My Pillow Guy
I’ve always admired people that invest their own money in an idea and go for broke. Often, broke is what happens, but sometimes a Thomas Edison or Elon Musk emerges. Though Mike Lindell may not be a genius like Edison or build Rockets like Musk, he is a true American entrepreneur. He has gone from nothing to having a fortune and, in my estimation, will continue to grow his companies or go broke trying.
Michael James Lindell
Michael James Lindell was born in Mankato, Minnesota. During his teen years, he developed a gambling addiction. After high school, he attended the University of Minnesota but soon dropped out. Over the next few years, his gambling continued and he became addicted to cocaine. Later he moved on to using crack cocaine. Lindell married Karen Dickey and together they have four children. To support his growing family and habits, he owned and operated several small businesses including carpet cleaning, lunch trucks, and several restaurants and bars.
While still addicted to crack and gambling, Lindell founded My Pillow in 2004. Using his own facility and equipment, he manufactured and sold the pillows. The business had its ups and many downs largely because of his continuing addictions. By the end of 2008, his wife Karen had divorced him after twenty years of marriage. This left Lindell homeless and with a failing company. As is often the case that is when Lindell heard, “God’s still, small voice.”
In January of 2009, Lindell gave up drugs and, with the help of friends, began the long journey of waking from his “cultural coma” to a growing faith in Christ. With the help of well-timed advertising on Fox News, the company finished 2014 with over eight million dollars in the bank. Today, My Pillow Inc. has grown into the My Store and, in addition to pillows, sells bedding, slippers, beauty products, clothing, coffee, and more. However, like so many entrepreneurs, success in one area has been used to seek success in other endeavors.
Kyle with his copy of What are the Odds?
Lindell met with then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016 and became a strong supporter. Later he declared that Trump was “the most amazing president this country has ever seen in history.” During a speech at Liberty University, Lindell said, “When I met with Donald Trump, it felt like a divine appointment, and when I walked out of that office I decided I was going to go all in.” Lindell attended the Trump inauguration and received an inaugural lapel pin as a personal gift from the president.
In 2019, Lindell spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and said Trump was, “the greatest president in history.” Also during that year, Lindell published his autobiography titled, What are the Odds?: From Crack Addict to CEO. Much of the biographical information for this article is taken from my copy of his book and from the Wikipedia article. But this is merely an overview of his life. If you are at all interested in the “My Pillow Guy,” get the book. I’ll be doing a full review of the book later this year.
Click on the image to buy the book.
When a need arises my family tries to support conservative businesses. This has led to us purchasing several items from Lindell’s company. Because of a recurring sore neck, my wife bought a My Pillow. Her sleep is now better and she wakes without a sore neck. For my eldest son, coffee is his morning wakeup drink so, I asked him to sample My Coffee. After several days he told me he liked it as much as any of the well-known brands and plans to keep it in his personal supply.
Lindell’s latest ventures are perhaps his riskiest. In April of 2021, he launched FrankSpeech a 24/7 news service available on Roku, Apple TV, the web, and as an app for iPhone, and Android. There is a live newsfeed and a wide selection of conservative podcasts with hosts such as Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Emerald Robinson, Diamond and Silk, and more. One year after launching the news service Lindell launched FrankSocial an alternative to Twitter. When I joined FrankSocial, On the left side of the dashboard were links to My Store, My Pillow, and FrankSpeech. I also was immediately following nine people, Mike Lindell and others from FrankSpeech. Lindell is reportedly spending a million dollars a month to build and promote these two sites. As I perused them I found nothing unique that would keep drawing me back. I hope they succeed, but until they have more to draw customers, I believe they will be a huge drain on finances.
Do you have a My Pillow or one of the other products from My Store? What do you think of Mike Lindell, his companies, or his story? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
