“To produce a product and keep it local to take care of your own right here in the USA: It’s an amazing undertaking” says Beth Ann, host of the CSC Talk Radio, in an interview with Mike Lindell. And, Mike truly has had an amazing life.
Mike Lindell’s Early Years
Believe it or not, Mike was shy as a child. His parents divorced when he was young so he went to new schools and found that shyness was the result of a “fear of rejection”. And one of the consequences of this tough life was that he got into cocaine in the 1980s and then crack cocaine in the early 2000’s. But, “by the grace of God,” Mike quit all his addictions on January 16, 2009, and promised God that he would give back.
Early MyPillow Days
Meanwhile, Mike spent years developing the MyPillow to solve the sleep issues that he had. Then, after being rejected by several big box stores, Mike went on the road doing home shows and fairs around the country, which is where he “learned a lot from the people” about what they wanted in a pillow. In fact, if you are an entrepreneur looking to get your business off the ground, Mike will tell you that shows and fairs are a great way to get your business going.
MyPillow Infomercial
Then, in 2011, Mike started the infomercials that now everyone has seen. Unlike most highly scripted infomercials, Mike had to throw the teleprompter away. Because, when he tried to say the first scripted line on the teleprompter, he had to have nine takes just to get through the one sentence.
The infomercial was an amazing success. When the infomercial aired October 7, 2011, MyPillow went from five employees to 500 – in 40 days!
Now, MyPillow has 1,600 people with, as Mike says “careers not just jobs”. Plus, MyPillow has now sold 43 million pillows, all made in America. The MyPillow commercials continue to be made completely by Mike Lindell ad-libbing his lines.
President Trump, Mike Lindell, and Made in America
Due to Mike’s push to make pillows in America, he got invited to go to the White House to the Made in America Manufacturing Roundtable, where he sat right next to President Trump. There, Mike talked about how “making stuff overseas isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” For your money is tied up for 120 days so, what if your product needs changes? How are you going to get more or less product? Plus, if there is something wrong with the product, what are you going to do? It’s a “nightmare”.
MyPillow as an Evangelistic Platform
Mike says that now the MyPillow platform is his “evangelistic platform.” For, as Mike will tell you, “With God all things are possible” Towards this, Mike gave his testimony and lead a prayer at a Twin Cities Pulse event in front of over 50,000 millennials at the US Bank Stadium (where the 2018 Super Bowl was played) in Mike’s home state of Minnesota. Soon Mike will be involved in another Pulse event in Dallas for over 300,000 millennials.
And, Mike is keeping his promise to God by helping other addicts. For, he is creating an app to help addicts where the addicts can put in their addiction and age, then be presented with a ton of ‘Stories of Hope” from other addicts who went through similar issues and are now clean.
And where does Mike get his inspiration? He says it is from Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths..”