Startup company | The Barefoot Spirit

Why Worthy Cause Marketing Works

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 02:35:37 +0000

We are often asked, “What’s the difference between ‘Cause’ Marketing and ‘Worthy Cause’ Marketing?” The most obvious difference is the intention of the marketing. With Cause Marketing, the emphasis seems to be on creating an image that your company is sponsoring a particular non-profit. The intention is to show the general public that you are helping a cause that everyone agrees is beneficial. Many non-profits rely on these sponsorships to continue to do their good works. The “selling” of sponsorships is necessary to support especially large non-profits, and the big companies that pay for these sponsorships deserve our admiration.

But what about the start-ups and struggling entrepreneurs who can barely make ends meet? How can they, with limited funds, support their chosen non-profits, and at the same time create sales of their products? For smaller companies, their support is, after all, a marketing effort.

The answer we found is Worthy Cause Marketing. It’s not aimed directly at the general public as if to say, “Look, we’re doing our part, you can feel good about buying our products because we are the official sponsors of this or that non-profit.” It’s more about addressing the individual members of the non-profit, with the hope that your efforts on the non-profits’ behalf will give them a social reason to buy your products and services. Wouldn’t you prefer to support the companies that support your causes?

But if you are a start-up or a small struggling business, you are probably under-capitalized and can’t afford cash donations, let alone big sponsorship fees, or even an advertising budget. With your limited funds, how can you get noticed by the right audience who wants your product or services?

Our own company was grossly under-capitalized, just like most start-ups, and incidentally, like most of our clients and the entrepreneurial students we talk to today. We faced the same dilemma that they do. “How can we get the word out to the folks who are most likely to buy our product or services in the most efficient way?” You realize that you can’t buy a sponsorship, but you want to help and you need customers.

Worthy Cause Marketing provided an answer. We could afford to donate products and services. We could afford to take the non-profits’ message to the street in the form of signage on our products in a venue they could not otherwise access: the stores. We could afford to send our employees in to help them set up and tear down for the fundraisers. We could afford to engage in their functions and events. We became more than just sponsors – we became partners in their causes.

We chose non-profits and community fundraisers that we, and our product, resonated with. They were worthy of us, our time, and our products. We gave their members a social reason to buy our products, and we were efficient because we helped the groups who were the most likely to purchase our products.

In the 20 years of growing Barefoot Wines, we never paid for commercial advertising. We relied solely on Worthy Cause Marketing, and became one of the fastest growing wine brands in the nation. It worked for us. It just might work for you!

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.

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The Barefoot Spirit Defined

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 21:51:53 +0000

Many people have asked us, “What are you guys selling, exactly?” We are no longer selling wine. Now we sell books, speaking engagements, and consulting services, and what we really have to offer is an idea. We call it, “the barefoot spirit.”

Simply stated, the barefoot spirit is a set of guiding principles that steer you toward the right decisions in every aspect of business. It’s the delicate balance between the “barefoot” feet-on-the-ground practicality and the “spirit” head-in-the-clouds that guides you and drives you. It’s OK to have your head in the clouds as long as your feet are firmly planted on the ground.

The barefoot spirit is a business style. It’s a way of succeeding by turning hardship into opportunity with hustle, and turning hustle into success with heart.

Every business faces hardship, especially in the start- up phase. Then, just when you think you are on top of it, comes the realization that you must grow to survive. You’re no longer pushing it to get it going; now you’re running to catch up to keep it growing! And all this is with too little capital and even less knowledge of uncharted waters. You give up an eight-to-five for a five-to-eight. You work in cramped conditions with second-hand equipment and you scramble to pay your bills. Your personal life suffers and sometimes you wonder if you’re going to make it at all. This may go on for years. Now that’s hardship!

But with the proper attitude and tenacity, you soon discover that within every hardship is an opportunity – if you hustle! There’s no time for sitting around and debating. You have to seize the moment. Because you are so small, you’re light on your feet and you can pivot quickly. Big, established companies can’t move fast enough to take advantage of sudden changes in the marketplace, but you can. When you make a mistake, you can learn from it fast and make improvements that very day. If you are bogged down with sluggish associates, you just may have to do it yourself. There’s a lot to do and it may not be the kind of work you signed up for, so you better get started! That’s hustle!

