Should You Love Your Job?

As Valentine’s Day approaches, it feels like the perfect time to talk about love—not just the romantic kind, but the passions that light us up and give life meaning. These days, it seems like every side hustle guru is shouting, “Monetize what you love!” But here’s a hot take for all the hustlers, entrepreneurs, and business owners: not everything you love needs to become a revenue stream.

Sure, building a business you care about is incredible, but when you turn a passion into work, it can lose its magic. Everyone wants to be a rock star, but hardly anybody wants to ride around the country in a van that’s one pothole from falling apart to do basement showcase after basement showcase. Deadlines, customer demands, and the constant grind can transform something that once brought joy into just another task on your to-do list.?

Also, you have permission to be bad at your passions! So many business owners and entrepreneurs work tirelessly to reduce risk, shore up weaknesses, and strike to be the best in their field. The best part about passions is you can be mediocre! I love playing guitar, I spent enormous amounts of time and money on it, but I'm not going to blow up as the next Instagram Shred star. I'm not going to get a call from Rhianna for backing her up on her next tour. And despite being just OK at guitar, I have no problem of putting in the practice, researching gear, changing out rigs because I love the process. And a reason I love the process is because there's no expectations of me. I can do the thing for the sake of the thing.?

Day to day life in your business offers opportunity to find passionate moments along the way. It hides in the ways that your business serves you, your employees, and your customers. I don’t care if M365 has a new patch (well, maybe I care a little), I care that my clients are just that little bit less likely to get hacked because of it. I care about following up on invoices because I care about my staff thriving and they can’t do that if we’re not getting paid. I care about making sure problems get solved because nobody calls us because they're having a great day.?

Passions don’t need a profit margin to matter. They can be your escape, your recharge, and your connection to the part of yourself that’s not defined by productivity or financial success. Whether it’s painting, gardening, writing poetry, or something else entirely, let some things remain just for you. And again, you can be bad at it! There's no need to have an award winning garden full of 600lb pumpkins if you just love digging in the dirt!

In this fast-paced world where work often takes over, holding space for personal passions isn’t just refreshing—it’s vital. So, this Valentine’s Day, I encourage you to fall in love with the idea of keeping a corner of your life sacred, untouched by spreadsheets, KPIs, and sales goals.

What are your passions? Do you think that they’re something you should monetize or is it something that you just keep for yourself?

Will MacFee is the president of Systems Support Corporation, an IT firm serving SMBs in Massachusetts for more than 35 years.