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Sept. 11, 2024 - The Lindell Report - Mike Lindell
57:35
The Lindell Report | 11 September 2024
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Time Text
Fox.
My pillow guy, Mike Lindau.
He is the greatest.
My pillow guy, Mike Lindau.
And he's been with us right from the beginning.
♪♪ ♪♪
♪♪ Ladies and gentlemen, join us from the legendary
Pantages Theatre here in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
And now, please welcome to the stage, your co-host, Jan Carl.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
We are here today to tell the story of Mike Lindell.
He's a father.
He is an inventor, as we all know.
He's an entrepreneur, as we know.
Most everybody, I'd be surprised if someone who hasn't seen Mike Lindell on TV or in an ad or on the radio.
But there's so much more to Mike's story than the success as an inventor and an entrepreneur, and we're going to hear that story today.
And this is what I'd say, is if right now you're not so sure you're a person that believes in miracles, well, by the end of this journey that you will hear, my bet is you will believe in miracles.
And I want to say that the reason that Mike wants to tell this story is he wants to help people.
He wants to continue to try to make the world a better place in so many ways.
And some of what he's going to tell isn't maybe always easy for people to hear or for him to tell, which I think makes it that much more special.
He is a new friend for mine, but I already know he is a friend for life.
And I can't wait for you to hear this story.
So please welcome Mike Lindell.
Oh!
Guys, thank you all for coming.
A lot of my friends and family, all of you.
And this is going to be a story of not just Mike Lindell.
This is going to be a story of miracles that we all see in our own lives.
And I just want you all to look at your own lives when you're done today, and hopefully it touches each and every one of you.
And thank you.
All right.
Let's go have a seat.
Thank you.
So, okay, obviously you did not enter into the world as a pillow magnet.
You know, you had that first job like the rest of us.
What were your first couple of jobs?
Well, I had two of them.
You know, other than working on a farm, my uncle's farm.
The first two jobs I had was at a drive-in movie theater and a grocery store.
And I got them both at the same time.
How'd those work out for you?
Well, the one I was fired at, the grocery store.
Okay, that one not so much.
And that's the most interesting one.
I actually kept getting fired there over and over again.
And the owner of the grocery store, he says, you know, Mike, someday, you know, if you don't like these rules and stuff, the stuff that's going on, he says, why don't you get your own company so you can make your own rules.
And I never forgot that.
And then he said, and then the day I did finally get fired, his dad would always protect me.
And his dad came up, he says, I'm not going to protect you this time.
He said, Mike, you're destined to greater things.
Those words, you know, I look back now and I see pegs in my life.
I'm going, at that time, I was just devastated that I had lost that job.
And I'm going, no, you don't understand.
I love it here.
I need to have this job, right?
And it feels terrible when you get fired.
But I've never forgot those words, you know?
Let's then fast forward from when someone said, hmm, you're destined for greater things to a time in your life you've done different things, you've had different businesses.
Yeah, I was always an entrepreneur.
I did things.
My sister flooded a second story of an apartment once with a waterbed, so I decided I'd be a carpet cleaner.
Why not?
Why not?
And I tried different things, but I never, you know, I never used a bank.
I didn't have money.
That's another story that'll be in my big book.
But, you know, I ended up getting into bars and restaurants, or bars, basically.
But then all of a sudden, so you've got that seed about being your own boss, and you did that throughout your life.
But I would say the first thing that was that indication that something really big was coming is you had a dream.
Yeah, I had a dream.
I actually had two dreams.
One of them was that you're going to be provided a big platform.
I did have the pillow dream.
The logo was the first thing, the MyPillow logo.
I'm going, MyPillow?
That sounds weird, but it was one of the first My's going, where's MyPillow?
And I got up, and I wrote logos all over the house.
Actually, it was still up.
It was 2, 3 in the morning, and writing this up.
And from that night, I mean, my daughter came upstairs.
She can probably tell you about it, but she... Well, that's what I want to do, because you had this dream, and that's what started it all.
And so the first people that were impacted by your dream, besides yourself, Three or four children.
Right.
With him, as far as giving up, I never thought that he would ever give up on it.
I figured he definitely was going to find a way to make it a success, no matter what.
That's kind of the kind of guy he is.
He's going to keep going, no matter... Even at our, like, lowest points, when you think, you know, is this thing really going to make it?
I kind of think it always is going to, because of the guy he is.
To think it would get this big, I didn't think that, but I thought he'd be a success.
It's really encouraging, you know?
Seeing him start everything from the beginning like that and just, you know, go for it.
He had a lot of people telling him that it was crazy.
He was never going to be able to do that.
You know, he definitely, you know, persevered through a lot of times where it seemed like things weren't going to work out, you know, and that was something that's pretty impressive.
I know a lot of people might have just tried to compromise or, you know, give up, whatever.
I don't know.
He never did that.
He always knew it was going to work no matter what.
My dad's a very generous, generous person.
He's lots of fun.
He's kind of adventurous.
Does things his own way and they tend to work out every time.
Even if they're like the complete opposite of like what you should do, it works for him.
I think it was like 3,000 bags he went and printed with this like hand-drawn logo at the time, like not perfected at all.
and then he printed it on three thousand bags and he hadn't even made the pillow prototype quite yet.
I was like taken within a week of when I had this pillow dream. Oh look at that.
They're like, OK, we're not so sure, Dad, is what I'm seeing on that picture.
