There Are No Unicorn Hires

0:00You get it all the time when people say to you, "You know, Alex, I tried to hire someone and they [ __ ] up and so I can't I can't trust anybody to do it as well as I can and the clients love me." >> I think it's ego. Yeah. I think we want to be special and I think we like to be needed. And I think that it is not the business's job to solve your emotional needs. >> Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> The business's job to serve the customers. >> Mhm. >> And so we are not as unique as we think. If you could go back in time you could teach yourself in a tenth of time because you know all the mistakes that you made and the right things that actually ended up working. So it's like, "Great. Instead of taking ten times as long you did it learn it the first time. Go back as though you were teaching it the right way to somebody else. And so you can collapse the time it takes it to teach someone how to do the job. And most times what founders are looking for is a unicorn, right? They're like, "Okay, I have two employees and I do everything and so I need to hire someone who's just going to be like me and just do everything else." It's like, "It's not going to work that way." And so I use this little analogy that I like which is So we have our our horn of the unicorn.

0:57This is going to be so bad. All right, here we go. So we've got our All right, here we go. We're going to have a little hoof, maybe a little some tail. Here we go. And here we go. And we need to have some some sparkle, right? Cuz it's a unicorn, special. Okay, it's got a little donk there, but they're trying to replace themselves with the unicorn, but there are no unicorns and we know this. And so they go through interview and interview and interview and then they never find anybody cuz they can't find a unicorn. But if you were like, "How do I find an animal that's got a horn?"

1:23Well, you could go find a rhino. Okay, I've got a rhino, they've got the horn. It's like, "Okay." And then I need a horse. Well, I can go find a horse. And then I got to find the sparkle. So I get some fireflies for the sparkle and then I'll get a horse for the horse. And so just like that, instead of saying, "Oh, I someone has to live my exact life and have gone through the exact exact same trial and tribulations to figure out all the unique things that I know." It's like, "No." >> Mhm. >> They try to find in one person what they can more easily find in three. >> This is relationship advice as well, isn't it?

1:51>> Right, yeah. Demanding your your partner be all things to you. Your coach, your you know, your your guru, your therapist, you're your biggest cheerleader. Yeah, that's exactly that. It's It's just And I think in some ways there's an ego element that I think is very reinforcing, which is that I'm so special no one can do what I can do. And I think that's a very attractive lie that we like to believe. >> I guess there's also inherent in that insecurity and fear that you see in these early entrepreneurs that if I hire another person, I now have the responsibility of paying them. Right now it's [clears throat] me, it's safe, I can control this. Um but if I bring on other people, they've got mortgages and families, so now now it's terrifying. So a good way to justify my fear to myself is by saying that I tried I can't trust anybody, I couldn't find anybody good.

2:35I guess it's just going to have to be me, myself, and I. >> And I think if that's what you want, like go for it. >> Yeah, just like I I I think I think there's I think there's going to be a lot more solopreneurs you know, in the in the coming future. There already are. >> I think it's it's a goal question. >> It's what do you want? >> What mistakes did you make when you start hiring? >> Uh my bar wasn't high enough. >> Okay. >> I think at the most basic level like what is the job? Like if you remove everything else, what survives? And I think holding the standard survives. Because if you're the one responsible, then you have to be the one who determines what is good enough.

3:05>> Mhm. >> It's my view that in every given department the person who's highest up should have the highest standard. And if somebody ever gets to a point where they have a higher standard for issue than I do, they should run it not me.