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Nina and Michelle, are best friends with a passion for the Lord. They bring uplifting conversations, encouragement, and shared personal stories of overcoming and victory straight to your screen.
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From Struggles to Redemption 0:02 We wanna honor God because he sees everything.0:10 You were born with a plan and a purpose. He's the god of all things possible. He's the god of0:21 all miracles.0:52 Welcome to Grace Grace with Naina Michelle. I'm Michelle Humphreys.0:56 And I am Naina Keegan. Welcome to our broadcast today. Today, we are so excited to have this very special guest on. You will all know him. You will all know he is a household name,1:08 household commercial. You cannot not know him, Michelle. Exactly.1:11 If you have a TV, you know the My Pillow Guy. But before he was the My Pillow Guy, he had quite a life, and we're gonna talk about that today and what all he is1:23 doing. Will you please welcome to our program, Mike Lindell. We're so happy you're here.1:30 Well, thanks for having me on.1:32 Well, we are grateful. Thank you so much. We both have your book here. Fascinating. And it just an unbelievable story of God's redemption and how God found you1:44 and all that you're doing for the kingdom. Do you wanna touch a little bit about that? About, in in the Lindell Recovery Network, your book is called What Are the Odds from Crack Addict to1:56 CEO Mike Lindell. And so just how2:00 did that all happen? Start from the beginning. Just tell us a little bit about your life story.2:06 Yeah. I'll I'll go I'll go back to, you know, when I was, 7 years old, my parents divorced and I was put into a school. I didn't know anybody and I but I was the only kid from a2:17 divorced family, and I felt really like an outcast almost. It was like I I can just remember how I felt back then. It was, I would either show up or be very quiet. And2:29 and, when I got, I remember getting out as I was writing this book, I could I finally realized, you know, back then, you know, how much it did affect me. I'm2:41 not blaming everything in my life on it, but I'll tell you, it really affected, me a lot more than I thought. And, you know, I always thought I was just, you know, somewhat2:53 shy or didn't didn't wanna didn't wanna talk to people I didn't know or whatever and, and certainly did not wanna talk in public or any in front of anyone. I was basically you heard about being3:05 camera shy or being superior public speaking. I was that on steroids. So it was like, it was nobody can believe that, but I would but yet I would show up, it's in the book where I would3:17 show up in school to it was like we do these in these extremes. And I just remember, at my, now I only had I had 2 jobs back then, probably the last 2 jobs I3:29 ever had because I was always an entrepreneur. And, but the 2 jobs I had was worked in a drive in movie theater and a, in a grocery store. And I end up getting fired at the grocery store. I had all my3:41 ideas of what a what a company would be should be. And, so we would argue we would we would argue over that. And he goes, Mike, if you if you, you think you can run your own3:52 company, why don't you get your own company and do what you wanna do sometimes? And we do that. We put out things things I didn't like back then. But when I got fired on, I actually had a, a person that I hadn't4:04 seen in a long time, had passed away and well, they're very close to me. And I just went I told her I couldn't take off to go to the, funeral, but I just did it anyway.4:16 And, I got fired for it and and things like that. Well, like, at MyPillow now, if you have a death that's somebody close to you, we don't care who it is, a neighbor. I don't care who it is. You take off4:28 and we pay you while you're out as much time as you want to grieve. Or if you're hurt and it's life threatening, we pay you while you're out or if it's, you know, if a loved one's in the hospital. So we've got we've all4:39 these things from back then that I didn't like. But anyway, we got, we got to my 5 year class reunion, and I remember everyone had finished4:51 college or they were starting families or they expand you know, got further their, whatever they were doing with their job. But I wasn't doing anything, and I hadn't done anything by then. I wasn't working at the driving5:02 theater. I was basically, spending my time in the bars and, but I kinda took over that reunion, and I was telling about how I owe the mafia money, and they come to5:14 my doors and threaten me. And I owe tens of