Winners Quit

Many of us recall the pithy words of the scary Vince Lombardi:

Winners never quit, quitters never win.

I couldn't disagree more.

In a world where you will work 10 different jobs in your life, for the average person the key to winning is to know when to quit. If you give up too quickly you'll never win anything, but if you never give up you'll be bankrupt. It's hard to give up when you're passionate about the success of a pet project, but you must always be realistic about the market, and cut your losses when prudent.

How do you know when to quit? Well,Forbes magazine has a good article this month for entrepreneurs on When To Dump That Great Idea. Its only OK, but I agree with the top red flags:

1. Paying Customers Never Show Up
2. You Can't Sustain a Competitive Advantage
3. You're Not Ready To Quit Your Day Job

Decent advice for startups...

UPDATE: Money Magazine added this concept to their Myth #3 of What it Takes To Be Rich. Sure, Southwest Airlines and FedEx stuck to their guns... that's because they were right. But FedEx ditched their high-profile Zap-Mail service once fax machines became popular...