BWW Exclusive: Meet Broadway Broker Brian Letendre!

Born and raised in New York City, Brian Letendre studied at Juilliard School and worked on Broadway for twelve straight years. The trajectory of his life changed nine years ago when he started working in real estate. "I didn't have to or still don't have to fall back on anything," he says. "Real estate didn't come into my life as a consolation prize because I couldn't book work in the arts. It's important for people who are considering a career in real estate to know this."

Brian Letendre has been working in real estate for over ten years now. Getting his real estate license is something that Brian categorizes as the moment "he started making decisions for himself. It is when he "got to choose."

The decision was not initially an easy one. Brian admits to having "ego based fears." He was worried that people would think he quit the business, had peaked, and was on the decline, or had to transition to a "real job." Brian was also fearful that working in real estate would pull him away from his primary purpose in life which is to be on stage.

He spent several weeks working through his fears and finally made the jump. He has never looked back.

When Brian first started in the business, agents told him they wanted him in New York or Los Angeles 100% of the time and available to take any job that might pop up. Brian was overwhelmed by the logistics of being able to afford to live in New York City, pay rent and provide for himself and still always be available whenever an audition opportunity came up. Much like a lot of artists he knew, he did everything and sometimes three things at once to try and make ends meet. This was particularly challenging when he wasn't booking--once he went an entire year without booking or taking a job in the arts.

In retrospect, Brian's only regret is that he didn't start working in real estate sooner! He speculates based on his financial success, he would have had three houses by now without ever missing so much as a rehearsal.

It doesn't mean that having both careers was easy in the beginning. He had to work really hard for about a year in order to consistently start making money. And having the time to learn the real estate business was crucial if he was going to do both careers.

Ten years later, Brian has reached a place in both his acting and real estate careers where he wants to help others achieve the success he has. As part of a real estate firm, BOND New York, that supports artists looking for a parallel career, Brian holds monthly workshops where he gets into the good, the bad and the ugly about working in real estate and helps individuals figure out if this is a possible career path for them. He also meets with performers one-on-one to make himself available to answer any questions they might have and learn more about them in order to provide the guidance they need to have a successful parallel career like his.

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To learn more, visit: https://www.brianletendre.com/