Your grandmother called it “the Golden Rule,” and your mother called it “Put yourself in the other guy’s shoes,” but today we call it, “How would you like it?” How would you like it if you worked for yourself, sold to yourself, owed money to yourself, or bought a product from yourself? It sounds simple enough, but as you begin to apply this principle of “heart” to your key business relationships, you discover it’s anything but simple. In business, there’s no room for double standards. You have to have a heart for the people you rely on. Showing empathy for their concerns is a major factor in your success. This isn’t just goody-goody talk; there are many practical reasons for treating people “right.”

The barefoot spirit is not a panacea, but it is a protective helmet in a hardhat area. It is a flashlight in a dark room. It will help prepare you for the unexpected and give you the guiding principles you need to see the big picture and make better decisions.

In our book, The Barefoot Spirit, rather than recite a list of do’s and don’ts, we shared our real life experiences that demonstrate this principle in the lessons we learned. When you read what we went through, which is not unlike any undercapitalized start-up, we hope you will be entertained, enlightened, and empowered.

Who We Are

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

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Women’s Equality in the Workplace is Just Good Business!

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 25 May 2013 20:46:44 +0000

Sheryl Sandberg, Yahoo COO, author of Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, is the founder of the Lean In Movement. She was the keynote speaker at the Professional Business Women of California conference in San Francisco this week. More than 4000 business and professional women came to hear her remarks on the current status of women in the workplace. She points out that there has been virtually no progress in the past 10 years, and women are still underrepresented in top management positions. She listed the many ways that women are still perceived as less competent than their male counterparts to hold the top jobs.

We thank Sheryl for restarting this long overdue conversation. Her movement will benefit not only women but the entire economy. Imagine what great things can happen when we unleash the full potential of 100% of the work force!

Bonnie Harvey was honored to be included in the speaker’s roster and spoke about the self-employment option.

Small businesses and start-ups can’t afford to entertain the “old boy’s” culture still persisting in many larger corporations. When we started Barefoot wines, we were up against the same challenges that every start-up faces: undercapitalization and limited knowledge. The gender of our employees was never a factor. Why? Because we had bills to pay in 30 days that we didn’t have the money for! The very survival of our company was at stake! We were facing insurmountable challenges establishing ourselves in the marketplace. We had to hire the best people to make and source our wines, design and manage our marketing program, and manage our business at every level.

Ironically, we as a company ran into the “old boys” clubs at other companies, and it was a challenge for us. Imagine trying to sell a product to a woman shopper that she wants and having to go through predominately male gatekeepers who were the retail buyers. From our research we learned that most of the wine was sold in the supermarket, and most of the supermarket buyers were women. They wanted consistent flavor from year to year, just the opposite of the vintage-dated wine business. Barefoot blended different years to achieve consistency and continuity.

We hired one of the first female winemakers, a female marketing manager, a female accountant, a female traffic and compliance manager, a female marketing materials manager, and one of the first female sales managers in the male dominated wine business. We hired the best, period! Our board was made up of two women and two men. It would have been foolish for us to make any gender distinctions. Most small businesses and start-ups have to hire the best. They have no other choice.

So why do so many of the larger corporations persist in gender discrimination? Are their budgets so big they don’t feel the necessity to put the best person in the job regardless of gender? Are the top, mostly male, decision makers inadvertently banding together to save their collective jobs at the expense of the companies they serve? Are the policies of all larger firms so similar that women can’t change jobs to another big company without facing a similar prejudice?

Next to publically traded companies, women-owned businesses are the top U.S. employers today. Will the large companies discover the benefits of treating women equally in the workplace before they quit and start their own businesses? Women-owned businesses have no glass ceilings. No wonder they are growing so fast!

Who We Are

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

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Can You Go From Selling Wine to Selling The American Entrepreneurial Spirit?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sun, 19 May 2013 02:09:44 +0000

Today there is more interest in entrepreneurship than ever before. Half of the college grads are facing self-employment, as perhaps their only opportunity for employment. But are they prepared? It takes a lot more than book knowledge, a good business plan, and fancy four-syllable words to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship.

