Barefoot Wines | The Barefoot Spirit

World-Class Performer Interview – Michael Houlihan

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 17:46:20 +0000

Read a recent interview on World Class Performer with Michael Houlihan below:

Michael Houlihan is a leading business strategist, keynote speaker, consultant, and corporate trainer. He was the founder, president, and CEO of Barefoot Wines and is co-founder of Business Audio Theatre. Houlihan is also a C-Suite Network member and trusted advisor and the author of the bestselling business book The Barefoot Spirit.

Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences/stories that shaped your adult life?

I grew up in Oakland and attended catholic schools. I got a great education for the times. I had one sister and two brothers. I was #2. Oakland, even then, was gritty. You had to know how to behave. You had to be a homie. I walked home past a junior high school that had bigger kids because they went to the 9th grade and our school only went to the 8th. Plus we had to wear catholic school uniforms, so we were walking targets in east Oakland. One Christmas I got a new basketball. The next Saturday I took it to the playground at the Junior High school where the kids were bigger and more aggressive. They all wanted to play with my new basketball, but I told them that I was forming a team and only wanted the biggest guys on my team. The next week I was walking home and got jumped by several kids from the junior high. As they were threatening me, I mentioned that Reggie, Eddie, Tyrone, and Elron were on my team. They backed off, helped me up, and dusted me off. They just said “Hi” after that. Lesson: There’s more than one way to do things, find strategic allies that you can help and can help you. And yes we won all the games!

To read the complete interview, please visit the World-Class Performer

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.

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Get the Word Out With Worthy Cause Marketing – Entrepreneur

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 07:00:07 +0000

First published on Entrepreneur.com on 09/02/2017

When we started Barefoot Wines, the big chain and box store buyers refused to put it in their stores unless we advertised heavily. You couldn’t blame them. We were unknown at the time. What made matters worse, we were having fun with a foot on our label at a time when the wine industry was staid and exclusive.

So, we had to get started selling to corner store “mama-papas,” independents and small chains. But they had the same concern: Nobody ever heard of a wine called “Barefoot.” So, understandably, they threatened to discontinue us if we didn’t show significant sales in a matter of months.

To read the complete article, please visit Entrepreneur

Who We Are

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

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Do Your Suppliers Like You? – Entrepreneur

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 17:44:45 +0000

First published on Entrepreneur.com on 07/29/2017

We were broke. We were looking for every way possible to save money even though we didn’t have any. We had no choice but to be resourceful when we started Barefoot Wines. It wasn’t long before we realized that the best use of our limited funds was simply to improve the quality of our business relationships.

Did our customers, suppliers and employees like us? Did they know us? Did they trust us? If so, we could get more done with less. If not, it would cost us significantly more money and limit our opportunities to grow.

One of the greatest lessons we learned during our adventures creating this top-selling wine brand was to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes. Sounds simple. But it’s not. We learned that we really had to probe deeply to find out what each group wanted. It wasn’t always what we thought. We asked tons of questions, and after a while, we began to understand their needs and help them achieve their goals.

To read the complete article, please visit Entrepreneur

Who We Are

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

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How the Official Champagne for The Times Square New Year’s Eve Party Was Named

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 22:45:19 +0000

Michael Houlihan, Co-Founder of Barefoot Wines, came back exhausted from a sales trip to Southern California in late 1993. He told Bonnie Harvey, the other Co-Founder of Barefoot Wines, and her mom, Mabel Hurd, it was a disaster because the stores were stocking up for Christmas and New Years.

“We sell wine,” Michael said. “And everyone’s buying Champagne.”

“Why don’t you have a Champagne?” Mabel said. Mabel had been a Rosie-the-Riveter welder during World War II, helping build liberty ships in the Portland shipyards. In late 1987, Mabel was living in Sandy, Oregon, in the foothills of Mt. Hood, growing and selling organic blueberries. They asked Mabel to come live with them in Sonoma County, to help them grow their new business, Barefoot Wines.

“I can barely sell wine,” Michael said. But he thought, you know, why don’t we have a Champagne? “What would I call it, anyway?”

