This interview starts with Mike’s presentation at President Trump’s Coronavirus White House Briefing on March 30, 2020:
MyPillow is a U.S. vertically integrated company, which has been forced to adjust to the changing business environment as a result of the pandemic. MyPillow’s unique position is as a U.S. company that functions as a manufacturer, logistics management distributor, and direct-to-consumer. Given our current business lines, we are experiencing the effects of this pandemic firsthand.
MyPillow has established an internal task force which is monitoring the future needs of companies across the country given this pandemic. We’ve begun to research and develop new protocols to address the current and future needs of U.S. businesses across multiple sectors: how companies are going to prepare themselves when they once again open up and changes needed to their current operations in order to adjust to future threats and pandemics.
MyPillow has designated some of its call centers to help U.S. companies navigate the many issues that resulted from this pandemic. I’ve dedicated 75 percent of my manufacturing to produce cotton face masks. In three days, I was up to 10,000 masks per day. By Friday, I want to be up to 50,000 a day.
I am proud to manufacture our products in the United States, and I’m even more proud to be able to serve our nation in this great time of need. Thank you, Mr. President, for your call to action which has empowered companies like MyPillow to help our nation win this invisible war.
Now, I wrote something off the cuff, if I can read this. God gave us grace on November 8th, 2016, to change the course we were on. God had been taken out of our schools and lives. A nation had turned its back on God. And I encourage you: Use this time at home to get back in the Word, read your Bibles, and spend time with your families.
Our President gave us so much hope when, just a few short months ago, we had the best economy, the lowest unemployment, and wages going up. It was amazing. With our great President, Vice President, this administration, and all the great people in this country praying daily, we will get through this and get back to a place that’s stronger and safer than ever.
Pray for our President
Mike “just wanted to give people hope and to speak out for God, to speak out for Jesus, and to tell people to read your Bibles at home, get back with your families, and pray for our President who’s doing the greatest job in history.”
Mike was at the White House for five and a half hours and left the White House “with so much more hope” because he can “see what our President is doing.” He was told that “there was a governor that needed stuff that would have taken about 10 months to get. Trump got it done in one day. It’s amazing.” Trump “can take a problem, listen to everybody, take in the input, and create the solution.” Trump has “a God-given gift and knows how his solutions will manifest.”
MyPillow is producing 10,000 face masks/day and is ramping up to 50,000 masks/day
It took Mike about two weeks of doing his due diligence to find out what he could make, get the right materials, and train people to make face masks.
He was able to get up to 10,000 masks/day within one day and he will be making 50,000/day once he ramps up. Every employee can only make 120 masks in an eight-hour shift, so it’s very labor-intensive.
Mike has other companies that work with MyPillow that are all U.S. companies. He is having them all make masks also. Plus Mike has eight people in his call center that are dedicated to processing emails from hospitals, nursing homes, and first responders. We “have to take care of the ones that are sitting out there with nothing.”
Mike says that he “couldn’t do this without his employees.” He is “so proud of them, they are just amazing.”
All employees should feel safe
Mike is taking extra precautions to make MyPillow safe. When they arrive, there is “a guard at the door to make sure that everyone wears a mask and uses a sanitizer as they come in.” Plus they can “all go on break whenever they want, so they don’t have to go as a group.”
Mike wants his employees to “feel safe” and implores grocery stores, gas stations, and other businesses to follow the same procedures.
Churches should be essential businesses
Mike talked about a church in Oklahoma that couldn’t be opened. Mike’s reaction is that “They’re, attacking God in this country. Maybe churches should be deemed as an essential business because we should all be praying.”
“Everybody could be six feet apart in a church and get masked and sanitized at the door.” Then, “we could pray to get our country back to God and get it back to the great place it’s going to be when we get through this.”
Mike’s faith and belief in God helped him get where he is today
Sean said that he “just wants to say thank you” to Mike. Sean is “the biggest fan” of Mike’s products and confirms that he “sleeps better because of MyPillow,” and knows that Mike is patriotic.
Sean then goes on to summarize Mike’s story: “His life story is one of the more amazing stories I’ve ever heard. He was pretty much on skid row and addicted to drugs, then he transformed his whole life and he turned his life into producing products, getting success, and sharing it with other people in a multitude of ways, but especially in the area of helping people with addiction.”
Sean continues: “What people might not know is that Mike has a foundation to help people overcome addiction. And he’s building it out bigger and bigger and bigger every day because he lived in that world and got out of it. He’s the most thankful guy in the world. And I know your faith and your belief in God helped you get here.”
Are you an addict? Find your “hope match”
Mike wants to tell drug addicts that are trapped in their homes and can’t get drugs due to the pandemic: “Now is the time for you to really get into the Word and read your Bible. But also, every single person knows an addiction success story. If you’re a 22-year-old opiate, you know a friend that has made it through. Get on the phone and FaceTime him and ask him how he made it through. That will be your hope match. We all have hope matches out there.”
For Mike, a friend of his visited him who was his equal in December of 2008. They had both done cocaine at the same time, then both switched to crack. He had been clean for three years. Mike asked him, “Is it boring?” And he said, “No man, it ain’t boring.”
The friend’s visit “went a long way” for Mike because “I respect people that have been there, I’m going to listen to them.” That friend was Mike’s hope match.
One big prayer session
Mike recommends that “anybody that is sitting home and scared of where we’re at with this pandemic, get on your phone and FaceTime people that have been through it. It’s like one big prayer session in the country, one big AA, and the higher power is Jesus Christ.”