Ep046: 59 Rules for Becoming a Top 1% Real Estate Professional (Part Four)

Chris McAllister: Welcome to the Connect, Practice, Track, and Grow podcast. I’m Chris McAllister with ROOST Real Estate Company, and it’s my job to create and coach business opportunities and strategies to support and add value to the lives of real estate professionals like you. I’m here today with my co-host, as always, Laci LeBlanc.

Good morning, Laci. 

Laci LeBlanc: Good morning, Chris. How are you? 

Chris McAllister: I’m doing fine, thank you. So today we’re in, I believe it’s part four of our six episode, or the fourth episode of our six episode series based on my new book, 59 Rules for Becoming a Top 1% Real Estate Professional, and there you go.

All right. Uh, so this episode- It’s beautiful. 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah. 

Chris McAllister: It’s a 

Laci LeBlanc: beautiful book. It 

Chris McAllister: is.

Just got it from Amazon, so I’m all excited. So anyway, this episode is grounded in, again, episode four, part four of the book, Systems and Profitability, Planning and Tracking.

And this is where real estate stops being a sales job and [00:01:00] really starts to become a business. And I’m gonna warn you, most agents Especially average agents, they really hate this part. You know, agents, you know, they, they want freedom, but they avoid structure. You know, they want wealth, but they refuse to look at the numbers.

They want, they want confidence, but they won’t track anything that shows their progress. So this whole podcast is, is the antidote to that. So it is about metrics, it is about some discipline, but it’s about, so about building a machine that you can run on purpose, right? To build a business that supports you, as opposed to just living a life where, you know, you survive on adrenaline and, and, and, uh, you know, the next big deal you put together.

Does that make sense? 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, it does. I mean, I think that the most interesting thing you’ve said so far is that most agents hate this part. They do. Uh, so I’m really excited to hear it because … [00:02:00] But you opened- I never said 

Chris McAllister: all, I never said all of the 59 rules were gonna be popular 

Laci LeBlanc: I don’t think any rule is ever universally popular.

But you opened this part with, um, one of my favorites. It’s part, the rule number 32, leverage constraint. Uh, I love that you start with constraint because most agents want more, more, more. More time, more money, more everything. So constraint seems like a really good, like, starting point. Tell me, tell me about it.

Chris McAllister: Well, I think when you want more and more and more and more, and you don’t have a, a structure to get more and more and more and more, that’s where you get stuck, right? So, you know, most agents aren’t, aren’t stuck because they have… They’re not stuck because they don’t have enough freedom. In many cases, they’re stuck, they have, because they have too much freedom, right?

Too much to choose from, too many shiny objects, too many choices. So the full rule number 32 is leverage constraint. Creativity thrives on limits. So the top 1%, they don’t sit around and wait for perfect [00:03:00] conditions. They ask, “How do I get the result with what I have right now?” Right? It’s not like, “I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be rich when I, you know, land that client,” or, “I’m gonna be rich when I can show up in a cool new car instead of the beater I’m driving now,” right?

It’s about really doing the absolute most, getting the, the utmost leverage from what you possess now, namely the capabilities that you pos- possess now. So when you have some constraint, when you have limits, when you have limited choices, that constraint forces focus, and it forces you to prioritize, and it also keeps you lean, right?

And when you’re lean and you’re leveraging what you already have- That starts to create, and more importantly, starts to protect profit. So unlimited resources don’t, isn’t what creates discipline. It’s actually [00:04:00] constraint that creates discipline, and that’s why this is the, the first rule of part four. 

Laci LeBlanc: So that sounds really good, but what does that actually look like in the real world?

What… Give me some examples. 

Chris McAllister: Well, you know, it, it… And this is something that’s really personal for me because, you know- It, it’s not about buying your way out of problems, right? It, it, and it’s not about buying your way out of future problems, and it’s not about buying your way out of problems that you haven’t earned the right to have yet, right?

I, like me personally, you know, I’ve alwa- I’ve gotten in trouble over and over again by looking too far ahead and, you know, trying to skip ahead before I had the personal experience or the capability or the relationships to support me getting ahead. So part of it is, you know, staying in sequence. But i- i- so if you think, you know, if you’re constrained, say, in terms of time, then my advice is you need to get really ruthless about what are the top 20% of the [00:05:00] tasks that are really moving the needle for you.

So to some degree, you’ve gotta think about your thinking, right? If you make a list of 10 things that you’re spending time on today, my guess is there’s two or three of those things that are actually gonna be the things that you need to do to invest in your future and, and put money in the bank. If you don’t, if you don’t feel like you have enough money, if you’re constrained by cash, then you wanna make sure that you’re not doing any vanity marketing.

