Mike Lindell talked to The Detroit Cast about his MyPillow Houston donations, the Lindell Foundation and how he wants it to positively impact those in need, the opioid epidemic, his meetings with Trump, and his book that is coming out soon.
Mike’s donation of 80,000 MyPillows for victims of Hurricane Harvey
Mike heard that there were at least 30,000 people displaced by Hurricane Harvey, so he had a total of 80,000 pillows manufactured, packed into trucks, shipped down to Texas, and distributed by his employees to the victims of the hurricane plus the first responders.
He was able to quickly find those in need through his Lindell Foundation contacts, as they knew where to distribute the pillows, so everyone was able to get on board and get organized quickly.
The Lindell Foundation
Mike feels that God gave him an amazing platform with MyPillow. Mike loves giving and feels blessed to be able to give. Towards that, the Lindell Foundation has been in the works for 2 years. The goal of the foundation is to help other’s lives and use 100% of the money donated to go to those in need, with the Lindell Foundation picking up all overhead costs.
The first project was a soft launch of The Lindell Foundation to help hurricane victims in the Houston area. A chapter of the Lindell Foundation will also be opening up in Detroit within the next few months. Mike has already been to Detroit and has met with leaders who are involved with those in need, such as the homeless, those with addictions, and veterans.
These leaders will help find those in need and validate that those who are found really do have needs. Then, when the Lindell Foundation goes live, it will be able to publicize the Foundation in a variety of ways, such as on radio stations, so people can find out who have needs, give their money to help specific needs, and be able to hear back.
Opioid Epidemic
Mike’s heart goes out to addicts and their families – and he wants to help them change. One area of particular concern is the opioid epidemic. America has not had an epidemic quite like this. In fact, Mike had someone very close to him die from an opioid addiction.
Mike feels we can we overcome this, though. He feels you have to “start with the individuals and give hope”. We need to look and see what works, what is successful for others. Then, show this success to others. Towards that, the Lindell Foundation will be highlighting success stories because you have to give addicts and their families hope. When people see hope, things get better – “hope brings more hope”.
Mike knows that when he was on crack that it was a mask for inner pain – that a lot of physical addictions are mental. But, there is so much stigma and shame with drug addictions that people don’t see the other issues of the addict. People don’t want to reach out and help because they feel that the addicts brought the addictions on themselves. They feel the addict did this to themselves – people just don’t understand.
But addicts know their inner pain – they don’t need to hear how bad they are. And so many addicts might give up drugs, only to relapse because of the shame and the fact that they don’t get trust. Plus, for a lot of people, getting off the drugs is a lonely feeling, a lifestyle you are not used to. But it comes down to trust and the power of prayer and God.
Trump and politics
Last summer, Trump reached out and had a private meeting with Mike. In that meeting, Mike saw that Trump has amazing plans to help the inner cities, fix the infrastructure, and to promote made-in-America’s products. Trump was excited that MyPillow built a company of 1600 employees based on products made in America, and with Mike’s foundation which will be helping the inner cities. Mike knows that these issues are important to Trump and that Trump will get there.
To help America, Mike feels that we need to be one country. Right now, nothing is getting done. We need to unite and get things done. Texas’ response to Hurricane Harvey is a good example of what happens when all get on board when all are helping – the stories of all those helping in Texas is simply amazing. Unfortunately, it took a tragedy to get united. But, look what we can do when we all pull together.
There have been rumors that Mike wants to get into politics himself by running for governor or other political offices. Mike says no – that he has a bigger purpose with his foundation and that he can do a lot more good with his foundation than with politics.
Success
What has success brought Mike? With the exception of some foreign travel, not much is different – he still hunts and fishes like he did before. And, he has a normal house and pickup truck. The only difference is that he now has to “learn to eat with two forks”.
Mike’s Book
Mike’s book is projected to come out in the first quarter of next year. In it, he recounts amazing life experiences, like his 14 near-death experiences, how he went from 5 employees to 500 in 40 days, and how he went from being a crack addict to sitting right next to President Trump in the White House. He hopes that people reading the book will see the proof of God’s miracles in his life, and will draw inspiration from that.
MyPillow philosophy in running a company
MyPillow gives tours of MyPillow’s factories all the time. Mike gave a media tour to 6 big stations the other day – and everything that could go wrong, went wrong.
For example, the sewing machine not sewing correctly and a chair tipping over. In fact, Mike stopped the tour and called the manager over to request that all of the sewing machines have new chairs by 4 pm that day. He said that if he wasn’t going to use a chair, his employees shouldn’t – so 200 brand new chairs were delivered to the sewing machines that afternoon.
Because Mike’s philosophy in running a company is “everything I do with it is going to be looking at it through the employee’s view – if I don’t like it as an employee, I will change it”.
Towards that, Mike got rid of his HR department and turned it into an employee help center. He says you need to watch for peoples deviations and if something goes wrong – you need to help them.
In conclusion
Mike’s overall mantra is “With God, all things are possible.” Certainly, this interview shows how this mantra is being exemplified in Mike’s life.