WEBVTT - Joy Mangano: How the Miracle Mop Inventor Keeps Reinventing 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:09.600 So welcome back to She Pivots. I'm Joy Magano. 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:17.680 Welcome to She Pivots, the podcast where we talk with 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.000 women who dared to pivot out of one career and 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:25.400 into something new and explore how their personal lives impacted 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:33.800 these decisions. I'm your host Emily Tish Sussman today I'm 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:37.920 delighted in welcoming Joy Mangano to the show. If you 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.760 don't recognize her name at first, I promise you know her. 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.800 She's the inspiration behind the movie Joy, starring Jennifer Lawrence. 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.640 And remember she's the inventor and creator. 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:48.160 Of the Miracle Mop. 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.400 Joy is a household name for millions and has transformed 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:55.680 industry after industry. Her groundbreaking in vengeance have changed how 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.920 many of us clean, organize, and live. As a single 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.160 mother of three, she was constantly juggling the demands of 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:06.400 family life while constantly sketching out ideas and inventions, dreaming 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:10.320 of something bigger. In true Joy fashion, she saw an 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.760 opportunity when she became fed up with the mops that 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.959 were sold at the time, so she decided to create 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:20.039 a more efficient and user friendly cleaning tool, the Miracle mop. 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:21.720 She knew this. 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:24.399 Little invention could change her life, so she took a 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:28.319 leap of faith and made her pivot. It wasn't perfect 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.840 at first. She had to fly across the country to 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.800 claim her designs and patents after several vendors tried to 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:37.800 steal them. But soon the miracle mop was selling record amounts, 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:41.000 launching Joy to the success she had always dreamed of. 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:45.000 But Joy's story is more than just about an innovative product. 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:50.920 It's also about perseverance, balancing personal and professional challenges, and 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:54.160 never giving up on your dreams. From selling her mops 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:58.400 on QBC to building an empire of innovative home solutions, 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.920 Joy has shown that with creativity and tenacity, anything is possible. 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:08.880 Enjoy. 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:12.919 So my name is Joy Mangano, and I am first 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:15.600 and foremost a mom and an inventor. 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.800 I think I'm going to ask you this question now 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.040 at the beginning of the podcast and actually again at 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.320 the end. I'm interested to hear how it may change 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.359 once we go through many various steps of your career 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.880 in life. But the premise of this show is that 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.560 I'm trying to change culture, and particularly the culture around 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.240 the way we think about our careers and even within 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:40.760 that the interplay of how our personal decisions impact our 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.920 professional wives. And I think that's happened to you over 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:45.480 the course of your career. Like I feel like there's 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.280 so many pieces that I could point to. How do 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:54.280 you think your personal decisions have impacted your professional choices? 0:02:55.160 --> 0:03:01.200 Well, my personal decisions guided everything in my career. They 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:06.600 were so intertwined. I always said, my life, my family life, 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.359 my personal life and principles are the same as they 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:13.000 are in business. It's not you know how You'll hear 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.080 people often say, oh, it's just business, don't worry about it. 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:23.120 So for me, you know, my growing up being a 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:27.160 caretaker so to speak, with my family, going through the 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.840 various stages. You know, I grew up in an Italian family, 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.560 and of course you know, they say, you grow up, 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.040 you get married, you have children, and you cook, and 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.840 so you know, I started to follow that pattern, rite 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.400 and things in that way. It kind of didn't go 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:50.240 exactly as it was supposed to. So I had to 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:56.440 make very hard personal choices and actually find the courage 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.720 in me to discover who I was and what I 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.960 actual truly did. Going back to not knowing, you know, 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.920 I didn't start my career so to speak, in my 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:07.800 mind until I was in my thirties. 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:10.640 When you were young, did you think that you would 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.000 have a career at all? Like, how did you envision 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.440 yourself as being a like a grown up? 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.520 Right? So, when I was young, I always I loved animals. 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.320 I always thought I wanted to be a veterinarian, and 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.440 I was very, very studious person. So I graduated high 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.640 school a year early and I went to work in 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:35.279 an animal hospital and the doctor was creating a healthy 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.240 pet food before everybody was focused on that, and designing 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:46.240 the packaging and creating the recipe for that was fascinating 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.680 to me. So I ended up realizing the business aspects, 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:55.480 the creation aspects in my brain took over everything else, 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.719 and that started me in the direction of product and 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.000 I actually invented my first product. 