? I'm connected to some very successful people. It doesn't need to be a big community. It just needs to be the right people, right? And you will lose people. And I think what people are naturally afraid of, they are afraid of leveling up because then they're going to be different to everyone else. They're scared that, if I somehow change, and I make myself better, everyone else is going to get left behind, but it's not your job to dim yourself or dumb yourself down and dim your light for other people. It's for other people to level up to you. No one should ever have to dumb themselves down just so that they can sit with a certain group of people. And that's not being like, oh, you're being all snobby or anything, God forbid it. It's not about that, because actually when entrepreneurship is done, properly, you actually develop a lot of humility, right? And more importantly, you have a different level of respect for people when they're going through a difficult journey. You respect more what they're doing because you're going through it yourself. But it is important to surround yourself with people who get it. And if they don't get it, you need a new circle of friends, and it's not because you're being mean, or you're being petty, or stuff like that. It's not like that, but you're gonna get to a point where the wrong people will start falling away in your life. And I actually make du'a for that, the du'a that I always make is Allah, keep good people around me and keep bad people away from right? Because sometimes it can descend into things like negativity, it can descend into things like jealousy and envy, and you don't want of energy around be honest. Life

Mifrah Mahroof:

is already stressful as it is. And then all this drama.

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah. I imagine having that additional layer of drama because somebody, doesn't like the fact that you are suddenly leveling up and they're feeling threatened or left behind. Well, the way I look at it is toughen up and if you want to join me, you're more than welcome and I will help you on your journey, but I'm not gonna dumb myself down to that level, because it's just doesn't become important anymore. I think, it's the toughest part I'd say of entrepreneurship. That's why they say that being an entrepreneur is actually very lonely because very few people understand or get what it is that you do and you have to be okay with that.

Mifrah Mahroof:

I think it's also like making the most of what Allah SWT has given you and becoming the best version of yourself because that's what works. We're here to do on this dunya at the end, get close to Allah SWT

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, of course.

Mifrah Mahroof:

wants us to keep improving and growing. And if we just feel like I need to be small because my friends around me are small.

Arfa Iqbal:

Well, you know what I always say to my children, I always say to my kids that you know, You should never ever bring yourself down to anyone else's level. If they're being silly or petty or being like, just not bothering Rather you should hold yourself to a better standard because ultimately you have to live your life yourself, and so if you're hanging around, this is just it's the law of the land averages, right? Even the Prophet SAW said that a man is the sum of the five people that hang around, that he hangs around with, right? So it stands to reason if you have, let's say a young guy, Let's say he's, I don't know, 18, 17, 18, and he's hanging around with a bunch of losers. if his top five friends, they're all losers, and they're all getting themselves into trouble, and they're constantly in and out of trouble with the police, I can almost guarantee that person, 110%, is going to end up just like his friends, and he's also going to be a loser. So you have to think about, like I always say this to my children, you have to think about yourself. You cannot put your life on the line and you cannot jeopardize your future because you're trying to impress your silly mates. It's just not worth it. I don't know about the girls, I'm sure they have like, people that they find it hard, but I think with boys in particular, I feel that it, sometimes can be really hard to break away from that peer pressure, and to go off and do your own things. A lot of pressure on you. Oh, you don't want to hang around

Mifrah Mahroof:

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Arfa Iqbal:

We're not important anymore. It's like, the homies or, whatever you call it. I'm only saying that because I look at my children, right? And so I have two boys, MashaAllah. My eldest is 20 and my youngest is 15. That is the thing that I tell them all the time, right? If you want to level up your life, you have to do it. Like, don't look at your friends and think that they're going to do that for you, that's on you. And if that means then that your friends are not aligning anymore with your values, you have to change your circle of friends. It's hard to do though. It's very hard to do. It's

Mifrah Mahroof:

I think, I think a gradual approach is also good, like getting in more people that you want to become like, and then having your friends, but also you can have your friends for other areas. Like if you just want to have fun. Yeah. So it's like you kind of, but you don't have to talk to them about your business or how you're earning money.

