We like to think of hot-shot attorney as rich, savvy, and financially successful. But what happens when a lawyer trades in the courtroom for a YouTube channel? Jaspreet Singh, he is a licensed attorney, and creator of Minority Mindset made the change and hasn’t looked back since. His initial goal wasn’t to make money with his YouTube channel, but 1 million subscribers later, Jaspreet has transformed a modest YouTube channel into a thriving media company.
Of course, things weren’t always this rosy. “I didn’t get traction on my videos until a year-and-a-half after I started my channel,” he says. He confesses that he used to refresh his videos after uploading them just so they wouldn’t have a paltry 27 views (hey, everyone needs a morale boost).
So, why did Jaspreet ditch a potentially lucrative career for being an attorney for the bright lights of YouTube? You could say it comes down to how his brain thinks differently. Jaspreet credits his own “Minority Mindset” and attitude towards wealth for his YouTube success. Learn more about Jaspreet’s story, as well as his 5 lessons on bootstrapping a successful YouTube channel.
The attorney that he never was
Jaspreet is a licensed attorney, but he’s never actually worked as an attorney. The pull to entrepreneurship was too strong, and Jaspreet tried his hand at many ventures over the years—some successful and some not-so-successful.
The son of immigrant parents from Punjab, India, Jaspreet grew up believing he needed to become a doctor or a lawyer. While he did fulfill those childhood aspirations of passing the bar, Jaspreet pursued several business ventures, too. In college, he founded an event planning company, but he didn’t see a future in it. While in law school, he dabbled in real estate but realized he needed more capital.
The $3,500 scam that started it all
The entrepreneurial bug clearly bit Jaspreet, who eventually invented a water-resistant athletic sock. As he built the brand and waited for the patent to come through, he hired a marketing company to help him promote the business.
After giving them $3,500 to market his business, Jaspreet never heard from the company again. He’d been scammed.
In Jaspreet’s words, “I was angry.” He didn’t want anyone else to suffer a similar fate, so he created a class on how to launch a business without getting screwed over. The course performed decently, earning a modest $1,000—which wasn’t bad, considering this was just a hobby.
Jaspreet taught the class with the alias “Minority Mindset” because he knew he thought differently about money. While he was in college, he saw his friends partying every night, spending more money than they had. He wanted to help people think differently; he wanted to show that it was okay to be in the minority and to approach wealth in a strategic way.
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How Jaspreet built a YouTube empire of 1 million+
Jaspreet’s online course eventually morphed into a YouTube channel. Once it hit 100,000 followers, the patent on his water-proof sock was denied. Instead of devoting his time to the sock company, Jaspreet went all-in on Minority Mindset. He credits his success to taking a contrarian approach to content promotion.
Lesson 1: You don’t need fancy equipment
Who says you have to spend $2,000 on equipment to set up a YouTube channel? Jaspreet started Minority Mindset with less than $500. All he had at first was:
- His personal smartphone.
- A $25 light from Amazon.
- A $25 tripod.
After 5 months or so, Jaspreet did invest in a $300 camera. But even then, he didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars to set up what would become one of the fastest-growing media companies in the finance space.
Lesson 2: Bootstrap it yourself now and then build a team
In the beginning, you need to operate lean. Jaspreet started his YouTube channel by handling everything himself. That’s why he encourages everyone to become self-taught.
Since YouTube decentralizes how we learn, it’s possible for you to learn just about anything on YouTube. Instead of paying $60,000 to go to school for film, you can learn from passionate creators on YouTube for free.
Of course, there will come a time when you can’t handle everything by yourself. Once Minority Mindset became profitable, Jaspreet brought on freelancers to lighten the load. When that wasn’t enough, he hired a full-time team to build the company with him.
Lesson 3: Act now and fix it later
Perfection is the enemy. If you want to do something, don’t fixate on it until you think it’s perfect. As Jaspreet says, “Fast is better than slow.”
Do something, mess it up, figure out why you screwed up, and then fix it. That’s been Jaspreet’s philosophy with each of his ventures, and it’s paid dividends.
Lesson 4: Ditch sponsorships
Once Minority Mindset had 500,000 subscribers, Jaspreet saw it gain a lot of traction. He sought out sponsorships to monetize the channel’s success.
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The problem was, as Jaspreet soon learned, that sponsorships are incredibly strict. Sponsors dictated what Jaspreet could say and the content he could create. The money was good, but Jaspreet wasn’t a fan. He lost his passion for Minority Mindset and found the entire experience to be really annoying.
After trying sponsorships for a while, he decided to stop relying on them. Jaspreet kept Minority Mindset’s affiliates in place, but he canceled all sponsorships so he could make videos about the topics he loved.
Now, Minority Mindset has brought back their sponsorship program. But they are incredibly strict. According to Jaspreet, they reject “99% of sponsorship offers they get”.
Lesson 5: Create awesome content people want to watch
“You can’t make it on YouTube if your goal is to get rich,” Jaspreet says. In his experience, the best way to market your YouTube videos is to make great YouTube videos.
Jaspreet says that the key to YouTube growth is to make content that people want to watch. Sure, you can pay out the wazoo for YouTube Ads, but even then, you won’t have a sustainable audience that wants to hear from you. Since viewers power YouTube, you’ve got to create fun, accessible content that people want to watch.
When Jaspreet canceled sponsorships and made videos on topics that he was passionate about, the channel’s growth skyrocketed. His videos started to go viral again. “When you care about something, you’re going to do a better job because you care about it,” Jaspreet explains.
The future of Minority Mindset
Today, Minority Mindset is one of the fastest-growing financial education companies on the internet. In addition to the YouTube channel, Jaspreet’s team also has a blog, financial news channel, newsletter, and tons of other resources.
Minority Mindset rakes in over 5 million views every month on YouTube alone. What’s more, the brand is 100% bootstrapped; Jaspreet funneled all of its early earnings back into the brand to help it grow. Today, Minority Mindset has helped thousands of people get out of debt, start investing, and build real wealth.
While tricks like SEO or YouTube Ads can certainly grow a YouTube channel, Jaspreet’s passion was the key. It was a risk trading in his legal career for a future in media, but Minority Mindset was one investment that reaped dividends.
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