Mabel barely paused. “Well, I’d call it Barefoot Bubbly,” she said.

It took a few years. Barefoot’s sparkling wine didn’t hit the market until 1997. A year later, Michael and Bonnie toasted Mabel on her 80^th birthday with their Champagne named Barefoot Bubbly.

Thanks to the winemaking mastery of Jennifer Wall, Barefoot Bubbly became a reality and an American favorite! And her friend Mabel would be very proud to see the champagne she named become the toast of the town, heck, the toast of the planet!

Barefoot Bubbly will be the Official Champagne for the Times Square, New Year’s Eve Ball Drop, viewed by 3 billion people worldwide. Barefoot Bubbly is the first American champagne in years to toast this very American celebration. And we are especially proud of the fact that it was originally named by Bonnie’s mother.

Who We Are

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

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5 Keys To Launching A Successful Startup

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 18:36:55 +0000

Most start-ups fail. Two recent articles, one by Forbes one by Fortune, cited a 90% failure rate of start-ups. And top Harvard Business School lecturer, Shikhar Ghosh, confirms that 75% of U.S. venture-backed firms don’t even return investors’ capital.

In search of understanding best practices for start-ups, I recently spoke with Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey the co-founders of the world’s largest wine brand, Barefoot Wines. They told me, “Every Business that sinks was first launched!” They are also authors of the New York Times best selling book, “The Barefoot Spirit.” Below are their answers along with the five keys to launching a successful startup. Read more…

Who We Are

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

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8 Lessons For Budding Entrepreneurs

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 16:26:07 +0000

by Steve Olenski, Contributor, Forbes

Last December, my fellow FORBES contributor Robert Reiss, wrote a great piece entitled “The Incredible Story Of Starting The World’s Largest Wine Brand, Barefoot Wines.” The article was essentially a get-to-know two amazing people who launched what is now an iconic brand in a laundry room of a rented farmhouse in the Sonoma County hills.

I had the pleasure of meeting with and speaking with the two founders, Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, last year at a C-Suite Conference in Marina del Rey, California. Read more…

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Forbes Magazine Article

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 20:13:12 +0000

The Incredible Story Of Starting The World’s Largest Wine Brand, Barefoot Wines

I was recently speaking with Michael Houlihan, co-founder of Barefoot Wines. This is the story of how two people overcame remarkable odds and built a beloved brand that transformed the wine industry. It is hard to believe that such an iconic brand as Barefoot Wines began in a laundry room of a rented farmhouse in the Sonoma County hills. Even more surprising is that the people who started it were just an average business couple, Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey. From the start, with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and strategic alliances, while pioneering Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They successfully sold the brand to E&J Gallo in 2005 and Barefoot is now the largest wine brand in the world. (ref The Drinks BusinessJune 2014 London)

TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT FORBES

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ICSB Guest Blog Post

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 14:33:45 +0000

We are not professors of entrepreneurship, but we are real-life successful entrepreneurs. Rather than retiring with our proceeds from the sale Barefoot Wines, we are devoting our lives to sharing what we have learned, often times the hard way, from our experience starting and growing the world’s largest bottled wine brand. We are without children ourselves, but have an almost parental concern for all young people, especially those aspiring to become entrepreneurs. We sincerely want to see them succeed and spared some of the pain we suffered.

For the past year we have spoken, lectured and made guest appearances at more than 25 schools of entrepreneurship in the U.S. During that time we have also written over 100 blog posts on entrepreneurship and brand building. Our articles appear in national and professional journals and we are frequent media guests on the subject of entrepreneurship.

TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT ICSB GUEST BLOG

Who We Are

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

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Irish Independent

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:28:16 +0000

IF MICHAEL Houlihan had followed the advice of his Irish-born grandparents he would have settled for a secure, pensionable job and a fairly
comfortable lifestyle – and there’s a chance we would not be sipping the near nine million cases of wine sold in Ireland each year.

Luckily, for him and our taste buds, he broke ranks and with lifelong partner Bonnie Harvey took the plunge and stepped in to the unknown world of wine-making.

