Do you actually have to be passionate about what you do?

I think you need to be passionate about the processes and what is takes to actually make stuff happen. The product/business/whatnot comes second.

If you sell a widget that you are not passionate about, you can become passionate about seeing your customers being happy with the widget. Or you can be passionate about the CRO part of your webshop. Or the paid ads that you can't stop tweaking, out of that passion.

To me - Passion is like dopamine, it comes and goes, it's important, but most of the time I'm without it.
Passion may be a catalyst, but perseverance in the right direction is the true key to success.

I read about serial entrepreneurs all the time who seem to not have a passion for the area of business that they are currently in, but conversely, seem to have a passion for succeeding at business.
I think we often miss-read whether there is passion actually involved in starting a business around a specific problem. Passion can be a real driver for people to succeed, but the passion doesn't always have to sit in the most obvious location "the business idea" it may just be in some other part of the business like the social aspect or the technical aspect of business, or the fact that the person gets to be independent and self reliant.

This is something I think about often.

Passion is overrated when it comes to business. In fact, most of the things we do daily to run a business are pretty boring (prospecting, reporting, pixel pushing, follow-ups, building out systems, etc).

You don't need to be passionate about what you do. You need to be passionate about the results you create.

My passion is music. I grew up watching my uncle play guitar for Earth, Wind and Fire and I've always dreamed of having a music career. But, when I dropped out of business school to intern at a recording studio, I realized the music "industry" wasn't the place for me.

Instead, I dove head first into the tech world and developed skills in content creation, software sales, and teaching.

Now, I run a coaching program that helps SaaS sales teams use content to shorten their sales cycle . It incorporates a lot of different skills that I enjoy and offers value to a community I know well.

I wouldn't say I'm passionate about SaaS sales content. I'd actually say I'm DISPASSIONATE about it. And that lack of passion is probably what allows me to succeed.

If you told me you didn't like the hi-hat pattern on one of my songs, there's about a 50/50 chance I take it personal and try to rationalize to myself that you don't know anything about music.

But, if one of my customers told me they didn't get value from week 3 of my program, it wouldn't bother me at all. I'd just start figuring out how to make it better.

All I care about is creating more value, because that leads to me being able to buy more gear and make better music.

Passion will always fluctuate, but if you're connected to the results you want to provide for others and yourself, it's worth doing.

p.s. Here's a link to the landing page for my program:

https://www.lawrencewayne.com/saasengine

Open to any and all feedback

Drive and persistence becomes difficult when there is no passion for what one does. If money is the only reason for working on a product, boredom soon sets in. I do think one can at least work on the part of a product that they are passionate about.

No. But it sure as hell helps. Sometimes you can find passion through indirect means. Like I can be passionate about making money, helping others, or even shipping something to the market!

I have always been interested in investing and specifically in crypto. I love to read, listen and discuss anything that has to do with those subjects. I just really like learning about it and sharing some of that with friends and family.

I've tried multiple different business ventures around it:

• Crypto & Blockchain consultancy to companies
• Project management on blockchain-related projects, specifically supply chain-related.
• COO of a Crypto Investment Fund

I found that even though it was the right niche for me: crypto and investing, the daily activities related to those different jobs really matter.

For example, I had no interest in supply chains. It was just an opportunity that was handed to me for good pay, that seemed promising. I hated it. I quit within 7 months or so.

I enjoyed some parts of the consulting business, but the finding new client's aspect of it was awful. Talking to people about blockchain or crypto who don't want to hear it, feels just as shitty as any other sales-type job.

The investment fund was also very interesting to work at, but also there raising funds (sales) is a big part of the job. Which again, I hated.

I noticed that I loved to talk to people who actually want to learn about investing and crypto, but hated having to "sell" them on it.

So I quit all the above.

I decided to go back to the beginning, what I loved doing. Learning about investing and crypto and sharing that with others who want to hear it.

This was 2 months ago.

I created a website: www.decryptom.com

Here I share blog posts and tools that I created to help people get started with investing and crypto.

I'm mostly active on www.twitter.com/decryptom.

My first "product" is a:

Financial Freedom Dashboard that tracks your finances and shows you how to become financially free, and how much you'll need to reach it. No difficult financial lingo, but all you need to get started. Here it is: https://decryptom.gumroad.com/l/financialfreedom

I'm also working on a small e-book to go with it, and a Youtube Video bundle, gathering all the best videos on Youtube about crypto.

I'm really enjoying it. I found my actual job passion for my interests passion. If that makes sense?

I see I have been rambling.

Hope this helps anyone.

Cheers!

PS. feedback on any of the things I've shared here would be highly appreciated!

When thinking about work and passion, I always end up lumping my day to day into two groups "have to do" and "get to do".

The things I "have to do" (things I am dispassionate about), cost quite a bit of energy and are generally hard for me to get started. If I can see a result I want or am enthusiastic about at the end of the process or task it gets easier to start, but I won't feel any less spent from having to do the process.

The things I "get to do" (or am passionate about), cost almost no energy or can actually be reinvigorating. Giving me more energy to tackle the "have to do's" of my day.

I owe it to my business, the people I work with and myself to not burn myself out, and to stay motivated. So I work to ensure that I mix up may days between activities and I am passionate about and ensuring I tackle my business as usual as well.

The thing about passion is that it's not a hobby or a thing, it's a feeling. So it's possible to find meaning in work you may not normally like or be interested in and discover a passion within it.

Passion helps keep me motivated about my work and sometimes it takes some effort to find, but any chance I get to take something that I would "have to do" and convert it to something I "get to do", is always a huge win.

I don't think one necessarily needs passion in an idea for it to succeed. Revenue or social opportunity can provide the individual with significant motivation instead.