Story of the Week
When I was in high school, I was in a jazz band, too. It was absolutely my favorite kind of music to play, but it was hard — especially soloing.
Soloing in jazz is when the spotlight falls on you to improvise a melody over the chord changes while the rest of the band keeps the rhythm and harmony going. It's where you find your voice and take creative risks in real time.
I have vivid memories of bombing a 16-bar trumpet solo in our high school gym during an embarrassing performance where I played all the wrong notes and sounded thin and timid. I remember never wanting to relive that experience. From that point forward, I passed every solo opportunity to the other trumpet players in our section.
As a result, I never got better.
What struck me as I watched these clinics wasn't the technical advice the judges gave — it was something much more fundamental and instantly applicable.
After each performance, when a student soloist seemed hesitant or played what they thought were "wrong notes," the clinicians consistently did one thing:
They didn't focus on mistakes. Instead, they encouraged the students to commit fully to wherever they found themselves in the music.
"There are no wrong notes in jazz," one clinician explained. "Only notes that need more conviction."
Then, something magical happened. They had the student play the same solo again, but with one crucial difference: approach each note — even the unexpected ones — with complete confidence and use them as launching points for what comes next.
The transformation was immediate and stunning.
The same students who had seemed lost just moments before suddenly sounded intentional, creative, and authentic. The notes hadn't changed — their relationship to those notes had.
So, what does this have to do with entrepreneurship?
Everything.
So often, we freeze when our business takes an unexpected turn. We hit what feels like a "wrong note" — a launch that flops, a video that goes nowhere, a product that customers don't immediately embrace. And like my teenage self after that embarrassing solo, we're tempted to retreat.
But what these jazz clinicians revealed is that momentum matters more than perfection. The entrepreneurs who succeed aren't necessarily the ones who never make mistakes — they're the ones who commit fully to where they are, transforming "wrong notes" into deliberate choices by moving forward with confidence.
Your business journey is guaranteed to hit unexpected notes. The question isn't whether you'll play all the "right notes" — it's whether you'll have the courage to make music with the notes you've played.
The bands I watched today didn't need months of practice to sound better. They just needed permission to stop apologizing for where they were and start creating from exactly that spot.
What if you did the same?
Looking back, I do have major regrets about my decision to pass on future solos and not continue playing jazz — my favorite style of music. But as a father, I can learn from my own mistakes and use them to encourage my son on his journey through jazz (and life). And, of course, pass them forward to you to apply to your business and beyond.
P.S. A quick update: my son’s band ended up taking first place! He has yet to solo at a judged performance (that’s typically reserved for the upperclassmen), but he’s already practicing and is excited to take on the challenge!
