I am not a freelancer. But being a bootstrapper and having to fun all my ventures myself, I sometimes did (and still do) some consultation / freelance work — ensuring that it is just for the extra cash and does not affect my existing commitments.

During one of this gigs I met a fine man. Even though our business (and personal) relationship ended on a bit of misunderstanding but I still very much respect that man. He practically forced me into developing a habit which I consider is perhaps the most important habit that any entrepreneur must have.

And that habit it — Try and profit from everything you do. Never write off anything, try till the very last moment.

Let me tell you about it with an example (or perhaps by THE incident where Mr. D himself forced me to take the right decision). There was this forum which I had created. It had some activity and a skin that I had coded myself.

However, to the best of my efforts it was not picking up and I was getting frustrated. Now I realize that I should have given that site 2-3 years to grow but that’s another story.

Back to topic. In this frustration, I disclosed to Mr. D that I was going to shut that forum down. He actually took it on himself and spend so much time persuading that I should atleast try and sell it off.

I had replied that who would want to pay for a new forum when they could start their own. His reply – atleast you have a custom skin.

Voila! I saw the light.

Though I did not make a huge profit from that sale but hey, it was better than shutting it down for a loss.

Next time just remember – You don’t need to throw it away. Try and make a profit from it. No matter how small the profit, it is better than no profit at all.