Are Winners Born or Made?

In Part 3 of Episode 15, Matt Reyna and Anthony Almaguer dive into one of the deepest conversations of the series. They discuss whether success is earned or innate, the importance of human connection in sales, why discipline outweighs talent, and how discovering your true lane in life can completely change your future.

This isn't just a conversation about real estate—it's about mindset, purpose, leadership, and reaching your full potential.

🎙️ In this episode:
 • Why sales is really about solving problems
 • The biggest misconception about succeeding in real estate
 • Why empathy beats sales experience
 • Hiring people with the right mindset
 • Why taking pride in your work matters
 • Jim Rohn's philosophy on attracting success
 • Does putting yourself under pressure create greatness?
 • Are winners born or developed?
 • Finding the lane you were meant to be in
 • Why everyone has a different definition of success

🧠 What you'll learn:
 • Why relationships outperform sales tactics
 • The qualities every successful entrepreneur shares
 • How mindset determines long-term success
 • Why chasing money often leads to failure
 • How to identify and maximize your own potential

⏱️ CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS
 00:00 The Prerequisites of Success
 02:50 Does a Sales Background Matter?
 06:00 The Hardest Part of Running a Business
 08:30 Pride vs. Chasing Money
 10:30 Jim Rohn & Becoming a Millionaire
 12:00 Creating Pressure to Perform
 13:30 Are Winners Born or Made?
 15:00 Talent Recognition
 16:20 Finding Your True Lane
 17:40 Defining Success

📢 About the Podcast

Anything & Everything with Matt Reyna is where real conversations happen. From entrepreneurship and real estate to sports, business, and life philosophy, every episode is designed to challenge the way you think and help you become a better version of yourself.

📌 Connect With Matt Reyna

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#Success #Mindset #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #RealEstate #MattReyna #AnthonyAlminger #PersonalDevelopment #BusinessPodcast #Sales #JimRohn #Motivation #Growth #AnythingAndEverythingPodcast #SuccessMindset

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Jim Ron says that y your um your bank account or your I guess uh your level of of I guess I guess your level in whatever profession you are cannot exceed the level of your d uh your personal growth. Is that true? You have to grow as a person to become a more successful real estate agent or be a more successful business owner, successful whatever. You know, I'm today, man, I'm uh 249 days sober. You know, and I've uh I noticed that I had to change things in my personal life, waking up early or you know, putting down the booze and doing things like that in order to take the next stride in life. Sure. And I think that that that when um Jim Ron said that, and he said that in the 80s, you know what I'm saying? Like, of course, you know, these dudes are the gurus and they're the masters, but your level of personal growth will show you what your bank account is. Sure. And I mean it might not even just be like your bank account, right? Because I know that that doesn't matter to a lot of people, but at the same time, it does make the world go round and you're just I guess what you should say is just your level of success. Yeah, yeah, like um changing as a person and growing as a person. Because if you still have the same habits, if you're still doing the same bullshit, if you're still connected with the same people, if you're still the same things that are gonna trip you up, I believe God leaves you on that lesson. It's like you want to keep on banging your head against the wall and keep on learning that lesson, go for it. I say, you want another ticket on that ride? You know what that ride's all about. It goes up and down, yeah. Unless you want to do something else. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah. No, I can see that. Like you said, if your personal growth, you know, for purposes of success, yeah, you probably need to have some personal items you take a look at. I always tell people to just work backwards, you know, like if this is the goal that you have in mind, well, work backwards. What was the step right before the goal when you accomplish it? And then what were the steps before that? Steps before that is eventually you're gonna get to a beginning where there's like attainable activities that you can do today because you worked backwards from the goal to today. And today, those attainable activities, that's on you. That's on you. Like you have to do them in order to say that you're on this route. And so I think there's a mix of like people saying that they have goals and they do nothing to them. So then it's just an idea. It's just it's fake, right? It's not real. They're not actually doing anything that leads towards that. But I think if you are someone that doesn't even start the simple activities, that means your personal growth is what was lacking because you didn't have discipline, time management, time blocking, self-awareness, personal accountability. So that's why I said it always starts there because if I I can tell you how to build a Shelby Mustang at the full manuscript, right? But if you didn't have any kind of prerequisite skills to get there, because you weren't accountable on yourself to go learn those prerequisites, but you could have one. Everybody could. We can all do whatever we want in this world.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I'm glad that you said that. The prerequisite skills, right? How much of a leg up on the competition do we have, being that we're from a sales background? Because a lot of people enter real estate and they've never done sales before. They've never, and it's not necessarily being sales as far as being sharky, but I think the best salesmen are are the ones that are able to relate to people and and they're the ones that are able to connect with somebody and and solve their problem because that's what we are at the highest level. We're problem solvers. A lot of people have never ever done that. So therefore, when you throw them in the real estate arena, they're just like you know, I'm gonna make some uh some videos and hopefully I can, you know, sell this $500,000 home. And one of my favorite kind of sayings is just real estate has nothing to do with selling homes. Right. You know what I'm saying? It's about the connection and the life experience that that person's going through that you're now entrusted to help with. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

