Anything & Everything with Matt Reyna

From Engineering to Million-Dollar Sales w Anthony Almaguer

• Matt Reyna

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0:00 | 16:52

In Part 1 of Episode 15, Matt Reyna sits down with longtime friend Anthony Almaguer to look back at where it all started. From competing against each other on the Gold's Gym sales leaderboard to opening the Culebra location together, they share stories about competition, leadership, personal growth, and how an engineering graduate unexpectedly discovered a passion for sales that completely changed his life.

🎙️ In this episode:
 • How Matt and Anthony first met at Gold's Gym
 • Opening the Culebra Gold's location before it was even built
 • What it was like competing on the national sales leaderboard
 • Anthony's transition from civil engineering into sales
 • Lessons learned from selling gym memberships
 • Building value instead of selling products
 • Becoming a manager and leading high-performing teams
 • Why accountability creates winning cultures
 • Leadership lessons from Nick Saban, Coach Popovich, Phil Jackson and great coaches

🧠 What you'll learn:
 • Why great salespeople solve problems instead of pushing products
 • How competition can build lifelong friendships
 • The importance of accountability in business
 • Why leadership matters more than talent
 • How finding the right career can completely change your life

⏱️ CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS
 00:00 Episode Introduction
 00:30 Introducing Anthony Alminger
 01:00 The Real Estate Market Today
 01:20 Meeting Through Gold's Gym
 03:20 Opening the Culebra Location
 04:40 Learning Sales Together
 06:20 Anthony's Engineering Career
 09:00 Discovering Sales Talent
 11:00 Why Sales Fit Their Personalities
 12:30 Moving Into Management
 15:00 Leadership & Accountability
 16:00 Lessons From Great Coaches

📢 About the Podcast

Anything & Everything with Matt Reyna is where real conversations happen. From entrepreneurship and real estate to business, sports, current events, and personal development, each episode dives into the stories and lessons that shape successful people.

📌 Connect With Matt Reyna

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 https://www.instagram.com/mattreyna2023/

Facebook:
 https://www.facebook.com/matt.reyna.12

TikTok:
 https://www.tiktok.com/@mattreyna2023

#HowWeMet #GoldsGym #Sales #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #RealEstate #MattReyna #AnthonyAlminger #BusinessPodcast #Motivation #Success #PersonalDevelopment #SalesTraining #Mindset #AnythingAndEverythingPodcast

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, okay, go go. Anything episode Anything and Everything, episode 15. This is about Damn dog. I've never done that before.

SPEAKER_01

Make it nervous, man. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Hey God, dog, let me do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Stupid. Anything and everything, episode 15. I got a very, very special guest in the house. My boy, for over what? How long has it been at?

SPEAKER_01

2013, 2012?

SPEAKER_00

Something like that, right? I was wondering, man, if we go while we go down memory road, if your memory is gonna just kind of patch in where my memory's just messed up, bro. Anyway, Anthony Alminger. Right here, man, by popular demand. What's up, man? How you doing, man? Good, good, good. What's been what's been new in the world, brother? We're hey, strange times we're living in, man. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, we just came out of uh well obviously we're both in real estate. We just came out of probably one of the worst markets that everybody's seen since 2022 and so forth. So now we're seeing some progress and some, I guess, happier times, better times. It's not that it's the best yet, but it's getting better.

SPEAKER_00

I feel it ramping up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I feel it. It's getting a lot better. So you know, nothing to complain about over here, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Bro, so let's go back to the beginning, man. 2013. I remember I was at Gold's gym, right? And I would always look at the rankings and I would say, Who's this Anthony Aligar guy? Right. I used to I used to say Aligar.

SPEAKER_01

Everybody always chops up my name, right? Almagar, Hispanic, Almagir, or nonsense.

SPEAKER_00

And then everybody, it seems like we were connected to people, and we just didn't even like we were like two two degrees of separation. They're like, You don't know Anthony? You don't know Anthony? I was like, what ended up happening, man, on my side, while you were doing whatever you were on your side, which I've never even dove into, which is weird. But I was going for 151, right? And I was just all about it. Like that was the one that was like gonna be the flagship gym, right? Long story short, man, I went through the interview process and they didn't hire me, right? Um, and then I was just like just devastated about it, because at that time I was like in the early 20s, I guess, uh mid-20s. And then they were saying, well, they're gonna build another one in Culebra, and maybe that one's gonna be an even more like um heavy gym or whatever. That's how they sold it to us. Yeah, that's how they suckered us in, right? Uh but uh guys, at that time, uh, me and Anthony, and I would look at the rankings of sales, and we were at the top of the nation. So I was like, who's this Anthony guy? And I wonder if he's gonna be going to the next gym. Well, they ended up hiring Justin, Jerry, myself, and you to open that gym. Do you remember that time now? What what what was it like at that particular time?

