Why should you be worried? You’ve successfully navigated your company through those treacherous startup days when you maxed out all your credit cards and faced bankruptcy on a daily basis. You even single-handedly secured your first couple of big paying customers to help you keep the lights on in the buildup phase. Then, you narrowly escaped the tricky expansion stage when you found out about the real cost of sales and customer service. Now, your company is finally entering the more secure enterprise stage with lots of big customers, plenty of money in the bank, and a big office building. So, why should you worry? You’ve got it made, right? Wrong!

The Problem

Now, it’s starting to dawn on you that your company, slowly but surely, is getting farther and farther away from those principles you learned about the hard way. You see new employees coming on who are willing to work for anyone. For them, there’s nothing special about your company.

As you have grown, so has the division of labor, specialization, and the attitude that, “Sales are not my department!” You watch as your staff transforms right before your eyes from being excited to be a part of your new venture to taking their jobs and your company for granted.

Will the new generation with its embrace of the latest tech forget the human hardship, hustle and heart that you endured to create their jobs? Will they “throw the baby out with the bath” due to their disdain for all things “old” which includes the classic lessons you so painfully learned?  Will they remember and apply the guiding principles you engaged in to achieve success way back when, or are they just “retro” notions of little value in today’s technical world?

Corporate Standardization

You know you can’t live forever, be CEO forever, or even remain active in your company forever. What will happen when they forget the very foundations of your company? What will happen when your brand becomes just another label? How will you keep your entrepreneurial spirit alive in your company? How will you maintain the principles that resulted in your success and ensure that they will be honored and used in the future? And how will you preserve your history with all its challenges and breakthroughs? How will you do all that when you are gone? How will you do it in a fun, engaging, and entertaining way?

A 21st Century Solution

This is precisely the problem we addressed when we created Business Audio Theatre. We took our own story, The Barefoot Sprit, How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand and produced it in an audiobook. It’s not just another business audiobook narrated to you, but a fully-casted audio theatre performed for you …complete with sound effects, and an original musical score. We did this to create an example that that demonstrated to founders the power of “theatre of the mind.”

Now we are offering this to other founders to keep their spirit alive, preserve their history, and maintaining their guiding principles … long after they are gone.

Imagine being hired by a company and during the onboarding process, they give you an MP3 of a theatrically performed audio play of the founder’s humble beginnings. You listen to it on your way to work or while jogging, at your convenience and in short episodes.

The characters, scenes, sound effects and original musical score bring the story to life! You are there. You experience all the ups and down, surprises and cliff hangers, of a real seat-of-your-pants adventure.

But it’s not just any adventure. It’s what your founders when through to create your job, prove their concept, and establish the business where you now work. Do you think you would better identify with your new company? Do you think you would learn through story the history and principles of the founder? Would you be more likely to engage to keep the story unfolding? We think so!

Save Your Legacy

In fact, we are now offering Business Audio Theatre as a 21st century onboarding tool to reduce turnover and increase engagement. We have the team that pioneered the first business audio theatre, The Barefoot Spirit, standing at the ready. Let us preserve your legacy, history, and guiding principles in a fun and memorable way with stories your employees will remember and principles they’ll never forget!

Give your employees a reason to be more engaged and loyal. We can work from a business bio or start from scratch. We can help you keep your spirit alive with a Business Audio Theatre audiobook!

Check out why Forbes calls it “Transformational”, why BookTrib calls it “An immersive listening experience”, and why the Audiobook Publishers Association named it as a Finalist for the 2020 Business and Personal Growth Audiobook of the Year.

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.