failure | The Barefoot Spirit

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

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 17:00:28 +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 without 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.

Our job as advisors is to identify the skills they need to delegate to move the company forward. We face two major challenges. One is that the owners tend to think they can do everything themselves – to the point that they actually hurt their own businesses by exhausting their limited skill sets. Another is that the owners simply don’t know how to delegate.

Most owners have great concepts they thoroughly believe in. It’s why they took the big risk, quit their job, and bet everything on a successful outcome. It’s why they work 17 hours a day, six days a week, without a vacation. But are they good people managers? Not necessarily.

Yes, they’re the owner and they think they’re the boss. They’ve certainly done all the hiring up to the point where they have achieved a positive cash flow. But now that they’re expanding, they need to bring on a full staff. Now, who will do the hiring, the training, and the holding people accountable?

Most owners take it for granted that they know how to hire and direct people to get the job done. The idea that at some point in the growth of the organization, they need a professional to do this work may be the last thing that crosses their mind. But we think it should be the first.

As businesses develop through the four stages of startup, build up, build out, and enterprise, they require very different management skill sets. If an owner can take the business through the treacherous startup phase and get a few big clients in the build-up phase, why can’t the same owner take it to the buildout phase where the business scales and expands? This is the phase when most businesses fail. They typically fail because owners underestimate the amount of work that’s necessary to properly service all their new clients and accounts.

This is where delegation becomes absolutely critical. This is where the business requires a serious professional who understands the challenges ahead, knows what to look for in terms of new hires, has the ability to define and communicate the deliverables, and establishes a system of accountability to see that the job is done, and done right!

For most successful businesses, this person is not the owner. It’s difficult for owners who’ve taken “their baby” so far to give up a certain level of control in order to see it climb to the next level. It certainly was for us, and in retrospect, that view actually held our business back for several years. It wasn’t until we bit the bullet and put professionals in charge that we began to see the growth we always knew would eventually happen.

Don’t get us wrong, we made several false starts. But with every disappointing trial, we learned more about what we could delegate and what we should not. We still had the final say on hires but we allowed our managers to develop their own accountability plans – which we also approved.

The key to successful delegation for us was in the accountability plan. Basically, answer the following questions: What will get done? Who will do it? Are they qualified? When will it get done? How often are the status reports? What will they contain? And when is the deadline?

It’s still going to be a white-knuckle ride for the first few years of delegation. It terrifies most business owners to give up control! But you’re going to get better at it. And what if the person you’re relying on doesn’t perform? You can always use our favorite four-letter word, “NEXT!”

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 To Succeed in Business, Delegation is Not a Choice, It’s a Requirement! appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Entrepreneur – The Top 4 Reasons Startups Fail, According to 14 International Accelerators

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 01 May 2018 15:00:40 +0000

As speakers, advisers and trainers in the entrepreneurial space, we’ve been particularly excited by our December survey of the principles of 14 international accelerators. We wanted to know, from their point of view, what were the key factors in startup success … and failure. As far as we know, this is the most recent study conducted on this subject. Although these folks are from all over the world, it’s amazing how much they agree when it comes to why startups fail.

Inadequate Testing

Inadequate Testing was by far the most mentioned reason for startup failure. This factor is identified by several other terms like not getting started, not understanding how to access the market, and not understanding the barriers to entry. But Greg Wright, founder of HATCH pitch, put it quite succinctly: “Failure to test and validate hypotheses and assumptions,” and its corollary, “Premature scaling (seeking/obtaining funding too early, ramping production/team/advertising before achieving product market fit).”

Keith Hopper, CEO of Danger Fort Labs, adds, “Not addressing an important enough need that customers are willing to pay for.” Ben Hsieh, program manager of Nest and Jason Cole, CEO of Da Primus Consulting, both agree that “not finding product market fit” is a main cause of failure.

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.

The post Entrepreneur – The Top 4 Reasons Startups Fail, According to 14 International Accelerators appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

The Whole World Looks to the United States as the Cradle of Entrepreneurship

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 18:30:11 +0000

As we travel throughout the world and speak about our entrepreneurial experiences and the lessons we’ve learned, we were surprised to discover that the United States is viewed by our international audiences as the cradle of entrepreneurship. Of course, there is leading-edge entrepreneurship in many countries, but none have quite the public cultural support for risk takers like the United States.

Many countries, we find out, have cultures that actually discourage people from starting their own businesses. Their families remind them of the many who have tried and failed. They encourage them instead to go for the security of employment with the government or a large corporation. Some actually view starting your own business as foolhardy and bound for failure. If the young person’s enterprise does fail, they are too often chided with “I told you so.”

By contrast, in the United States we not only understand that our economy is supported by entrepreneurship, but we have deep respect and admiration for those who have taken the risks, suffered the sacrifices, and had the tenacity to see their entrepreneurial concepts become a reality. In the United States, entrepreneurs are often revered like folk heroes, with movies celebrating their challenges and accomplishments; on television shows like Shark Tank; and publications like Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and Inc.

American public and social media increasingly offer articles and tips on the hows and whys of successful entrepreneurship. Sure it’s risky and many enterprises fail, but in the United States we view failure, as Edison once said, as successfully discovering what doesn’t work along the path to success.

This week we were honored to be keynote speakers at the Western Region EO Alchemy annual conference held in Las Vegas. This event brought together members from chapters of Entrepreneurs’ Organizations from the western United States. For the Entrepreneurs’ Organization to choose Las Vegas for this conference was both fitting and symbolic. These are the real gamblers, betting on themselves, betting on their teams and betting on their enterprises.

Simply put, it was all about mitigating risk with proven methods, attitudes, and processes that give these gamblers a fighting chance. At EO Alchemy, as it is called, we heard from entrepreneurs of all ages, sharing their lessons and best practices. That’s right, they were here sharing their secrets, and helping each other to succeed! Far from the classic view of dog-eat-dog competition, these EO members had one goal: sharing their experiences so that all their members would find the success they’ve found.

The event’s culture of support for entrepreneurs attracted several entrepreneurs from other countries including the Netherlands, Mexico and India. Those delegates told us how much they appreciated the unselfish sharing, stories of challenge and success, and the concrete practices they can’t wait to get home and try in their own businesses.

The entire experience made us proud to be part of the American entrepreneurial culture that says, “We did it. You can do it!

Who We Are

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

The post The Whole World Looks to the United States as the Cradle of Entrepreneurship appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.