Hi! We are Michael and Bonnie, the founders of the world’s largest wine brand. Did you know that we used crowdsourcing to build Barefoot Wine? Sure, it wasn’t called “Crowdsourcing” back then, but it was the secret to our success!

If Necessity is the Mother of Invention, Being Undercapitalized is Surely the Father!

It all started with an opportunity to turn a debt into a business. Our friend, a grape grower, hadn’t been paid for his grapes for three years. The only thing we could get out of the winery that owed him the money was a trade: debt for goods and services. The goods were bulk wine, and the services were bottling services.

We were undercapitalized and astonishingly deficient in industry knowledge. Then, all of a sudden, we had $300,000 worth of grapes and bottling services, but no clue as to what to do to convert those assets into cash. We were humbled. We started asking questions, lots of questions. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were crowdsourcing.

To read the complete article, please visit Crowd Sourcing Week

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 Crowdsourcing Built The World’s #1 Wine Brand appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Their book on transforming Barefoot Wine from the verge of bankruptcy to a leading brand became a New York Times bestseller. Now the public has the opportunity to hear the two entrepreneurs free of charge.

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey relied on innovative business tactics to take Barefoot Wine to the top with extremely limited resources. They will share experiences and advice obtained along the way on April 18 as keynote speakers in the latest installment of Cal Poly Pomona College of Business Administration’s Dean’s Leadership Forum.

“The lessons we learned apply to all businesses,” Houlihan says. “We are asked the same two questions from students all over the world: ‘What keeps you going in the face of adversity?’ and ‘How do you prepare for the unknown?’”

Houlihan and Harvey have spoken at more than 50 schools that teach entrepreneurship with students in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Their New York Times Bestseller, The Barefoot Spirit, How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand is widely used in business schools that teach entrepreneurship.

The Dean’s Leadership Forum is a special series that aims to inspire and motivate future leaders to transform business and society. Past keynote speakers included FUBU founder and “Shark Tank” star Daymond John and hostage-survivor Captain Richard Phillips.

“We are excited to tell our story and share the lessons we learned at a university that was founded on a legacy of giving,” says Harvey in reference to the 813 acres of land where the college sits deeded to California by the iconic businessman. “W.K. Kellogg was a pioneer in the food and beverage industry from which we came. We share his love of education and want to help young entrepreneurs achieve success.”

Houlihan and Harvey will address the two questions they receive most and recount their humble beginnings from the laundry room of their rented farmhouse to their ascension to the board room of the world’s largest wine company. They will also deliver what they call “The Guiding Principles for Success,” or GPS for short.

Completely void of wine industry experience, Houlihan and Harvey began their adventure with an initial investment of 18,000 cases with disregard for traditional marketing campaigns. According to Impact Databank, Barefoot sold 18.1 million cases in 2015.

“There is a misconception that startups need substantial investments from well-connected venture capitalists to succeed,” says Dean of the College of Business Administration Erik Rolland, Ph.D. “Michael and Bonnie outsmarted and outworked their way to the summit of the wine industry; they are excellent examples for our thriving entrepreneurial community, proving that several roads can lead to accomplishment.”

Rather than use commercial advertising to promote the Barefoot name, Michael and Bonnie involved the company with advocate groups like Surfrider Foundation, Save Mono Lake and organizations proactively helping the LGBT community.

“We already supported these groups as individuals,” Harvey says. “When we got into business, we discovered a way to help get the word out about our product by helping them raise funds and get their message out.”

Although seating is first-come-first serve, free tickets for the Dean’s Leadership Forum hosted by the College of Business Administration, American Marketing Association and Latino Business Students’ Association can be reserved at http://houlihanandharvey.eventbrite.com.

“Barefoot Wine, with its colorful packaging and laid back attitude, disrupted the wine industry at a time when it was exclusive, staid, and snobby,” Houlihan says. “Cal Poly Pomona prides itself in doing things differently, and so do we.”

Houlihan and Harvey begin at 7:00 p.m. April 18 in the Bronco Student Center’s Ursa Major. The Dean’s Leadership Forum is made possible by the generous contributions of the Calvert and Gregoire families.

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 Forum to Feature Founders of Barefoot Wine appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey do not fit the stereotype. You probably wouldn’t even expect them to be wine-lovers, let alone the co-founders of Barefoot Wine, the largest wine brand in the world. But according to them, the reason they’re so successful is precisely because they knew nothing about the industry going in.

Houlihan and Harvey never planned on going into the wine business, but when the opportunity presented itself, they jumped on it.

