Maybe I’m tainted by the 1985 movie, Legend. If you’ve never seen it and love unicorns, don’t watch it. You will be traumatized for life by the fantastical beasts and goblins and their intention for the film’s unicorns. But there’s a reason why unicorns only exist in movies and books. Hint – They are not real.
I usually skip past job postings with the title “looking for a unicorn virtual assistant”. That’s because it’s usually someone looking for an assistant with a million different skillsets at an insulting rate or require full-time hours to get all those things done. It’s like give me the world, but I don’t have the budget to support my request. So I want you to be 10 different people, but I’ll only pay you to be one.
No offense if you identify yourself as a unicorn and have been able to find clients willing to pay the price for the multiple skillsets that you provide to their business. If you are that unicorn, more power to you. And if you are the business owner willing to pay said unicorn a reasonable rate, you are few and far between. Gurus are out here telling/teaching millionaires to hire $3 workers, but that’s a post for another day.
Here’s why I believe that hiring unicorns are bad for business.
Unicorns are hard to find
Aside from the reason that they do not exist, I know some of you will still believe that you can find that unicorn. But, here’s the thing, say you find that unicorn and now they are in your business doing all the things. What happens when they fall ill or need time off? What happens when they decide to niche down and decide they no longer want to do all the things?
You’ll be back at square one trying to find another unicorn and because that one person was doing all the things, now all those things will fall back on you. I can imagine it’s hard to find another unicorn, while keeping your business afloat as a team of one.
Unicorns are multi-taskers and multi-thinkers
Some of you may have read that and got a little excited. But let me remind you, multi-tasking is rarely a good habit to have. It just means that a lot of things get done at the same time, but at the cost to them being done less efficiently or effectively.
You are not a Unicorn
The reason why you are looking to hire someone to help in your business is because you realize that you need help and can’t possibly do all the things effectively by yourself. So, why is your expectation that you can hire someone to be that for you and them not fall into the same trap?
You hire help, so that all the weight isn’t on your shoulders. So, why would you assume that shifting the shoulders is going to resolve the problem?
Let Virtual Assistants be great at what they’re great at. Me, I’m great at project management, technology, and podcast management. I made these 3 skills my area of focus because even though I can do other things like social media management, copywriting, or ___ . I don’t want to burn myself out trying to do all of these things for multiple online businesses. It makes for rarely a dull day, but it also makes for a stressed out, stretched thin Lavelle, whose still needs brain power at the end of the day to help with homework. Think working with a high-energy online business owner is stressful, try getting a 7-year-old to sit still long enough to do reading, math, and science, while keeping the 2-year old away because he thinks it’s playtime when his sister gets home from school.
If you are looking for a unicorn, I am not your girl. But if you’re looking for a VA, PM, or OBM, let’s chat.
Your Virtual Asset @ Outsource Mondays
What’s your take on unicorns? Share below in the comments.