Many middle managers saw their jobs disappear during the recession, never to return. They also are trying to figure out what to do. Will they start their own business? How hard can that be? Then there’s the challenge of being under-capitalized and not having experience in the critical aspects of the business they may choose. Sometimes they don’t even have the luxury of choosing what they want to do. It just falls in their lap. Now what?

The big corporations also have a keen interest in how they can become more entrepreneurial. They want creative, resourceful, and imaginative solutions. But many are hamstrung with compliance, structural and compensation plans that put out-of-the-box thinking right back in the box. They wish their own people could be light on their feet, react quickly to market dynamics and demonstrate all the other skills of successful start-ups. They want to hire people with the entrepreneurial mindset and cultivate an entrepreneurial culture. But what is that exactly?

We successfully emerged from the same tunnel that many new grads are about to enter. Having built a positive company culture to achieve that success, we realized we had something valuable to offer students, aspiring entrepreneurs and companies seeking to be entrepreneurial. We decided to write a book. But how would it be structured? We had so much to share.

We have read hundreds of business books over the years. Check that – we have started hundreds of business books, but the truth is, like many people, we actually finished very few. Why? Frankly, they were tedious and somewhat boring. Most were prescriptive texts with the 5 things you should always do, the 7 things you should never do, and the 28 things your customer wants from you today. After a few chapters of lists like this we kind of lose interest.

So how could we write to communicate the helpful business principles we learned the hard way that our readers would finish? How could we hold their interest in a world of tweets, elevator pitches, and short sound bites?

Our entrepreneurial experience was anything but boring. Surprising, unpredictable, and dramatic, yes, but boring, no. Filled with challenges, failures, and ah-ha moments, but boring? No. So why not write a fast-moving business adventure story where the reader rides along with us on a seat-of-their-pants rocket ride, behind the scenes of the mysterious wine business? Let them draw their own conclusions from story after story about what it’s really like to grow to be a successful entrepreneur. Let them see folks, not that different from themselves, face seemingly overwhelming challenges and somehow overcome them. Sometimes in the strangest and most surprising ways!

Is it just about wine? No. It’s about ideas. It’s about the ideas, philosophies, and guiding principles we call the “Barefoot Spirit.” They helped us and they can help anyone selling anything.

When we built the Barefoot Wine brand, we knew nothing about winemaking. So we teamed up with the best winemaker we could find, Jennifer Wall. When we wrote The Barefoot Spirit, we teamed up with the best writer we could find, Rick Kushman.

We wrote the book to entertain you with the humble beginnings of a brand you know. We want to encourage, inspire and empower a whole new generation with the American entrepreneurial spirit – west coast style! And yes, it’s a perfect Beach Read – just in time for summer. We hope it adds a few laughs and a few pearls to your vacation.

The Barefoot Spirit will be released next Tuesday, May 21st. It is now available everywhere. Get the ‘Spirit and pass it on!

We would love to hear what you think of our book!

Cheers!

Michael & Bonnie

Who We Are

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

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Happy Birthday Barefoot!

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 21:06:29 +0000

Twenty-seven years ago, Barefoot Wines were bottled for the first time. But how the wine found its way to the bottling line was a fluke in itself. A farmer wasn’t getting paid for several years for his grapes and his friends went to bat for him to see how much they could collect. It wasn’t easy. The winery owing for the grapes had no money and was in bankruptcy. It was controlled by the secured creditors (other farmers who hadn’t been paid by the winery). They wanted to get paid too. It didn’t look good.

The farmer’s friends managed to cut a deal with the winery to trade for bulk wine and bottling services. It wasn’t going to pay the farmer’s bills, but it was better than what the other creditors got – three and a half cents on the dollar, four years later, with the attorneys taking most of it. The trade was the best option they had.

Next, they had to bottle the bulk wine and sell it. Of course, that meant coming up with a label, a marketing program, a distribution plan, a budget, buyers, and, oh yes, money. They had none of that. In fact, all they had was the wine and the bottling services. So they went to work, hopeful and naive with the wide-eyed youthful excitement of those who have no idea what lay ahead. If they had, they may not have even begun.