The couple – who founded California’s award-winning Barefoot Wines almost 30 years ago – pride themselves in developing a product and brand that took the snobbery out of wine and turned it into a fun everyday item in our shopping trolleys.

While tight-lipped about the profit made when Barefoot was sold to E&J Gallo in 2005, the pair are still living off that success by penning a business bestseller and passing their wisdom on to students and entrepreneurs worldwide – including at the ICSB World Entrepreneurship Conference in Dublin this week.

TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT: IRISH INDEPENDENT

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How the Irish Got Barefoot

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 14:53:28 +0000

Over one hundred years ago Michael’s grandfather, John Francis Houlihan, left his hometown of Limerick, Ireland, heading for the port city of Cork where he boarded a cattle steamer bound for America. The only passage he could afford was above deck, so in order to stay warm he had to huddle near the smokestack. It was there that he met and fell in love with Nelly Donohue from Donegal. When they finally arrived at Ellis Island they were incarcerated by United States Customs in separate dormitories, where they remained until they could document gainful employment for themselves inside the United States.

John Francis, being a horseman by trade, was able to secure a job cleaning the recently constructed Sutro Stables in San Francisco, California. That’s where the newly created San Francisco Police Department, which replaced the Vigilante Committee, kept their horses and those of the mayor and other public officials. Then, after two more months of correspondence he was finally able to secure a job for Nelly as a washerwoman and cook in a rooming house on Fell Street in San Francisco across from acres of sand dunes that would later become Golden Gate Park.

Nelly and John were married in the 1890s shortly after they moved to San Francisco. They both worked very hard to save enough to make a down payment on a flat in the then Irish ghetto of San Francisco known as the Mission District. Nelly did laundry and John was promoted from cleaning stables to Head Stable Keeper. In 1906 a terrific earthquake hit San Francisco and broke the underground gas mains, causing many huge fires, including one that destroyed Sutro Stables. John Francis, being a resourceful Irishman, only had time to save a few horses from the flames, so he chose to save the mayor’s prized Percherons. The mayor was so grateful that he asked John what he could do to show his appreciation, to which he replied, “I want to be the police officer who walks the beat in my own neighborhood,” and that’s what he did until he retired in 1941. During those years he watched the ghetto change, from Irish who had lifted themselves up by their own bootstraps into civil service jobs, to Italians who were refugees from WWI.

John Francis knew everyone in the Mission, so when Prohibition came to America, John was quick to make peace with the Italian families who brought their family tradition of winemaking with them from the Old Country. He saw the Great Depression and both world wars. He spoke with a thick brogue ‘til the day he died at the ripe old age of 98, surrounded by his wife Nelly, his only son John Charles and his four grandchildren, John, Michael, Mary Ellen, and William.

John Francis and Nelly used their savings to give their only child, John Charles, the best education possible. He graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law and married Emily L’Heureux, third generation Californian. John Charles went on to have a brilliant legal career and was instrumental in the development of containerized shipping. He helped build the Port of Oakland, which was one of the first container ports in the world. Shipping containers revolutionized world commerce by cutting losses and insurance costs to a fraction of what they had been when cargo was loaded and unloaded by hand. They go from factory, to truck, to ship, to rail, sealed and safe. John Charles traveled throughout the world promoting the idea of containerized shipping ports, and today these containers are a part of our lives.

One of John Charles’ sons, Michael, got into the wine business with Bonnie Harvey in 1986. They were put off by the snobbery and the pretension of the wine business and wanted to create a product that had a more friendly and approachable image. They named their winery “Barefoot Cellars” in memory of the way grapes were originally crushed, barefoot, by those Italian families in their bathtubs in the Mission District. Plus, in California, being barefoot was a sign of fun and freedom. It meant you had the day off, the weather was fine, and you were relaxed and happy at the beach, enjoying life. Barefoot Wines became very popular in California especially with the young at heart.

By 2005, Barefoot Wines were being sold across the U.S. and in 28 foreign countries. When the wines finally made it to Ireland, they came in through the same port Michael’s grandfather left as a young man, and in the same shipping containers Michael’s father, John Charles, helped to promote.

… And That’s How the Irish Got Barefoot! Cheers!

Who We Are

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

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