unknown 3:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

So number one, to answer your first question, I don't think it's the majority. Having a sales background can help majority of people. It helps, yes. And if I had to put a percentage on it, I'd say like 25%. I think it's not the majority. I think there's a lot of people from my experience now that I've coached that had no sales background and they became my top agent. Great. They were my top, they were the best. But it was because sales doesn't necessarily equal human connection and they were better human connectors naturally. Right? So they just already knew how to relate to someone and be empathetic, and they already had that. And they could have been someone that worked at, you know, one of my persons was an advocate in the church. They were really had just part-time jobs. They worked at, you know, little small jobs at Yogurt Zone or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

So they were really good at selling the dream. Maybe, right? Maybe. No, but would you say too it's because they were fresh and they were just malleable?

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Uh maybe a part of that because again, how I am obviously is is I might be a certain way of firmness of like, hey, we do these things and it should work. Trust me, I got you. Let's do it. So I only put their horse blinders on to only be a route of success. So maybe that is possible, but I'm not there for every conversation. So I know majority of people that fail in our industry is because they don't know how to convert. They don't know how to talk, they don't know how to build a relationship, build rapport, they don't know how to connect, no nurturing. So when I'm not around, the natural nurturers actually did pretty well. Whether you're an extrovert like me that's loud and can talk a lot, or you're an introvert and you just do better with one-on-one, doesn't matter as long as you knew how to nurture and be empathetic to someone's situation. Usually you do pretty well. Sure. Right. Um, so I think like sales background, no. I don't think it plays a big part in terms of like background in car sales, phone sales, whatever. I don't, because there's a lot of those folks that come into our industry. And I think they fail too. Sales background people don't just, they're not just successful in real estate, but it's because they're also playing in the wrong lane. Correct. I think if you have a background in sales and telemarketing and and and maybe car sales, for example, I think you're better fit at a brokerage or a place where they give you leads, you smile in dial, you convert them over the phone, you book appointments, and you have more of like a uh it's very similar to a corporate world of sales. You probably would fly better that way. I call them mercenaries. Yeah, you're a hired merse. Like you, you know that you are here to what one job and you need to get your call volume up because there's a volume that will say yes to you, even if you don't even know how to talk to a wall.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

That is how um Jordan Belfort sells. Uh the way that he uses the uh the straight line sales persuasion is he says, I'm gonna show you how to convert everybody who's uh what's the phrase he uses? He says, Um I'm gonna allow I'm gonna show you how to close everybody who is who is able to be closed. Yep. He goes, because not all people are able to be closed. He goes, but the ones that are, I'm gonna show you how to do nine out of ten of them. You know what I'm saying? So basically he's looking for the ones that are ready to get taken down. You know what I'm saying? And that's what his persuasion is for or or whatnot. So no, I definitely uh see what you're saying when it comes to that. So you've been in the industry now a total of seven seven years. Yeah. What is the hardest thing about real estate to Anthony Alminger?

SPEAKER_00 6:54

I'd say right now, in my I guess the answer today is just uh hiring the right people around me to do you know a good enough job the way I would do it if I wasn't there. There's salaried, so this is not agents. This is not agents. Agents can you know make mistakes, I coach them, that's my job. What I mean is my salaried staff. People that can, you know, help me with emails, marketing, duplication of phone calls, you know, pop buys, gifting, you know, some of the clerical work and all that. I think right now that's been my my whole same reason that there's a lot of folks that I'll hire that they have everything that it should take to do a great job, but for some reason we'll lack. I've just been having like the lack of time management, lack of showing up, lack of, you know, following through, lack of actually doing what they said they were supposed to do. And so again, I'm I guess it's like the third or fourth time I said this now, but those prerequisites is what's missing in our industry. And that's been the biggest frustration.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

So would you say then that you have to go all the way back to the beginning and stabilize those prerequisites with people?

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Hire the right person that has those backgrounds for myself right first, that I know, okay, you at least know that time is important. You at least dress for the day, you at least understand how to show up on time or early. You at least had, you know, some homework you did prior to coming to this meeting and you know a little bit about me or this client or whatever. Like there's some people that take pride in their work, and then there's some people that just do it for money. And I need to sniff out. Saying that you just said right there.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

You need to sniff out what's that?