thousand dollars as a 28 some year old kid and and, or how I fell asleep on a motorcycle. I've gotten 17 traffic tickets on a motorcycle. This5:26 is in the book. And there was a warrant out if I or there would have been I would have went to jail if I got caught driving the spike, but I wanted to go on my night shift skydiving. I remember driving it, fell asleep,5:37 crashed the motorcycle, got back up, went down skydiving, and my parachute had a malfunction. And this was all on the same day. So everyone in the 3 units go, wow. Wow. They're going, wow. And and,5:50 but I got home that night, and it was a deep sadness that came over me. It was like, I wanted what they had, not what I was bragging about because that's all I had. And it was a self worth thing. And,6:02 but then I got into I got into cocaine. Once I got into cocaine, then I could really talk, you know, I could talk and be be you know, functioning addict. I think people talk about addiction, and they say, you6:14 know, they imagine addicts in the street. I've been there before, but they imagine being in the street with homeless or whatever. And and I'm and I'm sure I've been booked. I say addiction affects everyone no matter how6:26 many forks you eat with, and it's very functioning addiction. I and I I became a functioning addict. I, I was blessed with a family and 20 year marriage, and I was, like I say, I had a parallel track6:37 of not just with addiction, but also with entrepreneurship. My sister flooded a third story building with an apartment complex with a water bed, so I became a carpet cleaner. Another6:49 thing that benefits out of going into a treatment center, I became a, lunch started a lunch wagon business. And then the business I got into in the I was bartending, I I guess, and, I got7:01 into I end up buying the the restaurant bar from from the guy on a contract for these. So I that was the start of, buying buying that, and I never had I never I didn't have any money. Nobody7:13 handed me any money. So I had a big, good work ethic too. But but, I have 1 bar for 13 years. It's in the book, and they and we're not a good place for an addict. And, but they but I,7:25 the that had turned into crack cocaine around the year 2000, from cocaine and other addictions. And then, I was also a professional card counter, but then it was7:37 me in the casinos where I was addicted to gambling. There's just so many crossovers there, and it's quite like you say, it's it's pretty amazing, but God threw out threw out all of it. God was always chasing me, and I7:48 would I would, I would pray. I call them reactionary prayers. I would pray, go get me out of this, and I'll never do this and again. And, but those obviously, a lot of those weren't God's will. And and,8:01 so things that were so devastating at the time, I can look back now and say, well, that was meant to be. And, all these things that happened probably gave me the strength where I'm at now, where I've seen things be so8:13 decimated back then. And, we and I was able to get through by the grace of god. I invented the pillow in 2004 after I had to sell the bars, and it wasn't something I did. It was,8:26 it was basically forced out, and I was just, like I say, devastated. At the time, I looked back down. If that wouldn't have happened, I might not be here.8:32 We wouldn't have MyPillow. We're gonna take a break really quickly. And when we come back, we'll talk more about how MyPillow got started. So Yeah. Stay tuned.8:43 When I started MyPillow, it was just a problem solution, 1 product company. Well, since then, with the help of my dedicated employees, we now have hundreds of products, some you might not even8:55 know about. To get the word out, we're having a 25 dollar extravaganza. 2 pack multi use my pillows, 25 dollars. My pillow sandals, 259:07 dollars. And for the first time ever, our 6 pack towel sets, you guessed it, just 25 dollars Our brand new 4 pack dish towels, dollars 25. And I've9:18 never done this before. Premium MyPillows with all new Giza fabric, any size, any loft level, even king-size for only 25 dollars, and there's so much more. So go9:30 to my pillow dot com or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code for our 25 dollar extravaganza. Order 75 dollars and over. Your entire order ships absolutely9:42 free.9:43 Welcome back to Grace Grace with Nina and Michelle. We are here with the fabulous Mike Lindell. What an amazing story. And you were just talking about, you know, how, you know, God works in mysterious9:55 ways. And so, again, you know, you were devastated over losing this bar, but that caused you