Categories: Business Blog

When Success Means Being Turned Down by the Bank

By Ben Steverman

You’d think selling your wine brand to E&J Gallo would put you squarely on Easy Street. As accidental wine merchants Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan found out, personal finance and entrepreneurship can make an awkward pair.

Before the mid-1980s, the married couple’s main experience with wine was drinking it. Then, while working as a consultant on office management to a wine maker without a brand of his own, Harvey learned that a winery owed her client a lot of money. She brought in Houlihan, a business consultant, who discovered that the indebted winery couldn’t pay cash — but could repay the debt with bulk wine and bottling services.

The couple developed a plan for the client to use those resources to set up a brand. When the client passed on the idea, Harvey and Houlihan took over the debt and launched Barefoot Wine in 1986. They sold the company for an undisclosed sum in 2005. Their book about the 20 years spent building the brand, “The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand,” will be published on May 21. Here are excerpts of their reflections on life and money.

Michael Houlihan: We like to say we fell backwards into the wine business. We didn’t know enough to realize what was involved.

Bonnie Harvey: Ignorance is bliss.

To read the complete interview, please visit Bloomberg News 

 

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.

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey

Starting in a laundry room with no money or industry knowledge, they built the iconic Best-Selling Barefoot Wine Brand - without advertising. In 2005, they monetized their brand equity and now offer proven business principles and real world experience. Visit our YouTube Channel →

Recent Posts

The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle & Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand 🍷

Learn how Michael Houlihan and I built an incredible business and made a lasting impact… Read More

2 months ago

Something has to change.

Women’s representation in senior leadership dropped to 18.3% in 2024, down from 18.7% in 2023.… Read More

2 months ago

Book Michael and Bonnie!

“OUTSTANDING speech! Better yet, PERFECT. What an incredible way to end this conference.” -Robert Reiss,… Read More

2 months ago

How to Recognize Opportunity (and Make It Sustainable) KNOCK! KNOCK!

We often hear, “Follow your passion” as the universal prescription for happiness and success. But… Read More

2 months ago

Don’t Hurt Your Brand Image with Single-Use Containers – LOOK WHO’S AT THE TOP OF THE HEAP!

When you brand single-use containers, you are signing your own garbage. These “brand impressions” last… Read More

2 months ago

How Barefoot Wine Mastered Brand Positioning and Customer Research to Capture a Market Gap

How Barefoot Wine Mastered Brand Positioning and Customer Research to Capture a Market Gap //… Read More

2 months ago