SPEAKER_01

I mean, because everybody that's in sales, right, is a little bit competitive. And like you said, maybe respect, competitive. Sure. You don't know if my new partner over here is gonna be a dickhead, right? He's gonna snake me, he's gonna steal shit. You know, you don't know how it is. And and so we just see, like you said, names, rankings, and all that kind of stuff. So when they gave us the opportunity to go meet, if you remember, I think we met uh Justin at his office first at Pandera Point.

SPEAKER_00

I knew you were gonna do this, and I'm dude, my memory is wet.

SPEAKER_01

Jerry was there, never met Jerry before, and again, you know, grade A guy, you know, and then you were there, and then and then Justin was kind of like the firehouse guy, maybe kind of like the way I am now, right? It's a little bit more of the fired up, let's go, let's get it, so forth. Oh, yeah. But you were very quiet. I think you were like observing more than anything. That's like it was like, who's this guy? It was competition. Yeah. I was competition, right? Yeah, like to you, and I was over here just like, hey, I'm just grateful for the opportunity. I always kind of keep things happy, go lucky, right? It's just just hey, I'm down to meet anybody, let's go. And I was always known for more of the fitness side of uh gym sales. That's true. That's why they brought me in to do more maybe the fitness side, because I was a background and trainer, uh, a personal trainer, nutritionist, obviously, life coaching, things like that. So they're like, hey, you sell the training, Matt sells the volume, he's around, he lives around here, he's he's been around the clever side, and I think that was their thought or whatever of like putting us together.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so also, guys, we are in a portable, right? I don't know if y'all have ever seen, but uh at Goads, if they launch a new gym, I don't know how they do it now, but there was a portable outside, and the gym is actually being built, it's not even built yet. So we're selling memberships based off of a gym that's gonna eventually be there. Yeah, and we're just in that what it's a trailer.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, it's just a little mobile home trailer.

SPEAKER_00

Me, you, Jerry, and Justin, right? That's like all day, every day. And then it's like, man, when you're in a foxhole like that with somebody, you just become boys. You know what I'm saying? And it was just uh it was awesome, man. I've done a lot of things in my sales career, but um, that one was really, really cool, man. Then we end up opening the gym and then just slaughter all the records.

SPEAKER_01

I think remember, I think some of the fun parts, uh, if anybody else relates to sales or so forth, is you when you're that close to somebody, you hear each other's pitch. Right? And so they're not funny. The way Jerry said things about the value of a gym membership or lifestyle and fitness versus the way Matt said things versus the way I said things, we were all different. Definitely, and it was crazy because of course, you know, it was we had a little uh unfair advantage that you got to sign up with nothing, no money up front if you want. You just you get the key tag, and here you go. Because when the gym opens in January, then the bill comes out. Correct. So we technically had an unfair advantage, but we were still selling training and the new golds fit at the time and all the new like products on top of that, and people were still buying, you know. So it was kind of cool to see like how we would all talk about value, and I think that's what was making us kind of learn from each other, right? Because you're in a sales pit, essentially. Definitely, and you get to hear sound bites, you're like, damn, that sounds good, but I don't know if I can say it that way. That's just the way Matt does it. Well, you know, or something like that.

SPEAKER_00

You know what I remember you used to do specifically? You would turn a membership into a family membership, and I'd be like, Yes, motherfucker, he sold five just now, and I just sold one. And you're like, You're you know, your family, don't they want to? Then you're like, You're allotted a certain amount of time. I remember you would use that word, you're allotted a certain amount. I was like, Whoa, he's good.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you can't afford the single, or let's find some family members. Like, what else do you know? Right? Who can we call your cousin?

SPEAKER_00

What's a god um okay, man? Before that, though, how is it that you had got to go? Was that your first sales job, or you were always in in sales?

SPEAKER_01

No, yeah, that was the first. Really? I think uh for me, I have a weird story on that because again, I I uh worked at an engineering firm um and I got my degree in civil engineering at Tech San, and I got a job at um an engineering company here in town, but they didn't have my specialty. I was literally, you know, shadowing a mechanical engineer. My degree was in civil engineering. And so, I mean, I know it might not sound like uh uh if you're not in that lane, you don't get it, but like it's two different things. One is structures, buildings, soil, gravel. You know, in civil, it it's more a structure.

SPEAKER_00

I was gonna I was gonna say, is civil more like railroads and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like it was more like buildings and and you know, the the the work side of foundation and again, geo, like the the ground, the gravel, the structure, the frames, the making sure it wasn't gonna fall over if you built it. That's civil, right?

