I really love the mounted deer head above my desk. I call him Bucky. Apparently he belongs to our founding partner, Bret Starr — and there’s no messing with the deer allowed.
I’m not an avid hunter, but the fact that there’s a deer head next to a sign that says “Stop tweeting boring shit” above my desk tells you a little about our company. And someone clearly loves that deer.
See, I love my job. In the same way chefs are passionate about food and artists are passionate about painting, I’m obsessed with marketing. I’m the annoying person who likes watching commercials because I analyze them, and my mom regularly sends me ads she cuts from magazines just to let me know she’s thinking of me.
What makes me extra nerdy is that I love business, too. Start talking about supply chain, EBITDA or system integration, and I swoon. That’s probably why it’d be easy for me to work all the time. I love my job, so why not do what I love?
Just as Lizzie wrote in a #ShitBretSays inspiration, you have to have other things to love. For me right now, it’s my new dog, Penny Lane. She’s a year old, wags her butt when she sees me and is really curious. It’s pretty awesome to get home from work and hang out with her.
Finding something to love as a second, third or fourth passion is really important, especially if your first passion happens to be your work. Without those other interests, you’d be left without anything to re-energize you when work might be dragging you down.
But back to Bucky. The Starr Conspiracy makes it part of its mission to create an environment where people love what they do. But the company also wants people to love other things. We participate in local events like The First Tee of Fort Worth’s Chili Cook Off, or go see Steph’s band play at a venue downtown. We celebrate life events together, and we find other shenanigans to pursue.
You can love work, but what’s even better is when work loves all the other things you love, too.
Being passionate about something re-energizes you. When a company wants to share what everyone loves, it re-energizes everybody. It might not be a new idea, but when work loves the things you love, everyone does better. Everyone finds new loves.
And that’s why I love my job.
