By SCOTT STEEPLETON NEWS-PRESS CITY EDITOR

March 7, 2013 5:59 AM

When he returns to Santa Barbara for a speaking engagement this week, Barefoot Cellars co-founder Michael Houlihan will be treading familiar territory.

He attended City College 1965-67 and it was here, in the early stages of Barefoot, that Mr. Houlihan, who founded the brand with partner Bonnie Harvey, pounded the pavement making the sales.

Mr. Houlihan and Ms. Harvey will speak at the Scheinfeld Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at City College at 4:30 p.m. Friday, the first of 10 stops on a nationwide tour to get people fired up about starting a business and to promote their upcoming book, “Barefoot Spirt: How Hardship, Hustle and Heart Built a Bestselling Wine,” which comes out in May.

Admission is free, but seats are limited. Attendees will get access to the eBook version of “The Barefoot Spirit.”

The wine’s roots date to 1965, when San Francisco writer and reporter Davis Bynum created Barefoot Bynum Burgundy at his home in the Bay Area. In 1986, Mr. Houlihan and Ms. Harvey came aboard and Barefoot Cellars was born – in their home.

From 1987 to 1995, Mr. Houlihan personally serviced every account in Santa Barbara.

In 2005, the brand was sold to E. & J. Gallo Winery, the world’s largest family-owned winery and the largest exporter of California wine.

In 2007, Barefoot and Surfrider teamed up to create the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project, a nationwide initiative to keep our beaches “barefoot-friendly.” Each summer, the Project goes coast-to-coast, calling on community volunteers and local Surfrider members to come out and clean their shores.

Not bad for a couple who knew nothing about the business when they started out.

“It wasn’t easy, man,” Mr. Houlihan said in a phone interview Wednesday.

But it was clear from the beginning who would do what.

“Bonnie is very good with what I call minutiae,” Mr. Houlihan said with a chuckle. “But that covers things like money and legal and contracts. She also ran the bottling lines and was in charge of all promotion at the beginning. I am the swashbuckling sword-wielder. I do things like sales and marketing, long-term planning.”

“We respect each other for our different skill sets,” he added.

While the company has gone through lots of change, Ms. Harvey’s footprint is still the label iconography for Barefoot Cellars, which includes still and sparkling wines.

In the talks, as well as in their new book, the couple speaks to an audience much broader than people who want to get into the wine business.

“The three things you gotta know in any business is personnel management, distribution management and cash flow management,” said Mr. Houlihan, whose varied background includes productivity and process improvement.

“You have to know how to treat people so you can maintain and grow relationships. Also you have to know strategic allies. ‘Who’s going to make out if we make out?’ ”

He puts a premium on distribution management. After all, you could have the best idea for a product in the world, but if you can’t get it to customers, what good is it?

“Warehouses are full of good ideas that are sitting unsold. I’m sorry, but it’s more about distribution than the product or how good it is for the price.”

These days, Mr. Houlihan is a principal in the wine consulting business Houlihan and Jones, and he and Ms. Harvey produce free business blogs on two sites every week, www.barefootwinefounders.com andwww.thebrandauthority.net .

Their book is available for download at both sites.

While his work in the wine business these days is more focused on helping others make their brands successful, Mr. Houlihan says one thing about the industry that hasn’t changed – the regulation. Each state has its own rules when it comes to what you can sell, where you can sell it and how much you can sell it for.

“We’re the United States of America, but from an alcohol beverage standpoint, when you’re trying to sell wine interstate, it’s a loose confederation of independent countries held together by Oprah Winfrey and Ricky Lake,” he said.

“We’re selling ideas now, not wine.”

email: ssteepleton@newspress.com

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 Santa Barbara News-Press Article on Michael Houlihan appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

MARCH 8: SCHEINFELD CENTER PRESENTS…

A Conversation with Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey, Barefoot Wine Founders

Join us for yet another installment of our popular Enlightened Entrepreneurship Series as we interactively explore with Michael and Bonnie their extraordinary story of starting a company that became the number one selling wine in the nation.  Networking reception follows.  Space is limited and registration is required.  FREE EVENT.

  WHEN:  Friday, March 8, 2013

  WHERE:  Fe Bland Forum, BC Building

  TIME:  4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

  RSVP: Click Here to Register

Sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Small Business Development Center.

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 Michael and Bonnie will be Speaking at The Scheinfeld Center in Santa Barbara, CA- SOLD OUT appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

This afternoon, we enjoyed a wonderful beachside luncheon with Melissa Moreno, the school’s Director. She has been instrumental in the creation and development of the Center. Only three years old, it’s already getting the attention and support of several successful entrepreneurs.

Check out their fireside-chat format conversations with these notables on video at their site. These chats are jam packed with excited students interacting with real entrepreneurial successes.

Today’s entrepreneurial students want case studies from real business founders. They want to hear their story and ask them practical questions about how they overcame hardship, challenges and undercapitalization.

Our economy has proven time and again that it’s the entrepreneurs that create new businesses, new jobs, and innovation. Today, we face big challenges. For many graduates, sometimes the only source of employment is self employment.

The Scheinfeld Center provides a big head start for anyone thinking about starting their own business, whether they are looking for credit, or just want to get the latest academic disciplines or practical tools necessary for successful entrepreneurship.

Like schools everywhere, they are struggling with the economy. This seems ironic since they are one of the obvious vehicles to turn the economy around. They deserve your interest and support, so please help pass the word about the Scheinfeld Center. We need more schools like this!

We were honored to be asked to present our experience to the Scheinfeld students next March. Now we have another great reason to visit Santa Barbara. We hope the lessons we learned, sometimes the hard way, will help the next generation of entrepreneurs to achieve success!

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 Scheinfeld Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.