business philosophies | The Barefoot Spirit

Scarier Than Halloween! Creepier than a Crypt! It’s a Ghost! It’s a Goblin! No, It’s Entrepreneurship!

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 17:00:01 +0000

For the past few years now we have been speaking at universities that teach entrepreneurship in one form or another. The reoccurring question regularly asked by millennials aspiring to become entrepreneurs is: How do you prepare for the unknown?

This is a great question because it is the most unnerving part of entrepreneurship and distinguishes it from a 9-5 job. Sure, a job may seem stable and dependable, but if the entrepreneur who hired you suddenly goes out of business, then you are suddenly unemployed. The millennials saw what happened in the recession when their parents were laid off, so they don’t put a lot of faith into their own security with the big corporations like their parents did. They’d just as soon take their chances on their own and at least have some say over the risks involved. We salute them for this! We love working with millennials, because they’ve got guts!

Still, we can hear the anxiety in their voices. We have asked ourselves the same questions. But what do you do about the unknown? How do you prepare for it?

Yes, you are entering a dark and creepy tunnel, but with the right tools you can be ready for just about anything. Just like a sea captain doesn’t know what to expect out there on the unpredictable ocean, but he is prepared with training, relies on standards, adheres to principles, and uses tools to get safely to port.

For entrepreneurship, we like to say you need a hard hat, a compass, and a flashlight to get through that unfamiliar tunnel.

The hard had is a set of attitudes that keeps you positive when the unexpected pops up or falls out of the sky. It’s really how you think of the challenge by taking the 10,000-foot view. The fastest way out of the box is straight up! Up there you can see the other folks that are effected by the same dilemma, discover your natural allies, and look for an elegant solution that solves more than one problem. If you take this big-picture approach, the pop up ghosts aren’t so scary.

The flashlight is to see your way down that dark tunnel and to light up the challenges and opportunities in front of you. Illumination can help you better understand what’s going on. It doesn’t solve anything in itself, but it does give you a better idea of what’s ahead. Illumination reveals the various parts of the challenge, making the solution more discoverable. What is that flashlight exactly? It’s research, asking questions, learning from your mistakes, and it’s the confidence that you get when you can see what you are faced with.

The compass is the set of guiding principles that act as the standards you rely on when making decisions. These are the business philosophies that you believe in, and the principles that build the foundation of your company. You carry these standards with you into the unknown, giving you the confidence to handle just about anything. The main guiding principle is put yourself in the other person’s shoes. From that position, you can discover what others want out of the situation, and once you know that, you are more prepared to get their attention, cooperation, and ultimately their support.

Fear of the unknown can paralyze you. The more you prepare yourself for it, the less scary it becomes. So for Halloween, we offer the millennials a real “Ghost Buster,” the Entrepreneur’s GPS. Check it out! And Happy Halloween!

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 Scarier Than Halloween! Creepier than a Crypt! It’s a Ghost! It’s a Goblin! No, It’s Entrepreneurship! appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

USASBE Is Dedicated to Excellence in the Education of Entrepreneurship

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 22:57:50 +0000

USASBE, The United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, is a non-profit organization that provides support for the colleges and universities across the country that are teaching entrepreneurship. They serve as a forum to share best practices, leading edge techniques, and most effective curriculums. There are effectively raising the standards for this relatively new degree.

Unlike other degrees, a degree in Entrepreneurship can’t really be used to land a job or impress anyone. It’s all about self-employment – creating and running your own business. Today there is an explosion of interest in entrepreneurship and in entrepreneurship education.

The advent of USASBE couldn’t have come at a better time and we are avid supporters. Last year we spoke at their annual conference in San Francisco and we were honored to be invited back to their 2014 conference in Ft Worth. During 2013, we traveled the country, speaking at colleges and universities that teach entrepreneurship. We spoke about how to navigate your business from here to there given the unforeseen and seemingly insurmountable challenges ahead.

In business navigation, like tennis, boxing, or almost any sport, you have to assume the action-ready stance with your knees bent, ready for anything. You don’t know where the ball or the blow will come from, but you do your best to be prepared for it. You make yourself both as stable and as flexible as you can. You also need a few tools like a compass, a hard hat and a flashlight, because you can easily get lost, take a hit, and lose sight of your objective.

Having a set of “Guiding Principles” to hold every decision up against can help you make more right decisions. We attribute our success to those guiding principles which we collectively refer to as “the Barefoot Spirit.” Here is a very brief summary of the top 7:

Empathy. For every major decision, put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Understand what they want first. Then figure out how to get what you want by helping them get what they want. This goes for your customers, investors, employees, vendors and especially your community.
Alliances. Who are your strategic allies? Who benefits when you benefit. Look around you and see who’s going in the same direction. What suppliers will sell you more if you sell more? How can you help the community achieve its goals and give them a social reason to by your products?
Mistakes. Instead of blaming others, ask what you can do to make the mistake less likely to happen again. Identify and improve the documents that will prevent them from reoccurring. Maybe it’s a sign, label, check-list, sign-off sheet, policy, procedure, contract clause or a job description, but document it somewhere and fix the problem! Never waste a perfectly good mistake, and give your people permission to make them.
Sharing. Always take a smaller slice of a larger pie. Include those you depend on most in your success. Don’t be put a limit on your sales people’s commission so they can “sand bag” you, leave for a better paying job, and take your customers with them. Don’t be concerned if they make more than you; it’s “found” money.
Two-Divisions. Your company only has two divisions, Sales and Sales Support. Everyone who is not in Sales is in Sales Support. This includes Production, Marketing, Legal, Accounting, and even the Receptionist. Sales advises Marketing, not the other way around.
Performance. If you pay for attendance alone, you will hear, “I was there, pay me.” Give bonuses based on profitability. That way the non-producers can’t afford to stay and the producers can’t afford to quit. Turnover is the #1 hidden cost of doing business. Make sure everyone knows exactly where their salary, bonus, commission, and benefits come from, and that’s the customer!
Partnering. Treat your people like partners. Share the good and bad news with them. Publically acknowledge people for improving your company. Treat your bankers, investors, suppliers and vendors as partners, too. Share your challenges and your accomplishments, and ask them for their help and advice.

Our talks are beyond the structure, organization, and function of entrepreneurship. They are about the business philosophies and attitudes that can help prepare you for the unexpected and help you navigate your business to success. We are grateful to have the opportunity to promote the Barefoot Spirit to the next generation of entrepreneurs, and give them a big head start.

Who We Are

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

The post USASBE Is Dedicated to Excellence in the Education of Entrepreneurship appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.