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:01.240 Then. 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.520 It was a fluorescent flea collar because at the time, 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.760 the most common thing that happened in an animal hospital 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.560 where dogs or cats hit by cars, and there was 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.280 there was no such thing at the time. So I said, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.760 what does every animal what does every owner put on 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.159 their animals? And it was a flea collar. So I said, 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.520 if I can get one, that's make one. That's reflective. Now, 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:24.960 remember you have to reel back how many years it 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:28.680 didn't exist. So I got a lot of veterinarians together 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.560 and I started it, but I never followed through with it. 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:35.840 And a year later, a major major company came out 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:39.480 with the first ever fluorescent flea collar. So I said, 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.040 next item, I'm going to follow through with. So I 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:48.080 was doing that my entire childhood. I was transforming things 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.960 into other products because I see the world through product. 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.280 That's how I view the world. And so when we 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.320 went to build a treehouse in the back, you know, 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.719 my brother was like, you know, help me build a treehouse. 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.000 And I built a seven story treehouse with slides and 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.040 this and that. And even before I even knew what 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.440 organic gardening was, I ripped up my parents back lawn 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.560 and was planting vegetables and things. I always tried to 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.680 create a better, better, a better mouse trap, so to speak. 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.520 It was just something I did naturally, and I never 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.440 really thought about it. It just happened organically. I would 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:26.960 see something and I'd say, I'm going to do this 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.200 in a bigger, better way so that it helps the 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:33.360 person or helps people in a better way. 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.479 Still, Joy did what was typical at the time she 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:41.440 got married straight out of college and had three children. 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.799 And as someone who had three kids in four years, 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:46.920 I know how overwhelming that can be. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:53.240 It shifted everything I did, and much like you, I 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:55.400 just you know, when I decide things, I decide to 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.640 do them. So I had three children in three and 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:02.440 a half years, and it obviously was the life change. 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:06.640 That is it's what I live for today. But it really, 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.920 you know, that's hard, and it's you know, as everybody 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:11.840 knows that's a parent. If you put your heart and 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.720 soul into it, it's all consuming. So I was at 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:20.280 the time the miracle mop was in my brain. So 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.560 I would just be in my bedroom at night with 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.200 them and I'd be sketching and I'd be trying and 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.520 I and I kind of was almost like in a 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:32.640 holding pattern, knowing I was headed in a direction, you 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.920 know at the time. So yes, that you know, that 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:38.440 was a time where I took a little bit of 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.640 a time out. I still, you know, because I didn't 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.320 have a lot of money or anything. I still was 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.280 working doing things here and there. I was making grapevine 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:47.920 reaths and selling them where I could at you know, 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.040 fairs and flea markets. I always. I was always working 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.720 in some form or fashion, you know, it's just something 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:58.200 I did. But it was inclusive now of children. You know, 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:00.640 I was pretty much in a very very short period 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:03.400 of time doing it on my own. But what I 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:07.160 find more than anything having had the children was that 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.679 I learned this capacity of love that I never had 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:17.040 even knew I had, And it just for me opened 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.520 up a different kind of world. It wasn't you know. 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.040 It was it was about me and what I could 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.200 do to make them have a happy, healthy life. 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.400 Eventually, all her scheming and sketching led her to her 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:35.120 breakthrough idea, the Miracle Mop. By this point, Joy was divorced, 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.920 a single mom, working tirelessly to make ends meet while 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:40.120 raising her kids. 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:41.439 When we come. 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.840 Back, Joy talks about what it took to get the 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:52.480 Miracle Mop off the ground. Well, you put so much 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.320 at stake to bring the Miracle Mop to the market 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.920 and mortgaging your house, going into debt, you know, you 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:00.679 put so much in their But you had had a 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:04.120 number of ideas. What made you so sure that this 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:05.560 was the product that you should go for? 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:06.000 Broken? 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.800 Well, because I was broke, now that's what you're true. 