turn to good account
Use for one's benefit, as in He turned the delay to good account, using the time to finish correspondence. This idiom, first recorded in 1878, uses account in the sense of “a reckoning.”
Words nearby turn to good account
turn the tables,
turn the tide,
turn the trick,
turn thumbs down,
turn to,
turn to good account,
turn turtle,
turn up,
turn up like a bad penny,
turn up one's nose,
turn up one's toes