Courtney Thomas

I met Gail in 2015 in Denver, and there were just two of us, and I was really spearheading design, as sort of a part time hobby and thinking, “Oh, I can make a go of this”. And I remember sitting in the audience at one of the Denver conferences – it was a Genius Exchange – and thinking, “Oh my gosh, this is so much bigger than I had in mind and I need a lot more help than I thought I did”.

And so I started to study up, and it was at a High Point visit when I went to her and I said, “I’m thinking like a company that’s already making a million, but we aren’t making anywhere near that. So how do I close that gap?” And she said, “You need a VIP Day”. And if you haven’t done a VIP Day with Gail, it’s like going to the principal’s office.

You’re going to get a quick smack, you’re going to get back in your lane, and you’re going to figure stuff out and then you’re going to skyrocket. And it’s going to be a lot of hard work and there’s going to be check-in and she’s going to hold you accountable. And that is what she’s done. And that is why I’m here today in Boardroom, because she’s held me accountable since then.

The last few years, I feel like we’ve been operating via Slack, via computers, but not able to engage with each other one-on-one. And there’s so much context that comes from just being in each other’s company that fills in all the holes and the blanks around, that allows for us to problem-solve, to be innovators, to resonate with one another. To understand we’re not alone is huge, but to actually feel that camaraderie in person is an entirely different experience altogether.