businesses | The Barefoot Spirit

Businesses in Survival Mode Require Faster Problem Solving

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 15:53:50 +0000

The chaotic response to the virus has hit small businesses hard. They are faced with everything from learning how to move fast to learning something completely new. The bullets keep coming and many businesses are already closed. Those that are surviving are solving problems faster than they ever have.

For what it’s worth, we thought it might be helpful to reiterate our thoughts on problem solving in the hopes that it might help some small businesses survive in this unprecedented environment. We call it problem solving Barefoot Style:

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.

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Can a 15-Year-Old School Girl Change the World?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:40:02 +0000

If you’re over 21, you are considered an adult. If you’re 18 or older you can vote. But if you’re 14 or 15, how do you make yourself heard?

Right now, all over the world, young teenagers are making their voices heard. It’s hard to ignore. It’s in the news every week and you can expect to read more about them as time goes on. It’s a global youth movement that is not going away. It’s a worldwide climate strike!

Students in more than 450 countries are choosing a Friday to play hooky for a good cause – their own survival! It’s hard to believe that we as adults have kicked the can down the road so far that we now have a generation that is facing irreversible climate disaster in their own lifetime. As Howard Beale says, in the 1976 movie, Network, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

And why should they? They will be on the planet a lot longer than today’s adults. 15-year-old Greta Thunberg has become the figurehead for the school climate strikes that will soon be in your neighborhood. Greta sums it all up in her address to the UN Climate Conference in Poland and subsequent interview.

Climate Change and Entrepreneurship

Because we are big supporters of entrepreneurship, we’d like to examine the school climate strike movement from the standpoint of its implications to the business market. We believe real change, even mitigation of climate change, comes from the way we, as consumers, spend our money. Real change comes from the products and services we choose to buy.

Survivalist Buying Trends

It’s simple! The vendors who get our money use it to lobby to protect their investment in market share. If we don’t give them our money, and better yet, if we give our money to healthy alternatives, then those vendors will have the influence. It all starts with how you choose to spend your money.

These kids know that. They’re not just striking out of class. They’re communicating with each other on a level never seen before in the history of the world! They’re discussing this very premise and what it means regarding their own current and future purchases. According to Nielsen, these new “survivalist” buying trends are already beginning to dominate the market.

Given the fact that in about three years, these teenagers will be voting, and in just about six years, they will be considered adults, shouldn’t today’s savvy entrepreneurs be paying attention to what kind of products and services these kids are going to buy now and in the not-too-distant future?

Green Opportunity

For our own part, we have been looking for, researching, and helping just those kinds of “green” businesses. We know they will be in demand and more importantly, on the right side of history. Why not sell products and services to the student climate strikers? They are a growing market that is quickly becoming educated about the implications of their purchases. This is an opportunity for all entrepreneurs to get ahead of the curve and benefit from the new megatrend. And isn’t this what good business is all about anyway?

When Greta says she’s giving up on our generation to make the change in time, when Greta says that her generation is taking action, she’s not just talking about striking. She’s talking about a whole new generation changing their buying habits. Let’s give these kids what they want and what they need! It may help us, in some small way, to redeem our own generation for being asleep at the switch. It’s happening and it’s happening now!

Who We Are

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

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To Succeed in Business, Delegation is Not a Choice, it’s a Requirement

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 15:24:50 +0000

We like to say, “Do what you do best, and delegate the rest!”

That sort of flies in the face of, “If you want it done right, do it yourself.”

Is there a middle ground that gives you the time you need to focus on moving the company forward using your best skill sets with

out being disappointed by the performance of those upon whom you rely?

One of the biggest reasons for failure we see as advisors to small and medium-sized businesses is owners trying to do everything themselves. This keeps them from scaling and also keeps the company from doing its best.

When owners try to do everything themselves, they think they’re saving money. Or, they think they’re saving the job from an undesirable outcome. But actually, they’re stretching themselves too thin and reaching beyond their skill set.

