Mike has a big announcement to make: MyPillow is “in full production of face masks now for hospitals across the country!”
MyPillow lost sales to home shows and fairs due to the coronavirus pandemic. Plus, all the MyPillow retail stores had to be shut down. So, Mike had to lay off “about a hundred and some workers.”
So, Mike said, “You guys, I’m going to work hard on trying to convert us over to face masks.” It has taken about 10 days, during which Mike had to find elastic which is experiencing a shortage. He. also reached out to the White House to ensure that the masks were in compliance, including the components and sizes.
Now, Mike has the prototypes made and is starting to produce the face masks. He says that MyPillow can make about 10,000 masks/day and will be able to “blow that number out of the water” once they learn the system. So now, everybody’s coming back to work and “it’s going to be awesome.”
Mike will be distributing the masks directly to the hospitals and will not sell them to the public. “The hospitals, medical professions, and first responders are coming first.”
By “tomorrow at this time “we will have our first 8,000, then another 8,000 both Friday and Saturday.” Mike is determined to “pour it on and then just keep ramping up.” Towards that, he will be adding a 2nd and 3rd shift and is looking to hire people that know how to sew.
Mike also prepared the environment: he has a lot of sanitizers and masks for the employees. Plus, he has separated everyone.
Laying off the people was “the hardest thing for me.” So, Mike is “just so grateful” that he’s in a position where he was able to be proactive and get people back to work making face masks.
We’re all in this together
Mike says that “We are very blessed to have this President, Vice President, and the whole administration in power at such a time as this since they’ve been amazing.”
Before this, “we had this amazing economy with everybody working” which “gave us hope.” Mike says that “We’re going to get back to that, but it’s just going to be with a little bit different footprint. Now we’re going to be a lot more careful so that if this ever comes up again, we will be prepared for it.” Mike goes on to say that “after 9/11 happened, we tightened up our security and we were very proactive. So, I think that when we get through this, we’re going to have some amazing things put in place so people can feel safe going to sporting events, restaurants, or anywhere, no matter what the pandemic.”
“We’re all in this together and it’s going to be amazing. The government is going to come up with a great package so everyone will get money so everybody can get through this. And, we’re going to be much better and stronger and will feel a lot safer once this is over. People just have to be patient.”
Saving lives
Mike says that “it doesn’t matter how much everybody has to give up right now if we’re saving lives. When we get to the end of this, and we will, it’ll just be a bit different.”
For example, a while ago, Tylenol capsules were poisoned and so they created good packaging and now, every single bottle has a safety cap on them. So, it was a terrible thing, but now we have sealed caps on everything from ketchup to vitamins.
We are going to look back on this and say, ‘Wow, what if that hadn’t happened and something a hundred times worse came along and we weren’t prepared for it?” Mike believes that “We are not just going to be prepared but will also know how to be proactive.”
Pray for an end and for solutions
Mike says that he “tells people that 99.99% of everything people worry about never comes true.” Instead, people should pray and get everyone in this country praying for an end and for solutions, and then don’t live in fear.”
“Just keep track of your loved ones and we’ll get through it.”
Listen to the audio here: www.iheart.com/podcast/1179-vb-in-the-middle-30227525/episode/mike-lindell-founder-of-my-pillow-59882730/