But let's start with Lizzie, because Lizzie, you're the one that first saw the papers everywhere in the house.
So can you explain what happened in the middle of the night?
All right, so I walked upstairs to get a glass of water.
Randomly one night.
And basically he was sitting at the counter with a bunch of papers everywhere.
I asked him what he was doing and he's like, I'm making pillows now.
And I'm like, wow, that's really random.
I love it.
And that's so what a kid would say.
Yo, dad, that's really random.
Right?
So Heather, you are the next one because you are in college and you are working on becoming a graphic designer, correct?
Yep, I was going to school for a fine arts degree.
And yeah, so he drove up in the middle of the night after he got this logo idea.
This is the next day.
The next day.
The next day.
But we're going to get this done right now.
Right.
You waited a whole 12 hours or whatever it was.
Yeah, he came to my college apartment, knocked on the door, and my roommates were a little freaked out that my dad was at our apartment.
But yeah, he wanted me to draw a logo out, and I was really confused, but I did it.
Well, you guys kind of got off easy.
I think your brothers would say.
So, Darren, what was your role in the beginning of this dream?
Well, in the beginning, we're going to make the first prototype for a friend of his son to test out.
And we're ripping foam by our hands on the deck of our house, just making pillows.
And we give him one.
And come home the next day, I'm ready to go outside and play with my friends.
And he says, nope, wasn't good enough.
We've got to make another one.
It's got to be perfect.
We're going to make a game, and it's called Rip the Foam, or Rip the Filling, or Make the Foam.
All over the neighborhood.
Oh, my gosh.
And then, Charlie, you came into the picture.
Now, who made more prototypes?
Let's just get it out there right now.
You or your brother?
Darren definitely made more prototypes, but I did a couple.
Oh, you did a couple?
Yeah.
I think Charlie would be hiding.
Here he is.
Yeah, you were hiding.
He paid for it later, doing all the work with you and all his friends working.
Yeah, that's what I understand, because down the line, you got all your friends employed because there was a lot of pillow filling.
Yeah, and I went with him to get the first machine and everything for grinding the foam.
I hired a ton of my friends, probably ten of them, I think, something like that.
We did every day in the shop, summer jobs, that kind of thing.
In fact, I had other people I didn't even know at my school asking me if they could work at the pillow factory and things like that.
So word got out.
Yeah, word got out for sure.
I think there had to be a certain amount of naivete and faith, I think maybe from all of you, to be there for your dad and every step of the way.
Thank you for coming and sharing your story.
They've all today, they've all done parts in this, in the pill.
They've made it possible since day one and it's just been a miracle that they've, the highs and lows and everything.
I can't thank them enough.
You have beautiful children and thank you guys so much for coming.
So at some point, Darren wasn't going to be able to do it.
Just father and son.
So you had to find a machine.
Right.
Well, I tried different machines and wood chippers, everything.
And actually, it was a miracle in itself.
A guy came to me and said, well, Mike, why don't you try an old hammer mill?
And you worked on a farm.
And then another friend of mine, Lyle, he says, he called me one day.
He says, Mike, he says, one of those mills is out right a mile from my house.
Out in the field, like, you know, and it's amazing.
And a hammer mill normally is supposed to... It grinds feed, and it was, you know, when I was a kid on the farm, it would take big corn, turn it into little feed, you know.
Oh, I like that.
Help me.
Yes.
Takes big corn, turns it into little corn.
Little feed.
Okay.
Because we want to take big pieces of foam and turn them into different sizes.
Right.
We worked out that little corner garage where that van is.
I had to learn how to sew.
Let me guess, you didn't take home ec in high school?
No, no, I didn't.
There's the old hammer mill, and I redesigned it, and I put bells and whistles on it.
There's Charlie.
You basically design this little garage, and then we have another one where it's going into this box where the foam is, right here.
I made those slides, so you slide them out, and it would drop, and it was everything.
At one point, I made a tube where we would, because we had to hand stuff them.
During all that, I got some fabric, and I said, who can make it into casings like a pillow would look, you know?
Okay, so that means that we're gonna then bring out Dick and Jerry
So Jerry I'm gonna let you go first I know you didn't sit in the hot seat, but I'm making you go first.
So, I want you to give us an idea of the visual.
So, what kind of car is he driving?
What's he got on his shoulder?
And what do you think of this guy?
At the time when he came out, driving an old pickup truck.
And he comes into the shop with a roll of fabric on his shoulder.
Can you make me some pillows?
And I'm going, what the heck is this?
You know?
So who is he?
What is he?
Everything.
And it's like, that's just OK.
We'll give the guy a chance.
We'll do this roll of fabric and send him on his way.
And did you think you'd ever see him again?
No.
But he just started increasing how many rolls of fabric he started bringing out.
Now, Dick.
You started to work with him, and you guys said yes, and it kept growing and growing and growing.
He comes with no credit.
He comes with no money.
He probably came without a checkbook.
Yeah, he had a checkbook.
Did the checks... No, it didn't work.
No, the checks didn't work.
Okay, so why did you say yes, considering what we just described?
Why?
I'm still asking that today.
There's some kind of, like a divine intervention or something.
This guy had so much energy.
Still does.
I believe in him.
Still does.
I think he's gotten worse.
Oh, no.
No, that had to be what it was, because we wouldn't normally work with somebody like that.
Especially after, you know, you've got to pay the bills.
That's right.
That's right.
And so I think that's interesting.
