The Music Didn’t Have to Die (A Business Lesson)

It’s February 3.

“The day the music died.”

In 1959, Buddy Holly and his band had been touring the Midwest — 24 shows in 24 nights. Also on the bill: 17-year-old Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), and Dion and the Belmonts.

They traveled from town to town in beat up school buses which broke down repeatedly. Even when the buses ran, the heat didn’t work.

Drummer Carl Bunch quit the tour when he was hospitalized in Michigan with frostbite.

Holly was sick of it. So he chartered a plane after their Clear Lake, Iowa show to fly to the next gig in Fargo.

He offered the two extra seats to his band mates Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings at $36 each.

Jennings gave his seat up to the Big Bopper who couldn’t fit comfortably in those bus benches.

Allsup was ready to fly, but Valens kept asking for his spot on the plane.

Finally, they flipped a coin. It was heads. Valens “won.”

Just before takeoff, Holly mocked Jennings for passing on the flight, saying, “I hope your damned bus freezes up.”

Jennings replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes.”

Jennings would later say that exchange haunted him for the rest of his life because…

…less than ten minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed in a snow-covered Iowa cornfield.

No survivors.

Holly was 22. Valens was 17.

And it all happened because the damned buses didn’t work.

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For most of us, running a business is not a life-or-death endeavor.

But system breakdowns can kill a business faster than you can say, “Bye-bye, Miss American Pie.”

Getting a band from town to town efficiently is all about systems.

You need a strategic plan (a well-organized itinerary).

You need the right tech (buses and heaters that work).

You need the right team — people to implement the strategy and manage the tech so the job gets done.

Same goes in business. Strategy. Tech. Team.

YOUR life doesn’t depend on it. But your business does.

In February, I’m opening some spots in my new program. We’ll work together to design and implement systems — Strategy, Tech, and Team — to help your business soar.

Want to learn more? Reply “soar,” and I’ll share the details.