With a dream of playing football at the tender age of five, the story of Jason Hill is one that shows sheer determination and taking it one step at a time and never giving up. His dreams of playing football were quashed when he got into high school and broke his ankle twice within six months in his junior year. He decided to try other ventures when he was recuperating from his injuries. He started making videos for YouTube, and in the process of trying to promote his YouTube channel on Instagram, he realized that it was easier to grow on Instagram.
He focused on growing his Instagram page, and not long after that, he discovered e-commerce and business building. In 2017, he created his current 7-figure brand, Mentality, in his college dorm room, and then the following year, he created another 6-figure business which sold jewelry. Out of necessity, Jason Hill went from dreaming of becoming a football player to creating businesses that have grown into 7-figure businesses. His brand, Mentality, has reached the 1 million followers milestone on Instagram, and he continues to drive thousands of dollars every month in sales. His second brand, too, has grown to about 200,000 followers on Instagram and counting.
Jason Hill created his brand as an encompassing lifestyle brand that every kind of person can identify with. However, most of his audience and customers are made up of athletes and college students. The interesting thing about Jason Hill is that his current businesses were not his first. Mentality, today, is a successful clothing brand, but at the same time, the first business tried to go into was a clothing brand as well called “BallWear,” but the business failed.
Jason Hill has evolved from being a clueless business owner to the astute businessman that he is today. He learned early enough that the causes of failure with his earlier businesses were impatience, poor marketing, and poor branding. After the business failed, he tried his hands on four more businesses, all of which failed. He launched a private label brand that started well but eventually failed after a month as a result of some poor business practices. Jason Hill took all the lessons from his failed ventures and did things differently with Merchant.
According to him, building a successful brand happens by building a dedicated following, enticing marketing, and good products. Jason Hill has always been a creative thinker, and all the businesses he ever created were solely his ideas. His grit to carry on comes from the fact that the road was never smooth. Yet he still made it to the point he currently is. That goes to show that anything is possible regardless of the stumbling blocks one encounters.
Dropping out of college twice and failing at six businesses did not deter him. He kept coming up with ideas and implementing them, and today he is the proud owner of a successful lifestyle clothing brand on Instagram. In his words, “Whatever it is that’s been deep in your mind that you’re passionate about or itching to do, just go do it. It sounds cliche to some people because they hear it so much, but it’s true. If I listened to the people around me, I’d still be stuck in my tiny town in Tennessee, stuck in college doing something I don’t enjoy and still looking for an escape. Thankfully I never listened to anyone but myself.”
Five years from now, Jason Hill is aiming to own five multi-million dollar brands because he still has a lot of ideas that he would like to bring to life.
Learn more about the 21-year-old entrepreneur on his YouTube channel and check out his brand on Instagram.