25. Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to invite a bunch of people you’ve never met to your hotel room.
But we were corresponding online for months (this was on the Bare chat rooms in 1999, not on Tinder today), and we agreed the internet wasn’t cutting it. Not a surprise, because people have physical bodies, and they like to be physical with them. (Probably why Tinder took off too.) So I messaged the chat rooms with an idea for an in-person get-together after the next QVC show.
When the cameras turned off, everyone in the live studio audience piled into their cars and followed me back to my room at the Sheraton for a pizza party. Women packed into the suite, sat on the floor, on the bed, on the windowsill, scarfing slices and playing makeup. It felt like we were back in high school—only we were grown-ups with kids back at home. This was just the start.
Before long, I was flying to Vegas to go to a show with a group of customers who wanted to make a weekend getaway out of it. I joined women on “customer cruises.” While our competitors were buying print ads in glossy magazines, we were putting our marketing dollars to work renting Lady Gaga’s bus to tour the country, stopping in shopping malls, random parking lots, and people’s houses along the way.
Why is this important? Because if there is anything I’ve learned from being a part of a growing community, it’s this:
Communities are made of people. People are human. Humans have physical needs.