to launch MyPillow. So in in like you said, you might not still be here if you were still at a bar10:07 because of the issues that you have at the time. So tell us about MyPillow and why a pillow? Like, you know, there's got to be a reason for that.10:16 Right. Well, the pillow, you know, there was always a problem solution. Like I said, I was always an entrepreneur. I would come up with different ideas of different things, but, the pillow was extremely frustrating for10:27 me. I I know I had back in that back in, 19 77, I with my first paycheck at that grocery store, it was, like, 70 some dollars. And I went out and bought the most expensive pillow you could10:39 find, which for that time was a down pillow. It was about 70 dollars and it and it was horrible. It went down and I you know, I'm using my arm, folding my pillow, and and I couldn't return it. And but all10:51 my life, I just knew that there was something different. I go I go, you know, I just stack pillows, just all these different things, and nothing really worked. And I had an idea, you know, I, I believe that this was11:03 a basically a God idea, dreams that I'd have, and I yeah. I actually dropped the name of my pillow first. I'm going, you know, that sounds like a it was a weird name, but it's like 1 of the first mice. Like, where's my11:14 pillow? And, I mean, she used and combined it into 1 word and, but I came up with actually the name before even the pillow. It took about 9 or 10 months in 2003 or 200411:26 going, every day, tearing different phones. I wanted something you could adjust and it would hold there and and it was very frustrating. But each every day going through this and then I would have this, but I I reverse11:38 engineered. I wanted to have everything that anyone would ask for. And, but the biggest thing was quality sleep and that adjustability that wouldn't go flat. I remember finally we had it. My son and I 1 of my11:50 sons, we he would help me each day and, tearing the foam and stuff, and he'd flying around the neighborhood.11:54 But we finally came up with it came up with11:57 it, but then you couldn't get it apart. And then we and we solved that problem. And then we didn't have a machine that could make that, and we solved that. And then I wanted to be able to wash and dry it that hadn't been12:07 done before in pillows. And, so we got the patented foam and the and the and we end up getting a patent on, but the, but I wanna make it wash and dry. I wanted to give it value. I have a 10 year warranty and12:19 all these things that and, when I finally had it, I went into I remember going into a box store. Actually, it was a bad bathroom. I said, how many do you want? I have the best pillow ever made. I blah blah blah. And they12:30 thought I think they thought it was this Nazi says, you need to leave now.12:35 It12:35 was like, kinda like where we're at now with no box stores. But, anyway, they someone said, well, Mike, why don't you and I was why don't you do a kiosk for me? And I was completely penniless then we had I remember I12:46 said, what's a kiosk? How do you spell that? And and, we went to do that, and we borrowed money to do the kiosk. And remember, I couldn't talk to people, so I couldn't I didn't want12:58 to be there with the public walking up where a kiosk was and ask me questions. I was very uncomfortable because I would be straight. And remember, I had 2 tracks going on, crack cocaine addict and alcoholic, but yet over13:10 here, I would separate that. It would be it would be out of my skin. I just didn't like it. But I was only there maybe 2 of the days. We hardly sold anything over the 2 over the 2 months or month and a half. And, but the13:21 day I was there that this guy came up and said, hey. Do you have a business card? I said, I don't have a business card. And he said, I wrote my name and number on a piece of paper. Well, that guy, by divine appointment,13:32 he called. Now we had the comp he asked was a complete failure, but he called in January of that year. I had 4 little kids and, wondering what I'm gonna do, you know, what to but I wasn't giving up. And he called up. He13:44 says, hey, I run I got your you gave me your number. I I you know, this pillow changed my life. And he goes, I run the Minneapolis Poma Garten Show. Would you like the spot in there? And I said, sure. And I remember13:56 giving him a check because I never money. You know, like, he when I say cash after the show. But, I probably sold very few pillows in the 2 months at the kiosk. This time, I put up a a table in front of14:07 me so people couldn't invade my space, and I had