1. Time: For years we called on a big buyer who never gave us an order. But when he finally did buy, he bought big! We asked why he hesitated, and he said he had to get to know us first. He said our persistence proved we were dependable! When we asked a supplier for a higher credit limit they initially said no. But after years of sharing our plans with them quarterly, generally making timely payments, and calling in advance when we were late with a plan to bring us up to date, they dramatically increased our credit. Time is the ingredient that turns an acquaintance into a trusting supplier or buyer who will work with you to help grow your business.

2. Integrity. Do what you say you are going to do. Show up when you say you are going to. Honor your pricing and delivery dates, even when it hurts. Be reliable. Remember, you are judged by your behavior and that behavior can make the difference between business as usual or a growing business. Your buyers and creditors want to trust you. They make money when you are dependable, so give them no reason to worry about your company. Eventually we had buyers who said, “Keep me in stock on your products and let me know when you want to promote them.” That relationship was built on integrity.

3. Empathy. Put yourself in your customers’ and suppliers’ shoes. Find out what is important to them. From your buyers, find out the products and suppliers they like and why, and the ones they don’t and why. From your suppliers, understand their concerns extending you credit. Have their interest at heart. Demonstrate this with suggestions, products, and the kind of dependability that puts their fears at ease. If you show that you are concerned about their needs, sooner or later you will find an opportunity to provide them with a solution that solves their concerns – and yours!

4. Resolution. When there’s a problem, solve it quickly and in a way that makes the offended party whole. Then show them how you will prevent the problem from reoccurring. Remember, you are judged more by what you do when you’re “bad” than what you do when you’re “good.” So go beyond just apologizing and “make it good.” Make up for the time and hassle you caused, even if it costs you to do so. That will impress them more than a hundred great performances where everything went smoothly.

5. Loyalty. Give special treatment to the buyers and suppliers who took a chance on you and your product. Think twice before making a move that may hurt anyone’s business with whom you have been working with for years. Remember, they helped you and were expecting to benefit by your growth and success. When suppliers and buyers help you get off the ground, look for a ways to keeps your relationship strong, and give them your loyalty.

Sure, there’s more but these are the deal breakers when they are missing, and they cement the relationship when they are followed. Building relationships is the most important part of successful business. Take the time and show them what you are made of. It doesn’t cost, it pays!

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 5 Key Elements of Productive Business Relationships appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

We started to see functions as icons you could click on that would call up your contacts, your email, or your favorite app; but with a similar click to a certain icon of the same size, you can change the way your whole computer works. An entire generation was born into this desktop mentality that “all-the-boxes-are-the same-size.” Has this influenced us in other areas of critical thinking?

In the past, students in English classes had to “diagram” sentences. This was a graphic mapping process which identified the grammatical parts of the sentence like the subject (the actor), the verb (the action), and the predicate noun (the person, place, or thing acted upon). This exercise forced students to think in a cause-effect manner to construct sentences that would be less likely to be misunderstood. It also taught students that the structure of the sentence was essential to effective communication. The structure could determine, like the settings button on the desktop, how the message would be received.

Today we seem take structure for granted and leave it to the programmers and operating system engineers. It’s all done for us, so why bother? But has the convenience of having all this “thinking” done for us, with all the formats already designed, and all the processes already set up, robbed us of an exercise that we used to rely on just to communicate and solve problems? Maybe we need to take another look at how to set priorities.

So the question is, what is more important than what? And how do you prioritize your goals? Sure, given the very top priority we all face, which is the limited amount of time, we could safely say that all goals are based on the time it takes to achieve them, and start there. The basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter – and the requirements to achieve them – further add to the consensus. But after that we begin to get more abstract and personalized in our goals and priorities.

In order to set priorities you must know what has to happen first and why. You must also know what the effect will be on the rest of your goals if what must happen first doesn’t happen. We used to make this point by asking the question, “What’s most important: apples and oranges, peaches and cream, or your pants are on fire?” The correct answer, of course, is peaches and cream, because you’ll need the cream to put your pants out!

But seriously, setting any priority requires a set of standards that you value and apply to the situation. Standards can help you rank your priorities and get the right ones to the top of the list. They can keep you from getting pushed off course by less important interruptions and distractions. With a structure built on standards, you can focus and concentrate on what is most important – and achieve it.

The program engineers, who are doing most of your thinking, have standards and priorities. Shouldn’t you? All the boxes are not the same size. The one called “Standards” is the “settings” button for your priorities.

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 Setting Priorities is Essential to Goal Achievement appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Your Investment of Time. The time you’ve put into starting and growing your business is an investment. As your business becomes more successful, you’ll get the satisfaction of having accomplished something. Hopefully, you’ll get a decent income, too. One way to protect that investment is to make sure your time is not wasted. Garda World says that any time you spend on things that don’t focus on customers should be given to someone else to do or eliminated entirely.

Hire or Outsource? If you don’t already have employees, then hiring someone is a big decision that comes with more responsibilities. Outsourcing work to contractors can make sense once you’ve identified those discreet tasks that can be turned over to someone else. Bookkeeping, documentation, marketing and PR are some areas where hiring a contractor makes sense. To be clear, it makes sense if the contractor is experienced in that area. Friends and family that want to pitch in and help may not be the best option, unless they are experts in the field.