That’s the biggest thing that agents waste, waste their money on is this vanity marketing. “Look at me. Look at this pretty, uh, graphic that I put on Facebook,” you know, “Look at me, I’ve got this fancy new sign. Look at me, I’ve got a team.” You know, all the things that agents spend money on that never, ever move the ne- needle.

So what’s the antidote? You start focusing on relationships. You start investing in a coaching program that… or, or, or a brokerage that teaches you how to work by referral, right? Working by referral costs virtually [00:06:00] nothing, and it always works, you know, 10, 15, 20, 100 times better than any sort of marketing that you’re gonna spend money on.

You don’t have staff, you don’t have help, then you’re gonna have to take some time and, and, and carve out, you know, an hour or two a week, if not an hour a day, and focus on your process, focu- focus on your systems. You know, there’s nothing sexy about making a checklist, but there is something sexy about that checklist allowing you to spend more time in front of clients or get in front of clients in the first place.

You know, when you build checklists and systems, not only do you hold yourself accountable, but you can also delegate those tasks to a future team member without chaos. Now, that’s probably the wrong thing to say when we’re talking about constraint, and I don’t want you to get too far ahead. But if that’s what your dream is, to have more time, to have more money, to have, have staff to do the things that you don’t really like to do to free you up to do the stuff you wanna do, then you gotta get ruthless about the top 20% of the tasks you’re doing.

You gotta start spending money on marketing that doesn’t move the needle, and [00:07:00] you’ve gotta take the time to create some systems and checklists and processes that’ll, and that’ll allow you to hold yourself accountable for, for your day-to-day activities. So I don’t want you to think of constraint as a disadvantage.

Really, constraint is a, a training ground. It’s a launch pla- pad, and it’s really the place that you’ve, you’ve got to get comfortable with so you can start moving forward 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, it reminds me, we talked, I think in the last episode about my kids doing the seven- seven habits of highly effective teens, and it reminds me of the begin with the end in mind, right?

Yeah. You’re not doing, you’re not creating these systems so that you can immediately hand them off. But if you, if you do what you’re doing now with the end in mind, which is delegation, then it makes a lot more sense. It makes it a lot easier when you do get there. Um, so that’s constraint, I suppose. Um, the next rule is profit first.

It’s another great one. It’s a big one. We talk about this a lot, actually, just you and I. Um, what are agents… That [00:08:00] implies that agents are doing something maybe wrong with money. What are agents doing wrong with money? How can they fix it? 

Chris McAllister: Well, essentially, they’re- they’re running their business backwards.

So, you know, where did I come up with Profit First? I was lucky enough that my accountant, um, told me about this book called Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, and we’ve done, I think we’ve done a full podcast on the Profit- Profit First books. But Profit First, the title of this, of rule 33, the whole title is Profit First: Pay Yourself Like the Business Owner You Are, right?

So most agents pay expenses first, and then they hope that there’s something left, right, at the end of the week, the month, maybe enough money for the mortgage payment, right? But that’s not a business. At worst, that’s simply gambling, right? So Profit First really forces discipline, and I guess it also creates, you know, constraints that work for you.

So essentially, in Profit First, you separate counts, but the– [00:09:00] accounts, but the first thing you do is you pay yourself first. So even if you’re new in the business, you know, you, you still need to take something out, even if it’s 1%, you know, of every closing dollar you earn, right? If you’re only able to take out 1%, you probably don’t have a tax problem at this point, but you wanna first pay yourself, you wanna second reserve money for taxes, and then you wanna force yourself to run your business on whatever money is left, right?

The beauty of Profit First is if you take that approach that I’m gonna get something for this because I’m working too hard, I’m taking too much risk, I’m, I’m under too much stress not to get something, you know, e-even if it’s being able to, you know, take your significant other out to dinner this month.

So pay yourself something first, even if it’s something. Make sure that if you’re gonna have some tax liability, that you hold back money for that. And again, you run your business with what’s left. And taking that, uh, a-attitude, you know, [00:10:00] right now, that’s really gonna help you eliminate some of the money you might be spend- spending on vanity marketing or things that really aren’t helping you move the needle or establish new relationships.

You know, Profit First, you know, when you actually Start to get into it and work the program and understand the, the, the power of it is it exposes the truth, the hard truth, that if your business can’t support you profitably, you just don’t have a business. You know, if anything, you’ve got a pretty stressful hobby and a real estate license, and that’s really kind of a crappy job, and chances are you’re working for a pretty crappy boss, and that’s you, too.

Laci LeBlanc: Well, that one ties right into the next one, uh, the next rule, which is rule number 34, million-dollar producers are usually broke. I think this one’s gonna ruffle some feathers or at least challenge some perceptions. Um, and it’s prod- provocative, right? But, but you did that on purpose. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah, of course, it’s on purpose.