Not knowing any better, they set about this daunting task guided by what seemed logical and obvious to them, not realizing as wine industry outsiders they were breaking the rules and writing new ones. So instead of designing a label and trying to sell it to the buyers, they went to the buyers and asked them what they wanted. One buyer said, “Gee, no one has ever asked me that before! But as long as you asked, here’s what I need.” He explained that the label was going on a curved surface under fluorescent lighting making the label difficult to read. He said supermarket shoppers were mostly female who were pushing shopping carts at least four feet away from the shelves in a wine section that had hundreds of labels and looked like a pizza. He said the new label should be readable and stand out in all this.

Another buyer said the name should be the same as the logo, it should be in plain English (there were lots of snobby French style labels at the time), it should be easily recognizable and memorable, and – get this! – friendly! Imagine that!

What a wealth of knowledge! What if they hadn’t asked?

The farmer’s friends remembered a generic-looking novelty label that had been around for only a few years and sold a limited number of cases. But the elements of that old label just might satisfy the buyers’ suggestions.

So, they bought the rights to the defunct Barefoot label, completely redesigned it, and put it on the shelf. The logo was the same as the name, in English, and easily recognizable. The brand took years to get off the ground, but in time, it became popular, and the farmer was paid back 100 cents on the dollar.

Barefoot wine was born during Easter week in 1986 and we were, and still are, the friends of the farmer. Happy Birthday Barefoot! As they say, “You’ve come a long way, Baby!”

Who We Are

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

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Why Being an Outsider and Undercapitalized can be Your Strongest Assets

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 03:00:27 +0000

Sometimes what you don’t have can be a true blessing. When we speak to aspiring entrepreneurs and students hoping to start their own businesses, they often tell us that they are afraid of being under capitalized and not knowing enough about their industry.

They have been taught that in order to start a new business, they need to write a detailed business plan and get it financed. They have been encouraged to stay in an industry they know.

Sometimes however, opportunity presents itself when you least expect it. You may think you do not have all the knowledge you need, or a detailed business plan, or the financing in place. You may not have even considered this business. Yet seizing an opportunity is generally time sensitive.

Sure, you’ll need experience from folks in the industry and you’re going to have to hustle to write some kind of a plan. But from our experience, most business plans are only good for getting initial investors. Once the rubber meets the road, the plan will often be a memory and the cash flow projection will be the new “plan.” And that will change monthly. As far as money is concerned, most start-ups never have enough anyway. So being adequately capitalized is a relative term. That means you may have to ask your relative for some extra cash – even if you thought you had enough to get started.

But being well capitalized creates its own problems. Some attempt to solve all their problems by throwing money at them. Some buy more advertising when sales are down, when they really need to concentrate in a smaller market they can control. Some throw a ton of money into a cute logo, clever marketing slogans and cool packaging when understanding the distribution system is what is really needed.

When you are underfinanced, you have no choice but to be creative, resourceful and careful. We often say, “If necessity is the mother of invention, then being under capitalized is surely the father.” Some of the most imaginative solutions come from being forced to solve business problems with limited capital. In fact, you may well discover new ways of doing things that are more efficient and less costly than conventional thinking would dictate. We were unable to afford advertising when we started our business, so we discovered another way to get the word out. Turns out, it was more effective than paid advertising. By donating our product, time, and resources to non-profits within our market area, we gave their membership a social reason to buy our product.

When you are outside the industry, you think outside the box. When we started Barefoot Wines, in a world of stuffy wine labels, we put a colorful, fun, label with a foot on our bottle. In a world of mostly male gatekeepers and vintage wine, we produced a non-vintage wine blended for consistency, and aimed our marketing at predominately female shoppers. We didn’t know the industry, so we didn’t realize how unconventional all this was. Now our industry has loads of non-vintage wines with fun labels.

True innovation often comes from the outside by folks who don’t know what they can’t do. Imaginative problem solving often comes from folks who still have to get the job done in spite of inadequate capital, because they can’t do it any other way.

So if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, chances are you already have two effective weapons you can use: limited capital and limited industry knowledge. Use them to spearhead your imagination and innovation – and maybe even reform your entire industry!

