Sometimes you need someone who believes in you.
There she was, the winner. Charley Ann Schmutzler, a one-chair turn, won season 4 of The Voice of Germany in 2014.
Stories like this fascinate me. Why did only Michi and Smudo turn around for her? What happened after that? Would she have made it with another coach?
More on that in a moment.
As a business owner, you know how important it is to believe in yourself.
It gets you out there to show what you have to offer. It carries you through difficult decisions and the days when nothing goes the way you want.
But as a solopreneur, that's often easier said than done.
Of course you're good, and you've proven it many times. Otherwise you wouldn't be where you are.
And yet. Sometimes doubts creep in. Sometimes believing gets hard.
That's when it helps to have someone else believe in you.
That's when a good coach helps.
Right now I'm working with a client who is an excellent coach herself. Even so, she lost her stride a little. But after just one short session, she lit up again. She felt how much I believe in her.
Michi and Smudo from the German hip-hop band Die Fantastischen Vier also believed in Charley Ann when no one else turned around. They heard something the others had missed. They knew not every note was perfect. That wasn't a lack of skill. Charley Ann was simply nervous.
And this is where the two of them could bring in all their experience.
For the song choices, they built on what she already brought with her. She comes from acting. Her strength was expression, the feeling in her voice. So she got songs that let her show exactly that.
The other coaches might have worked on her technique first. That wouldn't have been wrong. But what Charley Ann needed most was trust.
What sounded like insecurity in the blind auditions became her trademark. In the final, Michi Beck said you could pick her voice out of thousands.
In the end, almost 42 percent of viewers voted for her. Second place went to Lina Arndt, who had all four chairs turn for her.
On days when you can't believe in yourself, you need someone who knows what you're capable of.