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Sniff out the person that wants to, you know, take pride versus the person that only wants the money. And it goes along the lines of what you were saying earlier, but the person, kind of like about uh uh, I think you said something like personal practices or whatever. Um, you know, the person that takes pride in their work will make the money. Like they will. It just comes with the job. Like you just need to take pride in it, and people will adapt to you and cling on to you, and your vibe attracts your tribe.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

It's a vibe, uh uh, it's a it's a byproduct. It's a byproduct of what you're doing and what you're implementing into your life. And that's why they say that it's not necessarily uh that's why they say you abtract. You attract, you're not chasing. You know what I'm saying? I think a lot of people don't understand what that kind of means. It's not uh Jim Ron, the man himself, yeah. He's not he's not saying it's not necessarily that you want to become a millionaire because you want a million dollars. It's you became a millionaire because of the person that you've become. Yes. So all of a sudden, so of course everybody wants to work with you, everybody wants because you do the prerequisites and you do X, Y, and Z the right way, and it's like everything kind of like gravitates towards you now. Now everybody wants your like everybody wants you to help them out. Everybody has a business idea now, everybody wants to join the team, everybody wants to do that, and it's like, damn, now money's flowing towards me because of the things that I have kind of laid all the bricks that I've laid down before. I think a lot of people don't really understand that, and they just want to just be successful now. And I think I think it depends on where you're at in your life as well. You know what I'm saying? Us entering in our 40s, I think we've already had our cup fill of like buying things and stuff like that. You know what I'm saying? And it and and you can tell where people are in their journey, you know what I'm saying? Like I I've been at the point where I'm wanting to make money for all the wrong reasons. Okay, you know what I'm saying? And I think that that'll hinder your progress because I get mystic with it, bro. I'm like, you're not you're not ready. You're you're you're not ready for X amount of success because what are you gonna do with it? You know what I'm saying? Do you believe in anything like that? Or nah? You just think that the person who No, I do agree with that mentality.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Like, I mean, people have eras of life, and so some people are just not in the right era for this career growth that they're building, but to move past the stage of where they should, you know, you could have you could want to be a millionaire, multi-billionaire, whatever. But yeah, like right now, you're just not there. That's not your era, that's not your season. You're not doing anything that says that you should be. You know, there's a lot of people that don't put in the work to get there, so I think uh there's a lot of that. But um, I don't know. I I've also had some people around me that have coached me that they purposely put themselves in debt to put their backs against the wall to grow.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

That's a tricky one.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

That's a tricky one. But I have had people tell me that, and I and I'm I've never like personally done that uh on purpose. I think there's times where we all get in a rut, right? Like I can be successful, but we've all had down years. We've all had, you know, money management things that you have to work on, you have to make sacrifices. So we've all been there, but I think I can feel that small feeling when I think about this. When someone was like, Yeah, man, I I bought the $700,000 house because I knew I'm gonna have this mortgage. And if I don't close this many loans, it was a loan officer. If I don't close this many loans, I can't pay my mortgage, so I better get this many loans.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

I don't dude, I don't think that that's I don't think I I so there's like a thing of correlation and causation, obviously. You know what I'm saying? And the correlation to that is sure, I believe you will accomplish your goals, but I don't agree with the causation of that. I don't think that you should I don't think you should be being chased by something so you can run fast. You know what I'm saying? It's like I think it's like you're gonna you're gonna bite off more than you can chew pulling shit like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

There's a good chance of that, correct. There are some people that need to cycle themselves out though to be great. Correct. It happens a lot in sports, it happens a lot in just different industries. Like if you in your mind don't think you're the top G, then you won't be. Sure. Right. And and so some I think I relate it to that. Like if you have the car, the house, the watch, and I don't do that by the way, right? Like I'm more of the humble spender, I don't spend anything on anything at all for seven years, right? I save it all. But there are some people that I see that I have to try to understand instead of hating on them because I don't like flashy people, but instead of hating on them, I've tried to understand a few of them, and that's where I get as the positive from it that they say, you know, they look the part so they can be the part. Sure. And the it, you know, we know that there is the wrong thinking of that, that they're putting themselves in debt and they're gonna fail when they're not even that great. But the people that are that great and they want to look the part to stay that great, I don't mind it because it's probably their internal motivation to try to keep up with the bills, and that's just how they are. And it's not even just that, it's the even profit.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Well, I was gonna ask you that. I was gonna say, are they really successful though? And which ones are which?