And that's kind of a common theme that I think we're going to see today, is that divine intervention, or something inside of you said, tell this man yes.
Yeah.
We fell like telling no quite a few times.
Well, Jerry, I don't want you to sugarcoat it or anything.
We're not sugarcoating.
Thank you guys so much for being here.
This was the beginning and I think that was really important to hear.
We've got a guy saying yes to you that shouldn't say yes to you.
But you've got pillows.
Right.
So now you've got to sell them.
So did you go to stores and shopping networks?
What happened?
I got the best product ever made.
You know, how many you want?
And they're going, we don't know you.
It was like... We want zero.
We want zero.
It was a shutout.
Everywhere I was shut down.
Shopping channels, box stores.
I talked to my brother-in-law, and he had a brother, and he says, have you ever tried a kiosk?
And I go, I don't even know how to spell that.
This kiosk here was in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
And when we did it, it's kind of a miracle what happened there.
Well, it is a miracle.
I only worked that booth like maybe twice.
In what, two months?
Yeah, no, it was about a month and a half, two months, yeah.
But these two guys came up, separate days, and one guy said, do you have a business card?
And I said, oh, I'm all out of business cards.
Oh yeah, I'm all out.
I've given them all away.
I wrote it on a piece of paper, these two numbers, and two different times, and so it comes to January, and And this guy calls up and he says, are you the guy that invented this pillow in Minnesota?
And I said, yeah.
And he goes, well, you gave me your phone number.
It was one of those two guys.
And he said, this pillow created a miracle in my life.
He said, would you like to be in the, I said, I run the Minneapolis Home and Garden Show.
Would you like a spot in there?
And I'm going, yeah.
That Home and Garden Show, we went in there and we sold out everything we had.
You're smiling because you're selling out.
Right, right.
See how empty the boxes are?
Woo!
And then from that, I'm going, wow, I have a way to do this now.
And we got in the Minnesota State Fair the first year.
And my daughter, there she is.
That's our booth.
It was very simple.
There's Heather.
We made the 60-day money-back guarantee.
Then we went into the fair.
That was a big deal.
But what I learned is with all those shows, I finally had a way that's going to work for the next six years.
I'm going, you know what?
I'm just going to sell it.
Because if you talk to people, every look that I'd see on people's faces, it was like, this didn't just help them.
It carried a miracle.
It changed their life.
And one of the amazing things that happened was the pillows were selling so good that people kept coming up going, can I sell them too?
And two of the guys, Jim and Bruce, have been with me since the beginning.
He can fixate on a problem and he can take it apart, break it down to its smallest parts, put it back together so it works.
Mike actually cares if it actually works for people.
And I think that is part of what comes across when he's doing the infomercial or doing his commercials.
Because it comes from the heart.
It's part of him.
And that really translates across the screen to the customer.
It's a global appreciation that the pillow has, that it's just absolutely remarkable.
You know, I haven't run across too many products, especially from little bitty Minnesota, you know.
But all this began with one sewing machine, you know, and a few of us.
Bruce, let's start with you.
Bruce, let's start with you.
Okay, you actually were next to a booth where Mike was.
I was.
And you were already a super salesman, and what did you see over there?
Next to me is a fellow who is really pitchin'.
And he's saying things that are very important to an awful lot of people, and I kept listening.
And before I knew it, he had talked me into taking one home that night.
I can't imagine.
After listening to him all day, you know, I... You say, how much can you hear about a pillow?
Yeah.
Well, I've always been a sucker for things that help people.
And I mean, he was so intensely telling me that it was going to help and it had helped and so forth.
I got to try this.
And so I took it home and By golly, it was everything he said it was.
And I woke up, and I hadn't moved that night.
And that was pretty special for me, because I'm usually flopping all over the place until the advent of this thing.
So I went back to my booth, which was next to his.
I put my briefcase in my booth, and I walked over.
He spotted me, and I said, well, I guess there's only one way to put it to you, and that's just straight out.
And his eyes got a little bigger, and I said, I work here now.
And Jim, what about you?
How long have you been working with Mike now?
I'm going on 12 years now.
So there's a deep friendship and a deep respect that's gone on through those years.
And did he say things sometimes that you doubted?
Ha.
Oh.
Here's what we're going to do, Jim.
You know, I remember I'd be sitting in meetings with him and he'd be coming out with these numbers.
We're going to do this in six months.
We're going to do this in a year, two years.
And I'm sitting there going, you say what?
How is this going to happen?
And a testament to this guy, not only did he meet those goals, he exceeded them.
And I've reached a point now where nothing he says surprises me anymore.
Wow.
How do you explain it?
I can't explain it.
It's divine intervention for sure.
You feel strongly about it?
Oh yes, oh yes.
So during the 12 years, have you been with him all the way?
No, I left the company in about September of 08 till June of 09.
There's a story behind that.
What's great is that you're back, and what's great is what's happened with everything in between.
Thank you guys so much for telling your story and for being here today for Mike.
Mike, we appreciate it very much.
Thank you.
So you have an amazing friendship with them, but Jim was gone for a year.
Why did he leave you?
You know, you gotta go back a few years, from like 2005, 2006, and what happened in my life, there was so much betrayal, so much adversity, there were things going on, losing our house, I ended up, I lost a 20 year marriage over things that were going on, and you know, I was an addict at the time.
So with all that stuff going on and all the pain, the drugs and drug addiction got worse.
And I hid being on drugs very well, and Jim didn't know.
And when he found out, he just couldn't take that I was going to go down.
