The Home Service Expert Podcast
Peter H Thomas (Century 21 Canada Founder) Losing $70 Million and Why He Never Panicked
29 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is Peter Thomas's background and how did he start Century 21 Canada?
All right, guys, check it out. I got Peter Thomas in the house. This guy is 52 years old. You got quite the history. Peter, why don't we just tell us a little bit about you, your history. Tell me your three biggest mistakes, too, because we were talking about that earlier.
The... Mistakes are not listening to my wife enough. I should listen to her more and I'd be probably more successful. Listen to the wife, Rita. But I think when I got started in marketing and sales, I started selling mutual funds when I got out of the army. And then went into franchising and learned about franchising.
I was lucky enough to be able to acquire the rights for Canada for the Century 21 concept, the real estate concept.
Century 21 of all of Canada. Yeah, yeah.
Chapter 2: What were Peter Thomas's biggest challenges and failures in business?
And that was sort of my first. And what year was that? 74. 1974.
Okay. 74, yeah. And really got lucky, and I've always been blessed that I get great people around me. Everybody around me is much smarter than me. Yeah, I know how that goes. And so, you know, the people help you, and you grow, and And we grew that one to about eight billion. That was my first- Eight billion? Yeah, in sales, in sales. That's fantastic.
It was, it was an amazing concept and pretty wonderful.
Chapter 3: How did Peter Thomas cope with losing $70 million?
I got lucky and lightning struck twice. I had another company called Dogtopia. Dogtopia where they take care of dogs. Dog, yeah, doggy daycare, yeah. The lady had, she had about amount of 15, 20 stores. and was kind of struggling looking for money.
And so I wound up lending her some money, and then that loan turned into equity, and then it was gonna go broke, so I wound up taking over the business, and it's got about 300 now, over 300 stores. And I sold at 165. I took- 165. Yeah, I took it from like 15 to 165.
incredible what uh what were some of the mistakes that you made along the way that you know maybe not mistakes but failures that toughened you up a little bit um uh i was trying to think of that very good i thought you know i don't focus on mistakes yeah you know you don't you forget about them so i had to really think about them uh and i'm sure there was many many of them along the way um
I think mistakes can be made in the very beginnings of your negotiations. When you think you understand a deal, you're looking at it, and you negotiate the terms of it, you'd be much better off if you didn't say yes too quickly. I sometimes agree to the deal, shake hands, and you got a deal, and then you realize a little bit later you left a lot on the table.
It makes sense.
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Chapter 4: What strategies did Peter Thomas use to negotiate with creditors?
You know, I think getting the smart people, we've got a whole deal team, lawyer team. And I talked to so many people that have been ripped off. I mean, look at Bernie Madoff. I mean, that's crazy. And he was a good one.
I mean, he was good at it. That does amaze me sometimes. You hear those people who rip people off. The top celebrities, the top lawyers, everybody gets taken in on it.
Oh, yeah. It's insane. I watched a whole documentary about that, and it was insane how long he kept that going. I love the fact, it seems like you're living your best life. You're 87. You're sharp as a wit.
Chapter 5: What values guide Peter Thomas in his life and business?
You're happily, you're talking about getting a dog.
Yeah, yeah. Which is super cool. We had one before. I think, Tony, the big thing that I have to guide me I did a program, gosh, 40, 30, 40 years ago called Life Pilot. And I was in YPO, the Young Presidents Organization, traveled all over the world teaching this program. And really what it was was about
And there's so many people, you work hard, you work, work, work, and it becomes possessed by it. And so I teach values. And really, I'm going to be teaching at Joe's, the Genius Youth, at the end of the month. And I haven't taught a program for about 20 years, so I'm kind of excited about it. That's really cool. But primarily what it is, Joe, is teach people what are your values.
What do you, excuse me, I'll just turn this off.
Chapter 6: How does Peter Thomas define happiness and success at 87?
No problem. You know, what are your values and what do you stand for? Like, mine are health, freedom, happiness, integrity, and now legacy. I'm really working on what can I leave behind. But if you work on everyday, like health, well, you know, then you can't eat crap and stuff like that. And you want to work out because health is one of the things you live for.
