Are You Chasing Unicorns?

I sometimes don’t understand why some people are attempting to create a business that doesn’t make sense.

I call this Chasing Unicorns.

What’s a unicorn you ask?

I looked up Unicorn in Wikipedia and was quickly bored by the details so instead let me reference the Urban Dictionary which took down a different path entirely.  160 definitions of a unicorn and most are not what you would share with little kids or your grandparents.

However I found a nugget that relates to our topic today.  It says, “…never give up; unicorns are said to be “uncatchable,” but nothing is impossible.”

That is true in some circumstances, but not in the business plans I’ve seen recently.

Here’s my definition of a business unicorn:

You have an idea for a business but it is simply not economically feasible in it’s current form.

The dollars don’t make sense.

It could be a product that costs more to make than what you can sell it for.  Or a service that has no profit margin built in.

A couple years ago when I was starting to work with one of my current advertising partners and she told me that this one service they did for certain customers they actually lost money on… I questioned their sanity and asked them to explain why they were doing this.  After awhile I helped them to see that they should stop doing this and make some changes which they did.

Sometimes I come across people who have a passion and want to turn it into a business.  I really appreciate people who have a passion about something, however I find myself playing devils advocate when they try and convince me that this passion of theirs will make them money.

If you and I ever sit down to talk about your business, and you want my help, I’ll ask you about your profit margins and other margins too.

We’ll talk about scaling your business.  For example just the other day I was working with a business owner that wants to expand a portion of his business but each new client I bring him will require around 20 hours of additional work.  We talked about how he will handle that and came up with a solution so that as the demand for his business grows, he will scale up to meet the need.

On the opposite side of the coin, I’ve been perplexed for a few months on how to help someone else make money due to the limitations she has.  She already has invested thousands of dollars, most before we started talking, and I’m not sure there is a way for her to turn this into a profitable business due to the self-imposed limits that are in the way.  We’ll see.

Those of you who have a dream to turn your passion into a business, I applaud you.  I’ll also challenge you to convince me that you are able to really make money.  Otherwise you are chasing unicorns.

I’m going to add a disclaimer too.

Just because you are pursuing your passions, it doesn’t necessarily have to make business sense, if that is not the purpose of pursuing your passion.

Take this website, blog and podcast you are reading and listening to right now.  I started writing back in 2004 and by 2005 I was publishing every week on a couple of blogs.  No one was paying me and there was no financial payback at the time.  By 2011, I launched the ScottHoward.me website and continued to write and publish every single week.  Again, this was not a money making venture, just a passion to capture these thoughts, lessons and insight and share online.

I’ve spent money out of my pocket to create, publish and host this spot on the internet and I’ve also spent countless hours writing, researching and editing every year. But I knew my purpose was not to sell stuff directly, it was an outward expression and the financial rewards… well they are impossible to measure and I’m okay with that for me and this project.

So, one last time, what is your dream?  Are you pursing a hobby or passion?  Are you developing a profitable business or are you Chasing Unicorns?   Need help figuring it out?  Let’s talk.