Podcast Summary: The Millionaire Real Estate Agent | Episode 108

Title: How to Build a Self-Sustaining Real Estate Business With Peter Chabris
Host: Jason Abrams (Keller Podcast Network)
Guest: Peter Chabris
Date: November 10, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode centers on what it truly takes to build a "seventh level" real estate business—a self-sustaining enterprise that runs and grows without the founder’s daily involvement. Jason Abrams interviews Peter Chabris, who leads a high-volume, highly profitable team 2,000 miles away from his home base. They break down the mindset, systems, hiring models, standards, and cultural frameworks required to achieve this elusive business design, drawing on the foundational principles from Gary Keller’s The Millionaire Real Estate Agent (MREA) book.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Peter’s Unconventional Path to Real Estate (02:19 - 05:51)

• Background: Peter started in technology and had detours as a funk band bassist, CIA recruit, Taiwan journalist, and defense contractor before stumbling into real estate.
• Turning Point: A dot-com bubble bust, an injury, and a copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad led Peter to focus on real estate as the path to financial independence.
• Initial Challenge: Peter’s attempt at real estate development was premature for the Cincinnati market, leading him to become an agent to “lose less money” and stabilize income quickly.

“I was five years too soon, and I got licensed really just so I would lose less money on my projects.”
— Peter Chabris (05:45)

2. Discovering and Building Toward the “Seventh Level” (06:31 - 12:06)

• Key Influence: Reading The Millionaire Real Estate Agent inspired Peter to think of the business as a scalable machine, not just a sales job.
• Definition of Levels:
  • Level 1: “Army of one”/solo agent
  • Level 7: Business owner—no day-to-day involvement, continues to earn distributions.
• Virtue of All Levels: Each level has its merits depending on individual goals and appetite.

“The idea is that you can own a business that nets a million dollars without being active in it...it taught agents to stop thinking like salespeople and start thinking like business people.”
— Peter Chabris (07:25)

3. Overcoming Early Setbacks (12:06 - 13:42)

• Initial Struggles: Peter’s first attempt to build a team at an independent brokerage was thwarted by restrictive policies.
• Breakthrough: Joining Keller Williams offered the right environment—playbooks, resources, and a culture of sharing.

“I just implemented the whole thing wholesale, thank God, because I didn’t really have a sphere, and I didn’t like to talk to people very much back then.”
— Peter Chabris (12:44)

4. The Power of Coaching (13:42 - 15:06)

• Importance for Peter: Coaching (with Tony DiCello, KW MAPS) provided mindset shifts, accountability, and someone championing a better version of himself.
• Transformation: Having someone “who would not stop fighting for that better version” was pivotal.

“He believed in a better version of me than I did…When you have someone like that in your life, that is the most transformational relationship.”
— Peter Chabris (14:29)

5. Building a Business That Runs Without You (16:20 - 18:04)

The Five Roles to Replace (16:56):

1. Director of Operations: Strong leader, not just an administrator.
2. Marketing Lead: Less critical in Chabris’s model since focus is sphere and offensive lead gen.
3. Director of Sales: Drives productivity per person.
4. Director of Growth: Recruiter—maintains/expands agent count.
5. CEO: Guides company vision, hiring, and profitability.

“What most agents don’t understand is it takes five people to replace them if they have a team of any scale.”
— Peter Chabris (16:56)

“Our staff number is twice the MREA benchmark…our marketing budget is very lean. The majority…is offensive lead generation and sphere.”
— Peter Chabris (19:34)

6. The Culture of Productivity (24:42 - 29:01)

• Frameworks:
  1. People Model: Replace yourself in those five key roles.
  2. Culture of Productivity: “Sales hustle” (intrinsic drive) must become embedded organizationally.
• Three-Part Onboarding (30/60/90 Days):
  • First 30 Days: Core skills—lead generation, conversion, presentation.
  • Standard: 4 new client appointments/month, 2 signed, 1 closed.

“The way you let people treat you in the first 90 days is how they’re going to treat you the rest of the relationship...indoctrinate them into the culture of the company.”
— Peter Chabris (26:18)

“We only train what we train on.”
— Peter Chabris (27:39)

• Standards for Agents:
  • 4 new client appointments/month
  • 2 signed
  • 1 closed deal/month (minimum 12/year)
  • Average agent at Chabris Group: 15.5 transactions/year

7. Maintaining Accountability and Performance (31:27 - 32:24)

• Underperformance:
  • Regular, grace-filled conversations if standard is missed.
  • After 2 off-standard months: Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
• PIP: Specific goals and activities, built collaboratively.

