Mino Lee is a 21-year-old college dropout who sleeps on a mattress – oh yeah, and he’s making over $20K per month online. Say what?
And no, this isn’t a story of somebody whose entrepreneurial journey has been funded by mom and dad.
In fact, Mino’s parents were pretty gutted (read: disapproving) when he dropped out – which makes his success all the more inspiring.
So, how exactly did this kid go from sleepless nights, skipping classes and surviving on stress to growing a following of 1.4 million and running a hugely successful business on Whop?
Our head of social, Austin, decided to catch up with Mino in NYC and do some digging.
And honestly? We’re highkey impressed.
Dropping out of college to chase a dream
Many of our biggest creators on Whop are college-age, and as a result, so are our readers.
Each year, dropout rates increase. Latest statistics in the US show that 39% of first-time students seeking a bachelor's degree don't earn it within eight years.
But statistics show something else, perhaps even more interesting:
Only 50% of students at ‘risk’ of dropping out think their school's resources to help find the right degree were good. The other 50%? Yeah, they aren’t so satisfied.
For many, college would simply waste time that could otherwise spent getting started on an entrepreneurial journey. Not to mention the costs, and to not even have a guarantee of a job afterwards? It’s a scary thought.
- Do you need a business degree to start a business? The truth about higher education
- Passive income ideas for students
But dropping out can be a scary choice, too. As Austin points out, it’s not even the fear of letting yourself down, as much as the fear of disappointing other people – namely, your parents.
“I personally dropped out of college too, and the hardest part for me wasn't my trust in myself. It was actually my parents' trust in me,” he says. “What was that like for you?”
“Probably about 20 back-and-forths between me and my mom, ranging to pretty much all-out yelling,” Mino admits.
“Eventually, we're tired of yelling at each other and arguing about this because we're not going anywhere. She's from a different generation. She doesn't understand this stuff.”
Personally, I can relate. I remember when I first showed my dad people explaining dropshipping on YouTube, and he insisted nobody was really making that money.
And my dad was a young entrepreneur too – in his early 20s, he was opening a restaurant.
But like Mino says, the opportunities we have now? They really didn’t exist when our parents were our age. To them, it does smell fishy.
It’s up to us to prove them wrong, and Mino was determined to.
He realized his mom wasn’t going to be impressed hearing about much other than numbers, facts, and proof his vision was working.
“I would only talk about numbers to my mom. I wouldn't say I'm enjoying myself. It was more like, look how much money I made.”
He’d started using his parents’ hesitation as fuel to make more and more.
“I’d ask them, if I make this much money, would you allow me to drop out of college? No. How about this much money? No. Well, how about this much money? No.”
But for Mino, it wasn’t really about numbers. What he really wanted to hear was that his parents believed he could do it, regardless of college. That success was still attainable for him.
One morning, after an argument, Mino’s mom came to his room and essentially gave her blessing. He could drop out, and she would support him.
“That was the final nail in the coffin, the day I returned for my last semester of college. And since then, it's only been positive between us. I was very, very lucky.”
After dropping out, Mino decided it was time to move to NYC and surround himself with other kids who were hustling instead of studying.
A search for the perfect hustle
If there’s one thing successful entrepreneurs have in common, it’s hunger.
When I was a kid, I remember pouring over a paperback I’d been given titled ‘101 Ways for Kids to Make Money’.
From handmade greeting cards to gardening tasks, I’d take on anything I could to make a spare buck here and there.
For Mino, by the age of 19? He was coaching business owners making 7-figures.
“I was trying to run high ticket business coaching for TikTok, teaching older people, like 30 plus, running maybe seven-figure businesses.
I was kind of miserable doing it. I didn't really empathize with these people. When I did that, I was 19.”
But that wasn’t it. He’d tried dropshipping, too.
“I tried it for a month, selling like a Nerf gun. That didn't work.”
“One thing I noticed about every entrepreneur I meet that's in the past 10 years, almost everyone has tried some form of dropshipping,” Austin laughs.
He continues, “But I think it's interesting because these are all people who are still in this space now, which I think shows something magical; maybe it's even just learning the marketing about dropshipping.
It shows it's possible, and it was one of the first businesses you could get into with really no money and such low entry levels.”
And honestly, it probably did teach Mino some marketing skills, as did his time spent coaching on TikTok.
Which is just as well – because content is there entire backbone of his Whop.
Teaching others to grow a following and monetize
Okay, let’s get into it. How has Mino made over 160K in one year on Whop?
Well, he runs Content Academy: a community, course, and mentorship that teaches mentees how to grow a following and start making money with social media, namely on TikTok and Instagram.
Over a Quest protein bar, the boys get stuck into the ins and outs of Mino’s actual business – after we’ve given him enough sh*t for sleeping on a mattress, that is.
“This is how I'm going to justify expensing my entire rent,” Mino laughs.
“Everything is basically for filming, I don't have a bed frame to my benefit, because I don't even want to be in bed.”
Lowkey, he might be onto something.
“If you're working in your own room? I feel like it's so easy. You see your bed, and it just looks so comfortable. I'd be like, bro, hold up. Let me just text a few people.
Your day is gone.”
Austin gestures towards the corner of Mino’s room, which is fully set up – with a desk, studio lighting and recording equipment.
“Is content right now for fun or is it also just more so to grow the business?” he asks.