There are also a number of things you can contract out to a virtual assistant and they don’t need to be on site. Entrepreneur says these could include:

• bookkeeping
• online research
• presentation creation
• email management
• travel and scheduling

Tech Time. How much time do you spend with your technology? How much of that time has a direct ROI? Many technology tasks can be outsourced, but some can also be made more efficient. If you’re using cloud-computing for applications and backups, how reliable are they? Do you have to spend time checking on backups? Are they difficult to schedule and run? Research dependable cloud storage rankings to see if there are better service provider options for your business.

Manage Your Time and Create Routines. You work hard as a small business owner, but that doesn’t mean you have to work all of the time. Even if you’re working out of an office in the basement, establish your business hours. You may work a 10 to 12 hour day, but keep it to that. When the work day is over, quit and do something that revitalizes you. Small Business Trends says to keep focused on work during the business hours, but focus on the other parts of your life when the work day is over.

Get Rid of the Time Wasters. There are numerous things that can distract you throughout the day, especially if you work out of your home. People call or stop by to chat. You have personal appointments and errands and emails that don’t need to be read right now. There are dozens of things can happen every day to take your focus away from work, says Score. For the next week, jot down every time you are interrupted by something that’s not very important. Then decide how to move or eliminate those distractions. You’ll gain back time to spend on those important customer-focused activities.

Time is your most important business asset. Invest it wisely on customer service and maximize your sales in return!

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 Protect Your Most Valuable Small Business Investment By Saving Time appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

For the most part, great employees are not found, they’re made. In order to delegate and allow your company to grow, you really have no choice.

All this takes time, energy, preparation and lots of patience, but by working together in concert, you can see wonders.

1. Good Seed. Start with people who demonstrate a high degree of integrity, take responsibility for their own behavior and have a history of long-term commitment. They should be willing to learn and extrapolate conceptual ideas and apply them to new situations. A good way to test this is to give the applicant a verbal run down of the job, the company’s challenges and your expectations for the position. Then, have them send you a one-page summary on a deadline. This will tell you volumes.

2. Good Ground. Make sure their job is clearly defined in writing and explains how your products and services produce the income to pay their salary, bonus and benefits. We used to give our people a “Money Map”. It started with the consumer and worked its way back through distribution, production, and all the payables to finally get to their check. This gave them respect for how and where the money came from – the customer, of course.

3. Care. You must inspect what you expect, especially in the first year. Once you are convinced you have “good seed” it’s worth your while to regularly spend time with them answering questions and mentoring. Listen to what’s behind their questions to discover what they really need to excel in their new position.

4. Light and Space. Give them permission to make mistakes. That’s what allows them to develop into the independent decision makers you need to confidently delegate. To “make those mistakes right,” have them write down what needs to be done to prevent those mistakes in the future. Have them make new polices, procedures, checklists, sign-offs, or whatever, but they have to document everything. Consider rewriting their job description to fit their real skill set.

5. Nutrients. Give them the training they need, in person and in writing. If a document doesn’t exist, have them write it. Create a mini manual for every job with the growing list of frequently asked questions and as many charts and graphs as are necessary to depict processes, relationships and decisions. Provide outside training with conferences, or field time with sales or production staff. The more they understand your total operation, the faster they will become invaluable.

6. Time. How much time you give them before they “get it” really depends on the position, their ability to learn, and how much faith you have in them personally. Some folks take longer but “get it” at a core level. Others may learn a specific process quickly, but miss the big picture. So it’s a judgment call based on your assessment of their progress and conceptual understandings, and the preparation, time and energy you have put in.

Even if you do these essentials, there’s no guarantee of success, but you will be much more likely to succeed. To grow those new hires into fruitful producers it takes preparation, permission and patience.

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 Successful Hiring takes Preparation, Permission and Patience appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

The key to success is to understand what you have an abundance of and what you need more of. We all have a tendency to think we can do more that we actually can. This is why we recommend working with a third party who knows you very well. It will be harder to make claims knowing you are being held accountable.

Have your friend ask you these basic questions to better understand your capacities:

1. Time: How much time are you able to commit to your new venture? Do you have or plan to have children? Are you accustomed to taking vacations and long weekends? Do you have commitments to others, annual family reunions, or a significant other who wants your company on trips? How many days can you commit to working in a year? How many hours a day? Do you have regular appointments, kids to pick up, chores to accomplish and so on?

2. Money: Start-ups eat money. Even though your goal is to attain cash flow quickly, you still should know what your limitations are. What are your savings? What are your credit card limits? What is your credit status? Can you raise private capital? Will your family help? Can you get a loan? Can you trade goods and services in lieu of having to buy them? How long will it take your new business to pay its bills, and can you or others bridge that gap? Now, multiply your anticipated needs by two or more!

3. Skill Set: Education is not just the kind you get in school; it’s also the experience you have attained during your career. What do you excel at? How do you handle stress? Can you do what you do well and delegate the rest to others? Are you experienced at hiring and training? Most businesses come down to personnel management and some form of distribution management. Can you take advice? Are you willing to take a smaller piece of a bigger pie?

4. Connections: Who you know is often more important than what you know. List anyone connected with the business you are considering. Who, from your past, can help you? Take a close look at your contacts, past jobs, and friends.

5. Location: Where are you living now? Are you willing to move? How much and how often are you willing to travel? Some start-ups require a lot of travel. Certain mercantile and service businesses nail you down to one location permanently. Are your ready for that?

Once you can look your friend in the eye and honestly answer these questions, compare them to the opportunities you are considering. Thoroughly research each opportunity to identify what is required initially and in the long run, using your honest evaluation in each of the areas above.

Even if you discover the opportunity is not right for you, going though this process can help you understand the difference between what you want and what you need.

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 Discover Your Strengths and Weaknesses Before You Start Your Business appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.