Confessions of a Tasting Room Server.

I got to thinking today what got me into marketing. That enlightened moment when I realized; "Yes. This is what I love and what I could definitely see myself doing 30, 40, maybe even 50 years down the road."

It all started as a server behind a local winery's tasting bar. As a server you meet people from all over the world. You get to be surrounded by wine all day and get to talk about it with customers. Let's face it guys. This is not a bad gig. You laugh and share stories with customers and if they enjoy the experience and the wine enough, a bottle will go home with them. To me, if a customer bought a bottle of wine, it was like they were choosing to share that same feeling they had with me, with the people in their life. The kicker is you get PAID to be the tour guide for this wine experience. Awesome right?

I realized through years of experience in this position, that I loved the wine industry. There are amazing people who love wine and want to share that passion. They realize they aren't just promoting a product like stainless steel cookware where you use it, put it away and forget about. The people of the wine industry...wine makers, business owners, servers like myself.. we realize that you sell the wine but it's after that sale is where the magic happens. People come together to appreciate that wine. Conversation happens. People have fun with wine. They take the time to truly enjoy and appreciate what is in their glass. As an observer of this, I wanted to make it my personal mission to become a marketing professional in this amazing industry. With encouragement and the phrase "You'd be awesome at this JR" from my winery's owner I changed my major to marketing.

Now as I continue down this path I realize that I was extremely lucky to get my foot in the wine industry door. If I'm going to promote a product I'd really like it to be something that I'm passionate about. Wine and FLX wine country gets me passionate. The people in the wine industry are passionate. We love coming to work every day and in a lot of ways we're like a big communal family working towards all the same goals: Promote this area and our wine. Passion is what takes a good marketer. Speaking about your product and lifestyle is key, as well as taking the time to listen to your most important asset, your customers.

I hope everyone finds this kind of passion in their life and their career. Up here...we just call it: "Living life...Finger Lakes style."

Cheers!