Sixtyfive percent of the energy that is delivered to the typical home is used for heating the home, cooling the home or heating the water used in the home. The rest is used for appliances, lighting, tools and electronic devices.

We have been reporting on startup companies that are making a difference. But what about the big boys? What are they doing to make a difference with the biggest mega-trend facing the economy? According to Nielsen, consumers are voting with their purchases for sustainably made and packaged products. Rheem Manufacturing Company is the only North American company that has both HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) products as well as water heating products available in the commercial and residential marketplace. We wanted to know how such a large company with such a huge impact on our home energy use was making a difference.

To read the complete article, please visit Entrepreneur 

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 Entrepreneur – Rheem Manufacturing Sets Aggressive Sustainability Goals for 2025 appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

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

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 Can a 15-Year-Old School Girl Change the World? appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

We’ve often said, “If you really want to change things, put a buck on it.” That philosophy has been recently documented by Nielsen, the leader in CPG market data. The biggest mega trend we see for 2019 is being driven by consumers who want to “vote with their purchases.” They are increasingly demanding transparency from CPG producers …and getting it!

Americans love their dogs. So why shouldn’t they want transparency from the company that provides them with their dog chews? That was the catalyst for Nature Gnaws founders Jay Mokbel and Steve Mamak. The risk they took in 2016 to produce and sell, all-natural dog chews has been validated by stellar growth over the past two years.

To read the complete article, please visit Entrepreneur 

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 Entrepreneur – Chewing Their Way to the Top appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.