“If you miss the standard…we’re having conversations…there’s no surprise…It’s easy for me to say we’re hardcore…but it doesn’t work like that because this is life and people…”
— Peter Chabris (31:36)

8. Daily Structure and Relentless Practice (33:31 - 36:42)

• Daily Routines:
  • 30-minutes of role play, 4 days/week
  • 2 hours of lead gen every day
• Role Play: 13-week rotating curriculum—sphere scripts, internet leads, open house, buyer presentations.
• Skill-Building: Excellence comes from rehearsal, not just execution.

“If you want to be excellent, you’ve got to practice excellence. All the greats…practice relentlessly all week long.”
— Peter Chabris (33:53)

9. Team Size Philosophy: Scale vs. “Seal Team 6” (21:19 - 23:51)

• Why Not a Small, Super-High-Performing Team?
  • Smaller teams are fragile to departures and entitlement (“hostage” scenario).
  • Larger scale fits Peter’s goals and operating model; robust to turnover.

“If you want to live in the mountains in five years, then pick problems you like to solve…and can solve remotely…”
— Peter Chabris (22:19)

10. Handover to (and Working with) the CEO (37:14 - 40:09)

• Founder vs. CEO: Strong trust, humility, and mutual respect are essential for the founder to successfully hand over operations.
• Role of CEO (per book): Vision, right seats/wrong seats, and profitability.

“Hiring somebody to run your business requires a high level of leadership…mutual trust, dare I say love…a degree of humility…Just because we got this thing where it is doesn’t mean we’re now the best leader for the company…James is a better operator…than I could be.”
— Peter Chabris (37:33)

11. The Fear & The Future (40:12 - 40:54)

• Peter’s Only Fear: Next CEO transition—upholding commitments and maintaining culture during succession.

12. Real “Life by Design”—Living the Dream (41:02 - 43:09)

• Peter confirms he is now living a “life by design” as envisioned—but it took years of purposeful planning, execution, learning, and evolving.
• He invites mega agents who are “stuck” trying to scale or exit the messy middle to reach out—giving his cell phone on air. (42:10)

“If I can be the guy that says you can do it on a $300,000 sales price, I’d love to be that guy.”
— Peter Chabris (41:30)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the Seventh Level:
  “The idea that you could be in real estate sales and own a business was a radical idea to me.”
  (11:03)

• On coaching and mindset:
  “He believed in a better version of me than I did...That is the most transformational relationship.”
  (14:29)

• On the culture of productivity:
  “If the mega agent brings with them this high intensity that pushes all this production, that intensity has to be transferred from the mega agent’s shoulders and hardwired into the organization itself.”
  (25:41)

• On practice:
  “If you want to be excellent, you’ve got to practice excellence.”
  (33:53)

• On team culture:
  “We have three values at our company. The first one is integrity, the second one is drive, and the third is teamwork. And we define teamwork as nobody succeeds alone, and we pay it forward.”
  (43:09)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Topic | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------|-------------| | Peter’s background/story | 02:19-06:29 | | Discovering MREA & seventh level | 06:31-12:06 | | Coaching and mindset shift | 13:42-15:06 | | Defining and building the five roles | 16:20-19:27 | | Team scale philosophy | 21:19-23:51 | | Culture of productivity | 24:42-29:01 | | Standards & onboarding | 27:18-30:51 | | Accountability & PIP | 31:27-32:24 | | Daily routines and roleplay | 33:31-36:42 | | Working with the CEO | 37:14-40:09 | | Life by design & Peter’s invitation | 41:02-43:09 |

Closing Takeaways

• You can build a business that runs without you—even with average home prices below national average—if you architect the right systems, cultivate a true culture of productivity, and are willing to grow, delegate, and trust.
• The secret isn’t a hack or personality; it’s relentless clarity, accountability, and focus on the main drivers of real estate success.
• “In five years, you can be anywhere you want.” (15:32, summarizing Gary Keller’s belief)
• Notable actionable framework: Replace yourself in five roles; onboard with clear, productivity-focused standards; enforce rigor with caring accountability.

For more detailed insights or a copy of the notes, visit: mreanotes.com.

Contact Peter:
Text him directly: 513-703-7000 (as given on air at 42:10)