Rosie the Riveter | The Barefoot Spirit

How the Official Champagne for The Times Square New Year’s Eve Party Was Named

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 22:45:19 +0000

Michael Houlihan, Co-Founder of Barefoot Wines, came back exhausted from a sales trip to Southern California in late 1993. He told Bonnie Harvey, the other Co-Founder of Barefoot Wines, and her mom, Mabel Hurd, it was a disaster because the stores were stocking up for Christmas and New Years.

“We sell wine,” Michael said. “And everyone’s buying Champagne.”

“Why don’t you have a Champagne?” Mabel said. Mabel had been a Rosie-the-Riveter welder during World War II, helping build liberty ships in the Portland shipyards. In late 1987, Mabel was living in Sandy, Oregon, in the foothills of Mt. Hood, growing and selling organic blueberries. They asked Mabel to come live with them in Sonoma County, to help them grow their new business, Barefoot Wines.

“I can barely sell wine,” Michael said. But he thought, you know, why don’t we have a Champagne? “What would I call it, anyway?”

Mabel barely paused. “Well, I’d call it Barefoot Bubbly,” she said.

It took a few years. Barefoot’s sparkling wine didn’t hit the market until 1997. A year later, Michael and Bonnie toasted Mabel on her 80^th birthday with their Champagne named Barefoot Bubbly.

Thanks to the winemaking mastery of Jennifer Wall, Barefoot Bubbly became a reality and an American favorite! And her friend Mabel would be very proud to see the champagne she named become the toast of the town, heck, the toast of the planet!

Barefoot Bubbly will be the Official Champagne for the Times Square, New Year’s Eve Ball Drop, viewed by 3 billion people worldwide. Barefoot Bubbly is the first American champagne in years to toast this very American celebration. And we are especially proud of the fact that it was originally named by Bonnie’s mother.

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 How the Official Champagne for The Times Square New Year’s Eve Party Was Named appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Should Some Clients Be Fired?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 19:30:18 +0000

With the New Year upon us, we are all reflecting on our past and how we can improve our future. In the early days of our business, we took any client or customer we could get. We had to stay in business. It’s humbling and sometimes we had to put up with a fair measure of abuse. Clients, after all, are human with all the strengths and weaknesses that go along with that. They are in a position of power and they know it.

Good clients realize that treating their vendors (you) with respect will result in you doing an even better job for them because your are more concerned about their needs. They understand that developing a genuinely positive and friendly relationship will pay dividends over the years. Some clients, however, may use their position of power to further their own agenda which may not have anything to do with business or getting the job at hand done. Every salesperson knows this.

As an entrepreneur, you are in sales, no question about it. So the question is, how long do you put up with guff before you fire an abusive client? Well, certainly not in the first few years if you depend on their fees or purchases to stay in business. But eventually you will achieve a positive cash flow and have the luxury of choosing what clients you want to do business with.

Sure, it takes a lot of courage to fire a client. It seems counter-intuitive and counter-productive, but look at it this way: You can do a much better job for your remaining clients when you are working under less emotional stress. Removing fear and negativity from your mind share will do wonders for your ability to perform.

Michael’s father once told him when he was a young boy complaining about a schoolmate, “You are like a space station orbiting the earth. You only have 3 or 4 ports where visiting space ships can dock. When all the ports taken, no new ships can get in. First, you have to open up a port.”

Bonnie’s mother, a Rosie-the-Riveter type from World War II, lived with us for 7 years and supplied us with salt-of-the-earth wisdom and common-sense insights. She used to tell us that seasonal pruning makes the trees grow stronger and produce more fruit. This basic gardening philosophy, along with Michael’s father’s advice, can be applied to your company as well.

As the year comes to a close, take a good look at what clients you love to work with and those that give you that pain in the pit of your stomach. Are you still at that desperate stage where you can’t afford to let them go? Or are you now in a position to take a chance on filling that vacancy with a new client who may be more rewarding to work with? If you are, maybe it’s time to prune. You may just open up the opportunity for the right client that you now have time for. You may find that when unhampered by negative emotions, you can give your company and all your clients your very best.

You have a life too. And your work takes up a major chunk of it. If you’re anything like us, you work hard because you sincerely want the best for your clients. Why not pare down to the clients who really appreciate your efforts and encourage you to be your best? Why not open up a port for the ideal client to dock at your space station?

Who We Are

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

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We Lived with Rosie the Riveter!

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 11 May 2013 23:11:19 +0000

This Mother’s Day, we are honoring Bonnie’s mother, Mabel, with a visit to the Rosie the Riveter National Park in Richmond, California. The park is a memorial and testimonial to these gallant women who risked life and limb to help save our country.

Mabel was in her mid-twenties during World War II. In those days, things didn’t look good for the country and the world. Militarists had taken over in Germany and Japan – and they were winning. Copper was in such demand for the war effort that by 1943, pennies were made out of lead! Fighting in Europe and in the Pacific had taken many of the able-bodied men overseas. Much of the job of arming our side was left to the women. Mabel was one of over 20 million women who supported the war effort at home. Paid 30% less than men doing the same job, these women felt it their patriotic duty to help win the war. Many historians have pointed to their ability to simply out produce the enemy as the key factor in our eventual victory.

Mabel was a shipbuilder in Portland, Oregon. Every day she would show up at the shipyard with thousands of other young women outfitted to perform every job necessary to build an entire ship from the ground up – and launch one every day! She was a welder and specialized in seam welding; over, under and straight ahead. Huge cranes would lower massive plates of steel that she would maneuver into position and weld to other huge plates to create compartment after compartment on the new ship.

Because she was able to withstand the noxious acetylene fumes, she was assigned to some of the toughest welding jobs – below deck. Even though it was over a half of a century later when she passed away from lung complications, she was still a casualty of World War II.

When Bonnie and I first got together, we would visit her mom at her organic blueberry farm in Sandy, Oregon. We asked her to come live with us in California where it was warmer and drier. But she wouldn’t come because she didn’t want to be a burden. When we started Barefoot Wine, we told her we were overwhelmed and needed her help. She was on the next plane.

As her health improved in the warmer climate, she threw herself into whatever she could do to help us out. She would fold t-shirts, organize and distribute promotional materials, and even planted and maintained a full organic garden. She was a real salt of the earth type and everyone called her Mama Mabel.

She brought that “We can do it!” attitude into our business with encouragement and a wonderful sense of humor. Like so many other women who supported our troops, Mabel was a real team player.

One especially trying time, when Michael had come home empty handed from a grueling two-week sales trip, she said, “What’s got you so hang dog?”

Michael said, “It’s the Holidays, Mabel. Everybody wants Champagne, and all we have is wine.”

To which Mabel quipped, “Well, why don’t you have a Champagne then?”

Michael said, “Look Mabel, I can hardly sell the wine! And besides, what would we call it anyway?”

She answered in her matter-of-fact way, “Why, I’d call it Barefoot Bubbly!”

A few years later, Barefoot did produce a Champagne, and Mabel was toasted with Barefoot Bubbly on her 80^th birthday.

So here’s a toast to Mabel on Mother’s Day for her winning spirit, and to all the Rosie the Riveters who encouraged us with that “We can do it!” attitude. Happy Mother’s Day Mabel! You really did do it!

Who We Are

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

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