About 13 years ago Doug Worple
was working for Procter &
Gamble in the finance department. After working with Excel
spreadsheets for a number of years,
he found himself in brand management, where he could flex some creative
muscles, and he
loved it. He signed
up for a company-sponsored copywriting internship
at Leo Burnett in
Chicago.
When he returned
to P&G after the
internship, he realized that his creative
passion had grown even more, and he
needed to embrace that, so after a few
months he left P&G. He had read an
essay that said, “Start barefoot earlier in
the spring and later in the fall,” so he
decided to start Barefoot Inc. to do free-lance work.
He wanted his business to grow,
but he was dedicated to only taking
business that he felt would rocket
consumers and cause them to open
up their wallets. He knows there are
certain products that create happiness for each person, and he only
wanted these types of products, so
at times, he turned business away.
He had some hard times when
industry suffered following the Sept.
11 attacks, but he succeeded through
that period by creating emotional ties
to certain products. Barefoot has now
grown from just Worple to more
than 50 employees, and while the
firm started locally, it now is nationally recognized and awarded. Worple
also managed to grow both revenue
and profits in recent years, and has
never laid off an employee due to
lack of business.
HOW TO REACH: Barefoot Inc., (513) 861-3668 or
www.thinkbarefoot.com