From Broker to CEO, How Brandon Avedikian is Building a Real Business

Here’s the typical wealth building cycle we see with our clients: They earn commissions, take home cash, invest in a mix of real estate and stock, and repeat. This is a great way to do it!

Very rarely do we have conversations about their business being something with an enterprise value that someone will want to buy one day. 

That’s why I wanted to interview Brandon.

Brandon Avedikian is building something different: a scalable business that can one day run without him in production. 

Brandon is a 33-year-old Houston-based broker, who went from auditing at Ernst & Young to founding Aspire Commercial Real Estate, where he's reinvesting almost everything back into systems, people, and infrastructure. 

We sat down with Brandon to discuss the how and why behind his approach to building a brokerage, why he rents instead of owns a home, and what it takes to transition from producer to CEO.

Enjoy!

But first, a word from us.

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Jake: What drove the transition from Ernst & Young to commercial real estate brokerage?

Brandon: It happened fast—I was only at EY for about 15 months. I realized quickly that public accounting wasn't for me. When you're auditing, you get to see what it's like to work in corporate accounting, and I knew I didn't want to do what my senior managers were doing either. 

I had interned at a commercial real estate firm in college and kept in touch. I was about to start my second busy season and knew I wanted out. An opportunity came up, so I jumped. I didn't have some grand vision to become a broker—I just wanted out of public accounting. Ten years later, I got lucky to find something I'm passionate about.

Jake: You're building Aspire differently than most boutique brokerages. It seems like you're focused on creating an enterprise rather than just a lifestyle business. What's driving that approach?

Brandon: I didn't start this to increase my lifestyle. I started it to build a real business that isn't tied to my personal efforts. I ultimately want to be a CEO that runs the business, not a producer. That's a long path, but I've made strides.

The thing is, if you own a business but have no freedom, you just own a job. I'm not looking to own a job. I want to build something valuable for my family and provide opportunity for the families of people who work here.

Jake: That requires significant reinvestment. How do you balance building the business versus taking money out for yourself?

Brandon: I literally take out the bare minimum I need to feed my family. I had more money hit my personal bank account when I worked for someone else. Every month I look at our excess cash and ask: how are we going to allocate this capital to grow?

We have a head of operations, three people dedicated to operations and supporting our agents. I've invested heavily in our CRM system, different software platforms, and we're building our own 16-week training program for new agents. That's part of why I don't own a house—I want to stay liquid and have personal capital ready to deploy when opportunities come up.

Jake: Speaking of operations, you brought on Topher Stephenson as head of operations. How does that investment tie into your vision?

Brandon: That was huge. Early on, every problem that didn't involve a deal came to me. It took all my time, and I'm not good at operations. When I hired overseas team members, I'd go days without being able to train them because I was so busy.

Topher enjoys operations—he's great with our CRM, project management software, training programs, and managing both our U.S. and overseas teams. He helps solve problems that constantly pop up as a business owner. If I didn't have him, I wouldn't have been able to make the hires we've made or spend time driving revenue. He's so much better at this stuff than I am.

Jake: Your approach is pretty different from 99% of brokers out there. What influences drove you to think about business this way?

Brandon: I like business—it's what I'm passionate about, what excites me. It's my hobby. When I was learning how the business world works after college, I noticed people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s who had true freedom weren't the ones whose income was tied to what they did every day.

As a broker for the past 10 years, you never control your own time. You've always got to be available, responsive, helping clients. That's the job, and you can make great income doing that. But my passion is building systems and infrastructure that allow other brokers to succeed. If successful, I can build a business that's not tied to what deal I did that day or what calls I made.

Jake: What would you tell a middle-aged broker making $500K who's looking to grow but feels capped out?

Brandon: It depends on their goals. If you want to go from $500K to $2 million, you're probably not going to do that with your own production. You need more production within your sphere that's not coming from you—so you need to bring agents onto your team.

If you want incremental increases, then assistants, AI, and operational help are great. But when you bring on people, you bring on complexity and commitment. If you've been a broker for 10 years and like working by yourself, you're going to really disrupt your flow by building a team.

There's nothing wrong with being capped out if you're happy and content—you've already won. But for people like me, the journey is the destination. It's fun.

Jake: Any advice for young brokers considering the industry?

Brandon: It's a great time to get in. A lot of people have left due to the tough market, so when things improve, there will be a lag before broker numbers increase again. Now's the time to build your foundation.

But whenever someone wants to get into brokerage, I try to talk them out of it. If I can talk them out of it, they wouldn't have made it anyway—it's about personality type. It's a long-term game. The first five years are going to be tough.

The Takeaway

Brandon's approach challenges the conventional wisdom that brokerage is inherently a personal service business. By treating Aspire as a scalable enterprise rather than a lifestyle practice, he's building something that could have real enterprise value.

His willingness to live below his means and reinvest everything back into systems and people is rare in an industry where most successful brokers upgrade their lifestyle and invest elsewhere as their income grows.

Thanks for reading until the end!