He didn't give it a chance.
Not just the company, he didn't care about that.
He cared more about Mike Lindell.
And it broke his heart, and he left.
I'll tell you a little story.
Just to tell you the magnitude of it.
I was out in the middle.
We were on a trip to Zewatinego.
We're out in the middle of the ocean.
And one of my best friends, Paul, I said, I need some advice.
I said, I got to tell you what's going on in my life right now.
And I start telling him.
And I get into it.
And he gets a big old tear.
And he starts tearing up.
And I'm going.
And I get done telling him.
And I said, so what would you do?
And he goes, I would jump.
And I said... Wait, wait, wait.
He says what?
I would jump.
And I'm almost crying and I'm going, is that bad?
And he meant it from the heart.
And then I'm going, you know, in my book, Jan, the title in that chapter is going to be called, I Didn't Jump.
It hurt him so bad, just telling one of my best friends this, of where it was.
And that's how bad it was inside and all the stuff that was going on.
And so my addictions did, you know, get worse.
Everybody's got pain within them and pains that addictions mask.
And things just went snowballed with these addictions.
It got to the point where Even the drug dealers, I had three of them, get together and they did an intervention on me.
I'd been up for so many days.
And he said, we don't even want you doing drugs.
You're our only hope to ever get us out of this.
This is what they were telling me.
But he took this picture and he said, you're going to remember this.
They did an intervention.
I couldn't even go buy drugs.
And they would shut up.
I'm offering people $100 for $5.
But they go, no way.
Because they were ordered not to sell me drugs.
And I got back and he's sitting there like my mother.
And he goes, how'd that work out for you?
And I go, I go, you know, I was all upset because I couldn't get any more in.
He goes, give me your camera.
I'm going to take this picture.
You're going to need this.
You know, you're going to need it for your book.
And he says, when you do, quit.
And of course, it was eight months later before I quit.
A lot of things had more had to happen.
On January 16, 2009, it was like that little dot on a TV, the old black and white TV, where you waited.
You were a kid, and you turned it up as far as it could get.
And you go, and turn it back on.
Well, my thought, I'm going, if I could one more day, if I wait, I'm never going to be, you know, nothing's going to, this platform that I know God had given me was never going to be possible.
I knew it with all my heart.
And I said, God, I got one prayer.
I said, please, I want to wake up in the morning and I don't ever want to have the desire yet.
And that morning I woke up and it was, you know what?
Something's different.
It's like it was, you know, and I'm, and it was gone.
Did you stop physically?
Physically, it was gone.
There was no desire.
And I never looked back.
And I looked in the mirror.
I'm going, wow.
This is really a change.
Hey, you look OK.
And then after that, miracles just started happening.
And I'm going, OK.
You kept your side of the bar.
I'm keeping mine.
It was at that point.
Negative, negative, negative from outside sources and even negative things you were doing to yourself at that point.
So that's kind of being hit from all sides, Mike.
And that prayer said, I'm ready.
Yeah, absolutely.
And you were ready.
I know God gave me this incredible platform, and I didn't want to let it down.
And I said, OK, where do I start?
And first of all, I had to get money for some fabric.
And I had to come up with $30,000.
And there is nobody, nobody is going to borrow me $30,000.
I never used a bank.
I was dead broke.
There was nothing left.
And I went to these guys.
A friend of mine had told me about these guys.
That maybe you know would borrow money or something and it was a week ago in a bar actually you know so I went back to that bar found the guy and so I needed to have this money by the following Friday at one o'clock I couldn't get a meeting with him till 10 o'clock in the morning the following Friday So I walk in there, and there's eight of them lined up, and there's CIO, CIO, I don't know any C's in there, and they're all dressed up, and I'm going, and I start telling them about the pillow, and yeah, I used to be a former addict, and blah, blah, blah, and these guys took this and this, and the guy goes, well, when did you quit your drugs?
I said, last Thursday.
And they go, and the guys go, and the guys sat there.
So I talked to them and I, and I, and they, they go to get it and it had to be cash.
And I, and I go, and they finally agreed to do it.
And I'm going, I'm going, come on, we got to go here.
I went out of there, you know, I never, they never checked my license.
You know why I know?
I didn't have one.
That was the start of many miracles that happened within.
It was just like, I never had a plan A, or a plan B after that.
It was always whatever I got, I followed it, I got it.
Okay, you're gonna get your money here.
This is gonna happen here.
This is gonna happen here.
And, but two months into it, I said, two months, They had our church.
It was called Living Word.
They had a treatment center there.
I said, I'm going to go there, and I'm going to, eventually, I know part of my platform is to help other people with the addictions and stuff.
That's going to be one of my callings.
And so I went there, and I walked in the door, and the guy turned out to be my counselor.
That's great.
Yeah, Mike has a mind.
His mind is like a computer, just operating.
He has a mind for business.
He understands things.
He doesn't think it can't happen.
He's had, you know, so many obstacles where most people would have quit a hundred times.
But Mike, he's never quit.
And I think that's probably the American story.
Just, you know, I'm not going to quit, persevere.
And that's what Mike has done.
And, you know, I think this is just even probably the beginning.
Bet you never thought we'd be here, huh?
Now, I didn't tell Rafe he'd be here someday.
No.
No.
So, I want to know, so Mike comes in, and he says what to you?
Mike comes in the first night, and he's, you know, he tells me that he doesn't have a problem with drugs.
He said he used to be a crack cocaine user.
