Obstacles | The Barefoot Spirit https://thebarefootspirit.com Founders of Barefoot, a Top Global Brand New York Times Bestselling Authors International Keynote Speakers, Entrepreneurial Coaches. Thu, 21 Jun 2018 22:03:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Whatever Business You Think You’re in, Your Employees Should Be Oriented on Your Customers https://thebarefootspirit.com/whatever-business-you-think-youre-in-your-employees-should-be-oriented-on-your-customers/ Thu, 21 Jun 2018 22:02:23 +0000 https://thebarefootspirit.com/?p=14797 We recently had the pleasure of spending the day with 65 MBA students from Nanyang University in Singapore. Twenty-five percent of the class were part-time students who were already running their own businesses. They asked most of the questions because they obviously had the most immediate concerns. One question that was particularly telling was, “How […]

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]]> We recently had the pleasure of spending the day with 65 MBA students from Nanyang University in Singapore.

Twenty-five percent of the class were part-time students who were already running their own businesses. They asked most of the questions because they obviously had the most immediate concerns.

One question that was particularly telling was, “How do you to get the most out of your employees?”

We’ve given many talks and worked with many companies on this issue, plus we have our own experience building the Barefoot Wine Brand. We had virtually no turnover during the last several years before we were acquired. These were also the same years that the brand made leaps and bounds in the marketplace and overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Most of those solutions came from our own people.

To read the complete article, please visit The Business Journals 

 

 

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey Barefoot Wine Founders

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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]]> Entrepreneur – 10 Business Lessons Learned From the Founders of America’s Biggest Wine Brand https://thebarefootspirit.com/entrepreneur-10-business-lessons-learned-founders-americas-biggest-wine-brand/ Thu, 23 Jun 2016 00:31:02 +0000 https://thebarefootspirit.com/?p=10820 DANIEL DIPIAZZA, CONTRIBUTOR, Founder of Rich20Something Last month I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, the founders of Barefoot Wine. What’s most humbling is that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing at first. From the start, with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they had to employ innovative ideas […]

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DANIEL DIPIAZZA, CONTRIBUTOR, Founder of Rich20Something

Last month I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, the founders of Barefoot Wine.

What’s most humbling is that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing at first. From the start, with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they had to employ innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and strategic alliances. Having learned the hard way, Michael and Bonnie fell forward into success.

The lessons they taught me were invaluable. As the CEO of Rich20Something, this is what I learned from their story.

1. Passionately pursue your goals.

Stop thinking about following your passion, and start thinking about following opportunity passionately. Michael and Bonnie had absolutely no experience in the wine business. They were both business coaches who happened to have a lot of clients in the wine business. One of their clients was a grape grower, and this grape grower hadn’t been paid by a particular client for three years. Michael went straight to the delinquent company to collect funds for his client, only to find out that the company was bankrupt. Makes sense why they couldn’t pay.

To read the complete article, please visit Entrepreneur

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