The Barefoot Wine Story: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand With Michael Houlihan, Founder of Barefoot Wines

Michael Houlihan is a highly sought-after business strategist, keynote speaker, consultant, and corporate trainer. He is the Founder of the iconic Barefoot Wine brand, which eventually was acquired by E & J Gallo. 

After selling the company, Michael and his partner Bonnie Harvey co-authored The New York Times best-selling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. His latest venture is Business Audio Theater, which performs founder stories in audiobook format to improve employee acquisition, engagement, and tenure.

In this episode…

Inspirational stories, the sheer hustle behind building a household brand, and the heart that keeps going no matter what: today’s guest, Michael Houlihan, shares it all. He takes us back to when Barefoot Wines was an accidental idea, the arduous task of winning shelf space in retail stores, and why worthy cause marketing was not a cool thing to do back in the day — but it paid off. 

And just when you think you’ve learned the biggest lesson, Michael drops how to implement change in your company quickly and how it was the lifeline for Barefoot Wines. On top of that, Michael reveals top insights for effective worthy cause marketing in today’s wine business space, why sharing your founder story is an HR hack, and lots more valuable lessons. 

Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz and Drew Hendricks of the Legends Behind the Craft podcast. Together they host Michael Houlihan, Co-founder of Barefoot Wines and Business Audio Theater. They talk about the Barefoot story like you’ve never heard it — from idea to exit, the hard lessons in-between, and how the story became a best-selling book and an award-winning audio play. Stay tuned.