You know, rule 34 exists because the industry [00:11:00] worships gross volume like it’s success. It’s not. It’s a vanity metric. And let’s face it, if you’re a million-dollar producer, and the way the, you know, the realtors, uh, basically look at that is that means you had a g- $2 million in gross commissions, right, before your split with your broker, which means that, let’s say, you know, the average was 3%.

So you grossed $60,000 before your split with, with your broker. I gotta tell you, this is 2026, you know, whatever that is, even if you’re picking up 70% of that, 42,000, you’re, you’re, you’re not gonna get very far. You’d be better off g- going out and getting a job. So the whole idea of million-dollar producer just always irks me.

I know it’s a personal thing. But it, it, it… First of all, even if you hit that artificial milestone, it’s not making, it’s not gonna give you the income that makes this a career worth having. And again, gross volume means nothing if there’s no [00:12:00] money at the end of the month, right? So million-dollar producer often means nothing more than volume sold, not money kept.

And you can be doing really big numbers and still be broke because your expenses, your splits, your marketing, your lead gen, you know, all that stuff that you feel like you have to do to keep up with every other realtor in town, that’s the stuff that’s eating you alive. The top 1% of professionals out there measure success by net profit and lifestyle alignment.

They don’t measure success by titles or trophies or, you know, external, uh, measurements. They, they tend to find success in the progress that they make month after month, year over year against where they started, right? They’re not necessarily saying, “Okay, I gotta do 20 million like so and so down the street.”

If you continue to measure yourself a- against that ideal, you’re gonna be miserable, you’re gonna be confused, y- y- you’re not gonna get very far. So again, [00:13:00] don’t focus on those external numbers. Focus on profit first. Focus on building a business that’s gonna support you and not the other way around. 

Laci LeBlanc: You mentioned lifestyle alignment, and I think that’s a really important point to not just gloss over.

At ROOST, we talk about, um, you know, real estate being a… You want a career worth having and a life worth living. And I read an article yesterday actually about the great undoing, is what this article referred to it as. It was mostly about women, but it was how people are deciding they don’t want to climb the ladder.

They don’t necessarily wanna… They’re not going for the most income they could have. They’re going for a good job that gives them the flexibility and the ability to live the life they wanna live. And I think that’s a really important point here, that you can be a million-dollar producer, but if you’re constantly having…

N- not only does that not mean you’re making a million dollars obviously, but if you’re having to overextend yourself, if you’re constantly on and you never get to live the life you wanna live, then is it really even, you know… W- it, it’s [00:14:00] more, more than just the money, right? 

Chris McAllister: Yeah. I mean, if you’re, if you’re trying to, you know, run a business that doesn’t, uh, it doesn’t allow you to…

It, it, you personally have to live within your means and so does your business. They have to li- Your business has to live within its means, and that’s really the essence of, of, uh, of profit first, quite frankly. 

Laci LeBlanc: So if profit matters and vanity metrics, you know, we should throw those by the wayside, what should agents be measuring?

Chris McAllister: Anything and everything that drives results. So rule 35 is track everything, even if you have nothing to track, right? Most agents only track when they’re busy. When it’s slow, they tell themselves there’s nothing to measure, and that’s crazy. When you, when you’re new, you track inputs, and this is classic Brian Buffini, right?

Everything that, uh, our agents learn in 100 Days to Greatness. You track the number of calls you made. You track the number of personal notes you’ve written. You track the number of people to, you’ve added to your [00:15:00] database, you know, the conversations that you’ve s- that you’ve started. And you set yourself up with a personal, uh, business metric.

You know, say, “You know what? No matter what, if nothing else happens this week, I’m gonna make 10 phone calls. I’m gonna write five personal notes. I’m gonna do four pop-bys, and I’m gonna add at least three people to my database, come hell or high water.” Right? You, you set that goal for yourself, and you track your progress to that goal.

You know, before you know it, you’re gonna be sitting with a database of 150 people that you’d recognize at the grocery store. Maybe not before you know it, but if you, if you do it every week and you hold yourself accountable for that behavior, just by, as a symptom of, of that activity, I guarantee you you’re gonna have more than enough people to work with to, to get you to the next level in your business and be- beyond.

So tracking is about tracking everything. It includes tracking what your, what your, uh, buyer or seller potential clients want to buy, what their price range is. You know, what’s the [00:16:00] name of their kids? What’s the wife’s name? What’s the husband’s name? It’s anything and everything that you need to know about that person to hopefully forge a lasting relationship, not just for the transaction that they’re planning to, you know, hopefully do with you in the future, but for every one they do for the rest of the time that you’re in this business.

So track everything, even if you don’t have any- anything to track, right? It’s not just about tracking your closings, tracking your income, doing your taxes. This is about tracking the things that, uh, that allow you to forge relationships, and, and that’s the essence of connect, practice, track, and grow. It’s tracking that creates clarity, accountability, and confidence long before the volume shows up, right?