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.800 It was in my instincts, and I say, you have 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:17.640 to follow your instincts right, because you know, it's some 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.800 people think they have a great product, but you know 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.400 their instincts are wrong. It's it's not right. But I 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:27.640 hate to say that. But nonetheless I knew that this 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.480 was a great product. It was a different moth. There 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:35.440 was a whole story behind it. And at this point 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.960 in my life, I said, you're either you know, you 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.240 don't know you're brave until you have to be brave, right, 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.440 So you know, I had really what were my choices, 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.520 and I said, I'm going to go for this, and 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.559 I am going to go for this. So it was 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.360 I put everything on the line. But it wasn't even 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:57.480 that simple. It was one obstacle after another. It was 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:02.520 it just from discovering something about the patent to discovering 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:04.640 that the people who I ended up you know, my 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.520 father actually ended up having make it were not reputable. 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.400 There was just every discovery along the way. And I think, 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.800 you know, that's why I say to somebody, just don't stop, 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.440 because my if I stopped one hundred percent, I would 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.840 have failed. But if I tried to keep going and 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.640 figure out another way to get there, my odds were 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:29.080 still better than zero. 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.000 She had risked it all and it was paying off. 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.200 Soon she had hit her goal of selling to Kmart 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.599 and had a huge order in from QBC. 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.160 She was getting her legs under her or so she thought. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.200 If you've seen the movie, you'll know that. Joy soon 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:49.040 realized that her manufacturer was taking steps to steal the product, 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.360 idea and freeze her out all because she didn't have 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:53.880 proper guidance on her patent. 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.280 In fact, she had no guidance at all, just her father. 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.760 So my father was and father like, listen, we'll do 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.000 a deal. I'll take care of it. Don't worry about it. 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.880 So that's a lesson you learn right away after you 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:11.800 know anyway, find out that. So there was a gentleman 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:16.320 we were paying royalties to for the patent to make 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.680 the mop, the mop that I thought I designed. He 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:24.199 said somebody already designed it, which okay, So then they 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.920 were they started to manufacture it. He did a deal. 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:32.200 I discovery one night after, to make a long story short, 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:34.839 that the patent we were paying royalties to was not 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.480 the mop I created at all. It was the mop 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:41.439 we were making, but it was my design was an 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:47.680 original design. My father, mistaken lee a very long story, 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:49.840 said Oh, there's already a patent. We'll just pay him 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.720 a royalty. We'll make the mop. So this gentleman in 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:57.720 Texas knew it was not the mop we were making, 0:11:57.720 --> 0:11:59.600 that he was getting a royalty on a patent that 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.200 was very different. So, to make a very long story short, 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:06.480 Eye and the people in California, what had happened is 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.960 I had been on QVC, it had been successful, and 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:14.440 they ordered sixty thousand mops. So the manufacturers in California said, oh, 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:15.920 we'll make the mops for you, but we're going to 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:17.640 raise the price, which would have meant we were going 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.480 to lose money. So my father said, and his girlfriend 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.160 at the time said, that's it. We're at a business. 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:27.200 We can't do this. And I said, Okay, I am 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.920 going to figure this out, and if I do, I'm 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.040 going to run this company, and so on and so forth. 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:40.080 So I flew to Texas. I literally showed him the 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.920 patent and what he had been getting royalties too, and 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.440 in a very serious way, I told him that that 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:52.360 was unlawful and that he had to sign a letter 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.000 to say that he would not get the royalties and 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:59.240 that I could go directly to deal with the manufacturers. 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:01.880 So when I went to California, he did. When I 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.800 went to California, And I'm minimizing this whole thing because 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:09.400 it was really very like I could have been. You know, 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.880 it was just amazing. How I was shaking when I 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:13.959 came out of the hotel room that I met him in. 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:18.439 When I went out to California, claim the mop molds, 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.880 because you have to make the mops from a mold. 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.360 I went there, landed there and they said, oh no, sorry, 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.240 we don't have the molds. We're not giving you the molds. 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:32.640 We own them. And I said, no, no, no, you don't, Mike, 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.439 cause my father never did contracts with anybody. He never 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.840 signed contracts. So I said, no, here is the money 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:40.960 that's owed for the parts. I'm going to pay you. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:45.400 Those are my molds. And I'll never forget. This guy 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.000 was not a good guy. And I was sitting there 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.080 and he had a can of Pepsi on his desk 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.400 and he said, little girl, go away. He literally said, 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.440 little girl go away. Just don't. We're going to do 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.920 this and you're out of it now. I'll never forget. 