In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Alex Albarrán, the 20‑year‑old founder of Albarrán Sports Group, a sports management firm that represents MMA fighters and boxers. The conversation begins with Alex sharing a personal story about his fear of public speaking in middle and high school and how he overcame it by joining Toastmasters in 2018, delivering seven speeches and gaining confidence. He emphasizes the importance of facing fears to avoid future regrets. Alex then highlights that effective communication and genuine interest in others are the most valuable skills in relationship‑driven industries like sports management and real estate. He offers advice to his younger self: lose the ego, stay humble, and recognize that you don’t know everything, echoing Socratic wisdom. When asked about happiness, Alex notes that it varies per individual but centers on having purpose and goals, whether that’s building a million‑dollar agency or enjoying a modest work‑life balance. He cites Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People as the best book he’s read, stressing kindness and listening as keys to success across any people‑focused business. His favorite quote is Socrates’ “the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” The episode closes with Alex directing listeners to his Instagram handle @alexalbaran_.
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¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Alex Alborán. He is the founder of Alborán Sports Group, a sports management company specializing in MMA fighter and boxer representation. So welcome to the show, man.
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
Of course, grateful to have you here, Alex. The first question we ask on this show, Alex, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Gotcha. So in middle school and high school, I was that kid that was always scared of any type of presentation or anything like that in class to where I would literally rather skip the class and take an F on the presentation than do the public speaking thing. Like, I just was never into it. I didn't really have the confidence and I never really had the juice to really face my fears. But then this last year in January, I decided to join Toastmasters. And for those of you who don't know, Toastmasters is a nationwide public speaking course, basically an ongoing thing. And in 2018, I just decided to face my fears. That was my New Year's resolution to start trying to face my public speaking fear. And in 2018, I've done 7 speeches. In total. And now I could say I'm not the best at it, but I'm at least comfortable in a public speaking setting. And yeah, the message from that would be to— I mean, you're only going to live once, so you just face your fears head on so you don't have any regrets later on in life. Because yeah, if I didn't do this now and then when I was 60, I would have missed out on a lot of opportunities in terms of speaking engagements and potential just to make money. So for me, you Yeah, just turning from somebody that was so scared of public speaking to where I'd rather take an F to being a somewhat good public speaker. Yeah, it's been a big, big journey for me.
Absolutely, man. Dude, I can 100% relate to that. It's so wild how in the beginning when you're scared to do public speaking, it is, it's really scary. But then once you do a few of them and you start to become more comfortable, it starts to become more exciting than it does more scary. So it's like you start to like seek out more and more just because it's kind of like a rush before you get on the stage. It's almost like people that do skydiving all the time, you know, like they're adrenaline junkies. Like, that's how I kind of perceive it is like now I love public speaking and I love— like, I seek out that feeling of being uncomfortable before getting on stage. So I can totally relate to what you're saying. It's awesome. So the next one I got for you is what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So, in an industry like sports management, which is very relationship-based, just coming into the industry with the ability to effectively communicate while also being more interested in what others have to say than trying to be interesting, that will take you far in any industry like sports management or even real estate, any type of relationship-based business, whether you have a degree or not. That's really just a key skill that I brought into the industry and that is, I mean, super, super useful in anything.
And then the next one I have for you is, if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Number one, you don't know everything. Because I'm sure every teenager, even young adult, has at one point thought in their life, I know everything about anything, so ask me any questions. And I'm still relatively young, I'm 20 years old, so I do still think that sometimes. And if you ask my dad, He still thinks I have this personality trait, but to be honest with you, when I was in high school, I just thought I knew everything. I didn't have an open mind. I didn't want to learn, and that hurt me, you know, in a negative way. So if I can go back, I would just tell myself, lose the ego, be more humble, and you really don't know anything. So listen to people, listen to what they have to say.
And then kind of going down a little bit of a different path, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
It really depends on the person. Like, for me, it might be to have a successful sports agency and to have, you know, $1 million in revenue and to have a mansion and cars. For somebody else, it just might be to work that, you know, 9 to 5 or even 8 to 4, 9 to 5 job where they're making $40,000 a year and they're not really, you know, they're not pushing that much in terms of their career, but they have a ton of time to spend with their family, their friends, they're on their, you know, softball team, they go to the kids' sports on the weekends. So it really does depend on the person. But I do think that everyone needs to have some sort of purpose in their life and something toward they're pushing towards to really ultimately feel happy.
And then what is the best book that you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?
It would have to be How to Win Friends and Influence People. And just the biggest thing I learned from that book is that just simply by being kind, and like I said before, while being more interested in what other people have to say than me trying to be interesting, anyone has the ability to be successful and reach the top of their industry, whether it be sports management or any type of business or sales job or real estate, especially those type of jobs where you're really just communicating and connecting with people on a day-to-day basis. That book is good for them.
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
It's by Socrates, and the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. Going back to my advice to my younger self.
Yeah, I love that. That is awesome, man. Dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last one I have for you before we let you go is where can our audience best find you online?
So they can follow me on Instagram @alexalbaran_.
Perfect. Thank you again, man.
Thanks for having me on.
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