To read the complete article, please visit The Business Journals

Who We Are

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

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7 Aspects of the Gig Economy

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 18:00:45 +0000

Most startups fail because they have too much overhead and not enough sales – period! In fact, in The Barefoot Startup, we advise our clients to outsource everything but sales, accounting, and quality control. Overhead expenses are earned by sales, not the other way around!

We recently had the pleasure of attending the Conference on The Gig Economy hosted by the San Francisco Chapter of the Global Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is keen on keeping their members abreast of the latest developments in the international trade space.

When you think of gig work, names like Lyft and Uber naturally come to mind with all their legal issues that continue to unfold. The conference did a great job of exploring those issues and the ramifications to its members and attendees.

What we enjoyed the most was the first panel discussion that included leaders from government and industry, large and small, who focused on their experience with contingency, or “gig” workers. It was an eyeopener and has special significance for startups looking to reduce their need for capital to cover overhead by outsourcing certain kinds of work. The panel thoughtfully examined several aspects of gig work and the implications businesses should be aware of.

Batch Work. Because these folks are working on a temporary basis, it’s best to give them work that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Be clear about the parameters, deadlines, and formats.
Free Agents. Since they work for many clients, they have to shuffle priorities. Make sure your work is on their priority list. Also, be aware that you can lose them after you have invested training time.
Timing. They may work in different time zones making real time communication difficult. They may choose to work when they want. You may have to accommodate their existing schedules to get your job done.
Legalities. There appears to be a fine line between independent contractors and full-time employees. It’s still being adjudicated all over the world. Different countries have different laws one must be aware of. Generally, the more restraints you put on gig workers, the more likely they are to be considered employees. For those who are employees, the governing bodies want insurance, and taxes and employer contributions – and the battle goes on in each jurisdiction.
Up-To-Date. Gig workers tend to be more current on their job skills and stay on top of the latest unfolding technology, even more so than your own employees who, over time, may become lax in updating their education.
Cultural Impact. Contingency workers tend to work harder and faster than many of your own people. This tends to influence your folks to work harder. But on the other hand, gig workers can lack an understanding and appreciation for your company culture, policies, and procedures. They can be out of step with your people. Especially if they are working directly with your employees, this can be a problem.
Proving Ground. Many companies use a gig worker for a trial period to see if they will fit into their company as a full-time employee. It’s also a way of securing trained folks and their knowledge of your company without having to first make them an employee. This way, you get a sample of their work without a commitment.

What we like about the gig economy is that, especially for cash strapped startups, it can be an excellent way of paying for work as needed and not having to support a “payroll” that is due every two weeks whether or not you have made sales!

We advise our clients to look for the types of work that “fit” the Global Gig Economy. Be aware of the shortcomings as well as the advantages. It just may be the outsource resource you’ve been looking for!

Who We Are

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

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7 Tenets for Success That Go Beyond ‘Bootstrap’

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 16:41:46 +0000

According to Forbes, 90 percent of all new businesses fail.

Why is the rate so high with so many great ideas? Is something missing? Something basic?

According to the Small Business Administration, businesses that survive more than five years tend to survive more than 10 years.

Do they finally learn something that saved them? What if they knew those things right from the beginning?

We are often accused of being Monday-morning quarterbacks, with 20-20 vision. Well, guilty as charged! And lucky for you!

To read the complete article, please visit The Business Journals

Who We Are

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

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Wine Country Fire Storms

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 17:50:38 +0000

We want to thank many of you for your concern about our welfare during the Wine Country fire storms. Fortunately, we, are home, and our small west Sonoma County town were spared from the flames. The fires were just 8 miles east of us. We are blessed to be able to offer shelter for our friends who were evacuated from the fire zones.

We appreciate your good wishes and look forward to working with our community to help rebuild. We will continue to write and speak to help others start and grow their own businesses by sharing the benefit of our experience. Wishing you all the best!

– Michael & Bonnie

Who We Are

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

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The 7 Tenets of The Barefoot Startup

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 17:00:24 +0000

According to Forbes, 90% of all new businesses fail. Why is the rate so high with so many great ideas? Is something missing? Something basic? According to the Small Business Administration, businesses that survive over 5 years tend to survive over 10 years. Do they finally learn something that saved them? What if they knew those things right from the beginning?