And he's going to write a book.
And he's going to have this platform to change the world.
And he's going to help all these addicts.
And the nature of the treatment world is a lot of dysfunctional, chaotic people.
And I thought he was nuts.
Was there part of you that thought maybe he hadn't gotten clean?
I thought he was high.
If you've seen how fast he talks, I'm surprised he hasn't worn out his jawbones.
I'm going to have a foundation.
I'm going to have a book.
I mean, he was so over the top saying he's going to have this.
And I remember what was kind of cool.
He goes, I think I'm just here to meet somebody.
I think I have to meet somebody, which I believe today to be now.
Absolutely.
And he told me that, and I completely dismissed him.
It was such an impossible story when he told me, that would have been, what, seven years ago?
That was in March of 2009.
Just over seven years.
And now, you know, he does have a platform.
He has written a book.
He is doing these things.
And that's where the story is so phenomenal, because what he actually said the first night has come to fruition.
That's great, Rafe.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate it.
Thank you, your worship.
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God bless.
At this point, even with all the good things happening, the company's still struggling.
You still haven't gotten into the stores.
You guys are beating the bushes out on the road.
But you had a dream about... Yeah, I had a dream that I would be in just a human interest story in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune.
And they had come to me in December of that year, and they came and took some pictures and stuff.
So that article, Monday, January 3rd, 2011, when this article came out, I didn't know it came out.
And I'm sitting there, and my phone beeped.
And Rob said, what's that?
I said, that's an order.
I said, whenever I get an order, I want to make sure the customer take care of them.
And I said, you know, someday, Rob, I said, and I said this at that moment, I said, someday, my phone's going to be so many orders that I'll have to turn it off.
And as I said that, it went beep, beep.
Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Now you've got these ads working.
Your phone is beeping all the time.
You need a lot of fabric.
That's when I knew that the pillow, I could finally bring it to the people.
I had been turned down years earlier by everybody.
And I knew that now that my infomercial, my dream would work.
But I had to get two things had to happen.
I had to get my patented fill and my fabric on those two guys on board.
And with no money, no credit, and just get them to 100% trust my dream.
So you go off to New York City?
Yeah, yeah.
And who do you meet?
I meet Leon.
Leon is joining us via Skype.
So let's bring Leon on to talk to us.
Hey, it's great to be here.
Leon, you're a successful businessman and he shows up and he doesn't have credit and he wants you to make this fabric that says MyPillow and so you can't sell it to anybody else if it doesn't go.
Why did you say yes?
Well, when I first read all the ads he had in the newspaper, I couldn't believe how successful he was becoming.
But I still had doubts to some degree, because I knew there were a lot of giants in this industry, and he was a small little potato compared to them.
When I walked into the conference room with my people, one of them said to me that he had no credit.
And I said, how much does he need?
He needs about a million dollars worth of goods.
They said, wow.
But he kept talking.
He was convinced in his product.
He kept convincing me.
I had faith in him.
And we really decided to give him a shot and go with it.
I also want to know, at one point, did he quote figures to you that you were like, hmm, not so sure about that?
Well.
He gave me all these projections and it was almost a million dollars worth of goods and I was concerned but after reading the ad and had faith in him I had a feeling he had a good product there and he was doing well and I said let's give it a shot and go with it.
Well, without you, I don't know if we would be here today, so I know that you are a big blessing to him, and you believed in him, and that means so much.
Thank you for believing, Leon.
Well, thank you and Mike's a great guy and I wish him the best success and continued success.
So you've gone to New York City.
You've talked to the guys in the suits.
Leon says, yes, you've got the fabric.
Now you need the fill.
Yeah, now I need the fill.
It's inside the patent fill.
And I had to go to the president of that company.
And again, no credit.
Right, no credit.
You know, I actually brought Jim, who you've seen earlier, and another guy in our company.
I said, you guys put on some suits to make it look like we're a big company.
I brought him in.
I said, you can do this talking and you do this talking.
As soon as we got in there, I said, no, OK, here's what we're going to do.
You mean nobody else got to talk?
No, pretty much no.
I wasn't leaving there without it.
He was the president of the company.
I'd never met him before.
And I'm sure he'd heard about me.
So Wyman Smith, welcome.
Hey, Jan.
Hey, Mike.
How you doing?
Hey, Wyman.
We're doing good.
We're doing good.
We want to know.
You've never met this man in your life, and he comes in.
And can you describe that meeting?
It was a pretty interesting meeting.
Mike was adamant that he wanted to meet with me, so I agreed to meet with him.
And he shows up at the meeting with two guys in suits who never said a word during the whole meeting.
Mike did all the talking.
Mike proceeded to tell me all about his grandiose plans that he had for selling millions and millions of pillows.
And in order to do that, he needed credit from me, which I wasn't real keen on giving him.
I want to know also the predictions, the projections that Mike would give you.
Did you doubt them?
I was about as skeptical as you can get.
To the point that the reason I finally ended up giving him credit was because I didn't think he'd ever get to the numbers, so I wasn't really worried about risking anymore.
I became a believer, and I went to the owner of the company, and today the owner is a big believer in Mike Lindell and the MyPillow program.
And have all of his projections come true?
Mike gave us projections that I never thought would come true, and he's gone beyond those, to the point that we've made investments in our business just to keep up with his growth.
Thank you so much for being here.
You know, it's a miracle that either one of those guys listened to me.
And during the summer of 2011, there was actually another miracle that happened.
