She Couldn’t Find a Mop That Worked. So She Invented One - and Sold 18,000 in 20 Minutes

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Joy Mangano didn’t set out to change the world. She just wanted a clean floor.

As a single mom in Long Island in the late 1980s, she worked airline jobs and side hustles to make ends meet. Her life was full of kids and work (and a tad of chaos thrown in for good measure!)

One night she’d had it with old-fashioned mops. They splashed dirty water everywhere, and her hands stayed wet and raw.

So she did what many nascent, frustrated, would-be entrepreneurs do: She invented the fix.

Mop #1
Joy built the first prototype herself of what she called the Miracle Mop - an easy-twist, self-wringing mop that kept your hands dry and clean.

But she wasn’t done there. She then got a patent for the design, started assembling them by hand, and sold her first batches at flea markets and local stores.

People loved it.

Then QVC came calling

Disaster #1
In her first TV appearance, the on-air host who was in charge of demonstrating the mop botched the demo. Hardly anyone watching understood what the mop actually did or could do.

It was an unmitigated disaster, and one that, for most inventors, would’ve been the end. But Joy knew the problem wasn’t the product, it was the presentation.

The Miracle Moment
Joy went back, asked (insisted!) on demonstrating it herself, and somehow she got the bigwigs at QVC to say yes.

This was it. Her big moment. Do or die for her and her beloved mop. Joy took the stage. Calm, confident, and relentless, she showed exactly how it worked.

That moment changed everything.

In twenty minutes, 18,000 units sold out.

The Miracle Mop made Joy Mangano a millionaire and turned her into one of the most successful inventors in America. Over the next two decades, she built a full product empire - Huggable Hangers, My Little Steamer, Forever Fragrant - and sold more than $3 billion worth of products on TV.

In 2015, her company was acquired by HSN itself.

The Takeaway

While Jennifer Lawrence later portrayed Joy in the Oscar-nominated film “Joy,” the real story isn’t about Hollywood at all, is it? It’s about persistence. Joy Mangano didn’t have money, connections, or manufacturing experience. She had a problem, an idea, and the guts to keep showing up . . . even after failing on national television.

Steal This Strategy

📘 Book: Inventing Joy: Dare to Build a Brave & Creative Life – Mangano’s full story in her own words.

🎥 Video: Joy Mangano’s “Miracle Mop” Story on YouTube – the segment that made her a household name.

📰 Article: The Real Joy Mangano on the Biggest Challenges of Building a $3 Billion Empire (Inc.)

👤 Profile: Biography.com – Joy Mangano – early background and key milestones.

💡 HSN Blog: How It All Began With a Mop – her own reflection on that first breakthrough.

About Steve

Steve Strauss is the best-selling author of The Small Business Bible (and 17 other books), Inc.’s small business columnist, a lawyer (non-practicing), and an entrepreneur. He sold his last venture, TheSelfEmployed.com to Mark Cuban & Zen Business. Need a ghostwriter or a newsletter for your business? Contact Steve!