Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes

Hi Reader,

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I got this DM after publishing The Unicorn Hire Trap:

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"I think I need your advice so that I don't repeat the unicorn hire trap!"

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Sarah (name changed) had just received notice that her long-term EA was moving on. Jessica had been with her for seven years, handling everything from graphic design to CRM management to social media to client communications.

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Sarah's first instinct? "I need to find someone who can do all of this."

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Here's what makes hiring so stressful for most founders: Unless you came from an HR background, you're making high-stakes decisions without the training to make them well. You know you need help. You just don't know if you're hiring one person, two people, or building an entire team.

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Before I share what Sarah and I worked through together, let me ask you this...

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Quiz: Is This One Role or Three?

Think about the role you're trying to fill (or have been avoiding filling) and answer these questions:
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1. How many of these skill categories does this role require? (Check all that apply)

🔲 Administrative/coordination

🔲 Writing/copywriting

🔲 Design/visual content

🔲 Technical systems/automation

🔲 Marketing/social media

🔲 Project management

🔲 Client-facing communication

2. How many different software tools or platforms will this person need to use regularly?

🔲 1-3 tools

🔲 4-6 tools

🔲 7+ tools

3. Does this role require both:

🔲 Creative work (design, writing, content creation)

🔲 Technical work (systems, automation, coding)

4. Will this person need to:

🔲 Execute tasks you give them

🔲 Think strategically and make decisions

🔲 Both
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Quick interpretation:

Checked 1-2 skill categories: This is probably one role ✅

Checked 3-4 skill categories: This might be 2 roles 🟡

Checked 5+ skill categories: This is definitely 3+ roles 🚩

Bonus red flags: If you also checked 7+ tools, or both creative + technical work, or both execute + strategize, your unicorn risk just went up.

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Sarah checked 6 skill categories when we did this exercise together.​
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Her departing EA, Jessica, had been doing:
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• Graphic design (social media graphics, brochures, slide decks, website updates)
• Social media management (10-12 hours/month - Sarah didn't realize it was this much)
• Technical systems management (CRM, project management tools, automations)
• Executive admin (scheduling, forms, client communication)
• Project coordination (meeting notes, logistics, catering, hotels)
• Marketing support (case studies, lead magnets, analytics)

Sarah's assumption: "I need to find one person to replace Jessica."​
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The reality: Jessica had been doing the work of 3-4 distinct specialists.

Here's what we did next.

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How We Broke Down Sarah's "One Role"

I created a custom worksheet that walked through every responsibility from Sarah's original job description. We mapped each task across four critical dimensions:

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1. Required Skill Level: Entry, Intermediate, or Advanced?
​2. Realistic for a Student? (Sarah was hiring through a student internship platform)
​3. Could AI Handle This? (She was also implementing AI agents)
​4. Priority Level: Must-have, Nice-to-have, or Can eliminate?

Here's what the worksheet revealed:

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When we broke down those 6 skill categories, we found:​
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• Graphic design work required intermediate skills and took 10-12 hours/month just for social media alone (Sarah had no idea it was that much)
• Technical systems work was currently being handled by two student interns on a project basis - not something the next hire needed to own
• Executive admin could partially be automated with AI (though only ~1 hour/week, not the massive time-saver Sarah hoped for)
• Project coordination was nice-to-have, not must-have for the immediate hire

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The Scope Calculator

After identifying the must-haves, we did something most people skip: we calculated the actual hours.

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Student Core Focus (9.5 hours/week):

• Social Media Management + Case Studies + Lead Magnets: 3 hours
• Document Formatting, Design & Content Production: 2 hours
• Technical Systems & Platform Management: 2 hours
• Executive Support & Office Admin: 2 hours
• Client Onboarding: 0.5 hours

This exercise revealed two critical things:

1. The role fit within realistic student capacity (10-15 hours/week) - it wasn't overwhelming
2. The priority skill wasn't "can do everything" - it was graphic design

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The Breakthrough Moment

Me: "When I look at these priorities, the common thread is visual work - formatting slides, creating social graphics, designing documents, choosing website photos. That requires someone with a good eye for design who's willing to use platforms like Canva and WordPress. The admin tasks? Those are easier to hire for separately if needed."

Sarah: "I'm not looking for a generalist who can do everything. I'm looking for a graphic design specialist who doesn't mind doing some admin?"

Me: "Exactly. And if you try to hire for 'everything,' you'll either get no applicants or the wrong applicants. But if you lead with design as the core skill and treat the rest as secondary, you'll attract the right person."

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What Sarah actually needed:

Not a unicorn. Not even a "versatile generalist."
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A Graphic Design Specialist who:

• Has a portfolio showing social graphics, slide decks, and web layouts
• Is comfortable with Canva, WordPress, and social media scheduling tools
• Ideally doesn't mind 2-3 hours/week of admin work alongside the creative work
• Can work 10-15 hours/week (realistic for a student or part-time freelancer)

And if the design specialist wasn't interested in admin tasks? Sarah could hire a separate VA for just the executive support work - a much easier (and less expensive) role to fill than trying to find one person who excels at both creative and administrative work.

Everything else (technical systems, advanced automations, complex project coordination) either:

• Stayed with Sarah temporarily
• Got handled by project-based specialists
• Was delegated to her existing student interns (who were already working on CRM/automation projects)

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The Pattern I Keep Seeing

When someone has been in a role for 5+ years, they've usually grown into capabilities that weren't there on day one. They've learned your systems, your clients, your preferences. They've built institutional knowledge that has made them exponentially more valuable over time.
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You can't hire that on day one.
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What you can do is get clear on what the role actually requires today, break it into its component parts, prioritize ruthlessly, and make strategic decisions about how to cover each part.
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For Sarah, that meant leading with the skill that was hardest to replace (design) and finding creative solutions for everything else.
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That's not settling. That's smart hiring.

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If you're in the middle of figuring out your next hire, hit reply and tell me what you're working with. I'm happy to give you some quick direction.

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Talk soon,

Moriah

P.S. If you missed the original article, you can read it here: The Unicorn Hire Trap. It breaks down why looking for one person to fill multiple specialist roles usually costs you more - in time, money, and team frustration.

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