It is hard to believe that such an iconic brand as Barefoot Wines began as a start-up in a laundry room of a rented farmhouse in the Sonoma County hills. Even more surprising is that the people who started it were just an average business couple, Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, with no money and no real knowledge about the wine industry. - The part that isn't a surprise is that, because of their lack of experience, and because the wine business is one massively complicated industry, they ran into difficulties and setbacks that regularly put the brand near death in the first two decades. What kept it going was an unshakable belief in Barefoot's potential, Michael's and Bonnie's use of universal business principles, and their never-say-die outlook despite facing one seemingly insurmountable hurdle after another. Those hardships, that hustle, and their heart, are the essence of the Barefoot Spirit. - For years, Michael and Bonnie, the Barefoot Wine founders, have been asked to write a book about how this brand got started and became a best seller. "The Barefoot Spirit," the New York Times Bestselling Business Paperback, traces that history and tells the story of how an unknown novelty wine became an American icon. It chronicles the unlikely events that made it possible, and it lays out the cornerstone business and lifestyle philosophies that made it, ultimately, an enduring success. By the time they sold the brand to E&amp;J Gallo in 2005, they'd won a ton of awards and helped transform an entire industry from stuffy and intimidating to fun, casual, and socially aware. -The Barefoot Spirit is not a dry business text. The lessons are cheerfully woven into a twenty-year business adventure story that's inspiring, amazing, and entertaining. It's a case study, an idea book, an uncommon peek behind the curtain of the wine business, and a snapshot of the American spirit, West Coast style.-The book was written by award-winning journalist Rick Kushman after hundreds of hours of research and interviews with Michael, Bonnie, and many others. - This book is a testament to the American Entrepreneurial Spirit of resourcefulness, imagination, innovation, and out-of-the-box thinking. -The Barefoot Spirit is an inspirational guidebook for anyone in business and a great read for everyone who loves a rags-to-riches story. Filled with encouragement, inspiration, and empowerment, including: * How Michael and Bonnie used Worthy Cause Marketing instead of traditional advertising* How they used boot-strapping instead of conventional financing * The surprising advantages of being small and broke* How creating a fun, yet hardworking positive company culture encourages innovative leadership * How making mistakes the right way builds your business and saves essential relationships* Why attitude and determination trumps knowledge and experience-If you like wine, the wine country, or a story about how a plucky little winery transformed an industry, if you want to know what it takes to really succeed in the face of adversity, if you want to know how to use your core beliefs to build a national brand, then "The Barefoot Spirit" is for you.

The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America's #1 Wine Brand

Business & Money

Harvey, Bonnie

Houlihan, Michael

Business Culture

Evolve Publishing

Does Your Culture Empower Your People to Think Like Others? If any business is to thrive in the global marketplace, its employees must be engaged and empowered. In other words, they must think like owners. Problem is, few employees know how. Your job as a leader is to train them to think this way. Because entrepreneurial thinking is a natural extension of company culture, you may need to re-build yours from the ground up. Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey New York Times bestselling authors and founders of Barefoot, America s #1 wine brand know how to create the conditions that draw out and nourish people's inner entrepreneurs. Here, they take the principles that empowered their own tribe of productive, creative, loyal employees to beat the odds and boil those principles down into quick, easy lessons you can put into practice right away. You ll discover: How to find and hire people with entrepreneurial DNA (P. 5) How to drive results with performance-based compensation (P. 13) How to foster innovation by getting out of your people s way (P. 17) How to remove roadblocks to the entrepreneurial spirit (P. 33) Why everyone at your company must ask questions (including you) (P. 35) Why your people should embrace mistakes (P. 39) The Entrepreneurial Culture perfectly complements the lessons from the authors New York Times bestseller The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America s #1 Wine Brand. Together, these books will give your company the edge it needs to thrive and boost the bottom line. Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey started the Barefoot Wine brand in their laundry room in 1986, made it a nationwide bestseller, and successfully sold the brand to E&amp;J Gallo in 2005. Starting with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles and create new markets. Today, they are sought-after entrepreneurial thought leaders, consultants, keynote speakers, and workplace culture experts with hundreds of articles in national and professional publications. In The Entrepreneurial Culture, Houlihan and Harvey take everything they know about the spirit of entrepreneurship and teach C-Suite leaders how to infuse it into their company cultures to engage and empower their employees.

The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways to Engage and Empower Your People

Footnotes Press, LLC.

It is amazing that such an iconic brand as Barefoot Wines began as a start-up in the laundry room of a rented farmhouse. Even more surprising is that it was started by a business couple with no money and no knowledge of the wine industry.
They regularly ran into difficulties that nearly killed the brand. It was their unshakable belief in Barefoot's potential that kept it going, along with the use of classic business principles, and a never-say-die outlook. Hardship, hustle, and heart are the essence of The Barefoot Spirit.
The book was written by award-winning journalist Rick Kushman after hundreds of hours of research and interviews with the Barefoot Wine founders and many others. The Barefoot Spirit is not a dry business text. The lessons are woven into a humorous twenty-year business adventure story. It's an uncommon peek behind the curtain of the wine business that's inspiring, amazing, and entertaining.
This book is a testament to the power of out-of-the-box thinking. It is a guidebook for anyone in business, and a great read for everyone who loves a rags-to-riches story. Filled with encouragement, inspiration, and empowerment, it includes:
* How Worthy Cause Marketing out performed paid advertising
* How boot-strapping was used instead of conventional financing
* The surprising advantages of being small and broke
* How creating a fun, yet hardworking company culture encouraged innovative leadership
If you like wine, the wine country, or a story about how a plucky couple disrupted an industry, if you want to know what it takes to really succeed in the face of adversity, if you want to know how to use your core beliefs to build a national brand, then The Barefoot Spirit is for you.

Biographies & Memoirs

Kushman

Professionals & Academics

Footnotes Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Houlihan, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Houlihan, Michael