It’s what turns guessing into management. I feel like every one of these, Laci, I’m giving a TED Talk, so forgive me, but I, I, I am super passionate about this. It really is what separates the 1% from the other 99. 

Laci LeBlanc: No, I’m d- I’m on the soapbox with you. You know me, I love data. Uh, [00:17:00] my motto is basically if the data’s not there, then why bother?

Um, so I’m with you, but I know some agents are gonna hear track everything and immediately feel overwhelmed because maybe that’s not their skillset. They probably … A lot of people got into real estate to be people-people and not to have to do any of this really, I think. So how do you keep it simple? You know, where do they go if they don’t know where to start?

Chris McAllister: Well, again, you don’t need 40 metrics. You just need a few that matter, and I don’t care if you’re first week in the business or 20 years in the business. If you just go back to what we just said, track your calls, track your contacts, you know, y- track, track your, uh, the number of popbys you do, the number of people you add to your, your database, et cetera.

You know, if your calls are up, but your appointments aren’t up, right? Say, you’re actually doing all those things, which gotta be honest with you, most people don’t, and almost always it works. But let’s say you’re not quite getting the results you want, then take some time, go back and let’s think about your message.

Let’s make sure your [00:18:00] messaging is right. Go back and review your, your, your notes from your coach or, you know, we’ve all have AI now that does research for us, you know? Go to AI and go to ChatGPT and says, “Hey, give me the … You know, I’m a new agent. G- give me the basics of working by referral. What should I do next,” right?

You know, if your appointments are up, but your contracts up, maybe, you know, how your, your, your conversion conversations, you know, maybe that’s up. If, if contracts are up and closings are up, but your profits are down, your expenses are up. The point is tracking is at, is at different levels. The first thing you do is what am I doing to get somebody to work with?

When you start to have some things happening and you’ve got some activity, then tracking allows you to understand where, where you’re ch- where what you’re doing is successful and where what you’re doing needs tweaked. And tracking also, of course, anything that you spend on your business, that’s what’s gonna tell you if you’re actually living within your means and your business is living within your means, and you have a shot at, you know, living a profit first lifestyle.[00:19:00] 

And I don’t want anybody to think that when these numbers start, ’cause they’re gonna be bad, right? When you start doing this, you’re gonna feel like, you know, you’re completely inadequate, uh, but, you know, doing it is what matters. So numbers don’t judge you. You may think they judge you, but you’re judging yourself.

But numbers do help coach you or at least help you coach yourself. So track, track, track. 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, I think that’s an interesting point. I think people are scared to run the numbers because they’re afraid of what the results might be. Yeah. But yeah, numbers, numbers don’t judge you is a really interesting way of thinking about it.

AI doesn’t judge you either. Nope, doesn’t. So if you want to run those through AI, then, um, it’ll give you a nice… And you know me, I don’t use AI for a lot, but, um, it’ll give you a nice, it’ll give you nice feedback without the judgment. So I do think that there are lots of tools out there that make this easier, even for the people who are not numbers people, are not super excited about data.

I think we’re living in a time that makes it super [00:20:00] simple, um, to really get this part of the business down. Um, but on a little bit of a different note, we talked about splits earlier when we were talking about the million-dollar producer. That’s what rule number 36 is about. Agents obsess over splits.

Like, you choose your brokerage based on splits, or you choose your, you know, like, it’s just a, a thing, I feel like, and you call that, uh, shallow thinking. Talk to me about that. 

Chris McAllister: Well, splits are here because, you know, w- part of tracking, of course, is tracking money and income and, and it’s also about budgeting and hopefully forecasting for the future and making sure there’s enough money at the end of the, at the end of the month, right?

So, but obsession over splits, it’s here because it, it is shallow thinking. In rule 36, it’s not about the split. The value matters more than the percentages. So it does bother me when I hear agents, you know, only focused on the money, focused on the splits. And to be honest with you, Laci, more times than not, those are people that tend to be more transaction [00:21:00] focused than relationship focused, and maybe that’s why it’s a, you know, a Venus versus Mars thing, and, and I, and I don’t, you know, relate well to that.

But the point is, a high split at a low value brokerage, it’s, it’s gonna leave you broke, right? You know, unless, you know, you’ve got some experience, you’ve, you’ve got a book of business, you know, you, you’ve, you’ve got a business that, that really is supporting you and running you. In which case, you don’t need a broker, right?

And, you know, why should you pay for one if you don’t need it? But that is- Th- th- that just honestly isn’t real. I, I don’t know any agent who, who’s been at this successfully or for a long time that, that really sees the world that way. So the challenge you have to ask yourself is, you know, what am I getting for my split?