SPEAKER_00 13:20

I know a lot of people that are. Um, I do think too, like if you are a winner or a champion, you always were. So it's not like Tim Duncan was always gonna be a national champion, like he always was gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

He always was.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

I mean, you're talking about though.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Yeah, well, dude, there are some. If you're talking about real estate industry, there are some people that I knew were always gonna be great. They just always had it like that.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

That's a great way to put it. They just always did because you know, being the elder statesman now, a little bit, especially in our game, I see young people and they just got it.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

There's some people that just got it, got it.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

So as a person, like you need to humble yourself and realize that there's just somebody out there that just has it. You know what I'm saying? And it gets frustrated. I mean, I mean, it don't frustrate me anymore. I I don't care, but I'm like, I could see how it could be like, man, how does that dude do that shit?

SPEAKER_00 14:08

So you know how you said on that waiting movie when you were saying earlier about giving the business card and it was like the same job in a different place, right? I do this today, now that I can't help it because I like to go have a nice dinner and drinks or whatever. And you see like these bartenders, the waiters, there's some people that just love their damn job and they put everything into it to make sure it's the best experience. And you know that they're doing it because they want maybe an extra tip. But also, there's a lot of people that we get that are waiters, waitresses at nice, fancy restaurants, things, and then you can tell they hate their job. Like they're doing, like they just don't make you feel comfortable or anything. So I noticed like I've been a little bit better talent scout because of being a coach and mentor and things that I'll start seeing some things. I'm like, man, you should not be doing this job. Oh, yeah. Like, you need to be with me. Like, yes, here's the business card to say, hey, come here. And I've had a lot of folks that come out of the service industry that I've coached and mentored, they do great in real estate because they already had again the prerequisites that said that they should be great. They were always gonna be a winner, they were always gonna be successful, but they just didn't ever have the right lane that they were playing in, right? And so maybe I can be that legacy to show them that they can be in this lane, they can play the game. I can tell with some people now, not everybody, but there are some people that have it, and you can just tell. And now, this is a second layer to this is unfortunately as a coach, mentor to agents, do I sometimes pour more into some others that I know have it more? I think I unconsciously do do that. Of course. I feel like that's my Jordan right there. Of course. I was about to say, Jordan was always gonna be Jordan, even as a middle school elementary, he was always gonna be Jordan. Well, yes. Uh since birth, these people were gonna be great at athleticism, things, but somebody has to guide them to be in the right lane. Correct. And so again, I see these folks that it's like you could take the wrong path and you're not Jordan anymore. I do think, though, you always had the abilities to be this.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

What if Jordan took the wrong path and he's just like this high-level drug dealer? Like just the another way, but he still has like the drive, the motivation, the follow-through, everything, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:06

That'd be crazy. What if he still has the best PL, even as a drug lord? You know, he makes the most profit. He's the goat. He was still Jordan. He's just the goat. He's just the goat, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

He always was born. No matter what.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

No, and it's a weird take. It is a dark take, maybe, but it is very possible because some people that just have it have it.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

So uh I tell Xavier this, right, all the time. I'm like, you look at Brad Pitt, you look at Leo, you look at Ben Affleck, you know. I'm like, could you imagine this dude just on the subway, just or riding the bus? He was gonna be something. Some people He was gonna be a CEO or he was gonna he was gonna be something, bro. That's just not this regular dude. You know what I'm saying? And some people just are on like just just born with with it like that, like for sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

And it's not to discourage other folks that don't have a natural gift, but I think I No man, tell them to quit, get out of here. Some some folks in our industry for sure. But I think some folks need to get out. No, I do believe that 100%. Like I think in every industry, I mean, obviously, it's not just um but I think success is based on capacity. If you know your capacity of where you are considered successful in your own way, could then you are successful. Because like to make a million dollars a year doesn't mean success for everybody. Sure. Some some people come to me and say, Man, I just want an extra 40 this year. Okay, well, let's mark that down, and again, let's work backwards and let's dissect. And like, what can we do to get the 40k extra this year? And if you felt successful because you hit that, then hey, all power to you. Let's fucking we won. You won. Sure. I don't think you had to be Jordan. I think you had to be in your own lane as successful as you could be. And I think that that's where you know people need to understand like there's levels to this.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Some people need to be Rodman, some people need to be uh Bushler, some people need to be Steve Kerr.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, no, I I totally I just hate to see the wasted capacity, right? Like you should have been Jordan and you have capacity up there, and you're spending time, you know, with folks that wouldn't ever guide you that way or like be around. So it's gonna hinder you, you know. Like you're they always say, What, like, you know, show me your friends, I'll show you your future, right? So, yeah, there are some folks that need guidance to go up to be, but I when maybe it's uh confusing, but when I say like you're always Jordan was always gonna be Jordan, like it's just because yeah, his characteristics and his willpower and his will to win, all these things were always gonna be in him.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

It's just what lane did he go towards? Luckily, we got him in the right lane. Sure. And luckily we got him to progress the way he should have, and so forth. So we saw got to see greatness, but there's just gonna be a lot of Jordans out there that don't, but they've always had it in them.