Experience is said to be a very valuable asset. But some people say that experience is a fancy word for failures.

I will tell you about one of my recent experiences and let you decide whether it was a valuable learning experience or a failure.

A couple of months ago I was contacted by a forum owner who had a popular forum that he was considering selling. I looked at all the stats and asked if he would accept $25k. He replied saying $30k was his absolute minimum.

So I went away to think about it for a few days.

During that time I did more research on the site, and in particular on the domain name’s trademark issues. I discussed the offer with my partner and overall we felt that it was probably worth nearer to $25k than $30k, but nevertheless it was a site that interested us.

We decided to wait a while and see what our lawyer had to say about the trademark issues, and before we knew it the site was for sale at DigitalPoint forums.

At this point we were no longer willing to bid on the site, but amazingly the site sold for a whopping $75k ($40k more than it was offered to us at).

So should we look at this as a learning experience? did we value the site incorrectly? had someone overpaid by $40k? did we miss a great opportunity?

I believe I know part of the reason why the site sold so high, but I would probably get into legal trouble if I mentioned it on here. Other than that I feel we may be undervaluing a large membership base.

These are questions you have to ask yourself after every event that doesn’t go as planned.

The great Jack Nicklaus (legendary golfer) once said that every time he missed a putt he would not leave the green until he had figured out why he missed it.

So remeber that every failure or missed opportunity can provide a valuable lesson.

Dean