Mike says that “MyPillow is a vehicle for a greater calling, that his success is a gift from God.” But, as this CBS Sunday Morning video with Martha Teichner shows, it was a struggle to get MyPillow to be the success it is today.
Highlights:
- MyPillow originated in a dream Mike had. In fact, Mike dreamt about the MyPillow logo first. And his dream came true, eventually.
- Mike created the “pillow of his dreams” in 2004 in an attempt to solve his personal life-long sleeping issues. It took a year of trying different things – until he found the “eureka moment” of using 3 different foams that interlock to give “the most amazing, adjustable pillow in history.”
- Enthused, Mike tried getting the big box stores to sell his MyPillow, but they weren’t interested. So he set up a kiosk in the neighborhood mall, where he only sold 80 pillows in one month.
- During the early years of MyPillow, Mike was a crack cocaine addict with a $500-$1000/week habit. Due to his addiction, he lost his house and his marriage. In fact, his addiction was so bad that his crack dealers staged an intervention in the spring of 2008 after Mike had been up for 14 days.
- The following year, Mike quit his addictions, which changed his life. On October 7, 2011, the first famous MyPillow infomercial launched, which caused an amazing growth for MyPillow: MyPillow went from 5-10 employees to 500 in just 40 days. MyPillow now spends $1.5 million/week on commercials, which has helped MyPillow sell more than 41 million pillows and grow to be a company of 1,600 employees working in the two huge MyPillow factories just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- At any given time, 20-30% of the MyPillow employees are “second-chancers,” i.e. former addicts. As one second-chancer says, “Most places won’t give me a chance because of my background.”
- Mike is proud that MyPillows are made in America. As he says, “When I get behind something, I am 100% all in.” And, he is 100% all in for President Trump, even going to President Trump’s Made-in-America roundtable.
It has been an amazing story. One reason for the MyPillow success is Mike’s motto: “Make every pillow like it’s your only pillow and treat every customer like it’s your only customer.” Beyond that, Mike gets his incredible passion from the fact that he considers MyPillow to be a “vehicle for a greater calling, and his success a gift from God”.