Alluding to the behavior of big tobacco to mislead the public, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “For decades, Big Oil ravaged the environment, and Big Oil copied Big Tobacco. They used a classic cynical playbook. They denied and denied and denied that their product was lethal. Meanwhile, they spent a lot of time hooking society on that lethal product… It’s time for them to start paying for the damage they’ve done.”

The New York City lawsuit is based upon the fundamental principle that a corporation that makes a product causing severe harm when used exactly as intended should shoulder the costs of abating that harm.

How can you determine any one company’s contribution to climate change harms? Richard Heede found in his 2013 peer-reviewed paper published in the Journal of Climate Change that “the 20 largest investor-owned Carbon Barons have, over the past 150 years, extracted enough fossil fuels to produce up to 30% of global emissions. The five companies named in the suit resulted in 181 gigatons of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere during the previous century and a half. That’s 12.5% of all human greenhouse gases.” Further research by Heede concludes that the collective business practices of “90 fossil fuel corporations have driven nearly 2/3 of the observed increases in global surface temperatures.”

Who knew what and when? According to the suit, the leaders of these companies have been aware their products were emitting dangerous greenhouse gases for nearly 40 years. In 2015, The Los Angeles Times cited Exxon scientists warning their own company that the use of fossil fuels “should not be encouraged because of the risk they poised” back in 1977. They also cited a director in Exxon’s research unit warning that the CO2 emissions modeled in the company’s 50-year planning documents “will produce effects which will indeed be catastrophic at least for a substantial fraction of the Earth’s population.”

But aren’t we, as consumers, equally culpable since we are the ones who purchase and burn the stuff? According to Jason Mark, we could certainly make a statement by skipping that vacation or walking to work. But the Carbon Barons alone had the ability to intervene when they learned their products could have catastrophic consequences. They alone possessed the scientific awareness, economic might, and political influence to have avoided climate chaos – and they chose not to.

The lawsuits come down to the argument that the Carbon Barons knew about the dangers of fossil fuel combustion for decades yet failed to disclose them and even spent money to confuse the general public. Doesn’t this sound like the Tobacco industry’s tactics?

The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report stating that more than $350 billion have already been spent in response to climate-change-related extreme weather events, and “these costs will likely increase over time.” Meanwhile, in 2014, Exxon Mobil posted a record profit of $32.5 billion.

We have been lifetime supporters of conservation and the environment. We believe that the producers of the fossil fuel energy we have become dependent upon should pay reparations for the damages caused by fossil fuel related climate change. Once the entire cost of burning fossil fuels becomes apparent, the alternatives will become much more financially attractive. Thank you, Jason and The Sierra Club, for your in-depth and insightful article. Read his entire article here.

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 NYC Sues Big Oil for Climate Damage Reparations appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Want to solve the balance of payments problem? Export clean energy production equipment and technology to China and India. There’s a huge demand! Want to reduce your taxes? Invest now in the businesses that mitigate the high cost of super storm recovery and drought related food costs. There’s a huge demand! Want to create jobs? Provide tax advantages to producers and consumers of alternative energy. It’s a market that’s not going away. In fact, it comes with an ever-increasing demand.

If the federal government is hamstrung by the carbon producers, let the states like California, and local governments, like Chicago, lead the way. They can provide rules and regulations that give alternative energy the advantage over carbon. They can provide tax credits and other incentives to businesses addressing this issue. And they can provide the volume of purchases for their own uses that will reduce the price of these alternatives.

For instance, shouldn’t every government vehicle be electric? We are excited by the new businesses we see popping up every day that address this demand. All electric and drive-train-conversion garbage trucks and busses are great examples. These are coming from new businesses that create local jobs and can lower taxes by reducing government and public service energy costs.

What about the postal service, the police, the utilities and so on? There’s a huge market here that is only just beginning to be accessed. Local government and public service organizations can tip the scales by providing large purchases that reduce the cost of production and make alternatives competitive with conventional carbon-producing choices.

The creation and mass production of efficient home battery systems will ultimately cut the cord to the carbon-producing utility companies that argue that they are not getting paid for “storing” your solar power on their grid. Fine, cut the cord. Store it in your garage.

We live in a local government district that recently used its power of eminent domain to take over the utility company within its jurisdiction. Then it required the purchase of alternative energy to provide its subscribers. This not only sent a message to other local governments, but increased the demand for alternatively produced energy and reduced its cost.

At some point, it will become obvious that the utility companies heavily invested in carbon energy sources are trying to use their influence to stop alternative energy because they simply don’t want the competition. The gas lighting companies were the largest obstacles to Edison’s electric light. What changed things was the price tag. Electric lighting was eventually cheaper than gas.

This is what business, with the help of local government, must do today. Make alternative energy cheaper than carbon producing energy. They can do this with regulations, purchases, and tax breaks. In the end, producers and consumers alike want to spend less money. If the environment is saved, it will be because it’s cheaper to save it, and it’s also good for business!

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 Saving the Environment is Good for Business appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

So they looked at the travel industry from a different angle. What they discovered was the increasing popularity of food and wine especially with the cruising boomers. They really identified and pioneered this market with their unique, high quality European wine and food “Epicurean Tours,” resulting in Larry being chosen by Conde Nast as World’s Top Wine Travel Specialist for three years in a row.

During our Halloween dinner with this well-traveled and cultured entrepreneurial couple, the conversation got around to our favorite subject – entrepreneurship, its challenges and its principles. They often give us great sound bites that sum up complex business relationships in just a few well-chosen words. This evening Larry said, “It’s volume or it’s margin.”  Then he added,” Distribution makes the difference.”

It sounds so simple; decide if your product or service is going to be at a velocity price point (volume sales) or if you are willing to forego distribution for margin (higher profit on fewer sales). But it gets complicated. Most small businesses are looking for higher margin because they know they can’t afford the investment in time, energy and capital to achieve a positive cash flow at lower price points.

Other businesses have a model that doesn’t require distribution, then charge enough to see a profit at a low volume of sales. Still others evolve at medium prices but soon reach their capacity and are unable to expand.

The only way to enter the market when we started our business was at the velocity price point. That is the price at which the greatest volume is sold. Little did we know that we would have to sell over 200,000 cases per year just to break even! Back then folks would say, “Why doesn’t America have a good $5 bottle of wine?” The answer was that it simply didn’t pencil out, especially for an undercapitalized startup.

Now that we have had that painful experience, we counsel our clients, “Make up your mind; is it going to be high margins or large distribution?” Most want to produce and sell a competitively priced product, but they generally underestimate the cost of sales, including the costs of distribution. Unless they are starting with a big investment, or unless they are willing to spend years cash flowing the cost of expansion like we did, they are naturally limited to a smaller market at a higher price.

The obvious problem with the higher margin model is that unless you sell it to a bigger player who wants a high margin business and has the capacity to expand it, you run the risk of being underpriced by a bigger player.

The problem with the higher volume distribution model is the years you have to work at it before you see any real margin. The good news here is that by establishing a market for your product you may be able to attract an acquirer who can scale your business up quickly because they have a distribution infrastructure already in place that can “bolt on” your low margin, velocity price point business.

This is the beauty of the “road side fruit stand” approach. Folks drive up, buy your products and drive home with them. And that’s the end of the distribution program. But it may be hard to sell the fruit stand! So what’s it going to be? Are ya goin’ for margin, or are ya goin’ for volume?

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 Entrepreneurs Must Decide Between Volume or Margin appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.