kinda like a shield in my chinas. Right?14:13 Pillow shield.14:14 A pillow shield. I hear 18 18 people bought pillows that day, and they came back the next day and paid to get back in the show. All of them did to come up and tell me how that14:26 pillow had helped them, and I was so excited. I was just hooked on that on helping people. It wasn't about the money. It was about that that, you know, that feeling I got there. So, I14:37 did home shows and fairs for years, with a parallel track of addiction, and, I lost everything in 2007. We are making them in our living room, or packaging them in our14:49 living room and lost a marriage of 20 years, and they turned out our power, our lights, and, it was basically lights out. And then the crack addiction took over in 2008 and 9. The drug dealers15:01 actually did an intervention on me. That's the cover of the book where out there were 3 drug dealers downtown Minneapolis. I came out of the bedroom and they're all going. And I said, you guys know each other? And they15:11 knew of each other, but they had never met. And the 1 guy says, you've been up for 14 days. We're cutting you off. And and, 2 1 guy left and the other 1 went down and got the word out in the streets. And he said how much15:23 crack you have left, and I and they showed him. And he sat in the chair, and I by 2 30 in the morning, I was already carpet farming. If you don't do crack, you if you do crack, you'll know what that mean. I was carpet15:33 farming, scraping the pipe, and I looked over and he was asleep. I went down to the streets of Minneapolis, couldn't buy crack anywhere. It would not you know, I go, hey. I got a hundred dollars. It didn't matter. They15:43 had gotten the word out, should not sell me any. I came back upstairs and, and he said, how'd that work out for you? And, I said, and I'm all upset. And he said, man, you've been15:55 telling us for years that you're gonna quit this your addictions, and you're gonna come back and help us out of this addiction world we're in. And I was basically their hope, and he said, we're not gonna let you die on16:05 us. And he grabbed my phone. He says, here, I'm gonna take a picture for that book you say you're gonna write someday. So he took that picture. That is on the book. Now Wow. It was a year later on Jan on January16:16 sixteenth 2009. That's the day I quit all the addictions. I quit everything overnight. I had 1 prayer to God. I said, God, I wanna wake up in the morning and never have the desire again.16:28 And I knew I had this big call, and we all have callings, but I I knew I had a calling. But I also knew if I waited 1 more day, that path was got that option was gonna be gone forever.16:41 And, I described that in the book and that but I woke up in the morning and his desires were gone. Now that was the day I thought I got saved because it was such a difference of night and day. And,The Birth and Growth of MyPillow 16:53 but I didn't actually do a full surrender to Jesus Christ till February eighteenth 2017, everybody. And, but they did quit that day and then it was like17:05 4 year or 2 couple years later. Now my pillow was just a little dot. All the shows have been taken. There was so much betrayal in my life. And, so I told my friends and family, I said, let's pool our money.17:17 We're gonna make the biggest infomercial in history, and it's gonna be so successful. Well, I didn't know that that the infomercials are just to go into the box stores that wouldn't take us, that they don't make money on17:28 the front end. Nobody told me it couldn't be done. So I just decided we would do it.17:33 And Well,17:34 obviously, you don't take no for an answer.17:37 And when we come17:38 back, we're gonna talk about how we came to the MyPillow commercials.17:43 And we wanna know we know you're so involved in, you know, helping to save America, and we're gonna hear all about that too. We wanna know that story when we come right back. Stay tuned. You're watching Grace Grace with17:54 Naina and Michelle.17:55 When I started MyPillow, it was just a problem solution, 1 product company. Well, since then, with the help of my dedicated employees, we now have hundreds of products, some you might not even know18:07 about. To get the word out, we're having a 25 dollar extravaganza. 