You know, I was mopping my floors, just like back in the drive-in days.
It's very therapeutic to me.
So here I am, mopping away, and the phone rings.
And this phone never rings.
And I answer it, and they go, yeah, this is WABC in New York.
They wanted me to advertise with them.
I don't know how they had even heard about me.
And I said, you know, I don't have any money.
And I can't brand.
I need to make money.
And I hung up, and about 10 minutes later, this gal walks in, and I said, you won't believe it.
This phone rang over here, and it was some radio station in New York.
And she goes, who?
And I said, this WABC radio station.
And she goes, that's Don Imus' station.
And I go, Okay, and so we called back and we tried to make an appointment.
We made an appointment, flew out to New York, and sure enough, I got to meet Mr. Imus.
And they said, you're gonna get five minutes with this guy.
And I talked for almost an hour.
And he could tell you the rest.
Don, I think you're there.
We'd love to hear your side of the story.
Welcome.
Hi, how are you?
We're good, we're good.
Tell me what was your first impression of Mike.
Well, you know, at our home base radio station in New York, WNBC, occasionally the sales department will say, we have a client who wants to tell you about their product.
And I think, oh, here we go again.
But I said, we got this guy who's developed this pillow.
He's got an interesting story.
He's a recovering For people who don't know him beyond the success of The Pillow, as a person, can you describe him?
first and I was kind of an interesting guy.
For people who don't know him beyond the success of the pillow, as a person, can you describe
him?
Well, I thought he had such a fascinating story.
For a guy who was in the throes of an addiction, who managed to pull his life together, he's
really a nice guy.
A lot of people don't know the stuff he does for charity.
He's one of the most decent, charming, smart people I've ever met.
Wow.
Thank you, Ms.
Cyrus.
Don, thank you so much for taking time out of your day and sharing your story.
And I know that Mike appreciates it.
Thank you so much.
So at the same time that things are happening on radio, you know infomercial.
Yeah, that was the other miracle that happened in the summer of 2011, about the same time as IMAS.
My friends and family, we had all put in our money and pooled our money.
Some of them put in their life savings.
I said, we're going to create the biggest infomercial in history.
And we ended up doing it in one day, filming it with a real audience.
And I just had a friend of mine, Tanya, she had never been on TV before.
We just jumped in and did it.
Mike is the American dream success story that anybody with passion and drive and integrity for their product can do anything.
There was a time where Mike could have gone into just doing state fairs and had a great business only working six, seven, eight weeks a year.
But he had such a passion for employing people.
He was adamant that my pillow be made in America.
Hi Tanya, nice to see you.
Nice to see you Michael.
So this is what I didn't, I can't believe that neither one of you had ever been on TV before.
That's right.
And, well, let's just... I probably was for some other stuff.
Yeah.
Maybe once or twice.
Yeah.
In a still shot.
Right, right.
So, then, Tanya...
When Mike said, we're going to make an infomercial and you're going to do it with me, and you're like, I've never been on TV before.
Were you like, yeah, or, oh, I hope it turns out, or?
You know, I really didn't know what to expect.
We had been working on a script, and the night before, I think they changed the script, and there were teleprompters, and I found out, like, this is the real deal.
We're actually professional.
We're gonna try yeah, it's really Exciting but you know so nerve-wracking and I think when people see the final product they think ah so polished so perfect Everything's great.
I don't know about that one.
I think they thought you know these these guys are a little unpolished I don't know, you look pretty good, but I think Tanya brought along the real story.
Yeah, right.
So I think we have a little blooper reel from that very first infomercial.
And I think this will kind of let us know how it went, that very first infomercial.
Let's take a look.
Alright, are we ready?
I'm just practicing my walk, alright?
I don't want to fall down.
So, how did you go about developing my pillow?
Okay.
We haven't been to the moon either.
You haven't been to the moon.
No, no.
We give you good sleep right here on Earth.
This pill here will heat up, it will also become a hard surface, and it's no good.
What about this one?
This one here has ruined America.
We've all slept on this.
There's no support.
Wherever you set that, you get exactly what you need for your individual neck support, okay?
You can turn this any way you want.
You can make little balloon animals out of it if you want.
Hold your pillows and done all this stuff, and flip-flopped all night like a guppy.
Here, you stay with my pillow.
Wherever you set this pillow, it's gonna hold exactly for you as an individual.
With my pillow, by keeping all those things in your neck straight, You get the best sleep of your life every single night.
Thank you all for coming today!
And he's off the stage.
And so it began.
From the bloopers to the infomercial, and a lot of it is history.
Tanya, thank you so much for coming.
Thank you.
Thank you for bringing the reel.
I'm so glad you did it.
We appreciate it.
Thank you.
It's fun to wear it.
I'm excited.
So the infomercial hits, and it actually becomes, as you said it would, the number one infomercial in the world.
Yeah, you know, I was living in my sister's basement, and it was 3 o'clock in the morning.
When it came on, it was like, well, here's this platform.
It was like, it was surreal.
It was just divine about it, and I knew it was that, you know, this was it.
And then from that point, you're right.
We went from 5 to 500 employees in 40 days.
We were the number one infomercial in the world by the end of December.
I said, we need to make a call center.
I said, let's do this in five days.
And they're going, and the one guy says, no, Mike, we can't do that.
And I said, you know what?
I said, and I give this speech all the time in my factory.
I said, Gilligan was up flying above the palm trees.