To read the full article & listen to the audio interview, please visit Foundr Magazine 

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 foundr Magazine Interview appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

We are not professors of entrepreneurship, but we are real-life successful entrepreneurs. Rather than retiring with our proceeds from the sale Barefoot Wines, we are devoting our lives to sharing what we have learned, often times the hard way, from our experience starting and growing the world’s largest bottled wine brand. We are without children ourselves, but have an almost parental concern for all young people, especially those aspiring to become entrepreneurs. We sincerely want to see them succeed and spared some of the pain we suffered.

For the past year we have spoken, lectured and made guest appearances at more than 25 schools of entrepreneurship in the U.S. During that time we have also written over 100 blog posts on entrepreneurship and brand building. Our articles appear in national and professional journals and we are frequent media guests on the subject of entrepreneurship.

TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT ICSB GUEST BLOG

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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Co-Founder of Barefoot Wine

Chances are, if you’re a wine drinker, you’ve gone Barefoot. You know the wine—the big bottle, the label’s bare footprint, the original flavors of red or white. The whole, “Get Barefoot and have a great time!” slogan.

Now Michael Houlihan—an Oakland product and 1963 Bishop O’Dowd High School grad—who co-founded Barefoot Wine with his longtime companion, Bonnie Harvey, has put his stamp on something besides a wine label: a book.

Titled The Barefoot Spirit, Houlihan and Harvey’s book (oops, “a business adventure story,” Houlihan says with emphasis) details not only how Barefoot Wine became a number one selling brand with no paid advertising, but also what it takes for small companies to succeed. And Houlihan should know: He and Harvey introduced Barefoot in 1986 and eventually sold what had become one of the nation’s top-selling brands to E. & J. Gallo in 2005.

After reminiscing with this writer about how she first encountered the wine at a 1994 Los Angeles wedding seated between two clown school graduates—yes, really—Houlihan sat down and answered a few of our more pressing questions.

Q: We love the fact that you grew up in Montclair in Oakland and that you went to Bishop O’Dowd. What kind of student were you? Did you have a class yearbook or annual where you were voted most likely to change the world through wine?

A: I was basically more of a student type of guy. I took classes seriously, got good grades. I knew high school wasn’t going to last very long. One thing, though, I won the student speakers contest for the Lion’s Club in high school. It was a typical high school speech, about what America means to me. I gave an example of a shipwreck where everyone comes on shore and the first thing you have to do is take an inventory of what you’ve got. You’re stranded on an island, so you have to be resourceful. The first community that lands has to be socialistic to survive, but then two or three generations later, you have the choice of two or three different shoes, two or three different carpenters. That’s like America. There is competition and the result is that the consumer gets better choices. I know that’s a high school mentality, but it’s funny, what America means to me really hasn’t changed much.

Q: You got into the wine business in an unconventional way: You were a business consultant and took over a company that owed money to a grape-growing client of yours. All you got out of the deal was wine in bulk and bottling services. Where did you go from there?

A: We didn’t have a name, a label and we didn’t know anything about wine marketing. We wound up going to another Oakland guy, Don Brown, who was the buyer for Lucky stores and I said, “Don, what should this look like, what do you need?” He told me, “It wants to have a name that people can pronounce and the image has to be the same as the name, and you have to see it from 4 feet away, and you should put it in a big bottle because there’s too much competition in regular-sized bottles, and it needs to be a red and white combination.” I thought, “I can do that. That’s what I have!”

Q: Why Barefoot?

A: I had a friend named Davis Bynum who had a label called Barefoot and he wasn’t using it anymore. I remembered that label. I said, “Davis, what are you doing with the old Barefoot label?” He said, “I haven’t used that in 10 years. I’m doing fine Pinot Noir now.” I said, “Would you mind if I took that label over?” He said I’d have to pay him for it.

Q: Whose foot is that on the label?

A: We didn’t like Bynum’s original label. Then we were going back and forth with an artist in L.A. but it was never to Bonnie’s liking. One day, she said, “I know where there’s a good footprint we can use. It’s on the end of my leg.” So she went down to the art store, got the largest inkpad she could find and sent the print of her foot to the artist and said, “I want it more like that.”

Q: OK, here’s the money question: Did you have wine for dinner last night, and if so, what was it?

A: Ah! Yes, I did. Not to plug Barefoot, but I like the Barefoot Lodi Zinfandel. It’s my favorite. You can get it for $6.99 and it’s from a wonderful grape-growing region—not Sonoma, not Napa, but Lodi, and it goes great with any kind of red meat or red pasta. I had it with red pasta with buffalo.

For information on The Barefoot Spirit book, visit www.thebarefootspirit.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 Oakland Magazine Interviews Michael Houlihan appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.