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.520 I took the can of pepsi and I slammed it 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:08.080 on the desk and the Pepsi just flew all over him, 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:10.199 and I said, you're going to see me in court. 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:14.960 That night, I got the lawyer because I had brought 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.520 my lawyer with me. We met with a California lawyer 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.080 and it was an entire night of going through everything. 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.760 They said, you can't go to court with this. No 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.120 judge will ever give you because I needed the mop 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.280 mold back to make the mops to make the order. 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:32.720 And I said, no, we're going to go to court 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.720 because the judge is going to know with all this 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:38.080 information that I have, he's going to know who's in 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.520 the right and who are the bad guys. So they 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:42.960 were like, okay, we'll go to court, but they never 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.440 will hand these molds over to you. You're in California, 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:48.560 give them to you to take back to New York. 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:52.200 It's going to take years to make a long story longer. 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.280 We went into court the next day, you know, and 0:14:57.320 --> 0:14:59.280 the lawyer said to me, don't say a word, just 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.840 sit there right. So they walk in unbeknownst to me. 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.000 I think they had been in front of this judge before. 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:09.640 So everything you know, they're saying, we have manufactured them, 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.320 we have no contract that she owns them. And I said, Judge, 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.800 here is the money that we she owes me money. 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.880 I said, here's the money, here's the you know, the 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:21.560 evidence that we paid for the mold, so therefore we 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.600 should own them, even though we don't have a contract. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:27.560 And everything was done, and I hadn't talked yet that 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:29.920 they were showing all this information and the judge that 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:32.440 is there anything else? I said yes, and I got up, 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:34.360 and the lawyers were like, oh my god, oh my god, 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.000 what's she going to say? And I said, you know, 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:41.160 this is my whole livelihood. And I talked earnestly to 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:44.960 the judge. He sat back, I sat down, and he said, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:50.520 I'll never forget. He slammed down the gavel and he 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.080 looked at them and he said, tomorrow at noon, I'm 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.480 going to have the sheriffs at your manufacturing plan and 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.440 Joy will be there as well. Joy you're going to 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:02.600 have a truck to take the molds. I'm like, yes, 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:04.560 of course, I had no truck and I had so 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.120 and he said, and if you don't hand over the 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.560 molds to Joy, I'm going to have the sheriff's arrest you. 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:15.200 So the lawyer at the time had never it's called 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.920 a certain kind of injunction. He had never seen it happen, 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.560 and he's never seen it happen after that, and he 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:27.640 wrote serious law briefs about this. It was the most 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:31.880 incredible thing. And so the next day there was a 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.160 truck there. The molds were on the truck. They were 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.320 headed back to New York. I flew back to New 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:43.480 York and had to create a fine molders to mold them, 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:47.920 create a business to make the mops. And then the 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:51.400 last day that the sixty thousand mops had to be 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.720 on their way to QBC, sixty thousand mops were on 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:55.680 their way to QBC. 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.040 You were so young when you started. Do you remember 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.280 what was going through your when you not just walked 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.960 into QBC and said take my product, but then you 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.080 went back and said it has to be me. 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:12.199 So at the time, as we know, you know, the 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.200 miracle mop was something that I did bring to fruition, 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.480 and I thought the perfect place for that because I 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:22.200 used to go to fairs and flea markets and demonstrate 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.720 it and people loved it. Everybody who watched the demonstration 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.360 would buy it, So for me going to QBC being 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.679 able to replicate that, but on TV, I said, this 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.840 has got to work. And of course at the time, 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.760 so it's interesting, you know, I was the only female 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.240 at a table with men. At the time, this was 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.679 an industry that loved celebrity, so there was you know, 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:52.760 I was like nobody again, you know, So they put 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:55.639 the miracle mop on the first time with one of 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:57.840 the hosts because they said, you know, you don't go 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.159 on TV. You know you're not who are you? And 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.359 it failed and I was I that was it. I 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:08.199 had everything to lose. So I said, you have to 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.480 put me on with that miracle mop and it will work. 