Greg Faxon (YouTube) argues that quitting can be strategic and beneficial when timed properly. He gives three examples: Jerry Seinfeld turning down $110 million to end Seinfeld to avoid diminishing quality; Camp GLP, a live entrepreneur summer camp that was closed after five years despite popularity; and his father's advice to leave reunions while things are still enjoyable. The video concludes that the best time to quit may be when things are still going well and points viewers to a related video on why "never settle" is bad advice.
Questions this video answers
$110 million
Five years
Chapters
We've all heard the phrase quitters never win. It's fun to say if you're like a high school baseball coach, but it doesn't really hold up in real life. Quitters win all the time. It's more about knowing when to quit. So here are three examples of strategic quitting. Example one, too much cake. They offered Jerry Seinfeld $110 million for him to make another season of Seinfeld, but he turned down the money. And when asked why he quit the show, he here's what Seinfeld said.
And I could not go to that point where it starts to age and wither. It doesn't take long. For example, you go see a comedian at an hour and 10 minutes. You love the guy at an hour and 30. It's like, eh, right? I thought he was never gonna finish. And all of it, you walk out with a whole different feeling. It's a small amount of too much, Too much cake, too much anything. But do you think? And changes the whole feeling.
Too much cake changes the whole feeling. So true. Okay, example number two. Summer camp for entrepreneurs. When I was early on in my business, I attended this live event called Camp glp. It was basically a summer camp for entrepreneurs. They held it at an actual boys summer camp. You stayed in the cabins. Everyone loved it. I assume that it was very profitable. But they shut it down after five years. At the time, I didn't understand why. I was like, do they hate money?
That is the official reason, yes.
But now that I've been in business for over 10 years, I finally get it. It's easy to stick with a client or a specific offering for too long. When you hit on something that works. As an entrepreneur, the temptation is to get every last ounce out of it. But everything has a natural ending. And the only way to know that you stuck with something too long is when it starts to go downhill. And at that point, people just don't remember it the same way. Example three. Fatherly advice. My. My dad has this philosophy about high school and college reunions. He says, you want to leave the party while you're still having fun. In other words, don't wait until everyone's drunk and shit gets really weird. He's told me this multiple times, so I have to assume that something super traumatic happened to him at a high school reunion.
That's why we don't talk about.
The problem is you probably don't want to leave when you're having fun and when stuff is working. And that brings us to an interesting conclusion, which is maybe the best time to quit is when you don't feel like it when you're winning. If you like this concept, I have another related video about why never settle is terrible advice, so go watch that now.