Who We Are

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

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Build Your Business using Guiding Principles – Part 3

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 03:13:30 +0000

The salespeople who call on your business have much more to offer than the products and services they represent. They are a gold mine of information and are in a position to significantly help your business.

In this series, we have examined the guiding principles that were instrumental to our success in the belief that they will be valuable to you in your business as well. The questions we ask put you in the other guy’s shoes to help you discover how your basic attitudes and philosophies affect your important decisions and ultimately your success. Here is our third question:

3. How would you like selling to yourself? If you were a salesperson and had two clients, one who treated you with respect and dignity, and another who viewed you as a necessary evil, which one would get preferential treatment? If one client held the view that all salespeople were hucksters and tricksters, would you offer them the special deals? Or would you be more likely to tell the client who treated you with respect, the most economical ways to buy your products? If you knew significant market information affecting your industry or your customer’s business, which client would you share it with? If you could extend terms, reduce interest rates or avoid holding fees, who would you tell first, the client that took you on time, was glad to see you, and treated you like a strategic partner? Or the one who kept you waiting with the “it’s just another salesperson trying to sell me something, and they can wait,” attitude? When you look at relationships through the salesperson’s eyes, you realize how much they influence behavior. Why not treat salespeople like partners and get the edge?

We always treated our vendors and their salespeople as if they were part of our staff. We saw them as valuable allies who could significantly influence our bottom line. Here are four reasons why we wanted to be their favorite client:

Deals: The salesperson who calls on you may have special pocket deals. These are not on the price sheet but are given to the salesperson to help close new customers or gain larger orders. Often the supplier or vendor will have a close-out at a very attractive price. Give your salesperson a reason to offer these to you first!

Terms: Vendor salespersons are your advocates for better terms with their companies. Their recommendations can make all the difference, and their endorsement means they stand behind you. They know the process and can give you insights on how to maneuver successfully. When you give them respect, they will share what they know and go to bat for you!

Information: We are often too busy running our businesses to gather the latest news in our industries. Sometimes we are blindsided by a competitor’s move, a new opportunity, or a change in the laws or business practices. Your vendor’s salespeople know all about it! It is part of their job to stay on top of the ever-changing marketplace, making them a major source of information for your company.

Special Accommodations: Occasionally you will be offered an opportunity that you can’t take advantage of due to lack of supplies or terms. Your vendor’ salesperson can help, especially when it means more income for their company. Many times our vendors provided us with incredible opportunities to help us grow. They knew we would be loyal and beholding. Why? Because their salespeople were treated well by us and our staff. We made them feel important and part of our team.

Next time we will further reveal your basic guiding business principles by asking the last of the four questions, “Would you buy from yourself?”

Who We Are

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

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Build Your Business using Guiding Principles – Part 2

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 03:08:44 +0000

Ever wonder what goes through a creditor’s mind when they decide whether or not to give you credit? Creditors, like suppliers, vendors, and bankers who extend credit to you, are a bit anxious and for good reason. They don’t know how you’ll behave when times are tough. They don’t know if you will be a “beg pay” or worse. On the other hand, they want to increase their business with you, so they hope you will succeed and buy more of their products and services. When you grow, they grow.

How can you turn this apparent dichotomy around? How can you put them at ease with your account to get better terms, extended credit, and get real cooperation in your mutual growth? By putting yourself in their shoes, you can discover how your basic attitude toward creditors affects your credit. Here then, is our second question to help you discover successful guiding business principles:

2. Would you extend credit to yourself? Would you extend credit to a customer who falls behind in their payments, and is difficult to reach? Or would you prefer one who sees you as a strategic business partner, keeps you up to date, shares challenges and opportunities, and understands that you have bills to pay too?

Here are 4 ways we extended our credit when we were behind in our payments:

Strategic Alliances. We identified the vendors, suppliers and services our business depended on. We looked for alliances with other small start-ups and market climbers that needed our business to grow as well. Many were willing to “make an investment” in our business with favorable terms to help us get started and grow. Of course, they wanted to see some seasoning and loyalty as well, but identifying those strategic allies was critical to our success.