2 pack multi use My Pillows, 25 dollars. My Pillow sandals, 25 dollars.18:19 And for the first time ever, our 6 pack towel sets, you guessed it, just 25 dollars. Our brand new 4 pack dish towels, 25 dollars. And I've never done18:31 this before. Premium My Pillows with all new Giza fabric, any size, any loft level, even king-size for only 25 dollars, and there's so much more. So go to my18:43 pillow dot com or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code for our 25 dollar extravaganza. Order 75 dollars and over. Your entire order ships absolutely free.18:55 Welcome back to Grace Grace with Nina and Michelle. You are watching our show today with our special guest, Mike Lindell. This is part 1 of part 2. We are just getting to his whole story, and so19:07 you're gonna wanna stick around and hear this. And so, Mike, you were just talking about MyPillow and how kinda how you were getting started to maybe get into big box stores. So take it from there. What happened?19:19 Right. Well, this was, this was actually the first, infomercial we did where I where we couldn't no box stores would take us and we were denied everywhere. And I had quit all my addictions, the year19:31 before in, 2 January 16 2009. I spent the next year or so getting my shows back and, like I say, so much betrayal from people I had broke bread with and and, we're19:42 trying to steal the company what what what it with what it was. And and, I'd already done print ads and a little bit of radio and, can I see but I had this dream of this infomercial?19:55 So we pulled our money and, the infomercial, just so people know, is a half hour infomercial. And it only they only work in, in Japan, by the way, on the front end, which means that20:06 you to make enough money on a front end of an infomercial. Infomercials are just to advertise so you go into box stores, and the box stores were not having us. So but like I said, everyone said, this will never make it.20:17 This will never make it. Now we went to film this, and remember, I was afraid of being in front of crowds or talking in front of people unless I had this table in front of me at home. So20:29 this was new to me being in a sober life. And, so we went to we went to do our reads the night before. It was just a friend of mine that had done shows with, and this guy from,20:41 Hollywood or whatever there, this producer, he texts the other guys who were doing our reads. He said, this is the worst guy I've ever seen. He'll never make it on TV.20:50 Oh, no.20:51 And, but I didn't know that. So then the next day though, I come out and my eyes bogged out of my head and here's all the the live audience and I'm scared to death. And it took like an hour to do 1 line,21:03 and it was so stiff. And then the pillow goes like that, you know. So I finally said, hey. Can we can we get rid of the teleprompter and bring a table in just like I did it at the home21:15 shows all those years where I was comfortable. So we put the table and I just did it kinda live and I didn't even realize the audience was there because I'm so passionate about the product. And it was just it just came21:26 out of me, you know, the, the things I would say too would be a little it was almost still alive, you know. You flip flop all night like a guppy. I know people would say, you know, I would say these things and they just21:36 kept it in this commercial. Well, anyway, it launched October seventh of 2011. I was living in 1 of my sister's basement with, I had about 5, maybe 10 employees, mostly my kids21:47 and some neighbor kids. And, that launched and and 25 days later, we had 500 employees. We've, we have I remember, firing the call center21:59 I had trained in in 1 day because I called them up. I said, yeah. What's in that pillow? And they said, I don't know. Google it. I said, Google it. You know? So because I always treat every customer. I treat every22:10 customer like it's my only customer, and I I would just and, when it happened then, we we grew so fast. We took in over a hundred million dollars. We're the number 1 infomercial in the22:22 world.22:22 Oh my goodness.22:23 2 months. They said, Mike, you need to be CEO. I go, why do I need to be CEO? I just wanna make I didn't even know what CEOs were. I said, let's just make pillows. We need we need HR department. I said, that sounds22:33 horrible. I mean, we need a22:35 we need a company lawyer.22:36 I'm like, well, that sound getting worse.22:37 And, you know, we took in22:40 we took in a hundred million dollars in the next 6 months. And and, but the end of the 6 months, 1 day in May of 2012, I opened up and looked22:52 at and go, oh, what? I was 6000000 dollars in debt, and it was I was just devastated going, you know, and there's and there had been so much betrayal, so much, where I23:04 took me to handshake deal or even if I signed a contract, they both would it was a everybody had taken advantage of we I there was stuff that didn't