SPEAKER_00

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01

And then mechanical was like combusting things, like like and making an engine, making sure like like that was not my lane. So when they got me hired, and every kid out of college wants to get a good job. And so then engineering firm is like, oh yeah, then you need to come work or you know, come work over here. Great. And what am I gonna do? And like, oh, you're gonna work under this mechanical engineer. I'm like, what the f how? Like, I don't even know any of that stuff. I got a whole four-year degree in a completely different category.

SPEAKER_00

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

So, long story short, I mean, it was kind of disappointing, maybe a little bit of depression, like, what the heck am I doing? And so every day I'd walk into the gym as a as a uh, you know, just a member, right? But I would mess with all the gym staff all the time. I think that's when it came out of me. I'm like, I just need to give me a free membership at this point. They all want to look like this, they all want to buy my shit. It was just so douchey, funny. I was always thought it was like a walking funny meme, at least that's how I thought it was. I didn't try to like offend anybody, but it was like funny to the staff enough to where one day the GM's like, wait, do you actually want to work? Like, would you ever like think about maybe being a trainer here? You're kind of right. Like, you might be able to. At that point, did you have a job? No, I was working uh at the engineering. At the firm. Oh, okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00

And you were just like, Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

After work, I would mess with the front desk staff and the GM and all of them. I would always just like make my little jokes, and they thought it was funny, and and they like, yeah, this guy's fitting in shape. I was way more in shape than than this right now, that's for sure. So, like, damn, he kind of looks like our mold. Yeah, maybe you have your thought about being a trainer. I'm like, sure. Uh part-time because I have a job. They're like, Yeah, so that's what happened. And I ended up getting a training job. And then they sit me down one day after the first month, and they're like, hey, Ant, um, you're like the top trainer in the in like the nation or something. I'm like, what? How? I don't know anything. I know I'm learning from the veteran here who knows how to help people with like, you know, um, you know, knee issues and sports. I I like I'm learning from the best trainer, right? His name is Ray Ray, right? He was at the time. I you might have met him, uh, but shout out Ray Ray, obviously he was watching. But he um he was to me like he knew how to help people. Uh and there, and but I'm like, how am I number one? Well, they look at the leaderboard and had the most sales of training. Oh, yeah. I was like, oh, so y'all here rank people based on sales, not how you can actually help someone. Oh, that's the game we're playing. And I think that's when the light bulb clicked. I'm like, so you're saying I'm good at this. Remember, my other job, I'm bad at it because I don't know what's going on in a mechanical engineer. So I think so a love started coming towards sales because they're like, hey, Anthony, you're good at sales, and you didn't even know you were. Sure. So that one team meeting turned into you know, top trainer by sales to where they transitioned me into actual sales.

SPEAKER_00

Does it does it feed into the person that you are? Like your personal. And that's what I always tell people like, this is just what I do as a person. You know what I'm saying? So it just like fits my personality all the way. I like to solve problems, I like to help people, I like getting it done. That's what I like to do. So therefore, it almost tailor-made like this is just what I do. Yeah, this is what I'm involved in, and I could breathe it. You know what I'm saying? So it's funny the way that life kind of just nudges you where you should be. Because your master plan when you were going to high school was to do what?

SPEAKER_01

I mean, it was that. All my family are teachers, it was all math science based. So they thought, hey, go into something of math category.

SPEAKER_00

So it's like, well, did you want to?

SPEAKER_01

Uh-ish. I think I was always smart in school. And I was like, okay, well, if if what's harder than the average? Well, so engineering's harder than being a teacher, according to what I was being okay. Then let me go after the top shit. I already had the competitive edge, probably. I just didn't know it. But I was like, no, I'm not gonna be a normal teacher with everything that I know. No, give me some harder job in math science. What's the best? Like, be an engineer. Okay, let me do that. Gotcha. And that's what happened. So I talked to guidance counselors and all that. I got scholarships to go to AM, all that suit stuff. Like I did my part, right? But I didn't know exactly. I just knew I wanted to do something with math and science.

SPEAKER_00

Gotcha. So you were a pretty studious student. You're always just kind of on it. When I got into high school, man, um, I kind of got like this um this taste because I had the AP classes, pre-AP classes, all of that stuff. And I got this taste of just regular classes, which I hadn't had all my life. And when that happened, dude, I just I just went like total left, right? And then at that time too, I moved from my mom's house to my grandmother's house, and it was just like a little bit more of a free-for-all, like because grandma can't see everything that I'm doing, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, I was just not going to school, not doing this and that. And it just the whole schooling thing, man. I was just like, just by the time I graduated, I was just kind of like over it. I was just like, man, I need to get me a job, type of thing. And everything was just I I went to I tried to go to college for a while and nah, it just it wasn't for me. And then I found sales, and when I found sales, I was like, oh well, this is what I'm gonna do. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? It happens, yeah, for sure. Um, do you remember any type of uh memorable experience or memorable thing from GOATs that kind of shifted your mind in any type of way, thinking that you could maybe do something better or bigger?

