Decoded by AI · Instagram · Updated October 7, 2026

Mino Lee's best Reels, decoded.

Mino Lee (@minolee.mp4) makes Reels about growing on Instagram, side hustles and making money young. His median talking Reel gets about 90K plays and his best one 3.2M. We pulled his latest 200 Reels, transcribed every one with speech, set aside music and vlog clips, and had Jev label the 146 real talking scripts on eight dimensions: hook, structure, opening, evidence, emotion, advice, topic and call to action. Then we compared the labels against his plays. Here is what the data says, and what it doesn't.

Reels collected

200

Scripts decoded

146

Median plays

90.4K

Top Reel

3.2M

His formula

What his top 20% have in common

Hook

Result

Structure

Story

Opening

Claim

Evidence

Personal

CTA

None

The most common label in each category among his best-performing fifth of Reels, by plays.

The numbers

Median plays by hook, evidence, structure and topic

Compared with his account median of 90.4K plays.

Hook

Result49 Reels115.5K+28%

Direct6 Reels104.9K+16%

Story18 Reels99.1K+10%

Curiosity27 Reels86.4K-4%

Mistake5 Reels76.5K-15%

Contradiction19 Reels75.5K-16%

Recognition21 Reels65.7K-27%

Topic

Health6 Reels308.9K+242%

Money10 Reels117.3K+30%

Business20 Reels101.7K+12%

Marketing56 Reels92.3K+2%

Relationships6 Reels89.3K-1%

Other1 Reels · small sample87.6K-3%

Technology5 Reels82.6K-9%

Mindset34 Reels62.5K-31%

Habits8 Reels53.3K-41%

Evidence

None4 Reels · small sample237.6K+163%

Numbers15 Reels132.5K+47%

Example4 Reels · small sample112.1K+24%

Personal104 Reels87.4K-3%

Reasoning18 Reels77.4K-14%

Source1 Reels · small sample50.1K-45%

Structure

Explanation7 Reels213.5K+136%

Comparison4 Reels · small sample110.4K+22%

Story63 Reels100.2K+11%

Steps40 Reels95.2K+5%

Q&A3 Reels · small sample91.3K+1%

Opinion13 Reels73.6K-19%

Problem → solution16 Reels58.9K-35%

5 findings

What actually moves his views

01
His experiments beat everything else
20 'Is it possible?' experiments: 128K median vs 85K for the rest
His biggest Reels are challenges with a deadline and a number: "Is it possible to start a business in one day and make $1,000?" (3.2M plays), "22 days ago I started a brand new Instagram account to see if I can make $10,000" (2.5M). He even names the series: "that is the mission of Is It Possible?". 6 of his top 29 Reels are experiments, against 1 of his bottom 29. The format sells itself: a clear goal, a clock, and a result you have to stay to see.
Limits: 20 experiments is a modest group, and the two biggest ones pull the median up. The top-versus-bottom split is the steadier signal.
Try this: Turn your next tip into a test: "Is it possible to [result] in [short time]?" Film the attempt, show the number at the end.
02
His mindset Reels are his weakest, the opposite of Hormozi
Mindset 63K · habits 53K vs money 117K · business 102K median plays
For Hormozi, Shelby Sapp and Dan Martell, life advice beat business advice. For Mino it's the reverse. His 34 reflective mindset Reels ("I'm 22 now and I felt...", a favorite movie quote) sit far below his median, and his three lowest Reels are all mindset. His audience follows him for the playbook: money made, accounts grown, side hustles tested.
Limits: Topic overlaps with format: his mindset Reels are mostly reflections, while money Reels are often experiments.
Try this: Know which promise your audience follows you for. If it's results, wrap the lesson inside a result instead of saying it straight.

03
Show the result in the first line
Result hooks 116K vs recognition hooks 66K median plays
His most common and best hook type promises an outcome up front: "Here's how I create viral Instagram Reels", "We just woke up to $650". Hooks built on recognition, the "this is you" kind, do the worst of any group with five or more Reels.
Limits: Result is also his most common hook (49 Reels), so it is the reliable choice more than a surprising one.
Try this: Rewrite your first line so it names the outcome and a number before anything else.
04
Numbers beat his personal story
Numbers as proof 132K vs personal story 87K median plays
Most of his Reels lean on his own experience (104 of 146). The 15 that prove the point with numbers, revenue, followers, days, do about 50% better. Openings that contain a number are stronger too (105K vs 86K). For a money and growth audience, the number is the proof.
Limits: Numbers-as-proof is a small group (15 Reels). Treat the size of the gap as directional.
Try this: Put the receipt on screen: the dollar amount, the follower count, the day count. Then tell the story.
05
Questions open better than claims
Question openings 123K vs claims 89K median plays
Openings that ask a question, usually the experiment's question ("Is it possible to...?"), beat plain statements by about 40%. A question opens a loop the viewer has to close, and his experiments are built to close it at the very end.
Limits: Question openings overlap with the experiment format from finding 1, so the two effects are partly the same thing.
Try this: Open with the question the video answers, and save the answer for the last line.

