Inc. Magazine | The Barefoot Spirit

Taking the Inc. 500 Survey is an Eye Opener

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

Is there a set of characteristics all entrepreneurs share? What differentiates them from other folks? Below are the questions asked in the September issue of Inc. Magazine. In this issue, they list their annual Inc. 500 greatest and most inspiring entrepreneurs of the year.

The interviews with the entrepreneurs that made the list make it well worth the read. But the CEO surveys they ran on the new 500 are even more telling. As folks who have done it from ideation to monetization, we thought you would appreciate a brief summary and our answers to the key questions they asked.

Do you have any entrepreneurs in the family? 45% had entrepreneurial parents. 36% were the first. Bonnie’s mother had a blueberry farm. Michael was the first.

How old were you when you started your first business? 42% were under 25. 25% were 25 – 35. Bonnie and Michael were both under 25.

How much personal savings did you use to get started? 76% used personal savings. The next biggest source was credit cards. For Barefoot Wines we used personal savings, credit cards, and we also took over a client’s debt and converted it into supplies and services.

When did you start paying yourself a salary? 25% said immediately. 32% said within a year. 20% said within two years. For us it was 8 years because we put everything into growth.

What was your biggest challenge? 54% said managing fast growth. Attracting and retaining talent was the next biggest challenge. We agree. The launch is the easy part. Growth requires the right people, a cool head, and a well thought out cash flow management plan.

How much of your growth was funded internally? 40% said all internal. 34% said mostly internal. We grew Barefoot Wines without outside capital, all based on the advice of our cost accountant and judicious use of our cash flow.

Where did your company get ideas for new products and services? 35% said from their leadership team. 28% said from their customers. Only 14% said from their employees. This is where we differ. We got most of our ideas from our employees and the employees of our distribution and sales partners.

What is your primary goal? 82% said scaling. Only 14% said selling. We think the two are inseparable. You can’t monetize without a capital event, whether that’s a sale, merger, infusion, or public offering. And you can’t do any of those without demonstrating scalability.

What is the biggest danger of growing too fast? One said, “Keeping our company special as we grow.” Another said, “Making hiring mistakes that hurt your company irreparably.” And another said, “Unaddressed problems become much harder to solve later.” We agree with all these answers. Our biggest challenge was moving into new territories before we knew how to properly service the distributors, retailers, and our end-users.

Do you think tech companies are being overvalued by Venture Capitalists? 66% said yes. We agree. The inflated values are creating the self-fulfilling hype that caused the last bubble to burst.

Have you ever turned down VC capital? 51% said yes. We think this is wise. Most VC’s are looking for short term returns. They can force a premature sale just to get their money back. They can take so much equity, you wind up working for them. Focus on sales, work with your suppliers to extended your credit, and work with your bank on a line-of-credit based on receivables. Choose the “get rich slow scheme” and own it all when you cross the finish line!

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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The C-E-O is the Future of The American Economy

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 01:08:31 +0000

The C-E-O (Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization) had their Annual Conference this past October 31 – November 2 in Chicago, and we were thrilled to be a part of it. When we got up to the stage and even before we began our keynote address, we were taken back by the spectacle of nearly 1,200 college students, faculty, and young entrepreneurs from around the world.

This gathering of aspiring collegiate entrepreneurs was representative of the future of the American economy. Ranging in age from 18 to 24, this was Generation Z at its finest! It was a moving experience to realize that among these young people would emerge the next Steve Jobs and similar business rock stars of the future.

Over the three days of the national conference, we heard many inspiring speakers share their experiences on what it takes to make it in business. We were most impressed by seasoned entrepreneur and senior editor of Inc. Magazine, Norman Brodsky. Norman began his keynote speech not from the stage but from the back of the room, true to his out-of-the-box theme. Then, as he walked through the crowd of young people, he asked a series of questions and provided some surprising answers.

At one point he asked, “What is the main job of the CEO?” The young crowd peppered him with an array of answers from “leadership” to “fundraising,” from “the buck stops here” to “company vision.” After each suggestion, he gave a loud emphatic “NO!” After a period of silence, Norman said, “Culture! The CEO’s main job is to build positive company culture – because true success ultimately comes from your people!”

