It is said dreams always come true if you have the determination, passion, and å compass of intuition with you. But is it possible that an idea that came to you while you were half-asleep could make $20 billion? If you think the answer is ‘no’, then you are wrong. Such an outburst of dream chain changed the life of Mike Lindell. What came to him in form of a dream turned him in a billionaire today and gave him the title ‘The Pillow King.’
Mike was born in Mankato, Minnesota, but most of his time while growing up was spent in the city Chaska. He quit his education half-way because he realised his destiny was elsewhere. He faced difficulty in sleeping because he found his pillow uncomfortable, leaving him in semi-wakeful state throughout the day.
One day, when he was sleeping his nap broke and something came over him like a calling. He wrote ‘my pillow’ all over the wall of the rooms. This is where he got the idea to start his own pillow factory.
He realised when this was creating problem for him alone, it must be bothering other people as well and thus it drove him to start making comfortable pillows of his own.
Bed of thorns
It might seem like a fairytale that how one day a person woke up and chased his dream but it was a lot more demanding and exfoliating for him to be market ready. There were lots of ups and downs even before the idea spurted out. Mike was completing his education and to pay his school fee he worked at two ends. It was not too late when he realised he was wasting his time in completing the education so he quit his studies and found a regular job for him. All was merry and satisfactory when he had an argument with the manager. He had to leave his job because it was humiliating to continue and he would not beg to stay there anymore as he had already moved on with the idea of working there.
This gave him the drive to start something of his own. After getting expelled from the job, he tried his hands in many other fields for instance, carpet cleaning and pig farming. None of this worked in his favour and all his saving was over. It was tough for him to survive and he needed a job immediately to keep his basic expenses going. He got an offer to join as a bartender and so he joined there with no delay. This turned out to be a bad decision because before he knew, he was addicted to drugs.
His addiction turned so serious that his wife divorced him and he lost his home as well. Catastrophes followed him like his shadow but still he couldn’t get rid of his addiction. It took him 10 months to bring his life back on track. It was in 2009 he had the last dose of drug in a party. He decided to give up on drugs and started focusing on business. In 2011 a newspaper published about his company and a store offered him to open his own retail store. Due to shortage of money he had to borrow $15,000 and opened his own store.
Starting with five employees the company now employs 500 workers. The annual production of pillows on high demand is three crores and the annual turnover is $20 billion.
Along with the business he has also started a charity service under the name Lindell foundation. It raises voice for all sort of social issues. This helps those who pay their taxes and take care of all sorts of overhead. The donors can choose whom they want to help and connect to them accordingly. It also helped the people who suffered the heavy cyclone Harvey in August 2017.
His story inspires us that it’s never too late. One can always get up at any time and take charge of their life. All that is needed is conviction and persistence.
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