that wasn't in house and and, nothing was23:15 tracked right. And but I learned from all that. And by the by the, by over the next 2 years, it was a grace of God, though, that that we were protected in that time because23:27 then the box stores, because of all that advertising, they did come calling and the shopping channels. So we were able to get into them, but still it was you were living on the edge for about 2 years, and then I I23:39 met, some may my wife to be named Kendra. And we just got married last year as a matter of fact. But we, she she, when I met her, she had a couple of things. She's saying,23:51 I wanted something she had. I'm going, wow. You you know, I thought that I was already saved. And she goes, well and she has something I didn't have, and that was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but she would24:02 she would always have me praying for the company. We need to pray. We need to pray. We need to pray. And, this was the summer of 2014. We were within a couple days of going under. And24:14 once again, god lifted my pillow and myself out of that ruins. And and, if you read the book, it just exploded in the, in November of 20 of 2014.24:26 Someone said, well, Mike, you what I what I basically did during that time was pull everything in house and learn what went wrong in 2012. And I say that right now when we talk about,24:39 our elections and stuff, which we'll get into that in in the next, part 2 of this, this thing. But they, I always compare that in my speeches with the elections. I say,24:51 if 2012 had not happened, my pillow would not be here, thousands of employees later and 84000000 MyPillows later. Oh my goodness. So Wow. Because I25:03 because if I didn't I look back down, which was so devastating at the time. I just learned from it and pulled everything in house and said, how can I make this the best it can be? How can I make this the best it can be?25:15 You know, each segment of a when no matter what it is with the marketing. So and our marketing you see now is second to none. We track everything with promo codes and, and 1 80025:27 numbers. We wanna know what if you had to live on just that 1 thing, just that show or just that 1 commercial or just that 1 newspaper article, whatever it is. You wanna make it the best you can be, but we25:39 learned all that from the stuff that happened in 2012. And I say that's why I call the 20 20 election the most important election in history is because of everything we've25:50 learned over the last 3 and a half years.25:53 It has25:54 What we've25:54 taken been a teaching experience. And when we are gonna do a part 2 of Grace Grace with Mike Lindell. And, thank you so much for joining us today.26:07 Please join us for part 2 of this amazing story. We cannot wait to get into this next phase and all that you've learned. So thank you for joining us today, Mike. We appreciate you so26:19 much, and we're we're so proud of you.26:21 We'll see you on part 2. God bless you. Does science disprove God? Is there a war between science and faith?Faith and Science: A Harmonious Relationship 26:30 We don't need God to create a universe. There's no evidence for God, and it's irrational. Is there no evidence for God? Am I delusional for my beliefs? It is delusional and stupid.26:39 Am I brainwashed?26:41 Do I ignore reason?26:42 Logic. Critical thinking Critical thinking. Science.26:59 RDOF uses logic and reasoning.27:02 RDOF has empowered my sons to defend their faith with facts.27:06 If you wanna be equipped to defend against the biggest objections in the existence of God, RDOF is the place for you.27:16 Has science really ruled out God? Is faith at war with science? If you wanna be equipped to respond to these claims and more, check out r d o f dot org.27:34 The evidence he presents is so powerful and overwhelming. Incredibly compelling, yet easily understandable. We believe in rationality. We believe in reason. We believe in science, and we believe27:46 in the existence of God.27:48 I would leave every event with a mind boggling awe and assurance.27:53 I never believed in God. I just think it was craziness. RDOF confirmed my faith. RDOF confirmed my full belief, full faith in the Lord, man. The28:05 appearance of design in the universe is undeniable.28:11 The lights, the crowd, the videos.28:17 To book a presentation or watch our free videos, go to r d o f dot org or find us on Facebook at RDOF events.In this video 0:00 From Struggles to Redemption16:41 The Birth and Growth of MyPillow26:27 Faith and Science: A Harmonious Relationship
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