Business

For a small business owner, making a good product is only part of the challenge. The next hurdle is often harder: explaining its value, earning a customer’s trust and having the confidence to keep going after hearing no.

This fall, Houston City College is once again offering Greater Houston residents a chance to work on those skills at no cost through the HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling, an application-based sales and entrepreneurship training program developed around the business principles of Gallery Furniture founder Jim McIngvale, better known across Houston as Mattress Mack.

Applications are now open for the Fall 2026 onsite cohort, which will meet for six Tuesday evening sessions from Sept. 8 through Oct. 13 at the HCC Alief Hayes Campus, located at 2811 Hayes Road in West Houston. Classes run from 5 to 8 p.m., and the application deadline is 2 p.m. CST Tuesday, Sept. 1. Seating is limited, and applicants selected for the program must commit to attending all six sessions.

For entrepreneurs trying to grow a customer base, students preparing for their first sales job, employees hoping to become stronger communicators or Houstonians considering a career change, the program offers something increasingly valuable: practical business training tied to lessons developed in a Houston company rather than solely in a textbook.

Six Weeks of Sales Skills Built Around the Mattress Mack Philosophy

Offered through the Glenda and David Regenbaum Center for Entrepreneurship at HCC Northwest, the HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling uses a cohort model, meaning the participants selected for the program progress through all six sessions together.

The Fall 2026 curriculum begins Sept. 8 with The Art of Listening, led by Landi Spearman, covering meaningful messages, nonverbal cues, questioning and active listening.

Austin Tenette leads the Sept. 15 session on Persistence, with lessons on owning the sales process, preparing like an elite athlete, setting goals and building what the program describes as a sales staircase.

Jennifer Dale leads The Ability to Say No on Sept. 22, examining boundaries and how and when to decline an opportunity. The Sept. 29 session turns to Caring Customer Service, including customer relationships, service practices and the human side of doing business.

Tenette returns Oct. 6 for Building a Book of Business, focusing on prospecting, lead generation, lead nurturing and creating loyal customers. The series concludes Oct. 13 with What You Learn After You Know It All, which examines continuous learning, entrepreneurial thinking and applying an entrepreneurial mindset to a career.

Those themes closely reflect the kind of selling McIngvale has practiced for decades: listen closely, work persistently, build relationships and treat customer service as more than the moment when money changes hands.

Building the Courage to Sell an Idea

For some participants, the most important outcome may not be a particular sales technique at all.

In an HCC video about the program, facilitator Austin Tenette was asked what a participant possesses after completing the series. His answer centered on confidence.

“Well, to quote my friends from the Wizard of Oz, I'd say one word, courage.”

Tenette connected that courage directly to one of the most familiar challenges in sales.

“And I say that because people are often times not successful in selling because they have fear.”

That fear can show up in very ordinary moments — approaching a potential customer, explaining a new business, making a proposal or simply asking someone to consider an idea. Tenette pointed specifically to “Fear of what to say” and “how to say it.”

That message helps explain why the program has attracted people well beyond traditional retail sales employees. HCC says participants have included startup and established entrepreneurs, students, sales professionals, aspiring salespeople, business advisors, community leaders and other Greater Houston residents looking to become better at communicating and selling ideas.

HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling Has Grown Into a Houston Entrepreneurship Program

The Fall 2026 class represents Cohort 14 of the HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling.

According to HCC information provided for the program, 12 cohorts have already graduated 510 alumni over roughly five and a half years, split between six virtual and six onsite cohorts. Cohort 13, a virtual summer program, is scheduled to graduate Aug. 27, with the new onsite class following in September and October.

The program has evolved since its earlier onsite editions, some of which were held directly at Gallery Furniture. A Spring 2022 cohort, for example, met at the company’s North Freeway store and combined HCC sales instruction with workforce training. Later onsite cohorts moved to the Alief Hayes Campus while retaining the core Mattress Mack approach to sales, customer relationships and persistence.

Participants who complete all six Fall 2026 sessions receive a Certificate of Completion from the HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling. HCC also notes that some graduates could be considered for sales opportunities with Gallery Furniture or other employers, although completing the program does not guarantee employment.

The school is one piece of a broader entrepreneurship effort at Houston City College. The Glenda and David Regenbaum Center for Entrepreneurship provides workshops, seminars, classes, competitive training, advising and business connections aimed at helping entrepreneurs launch and grow companies.

HCC itself also has a new name since last year's onsite class. The institution officially changed from Houston Community College to Houston City College in 2025, while retaining the familiar HCC abbreviation. College leaders said the change reflects HCC's expanding academic offerings and regional mission.

