Practical Ideas: Vol 1

Although most of the post on this blog deal with practical ideas on how to run a business, every now an then something comes my way in which needs to be posted due in fact on how practical the ideas are useful.. This is volume 1 of Practical Ideas. Enjoy.

Slice Cherry Tomatoes

The simplest way to slice a bunch of cherry tomatoes is to sandwich them between two plastic lids and run a long knife through all of them at once!

Keep Brown Sugar Moist

Keep brown sugar soft by storing it with a couple of marshmallows in the bag.

Keep Shoes Off Floor

Install a regular coat rack low down the wall to store shoes safely off the floor

Display Jewelry

Organize jewellery on a cork-board for easy viewing when deciding how to accessorize an outfit

DIY Watering Can

Create a thrifty watering can by puncturing holes in the top of a used milk bottle.

Pet Hair Remover

Remove pet hair from furniture and carpets with a squeegee.

Easy Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Flip a toaster on its side to make grill cheese

Make Clear Ice

Water straight from the tap becomes cloudy when frozen. To make ice cubes crystal clear, allow a kettle of boiled water to cool slightly and use this to fill your ice cube trays.

Stuff Peppers Holder

Use a large muffin tin to cook stuffed peppers in the oven - it will help keep them upright.

Potato Preserver

To prevent potatoes budding, add an apple in the bag.

Easy Boiled Egg Peeler

Add half a teaspoon of baking soda to the water when hard-boiling eggs to make the shells incredibly easy to peel off.

Crayon Remover

WD40 can be used to remove crayon marks from any surface!

Have a Bad Egg?

To tell if eggs are fresh, immerse them in a bowl of water. Fresh eggs will lie on the bottom, while stale eggs will float to the surface.

A Clean Cutting Board

To clean a wooden chopping board, sprinkle on a handful of Kosher salt and rub with half a lemon. Rinse with clean water and dry to ensure it is clean and germ-free.

Soil Retainer

Prevent soil from escaping through the holes in the base of flowerpots by lining with large coffee filters.

Sharpen Scissors

To sharpen scissors, simply cut through sandpaper.

Open Jars Easily

Use rubber bands to help open a jar easily: place one around the jar lid and another around the middle of the glass. The rubber provides friction to prevent your hands from slipping.

No More Tears (Onions)

To prevent your eyes watering while chopping onions, wipe the chopping board with white vinegar (which won't affect the taste of the onions).

Store Sheets

Store bed sheets inside their pillowcases for easy storage and access.

Clean Stained Toilets

Drop a couple of denture cleaning tablets into the toilet bowl at night to clean off stubborn stains.

Fly and Bee Shield

Use cupcake cases to cover drinks glasses in the summer and prevent bees and flies from dropping in.

Ornament Storage

Use egg boxes to store delicate Christmas tree decorations.

Blister Pack Opener

Just use a can opener. This has to be the simplest way to open those annoying blister packs!

Broken Light Bulb Remover

Use a cut potato to easily remove a broken light bulb.

Grease Remover

Use chalk to remove grease stains from clothes. Simply rub white chalk on the affected area and wash as normal - the chalk will absorb the grease and be washed away in the cycle.

Keep Wine Cold

Freeze grapes to chill white wines without watering the wind down.

The Moldy Middle

While taking statistics during my quest to get an MBA and while earning my engineering degree, the professors always emphasized the importance of finding the statistical mean of any population by using the Central Mean Theorem (a.k.a the highest point of the Bell Curve). As an engineer, this was essential in order to maximize throughput, minimize cost and waste, and ultimately make a better, faster, cheaper widget. A funny thing happened on the way to the dark side of marketing. I discovered that the only thing in the middle of the road was quite literally dead road kill. I do not know if you remember stores like Bradlees, Ames and Service Merchandise (just to name a few), but they all folded because the environment changed and they were caught trying to service the mythological “average customer.” Part of that change came when Wal-Mart began its juggernaut with the discount department store. Wal-Mart did two things right: 1) Focused on “mobile” consumers, and 2) Fo...

The Saleman's Litmus Test

If your goal is to become a great company or even improve your existing one, every employee in you company should be able to “sell” the product or service that you are merchandising. Since that is usually not the case, you are forced to hire sales people to help implement the objectives laid out by upper management. A national study indicated that less than 3% of the population has an inherent penchant for sales, and as much as 50% of all salespeople really do not know how to sell. During my 20 odd years in sales, I have hired, worked with, and observed great sales people (yes, both men and women). Being the observant type and believing in best practices, I have complied a listing of questions you should ask any salesperson before you hire them, and should use this Litmus Test to review of your existing sales force to determine whether to keep them or cut them loose. I hope you find it useful. Psyching Out the Test : People always try to answer questions the way they thin...

Traits of an Entrepreneur

I will begin and end this article with two quotations. The first is from Edward Rogers: "You don't deserve to be called an entrepreneur unless you've mortgaged your house to the business." --Edward S. (Ted) Rogers This one sentence pretty much says it all. Entrepreneurs are not necessary gamblers, but they are willing to put everything they own, or go all in, in order to make it happen. In the classical sense an entrepreneur is define as anyone who has possession of a new enterprise, endeavor, venture or idea, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks associated with the development, growth, and outcome. He or she is an organizer who combines land, labor, material resources, and/or capital to create and market new goods, products, or services. The term "entrepreneur" is loaned from the French and was first defined by the Irish economist Richard Cantillon, where the term was applied to the type of persona who was willing to take upon th...

The Profit Prophet

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