Well, guess what? We have begun! It’s a pretty exciting project, we must say. We’ve partnered up with a small Southern California acting troop, The Sherwood Players, who have produced several live theater events in Santa Barbara and have recently produced an award-winning animated production called “Crash” to help keep young folks from texting while driving.

According to the latest report from the Audio Publishers Association, audiobooks are now the fastest growing segment of the digital publishing industry. 26% of the US population has listened to an audiobook in the last 12 months, according to Michelle Cobb of the APA. The report cites a near 40% increase in the number of audiobooks published compared to the year before. It turns out that 48% of all listeners are under age 35 who listened to an average of 15 books in the last year.

And why not? We used to think that video was taking over but you can’t watch a video safely in your car or when you’re jogging. So audio makes sense for a variety of reasons. Besides, folks want to give their eyes a rest from all that screen time. They want to focus on the road, the trail, or the park. Audio is portable and listening is often much more convenient than watching or reading.

The Barefoot Spirit Audiobook – Not Your Typical Audiobook

Most audiobooks, however, seem to be limited by the fact that the narrator is just reading the book to you. This is especially true in the business book market.

When it comes to fiction like adventure, drama, and biography, we see a new emerging type of audiobook production. Instead of just having a narrator drone along and read to you, there are actual actors portraying the different characters in skit-like scenes.

We like this! It’s just plain more entertaining. We believe it’s a practical way to record audio business books and other educational books. Because the listener can identify with the characters and experience the action through them, it makes learning fun! The takeaway may be an insight, a lesson learned, or a new, problem-solving concept. But to our knowledge, educational audiobooks haven’t yet used this method.

We thought, “Why couldn’t this old time radio theater format apply to business books?” So we set out to develop a team that would use our own book as a Guinea pig. After all, it was written to be a series of short skits anyway. It’s already a series of scenes with several characters interacting to convey the message.

Coming to Your Earbuds Soon, The Barefoot Spirit Radio Theater!

We’ve been working on it for months! And we are set to release it just before the Holidays! Yes, we are very excited!

It’s so much fun to act out a scene rather than just narrate it. We get to use intonation and emphasis. We even got the famous Ed Asner to voice Don Brown, the snarky wine buyer who rudely threw us out of his office but not without the keys to our ultimate success. And we get to add color with Japanese, English, New Jersey, and South Carolina accents. And of course, sound effects!

So, what can we say? “Coming to Your Earbuds Soon, The Barefoot Spirit Radio Theater!”

To find out more and track our progress, check out www.thebarefootspirit.com

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.

The post Old Time Radio Theater Is Coming Back! appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

With the new year upon us, and folks determined to make resolutions that will truly make a difference in their business, health and peace of mind, it seems like this is the perfect time to embrace the Barefoot Spirit with what we call the 3 E’s: Empathy, enthusiasm and ecotherapy.

1. Empathy

Resolve to be more empathetic. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes at every level of business and community.

This practice forces you to understand what the other person wants. It may not be what you are offering, it may even surprise you, but knowing what they want will help you understand how what you are offering better fits into their plans.

To read the complete article, please visit The Business Journals 

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.

The post 3 New Year’s Resolutions to Improve Your Bottom Line appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

With the new year upon us, and folks determined to make resolutions that will truly make a difference in their business, health, and peace of mind, it seems like this is the perfect time to embrace the Barefoot Spirit with what we call the 3 “E’s”: EMPATHY, ENTHUSIASM, AND ECOTHERAPY.

1.  EMPATHY. Resolve to be more empathetic. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes at every level of business and community. This practice forces you to understand what the other person wants. It may not be what you are offering. It may even surprise you, but knowing what they want will help you understand how what you are offering better fits into their plans.

Be sure to asks lots of questions of everyone who touches your product or service. Do more listening than selling. Remember, the world’s greatest sales pitch is, “I can help you achieve your goals!” That means you know what their goals are and you know how you can help.

We had a buyer that said, “I’m trapped in this office all day but I love buying from you guys because you always update me on my competition, the current trends, and what going on in the marketplace!” We had a customer who said, “I buy your products because you supported my community fundraiser.” And we had a salesperson who said, “I love working for you guys because I get to go where I want!”

2.  ENTHUSIASM. Resolve to be more enthusiastic. If you’re excited, they’re excited. Enthusiasm is contagious. It’s probably the best way to motivate folks and to get them on board with your plans.

It’s not easy to stay in a constant state of enthusiasm, but you can certainly resolve to be more enthusiastic. Get yourself in the right frame of mind in the morning, before you start your day. Think about your long and short-range goals and how much value they will bring to everyone upon completion.