So I really believe that what people have got to do is they've got to identify what's important to them. And once they identify that, they can just say it like I did, health, freedom, happiness, integrity. So when you say that, then you live your life in alignment with it, you know, with your values. And living your life in alignment with your values gives you the happiest life you can have.
I think legacy, all those, health. What good is, you could have a billion dollars, like, would you trade your life with Warren Buffett? I mean, you know, the deal is, I think anybody would say, you trade everything you have in life for an extra 40, you know, you're at 87, but, you know, you probably give away everything to say, I'm 43, I just turned 43.
I'm actually very happy where I am. I really am, you know.
Chapter 7: What lessons can be learned from Peter Thomas's experiences?
One of the things, and I said this, and you just told me you're getting married pretty soon, not too long from now. And I can say at 47, I don't care to be 25. I'm happy. I'm just a happy guy. But what I say to me, probably the most valuable and the richest thing that I was smart enough to get was Rita's love.
You know, that is my most, you know, if you talk about acquisitions, you talk about things that you want to have, you know, and earning that, because she's tough. You know, she's a phenomenal lady. And I'm sure like yours is. And just to get somebody that loves you.
like that to be to have that it's it's the most extraordinary thing in the world i give throw arguably having a wage and i can always make it again anyway yeah no you're right you're right uh it's probably the most you can't pick your kids you're stuck with them yeah but you can pick your life partner and that makes or breaks people it's the most decision you'll ever make i had a young guy he's 18 years old he said what advice can you give me about business i said
Find out who inspires you, who pulls the best out of you, who doesn't take your bullshit. Yeah. And if you get around that person, you know, Bree and I aren't alike. Like, I love people around. Like, the house is always full.
Chapter 8: How can listeners apply Peter Thomas's insights to their own lives?
She's like, I just hate all these people all the time. So I'm like, that's why we got a big house. But at the same time, I respect that. So I try to make it work. But she's like, why do you love people around all the time? I'm like, well, I spent most of my life alone as a kid. You know, my sister was a lot older and, you know, I went to a private school as a kid.
So I was like, you know, I was used to me and my dog just hung out Max. So I don't know, maybe it's because of my history, but I'm like, I just like experiences. And I guess it's important to me.
So, you know, you're talking, we work. how hard we work and we work to set our goals and make our goals. And I remember I went through a real tough one time. I had a partner who went bankrupt all across the country. He was a highly profiled guy. And he was my partner. Nobody knew I was a partner. I was a partner in the deal. I was a quiet guy. A silent partner. A silent partner.
But him taking down... It wound up – I went down about $150 million. My net worth was gone to minus 70. Oh, my gosh. From 150 to minus 70. And so I sat there and I was feeling not too good for myself. I was thinking about it and I thought, you know, I've lost everything. I've lost everything. And as I sort of thought about it more, I thought, well, hang on, what have I really lost?
Well, I lost my money, okay? I didn't lose my health. I didn't lose my wife. I didn't lose my family. I didn't lose my community where I lived. In fact, the only thing I lost was my money. And that was the one thing that I could afford to lose because I could make it back again. And when I really realized that,
It's like if you went broke tomorrow, Tommy, I bet $10 million blind right now, I'll come and visit you in two years from now. And you'll be back out. You'll be doing good. You'll be great. So, because it's a skill set that you... And it's a skill set network. I mean, the network... And always have your integrity. You do things right. Take care of people. Take care. You look after people.
Exactly right. And so I realized that, you know, I didn't feel bad anymore. I didn't feel quite as good. I told a little story. I said to my wife, I said, you know, I really got quite concerned. I said to Rita, I said, you know, honey, I was just thinking, because, you know, we live a pretty good life. I said, you know... If I ever lost all my money, I said, honey, would you still love me?
And I'll never forget her advice. What she said, she said, Peter, I'll always love you. I'll miss you.
I'll miss you. I'll always love you. I'll always love you. But I'll miss you. Yeah, she's a hell of a woman. I really enjoy just being around you. You got a little spark to you. You got a world, just a lot of – A lot of world experience. And let me just ask you a follow-up. So you're down $70 million, negative net worth.
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