One of my tasks for our Thanksgiving meal was dicing the onions for the stuffing. I love to cook and have chopped, diced, and sliced all types of the bulbs. When I started slicing my eyes burst into tears. This got me thinking about remedies for the pesky problem.

On the web I found that the eye irritation is caused by suplhenic acids released by the onion when the cells are cut. The body reacts by producing tears to wash out the gas.

There are several ways to solve the problem. One myth is to hold an unlit match between your lips while cutting. I’ve tried it and it does not work. Another technique is to use a fan to blow the gas away from your face. Simple and it takes more time to set up and take down the fan then to experience the tears. Plus where do you put the whirling machine in the kitchen.

Cutting onions under water is another idea and I don’t have a pool, mask and snorkel. Wearing swimming goggles is cleaver and looks goofy in the kitchen. Although, goggles are now made especially for cutting onions. They come is bright red, blue and yellow colors and look sporty. The down side is that they are not prescription and not fit over eye glasses. Cutting without using my glasses is dangerous so this one is out too.

The iconic chef Julia Child stated that using a very sharp knife prevents the tears. My knife is sharp and the tears still came.

After the research and experimentation the best way to avoid having your eyes water while cutting onions is to have someone else cut them. Yep! Go in the other room and let someone else do the work. It’s like outsourcing the stuff you that don’t do well, don’t want to do, or are so slow at it takes you all day to get it done. If you’re the boss then delegation may be the answer or hire some one like a virtual assistant to complete the work.

This may seem silly and it does work. For example, I’m working on a project that requires putting a database together. One of the requirements is to put information in little boxes. I can do the task, and I don’t want to. So, my virtual assistant is doing the research and filling in the blanks on the spread sheet—thank you Melissa.

 I review the progress each week, answer questions as needed and keep the project moving. The telephone follow-up takes just a few minutes compared to all the work I’d have to do that I don’t want to do. And she likes doing this type of work.

So, the next time you’re faced with a task or project that is not your strength ask around to find a few folks to help you out. Once you start looking you’ll be surprised at how many skills and talents are available to you by phone and email. As a bonus you may have no more tears.

Roller Coasters! Wow! The ups, downs, twists, spirals. Legs hanging down or on the seat of your pants. What a thrill. Riding a roller coaster is one of my favorite things to do and I’ve ridden them from coast to coast. When I was 13 … I won a newspaper sales contest and as a reward we went to The Pike an amusement park in Long Beach, California. I rode the classic Cyclone Racer seven times and wanted more.

For the day it was great fun but riding the financial Roller Roaster month to month is one of the most significant and scary challenges to the self-employed.

Here’s how it goes. You – as a project based professional – secure an engagement for a new project. You’re thrilled because it’s the work you love to do and you’re getting paid to do it. The project then becomes all consuming for its duration.

This dedication to the assignment is necessary because projects usually have requirement such as meetings, deliverables, and completion due dates. In addition you certainly want to do a superb job so more work will come your way from this customer and they can then be a reference and give your referrals — all good things.

However, once the job is completed the scramble to find the next opportunity begins … again. 

Welcome to The Roller Coaster! The up and down, up and down cycles are seemingly endless. While the work-income cycles may never end they can become less severe and income does trend up.  

The solution is to weave in sales and marketing activity into your busy day, every day. This sounds simple and as is said the devil is in the details which usually begin with a “But’ (with a capital B). For example; But what about due dates? But what about the written report? But what if the client calls and I’m not working on the project? But what about the milestones? But how do I feed the cat? And it goes on and on.

The “How’ is to develop and execute a trusted system to support your activity. The system must have 4 key “Its”:

1. It must reflect your brand.
2. It is executable.
3. It produces the desired results.
4. It must have accountability.

Good selling and I’m off to do something fun.

My son and I made a cake for his Cub Scout fundraiser. The recipe had precise instructions for working with the ingredients, amounts of each, sequence of events, oven temperature and the baking time. It seemed so simple and direct. It was a disaster. The cake was lopsided and I could not fix it. So at 7PM on a Sunday night we rushed to the store to get another cake mix for a second attempt.

The next one was perfect. In fact it was one of the baked goods that generated the most bids and sold for one of the highest prices at the auction (no, we did not bid on it.)

But how can making a cake be related to sales?

It’s simple. Making pastries and making sales both have a process that can be identified. In cooking it’s called a recipe. In sales it’s called a process. Each of them has distinct steps, ingredients, temperature, and baking time. Too much of this and not enough of that can make the tasty treat flop. Here’s the key:

1. Identify the steps of your sales process in broad terms such as discovery, proposal, follow-up, commitment, etc.
2. Execute and complete the steps every time in detail.
3. Track your results so you can see what’s working and what is not.

This process allows you to quickly make adjustments if you’re off track and quit wasting time with prospect that are probably not going to purchase.

Follow the directions more closely you to will generate more activity, get higher prices and create more sales.