Update: Removing Anonymity.

Yes. I have. IMMENSELY.

tl;dr: By answering questions on Quora, I’ve built a successful consulting business.

For the past 15 years I was associated with the technology field. Margins were diminishing, clients were demanding more, pay was not good, there was pressure to sell more and more, I was depressed, every morning I struggled to face the day, odd hours at work, despite climbing up the management ladder - the firefighting did not stop, money was low, eating out was something that did not happen to me frequently and then stopped all together. I had reached my proverbial breaking point.

I was broke.

Like seriously broke. Financially and Mentally. More mental than financial.

Did not have a clue as to what lay ahead….. surely life could not be this depressing!

One fine day, I just stopped working. I quit. Cold Turkey!

I just did not go to the office.

I did not meet people.

I turned most methods of communication off.

I switched my phone off.

I contemplated what I wanted to do. It took 10-15 days, and I knew what I wanted to pursue. Let's call this field of pursuit "X". (Update: Where X = Payments and payment systems.)

So now I know what I wanted to do, how the heck was I going to do it? I had extremely shallow knowledge or association within this field.

How the heck will I make a living? Well I had one year's worth of saving (if I tightened the belt), so best to put it to good use - that is, studying.

I studied religiously from the break of dawn to dusk and then some!

Played with the kids and then tried to get in 3-4 hours more late at night. It was like revisiting the university days.

Days were long and hard.

But I absorbed everything there was to learn about this industry. Spoke to hundreds of people, watched thousands of videos, listened to podcasts, exchanged over 5,000+ emails with people/businesses to learn more, and read about 30-40 core books along with - I think - something like 500+ white-papers and reports.

The Quora Factor!

So how did Quora come into play? Well, needless to say, I wanted answers to my questions (which I posted on Quora.) Result? No one answered them. This was like super disappointing.

Being naive, I could not see the signals. People in this field did not want to share answers. They did not want to share their resources. They would just not share their knowledge. Simply put, a lot of the seasoned professionals were selfish. To NKOBs like myself, this was very disturbing.

The Internet was all about sharing. Whatever happened to that?

So I made a pact with myself:

• Whatever I learned - I would share.
• Whenever I learned an answer to my own question - I would answer.
• If someone asked a question to which I knew an answer, I would reply here.

I took time out for answering questions, just like the way I would like to have them answer for me.

1 answer, 2, answers, 3 answers, ...50 answers, ...100 answers ...500 answers, ...1,000 answers, ...1,500 answers, ... still going....

Then a strange thing started to happen. I started getting more views on my LinkedIn profile. I started getting traffic to my blog, my personal website. I started getting more emails in my inbox asking "Hey, do you have a minute to talk?", I started getting more Skype requests for small chats related to this field, I started getting more inbox emails on Quora, and I started getting followers.

I replied and addressed each and every person who contacted me.

I made my first sale from Quora, by simply talking to someone on the phone, who agreed to pay me for my time. Since then, I have taken projects big and small. As low as US$50 to as high as US$15,000 for a week's assignment.

I firmly believe in this:

Today, Quora is my...

• Resume
• Billboard
• Reference
• Score Card
• Credentials
• Lead Generator
• Office

I'm all over Google. I wasn't there like this before. The SERP results of Quora have driven a lot of traffic my way.

Traffic = Sales.

I cannot put it more simply.

Or in the case of Quora:

Answering Questions = Profile Lookup / Inbox Emails.

My life has changed. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about it, but you would perhaps still not understand the gravity of the change (for the better.) My kids are happy. My marriage is happy. I love waking up every morning. I welcome each and every email I receive and answer it with the love and affection I would like someone to give my email. I answer them all. I have money to spend. I've not forgotten the difficult times of the past. It has made me more humble and frugal.

Everyone wants to connect. I connect back and hug them and say thank you!

Quora has been nothing short of a miracle for me. I get enough queries via Quora that I have to decline clients, referring them to other specialists. How cool is that?

I've had job offers, consulting offers, offers to move, offers to head small companies, offers to speak, offers to write a book, offers to do lectures, offer to make instructional videos, offers to partner-up, offers to be a board member, offers to be on the advisory board, offers to take equity. I am thankful to all such offers.

To leave you with a small sense of achievement via Quora, let me cite an example. There is this expensive expo/trade-show that happens every year, which I could not afford to attend (US$3,000) for the show-ticket alone. Every year for the past four years I was writing to them asking for a complimentary pass, and for the past four years, they've been politely declining my request.

This year was no different. I got declined. Three days before the show, I get a call from the CEO of the Event Organizer. He apologized for the oversight by his staff. Not only did he give me the complimentary ticket, but I was offered a free hotel stay as well. Sadly, I could not make it because the time frame was too short.

Now, such invitations to come and speak here, or come and speak there, or moderate this forum here, or come as a phone-in guest there, etc. are all over the place. I try to appease as many as I can.

Today, I speak at events, get invited… (here are some pictures)…

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Update (2014): As a result of being on Quora, I was picked up by Megan Burton CEO of CoinX as VP of Operations. So now I am a full-time employee there. How cool is that?

I'm extremely thankful for having Quora in my life.

Present Day....

Update # 2: As of December 2017, I went solo and have not looked back. I decided to use all the good karma of answering questions here on Quora, my experience with interacting with others, daily blogging, answering questions on Quora and networking like crazy, and the effort I put in social media ---- to go back to my roots of consulting. Little did I know it would really take off.

• I've got my own product (i.e. a service line),
• a steady stream of clients with whom I consult,
• I get to travel more (on paid assignments) and
• Get free invites to seminars to speak/moderate.
• On the board as advisor to many companies
• Work with multiple Venture Capital companies as well as Investors and Investment banks for purposes of fund raising in the fintech space

So, all in all, life is not bad. You have to work hard, there is no denying that. But those who can break through the threshold, will live to see it bear fruit.

Almost 95% of my client queries comes from Quora, i.e. the would-be-client would have read something of mine on Quora and then calls me up.

It is perhaps one of my best lead generators.

Update # 3: As of the summer of 2019, I moved to the beautiful city of Istanbul. Never in my life thought I’d be here and making the kind of money I am making now. Still travel a lot, honing the art of sales & marketing for the banking & payments space. Totally dominate it now. Being complacent is my fear, I am always trying to learn and experiment. Be open to new ideas. I have learned to say No! (a much, much-needed trait). Along with this, Quora has taught me so much and if it was not of this platform, I would not be here. Just as Facebook and Google, for example, have spawned an industry, so has Quora for me. It is my livelihood and I love it. Even if Quora disappears tomorrow, I’ve invested heavily in platforms outside Quora to reduce the risk of everything being in one basket.