What if you don’t get the “really goode job”? You’ve sunk all your time and energy into making a video, building up a following, and just generally rallying your supporters. And then, the letdown. Chances are, it’s going to happen. They’ve had thousands of applicants and only one will be chosen. So, now what?

Well, first of all, don’t quit. You may not realize it, but you may have just developed a very valuable asset. Leverage the influence and following you’ve established through the process. Maybe you can even turn it into another job. So, here are ten tips for all you losers (ehem, non-winners):

1. Congratulate the winner. Being a good sport and reaching out to the winner is a good way to establish yourself as someone who still matters. If you are petty and pissed off, it will only backfire on you and NOBODY will want to hire you.
2. Follow up on inquiries NOW. If you happen to be one of the few candidates who have stood out from the rest of the pack, chances are that you’ve been noticed. You may start to get potential employers contacting you to chat. Jump on these opportunities while the buzz is still buzzing.
3. Expand your network. Keep on growing your social media contacts and influence. Eventually, it will pay off.
4. Generate content. Hopefully, you have been doing this all along on your blog, other blogs, online pubs, etc. Keep doing it. The more good (no pun intended) content you generate, the more influence you can build. Become the expert at something. If you don’t have a blog, why did you even bother to apply?
5. Educate yourself. If wine is your passion, learn more about it. Take classes, buy books, read other blogs, and most of all go winetasting (or taste at home).
6. Keep your eyes open. Opportunities will pop up now and again. Make sure you jump on them when you can. By following point #3, you should have the inside scoop when it comes along.
7. Reach out and say “hi”. You don’t have to wait for a job to come to you. Sometimes you have to uncover it. Reach out to wineries that you know could use some social media help and offer them a coffee talk. You never know when you might get lucky with timing.
8. Team up. There are many other candidates out there. Reach out to some and see if they want to team up to write a blog, wine taste, start a consultancy, whatever. There is power in numbers.
9. Have patience. The wine business doesn’t move very fast. In fact, in this age of instant informtion, it downright crawls. It isn’t like other industries. You need to consider this when looking for a wine job. Sometimes it just takes a while.
10. When in doubt, ask. Seek out the experts and pay attenion to what they say. Ask them your burning question, and 9 out of 10 times they’d be thrilled to help. Feel free to contact me with any questions at mike@cavemanwines.com.

In the end, you need to keep on, keeping on if you hope to find a future in the brand new world on wine social media. I have a saying: “Hard work wins Hockey games”. When it comes down to it, most of the time the team that ultimately wins has out-worked the opposing team. It’s as true in everyday life as it is for Hockey. You can’t just sit back and wait for things to come to you, you have to go out at taken them. In the immortal words of one Gary Vaynerchuk, “Hustle!”

Oh, and, GO WINGS!