Arfa Iqbal:

No, no, absolutely not. Yeah. no,

Mifrah Mahroof:

different

Arfa Iqbal:

I would say the people who are on the same level as you, of course, absolutely, if you feel comfortable enough sharing that with them because they're also, let's say, they're also entrepreneurs, that's different and that's totally up to you. But I think with everyone else, don't even bother having that conversation with them because they're not gonna understand. They're not gonna get it.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. And I think it's like being very careful. It's like the kind of people that you have around, like, are they actively bringing you down with their drama and like bad behaviors, I guess. It's like that bad companies. So it's like, was the point you mentioned earlier about, the Prophet SAW alluding to the five people that you're around? Was it the hadith about the perfume seller or the believers like a mirror to one another.

Arfa Iqbal:

Can't remember what the specific hadith was, but it was literally about you are the average of the five people that you hang around with to make sure that your company is good. Yeah. So the importance. So it's true though, isn't it? Especially as a parent, when you're watching your children. Like, you can see, no, you don't want to be hanging around that person, that person is no good for you, kind of thing, and the kids don't get it the whole, your mum being so mean for, you know, no, I'm speaking from experience, you don't want to be hanging around people like that, it reflects badly on you, but that's something that they don't really get until they get a little bit older, and then they figure out, well, actually, that friend was, really was no good.

Mifrah Mahroof:

We just opened up a whole can of worms about friends and people. And I think that could be a whole other podcast because there's so much to dive into

Arfa Iqbal:

be a whole other podcast, it could be a very interesting one as

Mifrah Mahroof:

well. But I guess that ties in with everything that we mentioned about coaches, because in a way you're getting a new person into your circle, with new beliefs and new way they're seeing the world. And that kind of challenges you and rubs off on you. So you are getting another influence.

Arfa Iqbal:

Oh, totally. That's what I always tell my children, right, pick friends that are going places in a good way, and seek to be a person that actually, will emulate that success. Don't hang around with people that you know are going nowhere with their life, that's so important because the quality of the friends that you're hanging around, it really is going to determine how far you go in your own life.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah, a hundred percent. I tell my brother the same thing as well. I was like, some of his friends are like negative. I was like, why are you hanging around with them so much? Like they're actually rubbing off on you, they're like holding you back. from who

Arfa Iqbal:

rubbing off on you in a bad way. Yeah.

Mifrah Mahroof:

So, and Alhamdulillah, like he was able to see that and stuff. And he's like, yeah, that guy is very negative.

Arfa Iqbal:

yeah, yes, Alhamdulillah, yeah, MashaAllah. But I think sometimes like they have to

Mifrah Mahroof:

Oh yeah. They do. They do for sure. I mean, we are all on a journey and I think that with time we realize it. And, I think the nice thing about being on a journey of growth is that you start realizing these things and you keep growing and you keep getting better. And it's a step by step journey at the end.

Arfa Iqbal:

Yeah, of course, definitely.

Mifrah Mahroof:

So Arfa, where can people find you online?

Arfa Iqbal:

So, you can check out my website, arfasairaiqbal.com. or you can check me out on Facebook, just typing my name and it'll pop up. but I haven't posted on Facebook in the longest time. But yeah, if you're going to find me anywhere on social, that's probably where I'm going to

Mifrah Mahroof:

be. Awesome. Well, look, thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure having this chat.

Arfa Iqbal:

Thank you for having

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. Like it's nighttime for you, early morning for me, and we managed to have an amazing conversation.

Arfa Iqbal:

to go to sleep now. Exactly, I can see the

Mifrah Mahroof:

Yeah. The sun, yeah, the sun is coming.

Arfa Iqbal:

uh, in your office. Exactly, yeah, we're getting ready to wind down and go to sleep now, so

Mifrah Mahroof:

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And InshaAllah, let's chat soon. Take care. Asalamu alaikum.

Arfa Iqbal:

Take care, thank you so much.

Mifrah Mahroof:

Hey everyone. That wraps up another episode from the Muslim Life Hackers podcast. I really hope you enjoyed our chat today. I've got some great takeaways. if you like what you heard and don't want to miss out on our next conversations, hit that subscribe button on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening to this from. It means a lot to us, and it helps us reach more people who can benefit from this show. Thank you again for tuning in. Until next time, keep striving and getting better every day.

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