Top 12 Reels

His best-performing openings

#13.2M plays51.9 likes/1K

“Is it possible to start a business in one day and make $1,000 from it? So the goal today is to build…”

Curiosity hookStoryWatch

#22.5M plays30.7 likes/1K

“22 days ago, I started a brand new Instagram account to see if I can make $10,000 from it in just 30…”

Curiosity hookExplanationWatch

#31.8M plays52.2 likes/1K

“Four years ago, I thought the meaning of life was getting a girlfriend. I was this late blooming 17-year-old, who spent his…”

Recognition hookStoryWatch

#41.5M plays58.7 likes/1K

“Do a workout today? No.”

Contradiction hookStepsWatch

#5983.9K plays35 likes/1K

“I can't afford to pay rent for me and my girlfriend, so instead of asking her to split the rent, I started…”

Story hookStoryWatch

#6917.9K plays34.9 likes/1K

“There's this new video style blowing up on Instagram where it's never been easier for regular people to blow up and build…”

Result hookStepsWatch

#7770.9K plays28.6 likes/1K

“Here's how I turned my porn addiction into a money-making addiction that helped me make a million dollars in the past two…”

Result hookStoryWatch

#8702.4K plays39.4 likes/1K

“Here's how I create viral Instagram Reels, explained so simply that a 5-year-old can understand. Open Instagram, scroll, stop on a viral…”

Result hookStepsWatch

#9686.3K plays95 likes/1K

“Let's go on a run. No, bro.”

Contradiction hookStoryWatch

#10653.3K plays33.3 likes/1K

“17 days ago, I started a brand new Instagram account to see how fast I could grow it to 10k followers. We…”

Result hookStepsWatch

#11605.5K plays29.9 likes/1K

“We just woke up to $650. And that's not it, another calm 300, so we just made pretty much 1,000 bucks overnight.”

Result hookStepsWatch

#12560.2K plays39.6 likes/1K

“Is it possible to simultaneously row two side hustles to $10k a month in 30 days? I started a brand new account…”

Curiosity hookStoryWatch

Script anatomy

Inside his top talking Reel: 3.2M plays

A question with a deadline and a number ("Is it possible to start a business in one day and make $1,000?"), then the plan: a $19 digital product sold to 100 people. Real-time obstacles with timestamps ("it's currently 8:30", "9:00 p.m.", "3:58 a.m."), the first sale on camera, a personal moment, and the payoff number: $1,200 and 61 customers. It closes on the lesson (set a crazy goal on a short clock) and the series name. Jev labeled it a Curiosity hook with a Story structure and principle-level advice.

Sentence roles, in order

HookSetupProblemExampleOtherPayoffAdvice

1 Question + deadline + number
2 The plan
3 What went wrong
4 Timestamps through the day
5 First sale on camera
6 The payoff number
7 The lesson
8 Series name

Steal the structure

4 script templates from his patterns

Is it possible?

Is it possible to [result with a number] in [short time]? The plan: [one-line plan]. [Obstacle], it's [time]. [First win on camera]. It's [time], [setback]. [Final number]. I'm not saying this to brag: set a crazy goal on a short clock and you'll figure it out.

N days ago

[N] days ago I started [new account / side hustle] to see if I could [goal with a number]. Here's exactly what I did: [step], [step], [step]. Day [N]: [result]. The one thing that made the difference: [lesson].

Woke up to

We just woke up to [$ amount]. Here's the system behind it: [what you sell], [where the traffic comes from], [what runs while you sleep]. Comment [WORD] and I'll send you the setup.

Explained so a 5-year-old gets it

Here's how I [skill with a result], explained so simply a 5-year-old could do it. One: [step]. Two: [step]. Three: [step]. That's how [account / product] got to [number].

Written by us from the patterns above. Swap in your own topic, proof and wording.

The full dataset

Get all 146 decoded Reels as a spreadsheet

Every Reel with plays, likes, its hook, structure, opening, evidence, emotion and CTA labels, and the opening line.

Method and limits

FAQ

How was this analysis made?

We collected his latest 200 public Instagram Reels and transcribed the ones with speech. 37 had no speech and 17 more were music or vlog clips without a script, so we set them aside. Jev (a typed AI judgment model) labeled the remaining 146 scripts on eight dimensions. Jev only reads the words, never the view counts. We then compared median plays across the labels.

Is this affiliated with Mino Lee?

No. This is an independent analysis of publicly available Reels. We only quote short opening lines and link to the original posts.

Do these patterns cause more views?

Not necessarily. These are medians within one account, with no significance testing. They are patterns worth testing on your own content, not proof of what causes reach.

Independent analysis of public Reels by AI Topia, not affiliated with Mino Lee. Data as of October 7, 2026: 200 Reels collected, 146 with speech decoded, 37 without speech skipped, 17 music or vlog Reels without a script set aside. Plays and likes change over time.

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All findings, top Reels, script templates and the spreadsheet. Free, opens instantly.

Mino Lee's best Reels, decoded.

What his top 20% have in common

Median plays by hook, evidence, structure and topic

What actually moves his views

His experiments beat everything else

His mindset Reels are his weakest, the opposite of Hormozi

His best-performing openings

Get all 146 decoded Reels as a spreadsheet

FAQ

Want a content engine built on what works?