That’s super fair. But a fair split, right, at a high value brokerage, I’m not saying a overly [00:22:00] punitive split, but a fair split at a high value brokerage can help you build real wealth. You know, so many times agents get seduced by that percentage and they ignore the net. You know, they feel like this is the first deal they have to make.

I’ve gotta get the best deal I can, but they don’t think about the terms, right? It’s just like when you’re buying a house, you know, or selling a house, it’s the price and the terms. What matters, again, this always comes back to profit first. What matters is what you keep after all of your s- expenses and how fast that brokerage environment helps you or supports you in developing the skills and systems you, and confidence you need to become a top 1% real estate professional.

That high split means nothing if, you know, a high split of nothing is still nothing, right? You know, paying- 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, it’s the, it’s the, a slightly smaller piece of a much larger pie metaphor I think is what- Yeah … we’re dealing with here. 

Chris McAllister: Yeah. If you don’t have any closings, it doesn’t matter if you’re getting 99% or even [00:23:00] 100%, you’re still getting nothing.

So you wanna surround yourself with people in a program or brokerage that are gonna support getting you to where you want to be. And oftentimes there is a cost to that in the form of a split. And more often than not, you know, if you’re selective about making sure you find a brokerage that you’re truly aligned with and is aligned with supporting your goals, that’s the play you need to make.

That’s the deal you need to make, and that’s how you’re gonna take that first step towards building a business that supports you 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah. Well, rule number 37 talks about another one of those steps. Um, it’s find a partner. So how does that fit into… After we talk about constraint and all this stuff, how does that fit into systems and profitability, finding a partner?

Chris McAllister: Well, this is, this is about tracking, but it is also about systems. And, you know, one of the things that, you know, it is so easy for all of us, especially once you get a little bit of success, to fall into habits that, that [00:24:00] aren’t sustainable, right? So, you know, if you’re suddenly, you know, fielding phone calls at dinner with the family, if you’re suddenly working seven days a week, if you haven’t set those boundaries between you and your business upfront, um, you know, we’ve talked about this earlier, you’re, you’re gonna be miserable.

You’re gonna lead a miserable life, and it’s not gonna be, you know, a career worth having or a life worth living, right? So we’ve talked before about setting boundaries, about, you know, mine was I never worked on Friday night. I never, you know, worked on Saturday afternoon, right? It was a place to start.

This is more a little bit, uh, second level, but I would urge anybody listening, uh, and again, I, I didn’t do this, right? I wish I would’ve, but I do see it in the best of the best. They find a partner right away to work with so that they can support each other to take time off, and that’s why 37, rule 37 is find a partner.

Unplugged free days require backup. You know, [00:25:00] w- if your business collapses when you step away even for a day or an afternoon, you don’t have a business, you have a leash. And if you’re doing all the right things to generate, you know, contacts and leads and people raising their hands that wanna talk to you about working with you and so forth, but you…

but it, but basically everything disappears when you take an afternoon off, i- y- that, that’s not a life w- or a career worth having either or a life worth living. So really, you know, being able to find a partner to, to look after each other so you can both take time away from the business, the i- i- the top 1%, you know, they, from the start, they, they protect their recovery time, right?

I- they, they… y- it’s impossible to just say that you’re gonna take a day off if that means that you’re n- you’re gonna end up not fulfilling the promises you made the day before. So you gotta plan for this stuff, right? You’ve gotta plan to take recovery time. If you’re gonna be in this for the long game, you’ve got to take care of yourself.

Back to protect the goose that lays the, the golden eggs. You [00:26:00] don’t wanna be in a situation where you disappear on clients and all that. It’s just, it just doesn’t work and, and you’re not gonna be able to, to d- do everything by yourself. You’re not gonna be able to be everywhere at once. So again, find a partner so that you can support each other, to protect each other, and to help each other get some time away from the business so that you can both prosper.

Burnout is the most expensive expense you’ll ever have, right? Burnout just, uh, i- it kills the goose that, that lays the golden egg. It kills your profit. It kills consistency. So finding a partner that, you know, you can work with, grow together with, look after each other, that really is an elite 1% strategy, and I urge you all to, to be, you know, on the lookout and open to meeting those, those types of, uh, fellow professionals in the industry that, that, uh, you know, maybe you’ll grow up together over the years.

Laci LeBlanc: I don’t know if we’re doing career counseling right now or if we’re doing, like, marriage counseling. I feel like this applies to both of those things. [00:27:00] Um, let’s move on, though, to rule number 38. This one is another purposefully provocative rule, I think. There is zero upside to becoming a broker. 

Chris McAllister: Oh, you know, I think a lot of people need to hear that.

I think a lot of people feel that, uh, maybe this is j- you know, maybe it’s less so with people coming into the business these days, but, you know, y- you always hear people with this progression. You know, “I’m gonna, I’m gonna get, become an agent. I’m gonna get an assistant. I’m gonna build a team. I’m gonna become a broker.