SPEAKER_01

Well, the people would tell me that. I think that's what was happening. So I moved up the corporate ladder. Like I said, from that day, they tell me I'm number one at being a trainer, and I'm like, no, I'm not. In the sense of in the sense of like my knowledge, I don't know how to help every type of walk of life. I just started, but they said sales-wise, I was number one. Okay, and then again, sales, and then sales manager, then general manager, then you know, district manager. Like they I moved up the little ladder and and I was always doing well. But the customers or the staff, like people would say, Why are you doing this job? Like you are beyond this level, like you should go do something else. Like a lot of them probably were trying to recruit me, maybe into their sales job or something, right? There was people in construction, there was project managers, there was people not really in real estate. Anybody hit me up, but I think it was the people kept coming to me, like, Why are you here? Like, I'm almost upset that you work here.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, remember that part in waiting? How he's like, hey man, I might have to take you from this place. And he and he offers him a card and he's like, This, like, the are there are all these business people that are having lunch, and he's just like, Man, thank you, sir. Like, it's like and it's to another steakhouse.

SPEAKER_01

It's like lateral movement, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So, yeah, man. So I remember too, man, like after a while, you stopped focusing like more on the production side, and you were starting to become management. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And they were already grooming you to take over. What was it? And you took off because uh I remember I was at Culebra and then you became a general manager somewhere else. Or what was it uh sales manager?

SPEAKER_01

It moved me to the sales manager, Alam O Heights, and we crushed it, set records, blah blah blah. They did a lot of recognition uh uh awards and all those people, and then eventually it went to uh okay, well, then if you're good at this level, the next level is a general manager. Why don't you go try? But of course, what they do there is they put you at the crappiest place and say, turn it around. And so you don't know what you're doing as a general manager, you have not like proper training per se, but they like throw you in the pit and say, Here you go, here's here's your promotion. And so that's what happened. And it was a struggle, but I mean, same thing. Like we turned it around, people are still people. There was just a lot of uh, I think it's what I learned and take away from that is I taught people how to be accountable to their mistakes because a lot of folks I was gonna say, explain that, please. A lot of folks uh in our industry of sales could be a good talker, but they're late, they don't log their stuff, they don't, you know, they don't uh approach people with you know a good uh rapport built-based mindset, they're not value-based, like they were just skipping steps, they were lazy, and there's people that can be like talented but lazy, and I catch that a lot. And there's a lot of people around me that I'm like, okay, well, what I learned is I had the same squad that had the shittiest gym and the same squad, and now we're the best gym. So, what was the difference? Was I was who I always am today, where I call you out on your shit, I put a mirror right in front of me and said, Look, you've had it this whole time, but you're done doing it, you're not doing it. And so the same squad I had, I didn't hire much more people. We became one of the better models, and I'm like, that tells you right there, like like you you're lazy, it doesn't get you anywhere. And sometimes the better like coaches, if you call me a coach, and I always look back at like Nick Saban and all these is Nick Saban the best at X's and O's? Maybe, but that's not what he's known for. He's known for getting on people's ass and letting you see what it's gonna take to get there, and he says it in a way that you resonate with it, that he did you didn't you didn't come off as a mean person, it was intentional, and you get where he's coming from, and you just want to work harder for him. Definitely, and that's a best coach, right? And so I was learning a lot that that's what I would say I'd take away from those struggles.

SPEAKER_00

I think uh what they say about Coach Pop, Coach K, Nick Saban, things like that, is they say that they're a player's coach. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Because and Pat Riley and and coaches like that, from what I understand, well, from what I've kind of gathered from, especially at the high level like that, is they say you can't just be a coach X and Y. You have to be a leader of men. And that's the difference between somebody who would obviously lead you, like Coach Pop, like he is almost like a mentor in life. Yeah, not necessarily just basketball. Yep. So, and then you see all these ex-players as well say, like, man, he made sure that my mom was doing this and that, made sure that I was doing like it has nothing to do with basketball. You know what I'm saying? And then uh um Bill Jackson as well, his philosoph his philosophical approach to the game. Then when you apply it to something as simple as basketball, it's like Jordan just became this wizard on the court. You know what I'm saying? So it's just like a crazy thing like that.