The Sales Principle That Built a $100 Million Company with Josh Mastel

Do what is hard, and your life will be easy. Do what is easy, and your life will be hard. It's a simple idea, but for Josh Mastel, it became the philosophy that transformed every part of his life.

In this episode of Sell by Being Human, host Alex Smith sits down with Josh Mastel, co-owner of Innovien Solutions, a tech solutions and staffing firm serving onshore and nearshore talent that's approaching $100 million in ARR and has landed on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies for six years running.

Josh's story starts a long way from that success. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, he moved out at 16 with his older brother, working and paying rent on his own before he had even finished high school. Two years later, his brother, the closest thing he had to a father figure, died in a car accident. Josh spent the next seven years masking the pain behind a charismatic, "everything's great" exterior, until a first sales manager named Kirby Style saw something in him worth investing in and taught him a principle that still runs his company today: do what is hard, and your life will be easy.

That lesson, paired with a hard won lesson in vulnerability, took Josh from a directionless 20 something to a record breaking sales career, and eventually to walking away from corporate to cash out his 401(k) and build Innovien Solutions with his wife. Along the way, he's learned that the best salespeople aren't the smoothest talkers in the room, they're the ones who actually care whether they can solve your problem, and are willing to say so when they can't.

This conversation covers grief, mentorship, radical honesty as a leadership tool, why AI perfect emails are killing response rates, and why "useful delusions" might be the most underrated growth strategy there is. Let’s dive in!

Key Takeaways

Doing hard things consistently creates an easier and more rewarding life over timeThe best mentors help people become better outside of work, not just better employeesVulnerability builds stronger relationships than pretending to have everything figured outGreat leaders admit mistakes and create environments where others feel safe to do the sameHuman connection creates more lasting success than persuasion aloneThe best salespeople focus on understanding problems before offering solutionsHelping people often creates greater business results than chasing commissionsInvesting in people produces returns that can't be measured by revenue aloneAsking for help is one of the fastest ways to accelerate personal and professional growthKnowing yourself is one of the most valuable skills any leader can developAuthenticity becomes even more valuable in an AI-driven worldSuccess becomes possible when you believe bigger than your current circumstances

In This Episode:

[00:00] Introduction

[01:23] Meet Josh Mastel

[03:00] What "Sell by Being Human" means

[05:04] Leaving home at sixteen and finding a mentor