I’m gonna buy my own office.” You know, I don’t know exactly where, “Then I’m gonna open another office.” I don’t know where it all ends, but, you know, y- y- y- Rule 38, there’s zero upside to becoming a broker exists because there is this assumed career ladder, right? Agent, top producer, broker, et cetera. But for most people, including the top 1%, it’s the wrong ladder, right?

You know, becoming a broker adds a whole lot of complexity, a whole lot of overhead, a whole lot of liability, a [00:28:00] whole lot of distraction, and it pulls you away from the things that makes you money, which is serving clients well. You know, i- i- if you have to rely on, you know, agents to, you know, create enough income that you can get enough of their income to support not just the overhead of the brokerage, but your lifestyle as well, that is a hard, hard nut, right?

It, it, it’s, it’s, it’s just, I don’t think people- Like 

Laci LeBlanc: an MLM. It reminds me of an MLM at that point. 

Chris McAllister: Of a what? I’m sorry. 

Laci LeBlanc: Of an MLM, like a multi-level marketing. 

Chris McAllister: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s a triangle. Well, it is, it, it is to some degree. Now, having said that, I enjoy being a broker, but I’m not nearly as gifted as a lot of folks listening here, right?

Yes, I had some great years, but I don’t know that I ever hit the 1%, but I know what it takes to hit the 1%, and I’m just not that guy. I am wired to be, you know, a broker, and I do a lot of different [00:29:00] things to, you know- generate income, maintain my lifestyle and so forth, and I enjoy the leadership aspect of it.

I think I’m a good coach, you know, but I, I’m like the other 1% that, that, that really should be a broker, right? But I just want people to know it’s not, it’s not just another check mark on a, on a real estate career path. So your job 

Laci LeBlanc: needs- I think this applies too to begin with the end in mind, right? You don’t wanna get, you don’t wanna climb the ladder and realize at the top that you’ve climbed the wrong ladder.

So, 

Chris McAllister: right? Yeah. 

Laci LeBlanc: If, if that is- Right … ultimately your goal, if you- 

Chris McAllister: And, and that’s really what I’m trying to warn people is- That’s great. … I’m 99% sure, unless I’m talking to myself, that, uh, becoming a broker is probably the wrong career ladder for you, right? Now, having said that- It’s just such a 

Laci LeBlanc: different job, right?

It’s just such a different 

Chris McAllister: role. It’s not the same job. It’s not the same. And then let’s say you’re a pr- you’re a producing broker, then there’s the whole thing about, you know, are you, are you competing against your own [00:30:00] agents? There’s just, there’s just a lot of different layers and levels and cans of worms that, uh, come up with becoming a broker.

There’s nothing wrong with getting your broker license. I mean, you do learn s- a few extra things. You, you know, you understand about how a brokerage is supposed to run. You know, maybe it gives you a better idea to what to look for in a broker partner. But again, if, if becoming a broker and, and, and owning a brokerage aligns with your vision for the future like it does with mine, fantastic.

Go for it. But if you’re chasing the title because it feels like progress, you know, uh, that, that’s just how I’ve seen so many people ruin perfectly good business and, quite frankly, perfectly good lives 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, and that actually rolls right into the next rule, rule number 39, which is stay in sequence. What do you mean by that?

Chris McAllister: Well, real estate is full of people skipping steps and then acting surprised when things break or they don’t work out. So rule 39, stay in sequence. Growth happens one step at a time. And here’s the sequence. [00:31:00] Habits first, skills second, systems third, get help fourth. Expansion, it’s the last thing on the list.

You’ve… It’s almost like a pyramid, right? You’ve got to start with those basic habits. You know, I’m gonna get up in the morning, I’m gonna be in my office at 9:00 AM, I’m gonna make 10 calls, write five notes, whatever it is. You do that every day. It’s a habit. You know, you develop skills. You, you know, you take, uh, Buffini and company training.

You do some continuing ed that actually, you know, is gonna help you learn something beyond just compliance. You know, you, you sit down, you take some time, and you make a checklist. Oh my God, these are all the things that I need to do, you know, when I’m lucky enough to, to, to book a listing appointment, right?

And then when you’ve got so many of those listings appointments that you, you know, you’re just struggling to get everything done, that’s when you consider, you know, maybe hiring some help or a part-time person or whatever it is. But the last thing you wanna do is be expanding before… You want, y- my problem was over the years, it was always expansion first, bigger is [00:32:00] better, and it screwed me up, right?

So, you know, take it from me. Yeah. What I just heard 

Laci LeBlanc: was connect, practice- 

Chris McAllister: Practice … and track- Track … and grow. And grow. Wow. In that order. That is so cool. So stay in sequence, right? If you can’t generate consistent leads, you know, adding stuff just magnifies chaos. If you don’t have systems, a team creates more problems.