And the skipper looked up and said, Gilligan, get down here.
You can't fly.
And Gilligan said, I can't, and he crashed to the earth.
And I'm going, I would say he was flying just fine until somebody told him he couldn't fly.
And we built that call center.
And I mean, just everybody just helped out and get family pitched in and everything.
It was just the most amazing time.
We actually expanded in the garage.
We hired all the employees.
And we just, we made use of that whole Quonset.
And then there they all are.
But it was just, we just expanded so fast.
It was just amazing.
How do you explain how you did it?
It was a miracle.
I'm telling you, what I know now is it should have been impossible for us to make that many pillows in that small of a space we had, even with the amount of people we had, and everybody got their pillows in time for Christmas.
It was all God.
It was a miracle.
That's the only way you can explain it.
You talk about connections, too, and how one connection made another connection made another.
So Don Imus introduces you to the founder of RFD TV and the You know, we had the infomercial, so now I know that realness works with people, that it works.
And Don says, you need to meet my friend, Patrick Koch.
You know me, I don't wait.
I drove to Omaha and to meet him.
Of course you did!
And I didn't know why I was meeting him or whatever.
I just knew he said he had a story similar to mine.
He had created this RFD TV and this huge channel.
Mike Lindell's story kind of mirrors our own.
We launched our network first in 1988 and were unsuccessful at first.
Just a little bit ahead of its time.
Fill on our face.
Took eight years to put it back together.
Everybody said it was a dumb idea.
Nobody would watch a network for rural America and nobody would finance it.
We just kept persevering and eventually found a way to launch it.
I think it's one of the reasons why we've grown to have such a strong and personal friendship between Mike and myself.
What everyone has seen with Mike on the RFP TV programs is somebody that really believes in his product, backs up what
he says, does what he says he's going to do, and if there's a problem, he'll solve it.
I have a funny feeling you're going to say something that's similar.
This guy gets in his car, he drives to see you, and how does that meeting go?
It went great.
I mean, we had a lot in common, and of course he was recommended by the I-man, so we got together and decided Instead of doing a 30-second or 60-second commercial like he was doing on the other TV networks, let's do a one-hour show.
It was unscripted.
I mean, we just talked about what we wanted to do that hour, let him talk about his pillow, show a demonstration, take some phone calls from the audience, and it worked out great.
It's probably the most successful one-hour program we've ever put on.
Wow.
And you know, after hearing his story, that doesn't surprise me at all.
Our network's focused on Rural America, and I think if there's one thing Rural America knows, it's baloney when they see it.
So, Michael's sincerity and honesty came across great live on the cameras, and they got on the phones that night and started ordering pillows.
Knowing him now, as you do on a personal level, and so many people just know him through the infomercials, what would you tell people about Mike Lindell?
He's real.
I mean, I've said it before, he's just, he's a real guy.
And I think what's really similar about the two of you is that how many times probably both of you were told your idea would never work, and you just didn't give up.
Yeah, well that's pretty common with a lot of the stories in America, so.
But it's been great.
I got his number on my phone.
He calls me.
I call him.
And it's turned into a real friendship, which I value even more than the business side of it.
I know.
We appreciate you.
Patrick, thank you for being here and for sharing your story.
Thank you guys.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good luck.
I mean, we're talking about the pillows because that's part of your story.
And we're talking about you and your life, but it's a bigger story we're telling.
And that bigger story is that sometimes we call them coincidences, like I said, and sometimes I know in my life I've called them a God wink.
But you're really here to tell people that this is just a platform for things that you want to do.
People do ask me all the time, you know, how is this possible?
How is this possible?
Because they hear, they've read something or seen something.
When I get stopped in the streets, you know, all the time people will say, wow, I've heard your story and that's amazing.
So now being able to tell it and I've seen so many people it's affected for the better.
And this is what I hope that seeing this, it just goes everywhere.
Don't lose hope.
Right.
Don't lose hope.
Of all the things that you've told me, I mean, there's been some pretty crazy ones.
This is the one when we talked that really kind of got to me.
You are heading to the airport.
I'm heading to the airport to New York City, and it was AM 970, and I go in there, and I'm going, okay, I'm not sure why I'm here, and a couple things happen there, but one of the things, I'm in talking to the one guy, and I'm going, talking to the station manager and stuff, and all of a sudden, Joe Piscopo walks through the door.
And Joe and I became instant friends, and he was my mentor.
He's going, Mike, you're a natural.
You're a natural.
I'm going, are you kidding me?
Joe, you're the natural.
You're the skill.
And there's me.
I'm looking.
I'm going, yeah, I'm a natural.
Yeah, it looks like you're not buying it yet.
I'm not buying it.
I'm going, yeah, Joe says I'm a natural.
But Joe has been absolutely a blessing to me.
And the odds of meeting him that day were incredible.
I'm looking at Mike, man, and he's like, he's got it all together.
And he's pure from within after all that he went through.
Going through life, you know, you gotta always have a sense of humor.
And not let the obstacles of the negativity tear you down.
And that is the Mike Lindell story.
Always positive energy.
Always taking the high road.
Always.
The way you treat people.
The way you approach people.
The way you approach life.
A true blessing to know this man.
Because it's a lesson to be learned.
the way he has lived his life.
So Mike calls and says, come to Minnesota and you said, okay.
Yeah.
You know, this is one of the great humans on the planet.
And I always say, it's about character and loyalty when you talk about friendship.
And then when we kind of just met at the radio station, I was new at the radio station.
