Brent Graves

A childhood dream was realized when Brent Graves attended auction school. As a young boy growing up in North Texas, it was more common to find Brent at a cattle auction, equipment auction, or estate auction. The rhythmic chant of the auctioneer and the control they maintained over the sales process was intriguing to a young boy learning about the world long before the internet. “Growing up, our family attended a good number of registered cattle auctions conducted by the late Col. Eddie Wood, I wanted to be just like him. Col. Wood always wore a starched white shirt and blue jeans, he was admired by sellers and buyers alike. He would take command of the auction block and sell for hours without a break. He made it look easy.”

After attending Texas Tech University, Brent entered corporate America for a few years before attending auction school. “I left auction school in May and quit my full-time corporate job in July to become an auctioneer, it’s all I could think about. I realized I could not give my employer 100%, and that wasn’t fair to them.” Brent went to work as many auctioneers do, contracting their services by the day. He worked for smaller regional auction firms for the experience and whatever they would pay. “I was very blessed early on to work for some of the undisputed best auctioneers in the world. The money wasn’t bad, but the experience was priceless.” As a contract auctioneer Brent began working the wholesale automobile auctions in west Texas and New Mexico, calling three auctions per week while working for other auctioneers on the weekends. “I enjoyed the experience of the wholesale auto auctions, it made me a better auctioneer for sure. I wanted to build an auction company and working three, sometimes four car auctions per week was not conducive to building an auction company."