If you don’t have profit, you know, overhead just becomes a trap that you can’t break out of. Moving fast is fine. It’s risky, but moving fast is fine. But moving out of order is expensive and, quite frankly, often catastrophic 

Laci LeBlanc: Well, speaking of catastrophic, that leads right into rule number 40. We’re really doing a great job of leading one to the other here.

Yeah. And this one, I think, is particularly important right now, in this very moment when the world around us is so focused on AI, um, is so focused on, you know, technology. But it’s about shiny object [00:33:00] syndrome. Talk to me about shiny object syndrome. 

Chris McAllister: Rule 40: everybody has their hand out. Beware of the shiny object syndrome.

A- my God, I don’t know about anybody else listening to this, but I bet you I get, it might be 20 or 30, what I call spam emails every single day from vendors, quote, “real estate experts” wanting to sell me something, right? And you’re right. The biggest shiny object out there right now is AI, and if you don’t buy our AI-powered service, you’re gonna get left behind.

If you don’t do this AI-powered thing, you’re gonna get left behind. And I, I, you know, it’s, it’s It, it, it’s completely- Overwhelming. It’s overwhelming, right? You know, vendors and coaches, real estate coaches are constantly selling the next thing that will change your business overnight, you know. And I gotta tell you, there is nothing short [00:34:00] of building a referral-based business, you know, focusing on relationships over, over, uh, transactions that’s, that, that’s the only thing that’s gonna transfer your bus- ch- transform your business.

And it still won’t be overnight, but I guarantee it’ll transform your business over time. And you don’t have to send me a dime for that, uh, for that advice, right? So shiny objects, they distract you, they drain your profit, they create false hope. They’re shortcuts, and shortcuts most often, more often than not, if we’re honest with ourselves, they never work.

Shiny objects makes you believe success is purchased instead of practiced. Like we said earlier, and I’m guilty of this, m- so much money I threw at things, you know, for problems I didn’t… you know, to solve problems I really didn’t even have yet, right? It’s just, and it always worked better if I just got back to basics.

So shiny object syndrome. I can tell you the top 1% have some filters. When they see something that catches their eye, they ask themselves, “Does this solve a real [00:35:00] problem that I have today?” Right? “Can I explain the return on investment clearly? If somebody’s asking me for, you know, $100 a month, am I gonna get $500 back in return?

Am I gonna get anything in return? And does it support my personal business plan and my personal life plan, or does it really just want me to blow up everything I’m doing now and follow somebody else’s path?” Those are the questions that you’ve got to ask yourself. Those are the filters that you’ve got to develop so you can evaluate, you know, things that come your way, whether it’s a spam email or, you know, at a continuing ed or something that comes out of the board of realtors.

You know, you’ve got to f- you’ve got to learn to be discerning about all the crap coming at you day in and day out, and now so much of it is, is AI slop. If you don’t develop those, the habit and, and skill at, at [00:36:00] asking the right questions, developing filters, and quite frankly, becoming more discerning, and also learn how to right click and block those emails as soon as you see them, right?

If you don’t do those things, you know, you don’t have a plan, and you’ll continue to throw money at the next shiny object, and you’ll never get where you wanna go. 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, I think the, the block button is key because I think that just the amount of offers you receive is enough of a distraction, right? You don’t even have to assess them.

You don’t even have to, you know, really look into them or consider them for it to be a distraction at this point when you open up your inbox and there are 30 offers there. Do you think it’s safe to say that the top 1% of agents kind of work on a guilty until proven innocent, uh, rule with these things where they, you know, they just assume that they’re not gonna need everything until they find something that does particularly maybe address a particular problem they’re having?

Or how do the top 1% of agents even get through the, the [00:37:00] muck of it? 

Chris McAllister: Well, I think, I think, 

Laci LeBlanc: uh- How do you do it is the thing, because you’re very interested in AI, you’re very interested in technology, and you have a great filter for what’s actually gonna make business better, is the term we use- Yeah … at ROOST, and, and what’s not, and you’re, you’re able to kind of discern that really well.

So I feel like that’s an area, just the discernment of what should I even- 

Chris McAllister: Yeah. 

Laci LeBlanc: But I don’t- … give my time of day 

Chris McAllister: to. I don’t like to, I don’t wanna have to do anything over and over again. I wanna do something once and then be able to repeat it, and that’s where we get to, you know, rule 41, and it kind of wraps up this, this whole episode with, you know, what, what is scalable and what is sustainable, right?

So rule 41: focus on what is scalable and sustainable. Build systems that last. So most agents build in spurts. They have a big ad month, they do a fancy event, they buy a new platform, they change their CRM. They never stick with it and they drop it, right? It, [00:38:00] it’s, it’s pr- rolls into the whole shiny object syndrome.