When we started we couldn’t get into the big chains stores. We were kind of depressed until we realized that there was a whole market of smaller independent buyers out there that were glad we weren’t in the chain. They wanted a product the chains didn’t offer. We got excited about making lemonade out of lemons!

When our salesperson came in one day all down and out, we said, “Hey! What’s the problem?” He said, “The competition’s tearing down our signage in all my stores.” To which we replied, “Great! That proves they’re scared of us and we’re on the right track!” He enthusiastically returned to those stores and replaced all our signage, determined to prove to the competition that we were in the stores on a regular basis and they could not stop us! Then we heard the rumor going around, “Barefoot is a brand that will not die!”

3.  ECOTHERAPY. Resolve to take a walk in nature every day. Sure, you will skip a few days, but making it part of your routine will help you improve your mental and physical health. It will also improve your business by boosting your creativity, attitude, and determination.

Last month NBC News reported that 50 physicians in 11 states believe so strongly in the health benefits of connecting with nature, they have joined together in a non-profit organization, Park RX. These doctors actually give prescriptions to take a walk in the park! Finally, we are getting official endorsement for something we have been advocating for decades.

It’s great to get off the screen, out of the office, and beyond the confines of a man-made environment. You’ll think more clearly, make better decisions, and put things in perspective. Your stress will go down and your enthusiasm will go up. You’ll become more resourceful, solve problems faster, and get your priorities straight.

Once, we were perplexed because our business was expanding so quickly, we didn’t quite know how to handle it. So, we just took off to Kauai. Went hiking for a week! No screens, no phones! On the plane, on the way back, a whole new organizational plan hit us all at once in every detail. We just had to spend some time in natural surroundings to give our brains a chance to reboot and solve the challenge.

People ask us “If you are business advisors, why do you post so many pictures of nature on your Instagram?” We say, “We are promoting the best way to get ahead!”

So, practice the 3 E’s and your new year will be happier and more prosperous – all the way around! Thanks for following us in 2017, and we look forward to sharing more with you in 2018!  Happy New Year everybody!

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.

The post 3 New Year’s Resolutions to Improve Your Bottom Line appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Why this obsession with sales? It’s how everyone gets paid – everyone! Without sales, there would be no need for production, marketing, R&D, HR, legal, admin, and CEOs – nobody!

Why is the Barefoot Spirit so important today? Because many of us have actually lost our focus on sales in favor of engineering, programming, technology, legal, HR, and production. We have gotten to a place where we think that a killer app, a disrupting technology, or a new financial model is somehow more important than sales. They’re not.

In fact, in what we call the Barefoot Startup, the product itself is determined by sales. The design is not complete until after a thorough understanding of what the market wants and how the market will be accessed.

Today many believe that business success is based on securing financing. It’s not! You can secure financing and never make a sale. You can have a burn rate that quickly smokes investor dollars without sales.

We have allowed ourselves to believe that getting into a major box store is in itself  a recipe for success. It’s not. It’s only the beginning, not the end. Real success is staying in the market with sustained and increasing sales.

In fact, we have seen companies that have discounted the importance of sales and elevated marketing – who will gladly take a bow when sales are up and blame “those salespeople out in the field” when sales are down.

Today, you can even get financing with a cool idea, no real sales plan, and no sales experience. Startups are not alone in this thinking. Investors abound who take sales for granted. They shouldn’t.  The startup failure rate is on the increase. According to Small Business Trends, over 50% of small business startups fail in the first four years.

No one’s idea, no matter how brilliant, is going to sell itself. All ideas must be sold and more importantly resold on an ongoing basis.

Today, much of the focus is on the cost of goods, when it should be on the cost of sales. If you can’t service what you sell, you are soon off the market. If you can’t achieve a positive cash flow quickly, you are back trading more of your precious equity to the investor just to keep the lights on.

The current thinking seems to be that if you have a good enough idea, and a catchy marketing plan, you just hire some people to sell it. If they don’t, just fire them and hire some more. Right? Wrong. With that attitude, you never find out why your idea didn’t sell – until it’s too late!

How has this happened? Sales itself has gotten a bad name. Nobody wants to be “salesy!” Nobody wants to face personal rejection. Sales is generally not taught in school. And salespeople are seen as shifty characters, out to trick you, only after your money, and with very little to offer in return. Good salespeople offer excellent customer service, and should be the highest priority for a startup, not the last.

From startups to enterprise companies, the time is right for the Barefoot Spirit. Now is the time to focus on the top priority for success, sales!