I'd never done radio before, you know?
Oh, so neither one of you.
So you're telling me I'm a natural.
You didn't even know if you were a natural.
The big lie!
Joe, come on!
I have a degree in college radio television.
I couldn't get it anywhere else.
I went to a radio television school, right?
And Mike came on, and we just hit it off.
And then he was like, I could see he was there.
He's so committed that he kept all his businesses in the town, in the state where he was from, Minnesota.
I said, this is a good guy.
And we got to know each other.
And then we started to talk.
And it was like, it was interesting, like a journey was laid out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So when he calls, wherever he calls, whatever Mike says, I'm right there first and foremost, you know?
That's great.
That's great.
We love that about you, Mike.
Well, you know what, I'll say, if you've been his mentor, you've done a great job.
Well, I'll tell you, it came on the radio and then we started to talk.
Our faith is strong.
And then I just broke through the layers.
And I'll tell you what, the audience that I'm lucky enough to have in New York, Jan was so riveted by everything Mike Lindell.
It's a it's a riveting positive Story affirms everything that's great about the United States of America.
This is the man that exemplifies that so he's on the radio He was he was a natural you are natural like that because you know what he said Speak from your heart brother you speak from here.
You know what you're crazy as hell, but You speak from the heart Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. Joe, thank you.
So you are at this radio station.
It brings you Joe, but there's a gentleman there who says, hmm, there's somebody else you should meet.
Yeah, at that same radio station, to tell you the magnitude of that station, of me listening that day to go to New York.
When I walked in there, I said, I don't know why I'm here.
And I talked to people for a half hour, and this is actually right before Joe.
There's a guy there, and he starts talking.
I go, wait a minute.
Is this a Christian radio station?
He goes, yeah.
You didn't know?
And I'm going, OK.
There's something going to happen.
And he goes, I tell him my story.
And he goes, I got a guy you need to meet.
He's a friend of mine, the actor Stephen Baldwin.
There's a proverb, Proverbs 27, 17, where one iron sharpens another, so one person sharpens another.
That's Stephen and I. I think Mike represents a passion and a perseverance that Uh, is really becoming a lost thing.
We're not seeing people care as much anymore about following through and crossing the finish line and being willing to, like, struggle if necessary.
Mike's gonna do it Mike's way, and that's Refreshing, to me.
In a day when everybody's, like, so worried about covering their butt, and, you know, what's the right thing, and do you have the app, and, you know, blah, blah, blah, he's not afraid to say, this is who I was.
I was a wild man.
I was out there in the world.
I struggled with addiction.
I struggled with finance.
All these obstacles.
Now who he is is a guy that unequivocally, unapologetically will look you dead in the face and say,
it's all because of God.
Thank you for being here.
You Hey everybody!
You having fun?
I can't hear you!
Good.
Did you hear what he just said?
All kidding aside...
When he says that about me, the same goes for me relevant to Mike.
I mean, if you hear this whole story, he's always persevered, he's always just held on, never gave up, because in his heart, he's the kind of person that He wakes up every day thinking to himself, like, okay, well I gotta do this, I gotta do all the normal stuff, and, you know, we gotta make pillows, and, you know, we gotta do this, and he's got a book coming out, and a foundation, we're gonna talk about all that.
But the fascinating thing for me is, to have persevered as long as Mike has, and for him to have succeeded as much as he has, and for me to have had my experiences, and watch a guy like this, Really get up every day and his heart is, how do I take all this blessing and bless others?
As Stephen says, my passion has always been to help people and it's been a divine connection meeting Stephen because it's opened so many doors and given me so many opportunities that I would have never had.
I have a book coming out that I've been writing and living for years, and Stephen introduced me to his book writer that's finally gonna help me get this to the finish line.
And we're also gonna make a movie based on the book, and the book's called What Are the Odds?
And if you don't believe in God after you read the book, you need to reread it.
And there's another thing, Jan.
Another divine connection through Stephen is he's introduced me to someone who's going to help take my foundation to a whole new level.
I have a foundation, the Lindell Foundation, that's been helping my own employees and people in my hometown for the last couple years.
We're going to launch it this fall, and it's going to help millions.
It's going to be everything you ever wanted in a foundation.
You'll be able to trust that 100% of your money actually goes to the cause instead of paying for the overhead of a foundation.
Proceeds from my book and movie are going to help make all this possible.
And you'll be able to actually hear back from the person you helped and know what a difference you made in their life.
Definitely.
The pillow became your platform, but what you're really here is to help others.
Yeah, that's right.
But it took me a long time to realize that, that the pillow was just a platform for a bigger purpose than calling.
And, you know, I'm just a regular guy from a small town in Minnesota that was an alcoholic and a drug addict.
And, you know, I know now that there's no other explanation of why I'm here today except that Jesus protected me and carried me through it all.
Otherwise, I wouldn't even be here.
And, you know, my prayer is that after sharing my story, that you will all reflect on your own lives and just think about all the adversity that we all face and get through, or when good things happen and we tend to chalk it up to good luck or coincidence.
Have you ever considered it might be divine intervention?
Jesus is real, and with God, all things are possible.
Amen to that, right?
And what I want to do, Before we wrap things up is bring everybody out that helped tell your story.
So everybody come on out and help tell my story.
Oh, you ever see this guy with the pillows on Fox?
you My pillow guy, Mike Lindell.
He is the greatest.
My pillow guy.
Mike Lindell.
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