We couldn’t agree more, and, as a matter of fact, our success with Barefoot Wine was really the success of our team culture. We gave them permission to be creative and, yes, even to make mistakes. This inspired a culture that was fun and friendly, open and respectful of the contributions of others. With the customer at the top, serviced by our sales people, everybody else in the company understood that they worked in Sales Support. Creating positive company culture is the main job of the CEO. Thank you Norman for the reminder!

We met hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs from C-E-O chapters in 43 states and several Canadian provinces. They were all there to soak up as much as they could from proven successful business executives. Throughout the conference, we found that the #1 misconception most folks had was they thought the distribution of their product was somehow going to take care of itself, and that the strength of their idea and the demand by the public would be enough to pull their product through the distribution channels.

Once again we had to remind them, “You can’t buy it if it ain’t there!” And it won’t be there unless you see to it yourself. This is especially true at first when you are an unknown. We live in a wonderful country with the most efficient distribution infrastructure in the world. Shopping in stores brimming with choices of all sorts of products gives us the mistaken idea that everything we see is all there is. But there are thousands of products we never see because they simply never made it to the shelf. Sure, you have to have a great product at an affordable price with a cute logo and compelling catch phrase, but distribution management is ultimately the deciding factor.

We hope our experience and the experience of others who spoke will give these young people the insights they need to succeed. We want the new entrepreneurs of Generation Z to be Generation Zero-limits! Go get ‘em, Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization!

Who We Are

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

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Inc. Magazine Article

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:28:39 +0000

Kevin Daum’s Inc. Magazine article highlights Michael & Bonnie’s discovery of the philanthropic marketing technique, Worthy Cause Marketing. Click here to read the full article!

Who We Are

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

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Gaining Traction in the Marketplace takes Tenacity and Focus

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 19:56:50 +0000

You may hear about a brand that “just took off.” From our perspective, very few brands just take off. What’s more likely is that they started out small and sometimes took years to gain traction.

As we’ve said many times before, it’s not the quality of the product, the price, or the demand so much as it is mastering the distribution and timing.

They say you can move the Queen Mary if you exert enough pressure over time. You can push with all your might for years and then, at last, slowly, it begins to move! You finally overcame the momentum and you are gaining traction. What if you gave up and stopped pushing after the first year?

We read in Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and Inc. magazines about seemingly overnight start-up successes. It almost looks easy. It seems like you can have instant success with just the right product at just the right time. Although there are some examples of that kind of success, it’s the less glamorous, and unheralded, “get rich slow schemes” that are more common, and more dependable.

The number-one ingredient in start-up success is not necessarily the great idea, the great price, or even the great demand. It is tenacity!

Here are 5 Tenets of Tenacity:

1) Deferred Gratification. Sometimes you work 12 hours a day and weekends just to get your idea off the ground. You may even have to forgo vacations in the early stages. Take advantage of pop-up social opportunity? Forget about it.

2) Belief in your Concept. When you are new or different, you’ll be hard pressed to find people in the distribution channels that will give you a shot. You have to hold onto a deep-seated belief in your product and its eventual success. You have to constantly imagine your customer enjoying your product even when others try to discourage you.

3) Focus. Understanding your priorities is job one. As events unfold and the hoops you have to jump through present themselves, it’s easy to get distracted. Keep your eye on your goal and focus on the big picture. The details are tedious, frustrating, and take time, but the realization of your vision is well worth the struggle.

4) Support. Gain encouragement from the ever-increasing number of supporters you attract along the way. Starting out small, the positive feedback you get from even a relatively few happy customers will give you the confidence to press on. The support you get from other businesses that have an interest in your success will validate your concept.

5) Progress. Yes, it may take a lot longer that you thought, but you are making progress albeit ever so humble. Each little victory is one step closer to your goal. There’s nothing like actual sales to demonstrate the viability of your product. And every mistake you make, if treated as a learning experience, will improve your chances of success.

Today, tenacity has many fashionable names, like drive, charge, and the right stuff, but whatever you call it, it’s just plain old stick-to-it-ness. Starting a new business is easy and fun. But once you discover the surprising amount of time, hard work, and sacrifice necessary, it’s your tenacity that will see you through. And when you do succeed, try not to laugh when they say, “Wow! That idea just took off!”

Who We Are

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

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