Quarterly Meetings. We took the time to meet with our creditors quarterly, especially during the first few years, and allay their anxiety. We showed them our plans, and how and when we expected to see return on our investment. We showed them how we were making adjustments in the ever-changing marketplace. We told them our challenges and goals, and took them in as partners.

Advance Warnings. As soon as we knew we were going to be late on a payment, we called them. We told them that we realized that they too had bills to pay and we wanted to give them advance notice so they could make adjustments to save their credit. Then we gave them a payment plan based on our receivables that would bring our account up to date. Guess what? Several of them said they not only appreciated the advance notice and plan, but also extended our credit on the spot. They said we were the kind of customers they wanted!

Pop-Up Opportunities. Sometimes we would get an opportunity we didn’t have the funds to take advantage of. Suddenly a buyer wanted a big load that pushed our inventory and credit to the breaking point. That’s when we picked up the phone and laid out the scenario for our creditors, suppliers, and vendors. We asked them all for help. Depending on the deal, they often surprised us with cooperative teamwork to make it happen.

So wouldn’t you rather extend credit to a customer who is informative, transparent, and proactive? Your creditors would too, so adjust your business philosophy to be that kind of a customer.

As we continue to explore guiding principles, we will ask two additional questions: How would you like selling to yourself, and how would you like buying from yourself?

Who We Are

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

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Build Your Business using Guiding Principles – Part 1

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 23:46:20 +0000

Our grandparents called it “The Golden Rule.” Our parents told us to “Put yourself in the other guy’s shoes.” We call it “How would you like it?” But it’s all the same concept of fair play. Unfortunately, in our fast-paced, highly competitive business environment, this basic idea can get lost.

Starting a business feels overwhelming. It seems like there’s never enough money, time, or resources to gain traction in the marketplace. We may apply industry standards in our own business, and not even question them. Then we add our own personal standards that we inadvertently bring to our new business. Some may be counterproductive to our very success. Business consists of one decision after another, back to back, sometimes in rapid succession, and often under pressure. Is there a set of guiding principles we can weigh those decisions up against to help us make the choices that will sustain and grow our business?

While building the Barefoot Wine brand, we learned, sometimes the hard way, what those guiding principles looked like. We call them collectively, The Barefoot Spirit . They enabled us to get the advice we needed, and keep the best people. They reduced our need for capital, and increased our credit and terms. By relying on our guiding principles to make decisions, we increased sales, reduced our overhead, gained new loyal customers, and grew our brand. Since then we have found that these same principles apply to most businesses.

Over the next few posts we will examine these guiding principles and how they may benefit you. We will ask questions in four categories to uncover a series of critical decisions that can make a big difference in your success. They may seem simple at first, but as you get into them and their implications, you will realize they are anything but simple.

The questions are: How would you like it if you 1) worked for yourself, 2) extended credit to yourself, 3) sold to yourself, or 4) bought from yourself?

1. Would you work for yourself? Would you want to work for an employer who treated your labor as a commodity, trying to see how little you would work for? Would that save the company money, or lose money due to turnover and lost relationships? Or would you prefer an employer who sees people as an asset, rewarding them for performance and acknowledging their achievements? Would this increase innovation and long-term relationships? We found that people work primarily for income, recognition, personal time, and security. When we began paying for performance rather that attendance, we found our best people didn’t leave because they benefited financially from their own production. Those who were less productive were paid less and could not afford to stay. As an employer, do you acknowledge producers publically, or are you afraid they will ask for a raise? By giving time off, do you think you are losing production, or that you are increasing production with recharged and loyal people? Do you see medical and retirement benefits as a cost, or as an investment in long-term stability?

Your attitude and philosophy toward these critical aspects of business will shape the decisions you make. Next time we will examine the other questions that reveal your basic business philosophy. In the long run, if you would be happy doing business with yourself on all of these levels, you will have a big head start on the ultimate success of your company.

Who We Are

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

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Vineyard & Winery Management Article

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 03:02:47 +0000

Linda Murphy talked with Michael about the story of Barefoot Wine, including the challenges, successes, and lessons learned along the way. It’s all here in the January/February issue of Vineyard & Winery Management.

Who We Are

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

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