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.

The post Why is The Barefoot Spirit So Relevant Today? appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Is there some formula, procedure, or process you can just cut and paste that will protect you? Is there a failsafe way to survive the dangers of entrepreneurship? Is there just “the one thing” you need to know?  In spite of the daily hype, pandering, and outrageous claims to the contrary, the answer is a flat “No!”

After we monetized our equity in the Barefoot Wine brand, we were encouraged by colleagues to write about how we did it; specifically, how we handled the unknown. The answer, in retrospect, was a set of guiding principles; some we had previously learned and applied from day one; some we learned by asking questions of others; and some we learned the hard way. There is no “just one thing!” It is a multifaceted approach to doing business we call “the Barefoot Spirit.”

A big part of the Barefoot Spirit is the Guiding Principles for Success, GPS for short. These are critical and learnable standards, attitudes and soft skills that we used to minimize risk, prepare for the unknown, improve the quality of our decisions, and reduce our need for capital.

With the information revolution and the advance of technology, we saw a whole new generation with a whole new approach to business. We saw new platforms, and new products and services. We saw the disruption of so many old ways of doing things that in the process, we may have inadvertently thrown out some classic business principles. A big mistake!

With an accelerating failure rate, loss of investor capital, and increasing inability for startups to achieve positive cashflow, it’s finally time to bring back those classic principles. When it comes to the past, take the best and leave the rest. The best of the past is a big part of the Barefoot Spirit.

When you start a business, prepare yourself for the adventure! Just like a seasoned sea captain, you wouldn’t dare go out to sea without being prepared for the unknown. You need radar, sonar, weather satellites, charts, a GPS and a sextant to back it up.

Being the captain of your “entrepreneur-ship” is no different. It doesn’t really matter how good your idea is if you run out of capital, lose your people, or lose your buyers. Just like the sea captain, you need a set of guiding principles and standards to hold your decisions up against to make better ones. You need to know how to gain the confidence of your investors, employees, vendors, and buyers.

We have identified 20 Guiding Principles for Success that, if applied, will mitigate your risks, and better prepare you for the unknown. They worked for us and they can work for you. Interested? Stay tuned as we explore them in the coming months. Like our audiences, you too may be saying, “I can’t wait to get back to my business and try the GPS out!”

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.

The post Prepare for the Unexpected! appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Just as often though, it’s used to define a certain style of performance, as in, “That’s the spirit!” which refers the type of tenacity that overcomes obstacles or solves problems. “They have great team spirit!” is used to identify a social culture in which the team shoulders together to achieve a common goal. We also use the term “the entrepreneurial spirit” to define a sense of innovation, resourcefulness, and “can-do” attitude to achieve business success.

The Barefoot Spirit is a style of business that incorporates all these meanings. It’s the American entrepreneurial spirit, west-coast style and with a heart! It also incorporates a few important extras that made the difference for us and can for you as well. It’s a business style that comprehensively permeated every aspect of our company from employees to customers, from bankers to supplier, and from consumers to community. It profoundly elevated our business from form and function to relationships, lessons, respect, and – well – fun!

The basic premise of the Barefoot Spirit is building relationships with that old fashioned adage your grandmother used, “Follow the Golden Rule.” This requires that you look at every business relationship from the other person’s perspective. That’s everyone! What do they want- in detail? The answers may surprise you (they did us!) because most don’t have anything to do with your product, quality, demand or price.

Building relationships goes beyond what the other person wants; it goes into the community itself. By supporting the community in which you do business, your company stands for more than the mercantile goods and services it produces. In this way you are making the world a better place, resulting in your people feeling like they are making a difference, and making your customers happy to reciprocate by purchasing your product.

Another premise of The Barefoot Spirit is tenacity. What keeps you going when you are up against seemingly insurmountable challenges is validation, the fuel for tenacity. You will find validation in little victories and a carefully maintained tribe of advocates and cheerleaders you can rely on when times are tough. You can ask them, “ Tell me again why you think our idea is so good?”

Tenacity requires facing your fears. The biggest question we get repeatedly is, “How do you prepare to respond to the unknown?” We have developed a guidance system that provides entrepreneurs with a set of standards to hold every decision up against to help them make more right decisions. We call these collective philosophies, “The Entrepreneur’s Guiding Principles for Success” or simply, “GPS.” The GPS consists of a set of tools we have identified within 20 guiding principles responsible for our success. It may not have all the answers, but it does have the fundamental foundation required to answer most of the questions.

