S1E12: How to Make the Choice with Strength | Kris Thurgood

Kris Thurgood, owner and Visionary of My Girlfriend’s Quilt Shoppe, discusses building a business into a community and the power of choice as a leader.

That first choice was to go from working as a teacher to jumping into running a business with her husband. When COVID hit, Kris took the challenge to find creative solutions to her new vision:

[4:15] “First you don’t think you have a choice, but you always have a choice. There are always options. You just have to start thinking differently.” 

She shares how the company grew 600% as she turned her educational background into a resource. However, growth can quickly become chaotic without the right infrastructure. Kris explains how she went from self-implementing early on to committing to the EOS Process®. 

As a struggling company before the pandemic, Kris’s choice to self-implement to avoid costs left her lost in the learning curve. She points to the way Traction, by Gino Wickman, spoke to her and helped her see the value in the practice. 

Central to Kris’s transformation and early struggle is the idea of letting go of control and focusing on her role as a Visionary. She connects with other entrepreneurs by sharing insights into how she creates opportunities to delegate and recognize her own strengths. 

Contradicting the idea that you’ll lose control, Kris models the importance of taking the journey slowly and finding moments to choose strength over fear. 

Danny Toney, Kris’s EOS Implementer®, highlights this when he talks about the powerful first steps Kris took when she went all in on EOS®. Danny talks about how Kris’s actions are driven by seeing the value of the process and the moments when she had to trust it. 

He points to her commitment and faith as the core of her continued growth. It’s a constant process, but he reassures Visionaries that it’s OK to take your time at each step. 

There are moments when it can be tempting to just race around looking for fires to put out. But Danny shares examples of where taking a step back gave Kris the perspective she needed to find the right people and the right solutions. 

Making these decisions leads to success when they’re based on strength, not worry. Danny points to how Kris embodies that – even as she struggles to face her own fear of finding the right Integrator™. 

Kris shares that her vision centers on the goal of impacting the world and highlights how she embodies that in the way she works with both customers and employees. She creates a business that creates. Keeping a human purpose shines through in her success and the people on her team. 

The world is full of quick fixes for business owners, but Kris encourages taking the time to breathe and develop trust with the right people. It’s a constant cycle of transformation that she carries from her years teaching and getting people to buy into the future. 

Links

• Kris Thurgood | LinkedIn
• My Girlfriend’s Quilt Shoppe | Website
• Traction by Gino Wickman | Book
• Danny Toney | LinkedIn