From $5,000 in Houston to Gallery Furniture

The philosophy behind the School of Selling comes from a business story many Houstonians already know.

McIngvale arrived in Houston with his wife, Linda, in 1981 with about $5,000 and launched Gallery Furniture from an abandoned model-home development along the North Freeway. After previously working in the furniture business and learning the industry firsthand, he reinvested early profits into inventory and steadily built the operation that would become one of Houston's best-known independent retailers.

His Mattress Mack nickname became inseparable from the company's energetic advertising, but his reputation in Houston has also been shaped by an unusually hands-on approach to both selling and community service.

Gallery Furniture says McIngvale can still regularly be found at the front desk of the original North Freeway store greeting customers and watching the sales floor. The company's business model has long emphasized quick delivery, American-made products, customer relationships and a willingness to make McIngvale himself part of the buying experience.

For participants in the HCC sales program, that history makes the curriculum more than an abstract set of sales principles. It is based on practices developed while building and operating a Houston business over more than four decades.

Mattress Mack's Business Story Is Also a Houston Community Story

McIngvale's place in Houston extends well beyond furniture sales.

His Gallery Furniture showrooms have repeatedly become gathering places during disasters. During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Gallery Furniture opened its doors to people displaced by flooding and deployed delivery trucks to assist with rescues. During Winter Storm Uri in 2021, the company again opened its stores as warming shelters, providing shelter and thousands of meals before participating in major food and water distributions. Gallery Furniture also opened its North Freeway location during Tropical Storm Imelda.

That community involvement now includes workforce and education initiatives as well. Gallery Furniture supports programs including WorkTexas, which focuses on career and vocational training, along with scholarship, veteran and community organizations.

In 2025, McIngvale and Gallery Furniture also distributed more than 200 mattresses to veterans and military personnel during a Memorial Day event supported by volunteers from Camp Hope, continuing a pattern of combining the company's resources with Houston-area charitable efforts.

The connection between those efforts and the HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling is straightforward: both are built around giving people practical tools they can use to become more self-sufficient, whether that means landing a job, building a business or learning how to communicate an idea more effectively.

Alumni Bring the Lessons Back to Their Own Businesses

The value of the program can extend beyond the person sitting in the classroom.

Among the alumni highlighted by HCC is Warren Broadnax, CEO of She's Happy Hair, who said four company leaders previously completed the program and returned with skills and perspectives that benefited the wider organization. Broadnax subsequently planned to participate himself along with his COO and additional company leaders.

Other listed alumni come from businesses, education, government and community organizations, illustrating the range of people who have used the training. Past participants include entrepreneurs and executives as well as professionals connected with the City of Houston Mayor's Office of Business Opportunity, the West Houston Association, Montessori education, media and other Houston-area organizations.

For a region built heavily on small businesses and personal relationships, that ripple effect may be one of the program's most meaningful features: lessons learned by one participant can find their way into an entire workplace.

How to Apply for the Fall 2026 HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling

The Fall 2026 onsite HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling is free for accepted applicants who complete the program.

Classes will be held Tuesdays from 5 to 8 p.m. at the HCC Alief Hayes Campus, 2811 Hayes Road, Houston, TX 77082, beginning Sept. 8 and continuing through Oct. 13.

The schedule is:

• Sept. 8: The Art of Listening
• Sept. 15: Persistence
• Sept. 22: The Ability to Say No
• Sept. 29: Caring Customer Service
• Oct. 6: Building a Book of Business
• Oct. 13: What You Learn After You Know It All

Applications must be submitted by 2 p.m. CST on Sept. 1, 2026. Because classroom space is limited, HCC will review the applicant pool and contact those selected. Applicants should be prepared to attend every session; partial participation is not permitted for the onsite cohort.

That commitment is substantial — 18 hours in the classroom over six weeks — but for a Houston-area entrepreneur trying to turn an idea into a sustainable business, a student preparing to enter the workforce or an experienced professional who simply wants to become better at communicating with customers, the opportunity comes with an uncommon price tag: free.

And in a program built around one of Houston's most recognizable entrepreneurs, the larger lesson is not limited to closing a sale. It is about becoming more comfortable listening, asking, explaining, persisting and building relationships — skills that can follow participants long after the final class ends.

Residents can find program details and submit an application through the HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling Fall 2026 registration page. Applicants should complete the full registration process, including the final confirmation and checkout step, before the Sept. 1 deadline.

Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for more Greater Houston small business opportunities, workforce programs, education news and community resources.

By Tiffany Krenek, My Neighborhood News 

Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.