We are often accused of being Monday morning quarterbacks with 20-20 vision. Well, guilty as charged! And lucky for you! Having been through it from ideation to monetization, we are in a unique position to offer help. After years of wrong assumptions, and actions based on those wrong assumptions, it ultimately became clear to us what we were doing right and what we were doing wrong. Our experience and success in the real world can save you a ton of time, money, and anxiety.

Like the man says, “If you had it to do all over again, what would you do differently?” Well, some things we would do just the same, but others, we would have started doing a whole lot sooner. Starting with no money and no knowledge of our industry, you can bet we had a lot to learn. You can bet we made plenty of mistakes.

These are the same challenges startups face today, like being undercapitalized, finding and keeping the right people, providing effective leadership, and getting the word out, just to name a few. But the biggest mistakes startups make may be in their own heads! They tend to accept popular assumptions about business that are just, well, wrong! We want to change all that.

There’s a new movement afoot. We call it “The Barefoot Startup.” Why “Barefoot”? Because it’s a great analogy for a feet-on-the-ground, step-by-step approach to starting and growing your business. It’s beyond “bootstrap” because it’s sensitive to the terrain, its well-grounded in principle, and clears the path for success.

The Barefoot Startup incorporates the proven strategies we used successfully and the lessons we learned over 20 years building the Barefoot Wine brand. These key tenets made the biggest difference in our success. They can work well for any business. The tenets of The Barefoot Startup (#BarefootStartup) will give you a big head start, mitigate your risk, and reduce your need for capital.

It’s not another set of tactics. It’s not another cut-and-paste process for 6 figures in 6 months. But it is a fundamental understand, and application, of the basic principles of long-term business success. Think of it as an insurance policy for your start-up.

The 7 tenets of The Barefoot Startup spell S-U-C-C-E-S-S:

Strategic Alliances. Who wins if you win? How can you help them win? How can you work with your community to get the word out?
Understandings. How does your distribution system work? What are the challenges you face gaining acceptance in your market?
Customer. Who are your customers? What does each of them really want? How should your company be structured to gain their loyalty? How do you turn your customers into advocates?
Compassion. What does everyone who touches your product want? How can you show empathy for their needs? How do you gain their respect and cooperation?
Empowerment. How can you get the most out of your people, your suppliers, and your buyers? What do they need from you to do their job better for you?
Sales. What is the fastest way to create a positive cash flow? Where is your low-hanging fruit? What is the quickest way to gain a “Hot Mover” reputation?
Slow Down! How can you reduce your need for capital by being more resourceful? How can starting small show you the true cost of sales? How can you get your act together before you take your show on the road?

The Barefoot Startup offers detailed answers with real world examples. How do you spell success? Join the movement at www.thebarefootstartup.com!

Who We Are

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

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Give Your People Permission to be Brilliant

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 17:00:13 +0000

These days there are tons of companies that say they want their people to be more engaged, but are they giving them permission to do so? Yes: permission! It’s subtle, but powerful.

Permission is a powerful idea in determining company culture. Are you giving your people permission to be creative, make decisions, solve problems, and take responsibility? Or, in the name of efficiency, structure, or compliance, are you preventing the very type of support you need?

Here are some ways to give your people permission:

Compensation

Some part of employees’ compensation should be based on sales, growth, and profits. It will take some time to identify and agree upon metrics used to measure those key indicators, but get started now and tweak it every year until it’s right.

If you offer a bonus, make it quarterly. A year is too long for them to remember, and after a poor first half of the year, they may just give up. Quarterly is short enough to remember, and if they have a bad quarter, well, there’s a new opportunity next quarter.

Knowledge

Your staff can’t help you if you don’t tell them what you need. Many businesses believe in the “need-to-know” policy which keeps employees in the dark. We believe in the “know-the-need” policy which includes them in the company’s challenges, opportunities and triumphs.