The Barefoot Spirit picks up where traditional form-and-function business education drops off. After the launch, it’s all about business navigation. Every entrepreneur”SHIP” that sinks was first launched. If you know where you are starting from, where you are going, and how to get there, you have a much better chance of making it successfully to port. The Barefoot Spirit’s GPS offers tools you can use to stay on course.

Today we travel the world bringing The Barefoot Spirit to aspiring, launch- and growth-phase businesses to keep them from losing their most precious assets: time and money. We offer the GPS business guidance system to help create more successful entrepreneurs in this and the next generation.

We’ve change the name of our Facebook page from The Barefoot Wine Founders to The Barefoot Spirit. Here we provide tools and updates on our constant quest to help new businesses get The Barefoot Spirit and achieve success!

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.

The post Give Your Business “The Barefoot Spirit” appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Since then we have spoken at more than 30 universities that teach entrepreneurship throughout the country and internationally. We also have given many keynote addresses for conventions and conferences of all types, where they see us as real-life examples of successful entrepreneurs. They all want to know our secret.

We have branded our guiding principles, many of which we learned the hard way outlined in The Barefoot Spirit, and we encourage our audiences to use this to build a positive company culture within their own organizations.

Last week we were honored to speak at the 2^nd C-Suite Network National Conference. Over 400 C-Suite executives gathered at the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Rey to hear the latest disruptive business approaches, best practices, and emerging business philosophies. They heard from real people with real successes about how they did it.

We told them our story and a few of the guiding principles we used to engage and empower our people, disrupt a staid and stogy industry, and make work more fun and inclusive. We started out with our mistakes and misconceptions that took us by surprise and cost us plenty. Then we told them what we learned and how we applied a new and different spirit of entrepreneurship to our staff, vendors, customers and community to build a best-selling product.

The backbone of the Barefoot spirit is the two-division company. The popular thinking is a top-down pyramid structure with the president and CEO on top, followed by the senior vice-presidents, junior vice-presidents, division chiefs, department heads, teams, groups and so on. One of silos in the pyramid contains sales and customer service. We asked, “How can you put the customer on top if you put sales and customer service on the bottom?” We think pyramids are for dead pharaohs.

Our company had only two divisions: sales and sales support. Everyone who was not in sales was in sales support, from the CEO to the receptionist, from marketing to production, from accounting to compliance. All received bonuses based on sales, growth, and profitability.

Our corporate culture was based on permission, acknowledgement and fun. People had permission to contribute because we practiced know-the-need rather than need-to-know. Our best marketing solutions came from our own people. They also had permission to make mistakes as long as they came forward, identified how it happened and improved our procedures. Instead of hiding our mistakes, we celebrated them.  We built our business on the backs of mistakes.

On each individual’s anniversary we sent out a memo to all our people that publically validated and appreciated them by acknowledging what they did in the past year to improve sales, growth, and profitability. Now, the rest of our team knew better what their co-worker did, and how they could likewise be acknowledged.

We enjoyed a fun and playful spirit. We made a game out of adversity and what could be more adverse than getting told “no?” So we invented the “no game” where each person kept track of how many “NOs” they got. The average number of “NOs” was 7. You couldn’t even begin playing the game until you were over 3, and if you were at 15 you were overdue for a “YES!”

We chose the C-Suite Network Conference to release our second book written especially for corporate leaders who want to infuse the Barefoot spirit in their own companies. The Entrepreneurial Culture, 23 Ways to Engage and Empower Your People is now available at www.thebarefootspirit.com. Enjoy!

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.

The post Spark Entrepreneurial Culture in Your Business with The Barefoot Spirit appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Today it seems like there is an epidemic of employee’s calling in “sick” when they really just don’t want to go to work. Does the problem really lie solely with them, or can we as employers do something to improve the situation? To understand what’s really going on, take a good look at your workplace. Your environment, communication, and working conditions can be important contributing factors to bogus “sick” call-ins.

Some folks are simply sick of their job. They feel unappreciated, bored, and ignored. They think their job isn’t going anywhere, and they don’t see how they make a difference in the big scheme of things. In other words, they are disengaged from work and it doesn’t mean much more than a paycheck. So, why not take the day off or stay out too late the night before?