They never stick with anything long enough to let their efforts compound. They just consume money and energy. It’s like they, you know, I’ve met realtors with 20 years in the business. The problem is it’s the, it’s the same year 20 times, right? It’s not, you know, 20 cumulative years of, of, uh, learning and growing.

So scalable and sustainable means repeatable. You know, if you’re gonna do a weekly recap of, of some, uh, messaging or marketing, you know, to your database, before you decide you’re gonna do that, make sure that you have a plan to make sure that you are going to do it, and you’re gonna do it religiously at least for the next 12 months, right?

It’s not something that you do once or twice and then you forget about. It’s not gonna get you anywhere. So that’s an example of before you embark on something, make sure that you’re gonna be able to stick to it. You know, a relationship system you can actually run. And, you know, you’ve heard me talk many, many times [00:39:00] about, you know, our relationship with Buffini and Company, how, uh, Buffini and Company coaches have helped me, helped our agents.

You know, it’s, it, it helps people scale a- and a coaching relationship is sustainable. You know, what are your daily non-negotiables? You can’t tell me that anybody who’s serious about being a successful real estate professional can’t find a way to build habits for, you know, calls, notes, pop-bys, and adding people to your database.

So, you know, that’s something that, you know, can, is scalable and sustainable. You know, profit first. It will sustain you and it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s gonna last forever and ever. You know, you wanna look for tools and delegation that reduce your friction. Yes, it’s fine to do, you know, find something, change a habit or whatever if you’re absolutely sure it’s gonna help you, but if you’re gonna make a change, I don’t care how small- You gotta stick to it for, you know, if it’s a habit, you gotta stick to it for 30 days, maybe 90 days before it sticks.

So be sure that the things you’re [00:40:00] gonna commit to are things that you truly wanna commit to, they’re gonna support your business, that they’ll grow with your business, which is what scalable is, and that you’re gonna be able to do them for the rest of your career, and that’s sustainable. If you can’t do something consistently for years to come, it’s probably not worth doing now 

Laci LeBlanc: So we’re at the end here.

We just summed it up, and what I wanna hear is, this is my favorite part of all of these episodes, is your one-sentence summary of part four 

Chris McAllister: Well, you know, I have down, you know, stop running your business on vibes. I could also say stop running your business on squirrel. Build a machine, right? Track the inputs, track the levers, protect your profit.

You know, use data to make decisions. If, if you don’t track it, you don’t have any data to, to look at to, to make decisions about. You know, the top 1% of real estate professionals out there, they’re really not any better at selling than you are, but I guarantee you they are better at operating [00:41:00] than you are, and that’s what this, this whole section about tracking and systems and, and so forth is, is all about, and why, um, tracking is really the, the key thing in the whole idea of connect, practice, track and grow.

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah. So what’s the next step, um, if you’re an agent listening? What is the very next thing you should do after, after we hang up here today? 

Chris McAllister: Well, I want you to get the book and, you know, we’ll put in the show notes a place to download a copy for free, but we’ll also put the link in there so you can get a Kindle version or a paperback version on Amazon.

I want you to read the whole book, but when it comes to the, the, what we’re talking about today, I want you to read part four, and I want you to take your time. I want you to scribble all over that book. I want you to, you know, really work on sucking as much out of that as you possibly can. I want you to discard things that don’t ring true for you, but I want you to double highlight the things that do ring true.

I will tell [00:42:00] you, so many people won’t bother to dig deep, and we do go deep into each of these rules. You know, today’s just an overview, and I don’t wanna say we’re glossing over things, because we’re trying to cover a lot of information in a pretty short period of time, but the book will allow you to kind of roll around in this and, and find the things that, that resonate with, with you.

Um, you know, on top of that, I think that’s the biggest thing. You know, maybe you wanna pick up Mike Michalowicz’s book Profit First. Start thinking about how you’re gonna restructure your, your finances so that you pay yourself first, even if it’s just a few dollars a month at the, to start. Make sure that you’ve got, you know, buckets of cash set aside for taxes.

And make sure more than anything else that you’re, that not just your personal … That you’re not just personally living within your financial means, but that your business is living within its financial means. But again, tracking. If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it. [00:43:00] If you can’t manage it, you’re never gonna be in control, and that’s the whole point of systems and profitability.

It gives you control, confidence in a business that actually supports you. How’s that, Laci? 

Laci LeBlanc: That’s perfect. That’s perfect. I’m excited for next time. 

Chris McAllister: Well, stay tuned for episode five of the 59 Rules for Becoming a 1% Real Estate Professional. And that discussion is all about leveling up- Personal mastery, business mastery, and growth.

And it’s all about the juice that keeps you on top and, and, uh, in the top for what, top 1% for years to come. So thank you, Laci. I appreciate it. 

Laci LeBlanc: All right. See you next time.