They already have your corporate knowledge and a stake in solving your problems, especially if they share in your success. We suggest quarterly meetings with sales and sales support staff (i.e., everybody not in sales) to brainstorm solutions. They will surprise you with their great ideas!

To read the complete article, please visit The Business Journals

Who We Are

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

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Back to the garage: How to recapture the entrepreneurial spirit

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 17:00:30 +0000

“Sales? That’s not my job.”

It’s not how you get the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s how you lose it!

Companies can reverse engineer the entrepreneurial spirit back into their companies by returning to the backbone of that spirit — sales.
Every garage startup must have the entrepreneurial spirit to survive. Many successful businesses were once garage startups, and they once had that spirit.

But somewhere in the four stages of businesses growth our friend Jim Canfield of Renaissance Executive Forums calls “startup, buildup, buildout, and enterprise,” the entrepreneurial spirit can lose its luster.

The entrepreneurial spirit is the spirit of the entire team, and is represented by their commitment to customer service, resourcefulness, and going the extra mile to make sales happen.

To read the complete article, please visit The Business Journals

Who We Are

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

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As Businesses Grow, They Risk Losing Their Entrepreneurial Spirit

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 17:00:12 +0000

It’s not how you get the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s how you lose it! Every garage startup must have the entrepreneurial spirit to survive. Many successful businesses were once garage startups, and they once had that spirit. But somewhere between the four stages of businesses growth, our friend Jim Canfield of Renaissance Executive Forums calls “startup, buildup, buildout, and enterprise,” the entrepreneurial spirit can lose its luster.

The entrepreneurial spirit is the spirit of the entire team, and is represented by their commitment to customer service, resourcefulness, and going the extra mile to make sales happen. There is no question in the minds of start -up entrepreneurs, in a garage, undercapitalized, and having to make do with less, that they must make sales happen no matter what or they will be out of business – fast! They all know the customer comes first.

Then, if they are fortunate, dedicated, and diligent, they progress beyond the startup phase and into the buildup phase. Now they have a few solid customers that keep them going. Their volume picks up. They begin to see some pressure on production, customer service, and supply chain management. In an effort to satisfy these demands, and in the name of efficiency, they begin to specialize their use of human resources. Thus begins the degradation of the entrepreneurial spirit.

With a few more big customers, they enter the buildout stage. Now they are expanding their offerings and their markets. Division of labor is now a must. One of the divisions is called “sales” and another is called “customer service.” But even though the customer feedback necessary to keep the company’s products and service relevant comes almost exclusively through these two divisions, they are now being relegated to the bottom of the pyramid, which is quietly and quickly growing on top of them. The focus is now on production rather than sales. Sales begins to be taken for granted by the other divisions of labor who no longer feel responsible for sales. In fact, they are convinced that what they do is as, or more important, than sales, even though their very paychecks come from sales! Now, when referring to sales, you hear, “That’s not my job!” The entrepreneurial spirit begins to fade further.

Now comes the enterprise phase where professionalism, compliance, status, tenure and structural procedures become more important than sales and customer service. Salespeople are “outside” in the field, and everyone else is “inside” in the office. Inside office people have greater access to the decision makers and become even more removed from sales. “What’s the matter with those salespeople? Why can’t they just do their job?” is the common refrain when sales are down. But everybody in the office is taking a bow when sales are up! And who is the first to get laid off when sales are ‘bad’? Yup, it‘s the salespeople! What’s wrong with this picture? The entrepreneurial spirit is lost, a victim of its own success!

But by understanding how and why this happens, companies can begin to reverse engineer the entrepreneurial spirit back into their companies. They must start by returning to the backbone of the entrepreneurial spirit, sales. Put sales back on top! Think of the company as having only two divisions; sales and sales support. Sales support is everybody who is not in sales – accounting, production, marketing, HR, legal, admin, the receptionist, everybody! Enforce this relationship by providing quarterly bonuses to sales support staff based on sales, growth, and profitability. Acknowledge their contributions to these three essentials. And create official lines of communication between sales and customer service on the one hand, and sales support, on the other. Make sales everybody’s job – again!

Who We Are

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

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