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.679 So they did. You know, there was an executive there 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.320 who I could see. He saw the determination. He said, okay, 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:20.560 we're going to give her a shot. I'm forever grateful 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:26.840 for that. And it was unbelievably successful, so successful at 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:29.320 the time, it was probably out of all the thousands 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.840 and thousands of products they had. It became their single 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:35.960 biggest success. Not only did we sell twenty thirty forty 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:40.520 fifty sixty thousand in a day at a time they 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:44.919 created a commercial on TV and at the time if 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:48.320 you remember direct response, it was very interesting. It was 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:55.600 always a commercial with a male voice talking through the commercial. Always. 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.280 It was never any different. So this same executive, I 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:01.920 was like his thorn in his side. He said, we're 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:03.639 going to make it commercial. It's so successful. We're going 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.280 to make a short form commercial, two minute commercial with 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.240 the miracle mop and we're going to have a gentleman 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.600 talking over it. And I said, nope, it's going to fail. 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.359 I said, I want to do it this way with 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.879 me demonstrating it with another this other female host. And 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:20.240 he said, okay, well, we'll let you do that, but 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.560 we're only going to put a budget of very little 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:25.200 into it. But we're going to film it the other 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.000 way with a voiceover, and we're going to test both. 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:32.280 So they did, and the one with myself and Jane 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:39.040 demonstrating the mop, you know, naturally organically right, was like 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:41.239 through the roof compared to the other one, and it 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:46.280 became the number one direct response TV product in its 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.639 time at the time and first time ever it was 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.640 in the forum where you were watching two women talk 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.120 about a product. So it was pretty cool. 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.840 Hi, I'm Joymangano, and I invented the miracle Mop. It's 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.160 the original cotton self ringing mop. 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:01.680 Therefore the most absorbent. 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:04.160 It will clean that mess again and again and again. 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:06.919 That I'm Jane Erdulf Tracy host on QVC, where we 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.400 have sold over three hundred thousand moths to people all across. 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:11.520 The country just like you. 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:13.880 In fact, let's hear from some of them. I love 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:17.080 your mop. It's been a lifesaver, is wonderful. 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:18.760 I would tell anybody to buy it. 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:21.600 I I'm Joy Magano and I invented the Miracle Mop. 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:24.800 It's the original cotton self bringing mop. You've seen a 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:28.760 clean even the toughest mess again and again and again. 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:33.240 Hundreds of thousands that satisfied customers have ordered their Miracle 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.240 mop and love it. And now the Miracle Mop has 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:38.160 earned the Good Housekeeping seal. 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:39.399 It's quite easy. 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:41.480 I mean it really changed the industry, Like it changed 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:45.680 the way that we thought about women marketing, women being 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:50.280 the face of something but also giving value, like business 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:54.640 value to a product that really only in this case 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:55.240 it was women. 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.399 They were doing the majority of the housework. Could understand 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.520 like considered a real serious business category. Did you have 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.879 those kinds of conversations at the network yes, very much so. 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:10.879 So then at the time became this big awareness that 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:15.840 you know, the story telling, the authenticity behind a product 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:21.800 is more important than just somebody talking about it or 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:26.640 celebrity endorsing it. It's all about the authenticity. And it's 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:31.600 a funny thing that for now twenty five years, probably 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:35.320 I do. I've always done the most business out of 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.240 any I just it's something that I do, right. I 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:41.040 can't sing or dance, but this I do. And I've 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:43.480 been creating product, you know, and it's an interesting thing 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:47.600 because you know when you create something new. Example, for 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:52.240 the first time, I launched the first non stick ceramic 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:56.200 cookware in the world before anybody was to now the 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:58.959 whole industry is non stick ceramic cookwaar. But I was 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:03.960 like zest because I knew that the traditional nonstick was 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:08.400 not healthy when it got to high temperatures. And I 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.280 even with a chef. I got a chef because they 0:22:11.320 --> 0:22:14.120 were like, you know, you know you have to cook 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:16.520 and everything. I'm like, fine, I'll get a chef, and 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:20.280 so we for two years, I fought the battle to 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:24.879 launch this product because it's a healthier alternative to the 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:29.120 traditional nonstick and I mean batteries of lawyers saying we're 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:31.399 going to get sued because there was only one major 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:35.120 company that made the nonstick in cookwar and you can't 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:37.200 say this and you can't say that. And they said 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:39.320 they're not going to understand it. The consumer isn't going 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:41.080 to care. And I said, oh no, they're really going 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:43.919 to care, because remember, you have to have a heart 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:47.679 for that consumer and know how smart they are. And 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:53.919 we launched it and the phones literally blew up. I 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:58.360