If you want to change their attitude, you have to change your ways. Here are five things we advise our clients today that we did building the Barefoot brand that practically eliminated phony sick calls:

1. Build Team Spirit. Put your people on the same team with clear annual, quarterly, and monthly goals that break right down to their job. Spend more time in orientation.  Show them graphically that the money for their salaries, bonuses, vacations. and benefits come ultimately, from the customer. Share your challenges with them and ask for their ideas. Write memos to the entire staff on anniversaries touting each employee’s accomplishments for the past year and how their work improved everybody’s security and advancement. Have out-of-the-office events. Have fun with titles and don’t take yourself too seriously.
2. Create a Supportive Environment. Make sure the lighting is full spectrum “sunlight” and where possible, have plenty of natural light. Insure climate control is right for every work area. Invest in the most healthful office furnishings, such as ergonomic furniture that reduces fatigue. Choose colors that support the moods conducive to their type of work. Eliminate frustration with equipment by having an on-staff IT person who can “fix anything.” Provide adequate parking and security. Be sensitive to the design of work spaces whether it be private offices or open areas where your people work together.
3. Give Time Off. To reduce phony sick call-ins, give your people more time off! But do it in a strategic way that makes it more valuable. There are three months in the year that don’t have legal holidays: June, August, and March or April, depending on when Easter falls. In those months, give them a Friday off, but choose the one that is equidistant between the two nearest bank holidays. Give it a fun name (we called ours “Barefoot Days”). Then, give them a day off for their birthday. Lastly, give them all the time between holidays and the weekends off. You will be surprised at how your production increases!  Suddenly, there’s no more long hauls without a break resulting in a predictable cadence to their work periods.
4. Pay for Performance. Many employees feel that they are paid unfairly because they make the same as those who are less productive. That’s because most compensation plans are based on hourly pay, which is paying for attendance, so folks “attend” work. They don’t necessarily contribute, improve, or add to the bottom line. When you are paying for performance with a performance bonus, the producers can’t afford to leave and the non-producers can afford to stay.
5. A Greater Good. Your company must stand for something greater than your product or service. Take on a cause that resonates with your business and makes the world a better place. Make sure your own backyard is environmentally and socially positive. Involve your people in events your company supports that improve your community and our planet. Folks want to be proud of where they work and receive validation from their friends and family.

Of course, there is real illness and responsible people won’t spread it at work. But when your people feel like their job is exciting, rewarding, and important to the team, they won’t have a desire to call in “sick” because work will be so exciting, rewarding, and even fun!

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.

The post 5 Ways Businesses Can Reduce “Sick” Call-Ins appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

The ideal solution is more likely achieved when the problem is viewed in the context of the bigger picture. For instance, many times we found solutions that solved more than the one problem that we were originally focused on. After this happened time after time, we decided to deconstruct this phenomenon. Instead of working forwards, we worked backwards. We started by imagining the problem as already solved, and asked ourselves what other issues would be improved if the original problem was solved.

We once received a recorded message on our 800 number from a concerned customer. She wanted to know, “Why can’t I get a full measure when I buy your wine? All the fill lines are at different levels; some are high and some are low!” When we played the recording for our production people, they said, “Well, of course the fill lines are different. For one thing, you need an air gap so the wine can expand with the varying temperature and barometric pressure, and for another you need space to add the nitrogen so the wine won’t oxidize. And besides, all the other wines have the same problem!”

With our motto,“the customer is always right,” we called her back and said, “Of course you deserve a full measure! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We are working on solving this problem right now!”

Later that week we were at a fundraiser and Bonnie commented on how much she liked a particular woman’s outfit. She said, “I really like that midi-length skirt.” Michael said, “Is it the color or fabric, the style or what?” “No,” she said, “I like that it covers the knees which better shows off the calves of her legs!” Michael retorted, “Covers the knees! That’s it! We’ll cover the fill line with a longer closure!”

It seemed simple enough. No matter what the temperature or atmospheric pressure, with a longer closure (or “foil”), the fill line would be covered. It took over two years to get the mechanical technology working properly to actually do it effectively on the bottling line. But, voila! No fill line visible! The customer always get a “full measure.”

Interestingly, another problem was solved in the process. Now that the fill line was no longer visible, we reduced the number of horizontal lines on our wine package that had rather chopped it up. This gave our product a cleaner look than the other brands on the retail shelf vying for the consumer’s attention. All of a sudden, our package looked distinctive, as it did not have the choppy lines that all the other wines had.

We appreciated the comments of the “complaining” customer. We knew that for every one person who complained there were hundreds who wouldn’t take the time to voice their concerns. She made us aware of the perception that the fills were not consistent. So we committed ourselves to “fixing” it, and in the process, improved not just our packaging image, but our marketing image as well.

We also believed there was a solution, and studied the problem from all sides. Once we saw all the parts, we waited for the inspiration we believed would come, even from the most unlikely places.

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.

The post Problem Solving, Barefoot Spirit Style appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.