“I would say it's 50-50. The interesting thing I've stumbled upon is that when you're just building in public, but you just happen to have the business, it's like this kind of soft selling thing where they learn about the business passively.”
And that’s how Mino runs his own content – it’s not just content posted to sell a course or flog a community. Instead, he documents his own journey as a 21-year-old college dropout running a business online with real, raw content.
And when people are inspired and want to learn more? The link in his bio is right there.
“I feel like there’s this ‘guru grifter’ space in 2024; it's horrible. Everybody's hard selling.
So the instant viewers feel like they’re getting pitched in a video, they’re clicking off, they’re scrolling away, they don't want to watch it.”
That’s the thing about good sales content: it doesn’t feel like sales content. It still offers value, entertainment, and education – without expecting a sale. Without asking anything.
That’s how you build trust. People only buy from who they can trust. And our boy Mino? Yeah, he’s a pro at it.
Let’s talk numbers
We had Mino pull up his Whop dashboard and show us how much he's making per month, and we weren’t lying: Content Academy’s MRR is over 20K.
“So that's basically all of our paid memberships, people who continuously pay monthly for a subscription,” he explains.
Mino’s churn rate, i.e. his percentage of members who leave each month, has also halved in the last year. Pretty good.
“I think this one is the one I look the most at, though, our ‘churn rate’.
Back in the past year to date, it peaked at 40%. So cutting that in half means we just doubled our lifetime value for all our customers.”
It’s refreshing to see that most info creators on Whop really care about long-term client happiness rather than simply making quick sales.
“For many people in this online money space, the last thing they think about is churn,” Austin says.
What I've noticed about you is that you really care about the long-term impact on people. People stay around because you're constantly building out this program, adding more, making it better.”
For Mino, this is because he sees a lot of himself in his mentees. And if he can do it, why not them, too?
Maintaining authenticity in an inauthentic online space
“The main thing everyone talks about online is the second you start selling a course or program, people call you a sellout or a guru. What are your thoughts on that?”
“I think it's a delicate balance,” Mino admits. “The audience understands what a course is, what a community is. They don't want to feel lied to.”
For this reason, Mino is super transparent about his earnings, successes, and failures on his accounts.
It’s why his audience is so eager to learn from him, they know he’s made mistakes on his journey and can help them avoid making the same ones.
It’s why he offers a free access tier in his community, too – you can join right now without paying a cent and gain immediate access to a group chat and free content course.
And if Mino’s reviews are anything to go by? There’s some pretty valuable stuff within content academy:
“Mino is a master at what he does,” says member David Pham.
I joined the community after hitting 10K followers on Instagram and seeing my growth slow down. He helped me with my personal brand and now I am currently at 24.800K followers.”
Mastering work-life balance and tapping into a flow state
At 21, I couldn’t have imagined running a business on the scale of Mino’s. I also found myself wondering how he finds time for himself or manages the mental load.
Luckily, over a dry scoop of protein powder (why do guys do this?), Austin asks the million-dollar question.
“I think a big part of the gym for many people is because they need it for their mental health. Do you use that for your business?”
“Actually, I'm trying to get myself to go to the gym first thing in the morning,” Mino says.
Even if it's a 30-minute workout when I first start the day, I then feel like I can go on camera.
It's like a state of mind that I gotta get into, a speaking flow-state. If I can't get into that state, there's a slight bit of friction.”
As a writer, I feel this to my core. Oh, and just in case you weren’t familiar with the term ‘flow state’?
Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (dare you to try pronouncing that one) first coined it to describe energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.
Basically, when you love what you do.
“It's interesting you say that because I think across all entrepreneurs, there's one thing that's in common,” says Austin.
“And it's like they need to take care of their mental state, or else they're cooked.”
But this seems to be something Mino has figured out for himself. I mean, sh*t, the guy works a 2-hour workweek.
“I think, yeah, it's easy for entrepreneurs to be like, this isn't making me more money,” says Mino.
“I’m consciously reminding myself of the benefit of lifting. I'm like, dude, why do I feel a little bit more sluggish? Oh, I didn't work out earlier today.”
What you get by joining Content Academy
Like I said, you can jump into Content Academy for free, and gain access to a Discord community and course to work through.
But once you’ve worked through that, you might want to consider the paid tier.
For $97 a month, paid memberships will grant you access to Mino’s content bootcamp for creating short-form videos that convert, the academy Discord community for only paid mentees, the business bootcamp, and frequently updated trends you can use to help your content go viral.
Plus, you’ll receive direct mentorship and support from Mino in hour-long weekly group coaching calls.
With a 4.98 star rating and over 40 reviews highlighting their success using the program, Mino has built something that is impressive regardless of his age – and even more impressive because of it.
Start growing your following and monetizing your content today with Whop
Ready to finally take the plunge and try your hand at content creation? No need to do it alone.
When you join Whop, you’ll be able to learn from mentors just like Mino, who can teach you the ins and outs of content, monetizing, and building a personal brand. Plus, you can fast-track your way to success by avoiding pitfalls and learning curves these creators have already overcome.
From Instagram to TikTok, YouTube to Twitch, whatever kind of content you want to create? You can learn to do it with Whop.
If you’ve got the hunger to learn, we can teach you to succeed. Check out the Whop marketplace for all the courses, communities, and resources you could possibly need to make your content creation journey as fun and effortless as possible.
