Life Coach Missy Frisch Connects Asheville Business Women through Flourish
Photo Credit: Diana Deaver Photography
By Meg Hale Brunton
Brought up on eleven acres in central New York, Missy Frisch grew up riding and training horses. Though she wanted to continue working with horses professionally, her mother convinced her to go to college, where she got her degree in political science and psychology. After a few years with the horses, she got a job as a paralegal with one of her horseback riding students.
When Frisch and her husband moved to Asheville in 2017, she got a job with the Federal Court and eventually became Supervisor for the Clerk’s Office. Still, she felt something was missing. “I knew I wanted more,” Frisch confesses. “I often feel a sense of powerlessness, watching people go through the system. I just knew I wanted to do something that was more empowering.” A friend recommended that she look into becoming a life coach. At the time, Frisch admits she didn’t even know what the job was.
“It’s exactly what I didn’t know I was looking for, which is a way to help women take more control of their own life - to start living the life they are dreaming of right now,” Frisch says of life coaching. She began taking courses with the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), where she worked with a mentor, trained extensively, and earned multiple certifications. In 2022, she started Missy Frisch Coaching, a one-on-one coaching program exclusively geared towards women.
She refers to her coaching as a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ client-centered approach. She helps her clients review all the areas of their life to see what is already working that they want to amplify and which areas they’d like to change. “You are the one that knows your life and yourself best. I am there to help you get clear on what you want and who you want to be. I help you see your blind spots so it’s easier to move forward through life in a way you enjoy,” she explains. “I think we often get stuck in our routines and stay on autopilot even when it’s not working. It’s natural for us to stay in our comfort zone. As a coach, I help women get unstuck.”
“The point of coaching, from my perspective, is to empower each woman to use her own brain and her own resources, to craft a life she truly enjoys living. To help her find more ease in her days now as she goes after bigger goals,” Frisch explains, adding that she helps her customers remove the fears and preconceived notions that are holding them back from living their best lives. “It is the most incredible process to be a part of. Helping a woman realize that a negative opinion she’s had of herself for so long is not only complete bs, but it’s optional! Once they loosen their grip on that story - the ‘I'm not good enough, I’m not smart enough, or I should just be grateful’ type of story that they’ve been telling themself for years - they can do anything!”
Frisch says that it’s a misconception that people who hire a life coach must be a mess. “My clients are generally successful women with full and happy lives. There’s often a couple little pieces of their life that they’re unsatisfied with,” says Frisch. She says that, women in particular, seem to have a tendency to be playing a needed role in their world and forget that they still have a say in their life.“It’s super fun to sit down with them and help them forget about what everyone else in their world needs for a bit. To truly start dreaming about their own life and allowing themselves to admit that they want more. And then we make a plan to go after it.” Depending on the needs and goals of her customers, Frisch’s coaching packages usually last four months of weekly meetings, but can extend as far as a year.
Since she meets her clients almost exclusively through word of mouth, Frisch attended networking groups to meet other local professionals. She says she was let down by the experience. “I was tired of walking into rooms, feeling uncomfortable and leaving with a stack of business cards. It just didn’t feel useful,” she says. In 2023, Frisch attended a women’s networking meeting in Greenville, South Carolina called Flourish. “It was completely different. The women were interested in each other’s businesses. It wasn’t about selling; it was about networking, connecting and growing together.” She thought that Asheville would benefit greatly from having their own chapter of Flourish.
In late 2023, Frisch started the Asheville chapter of Flourish. Only one representative from each business type is present at each meeting. She finds that the Flourish style allows people to be more authentic, rather than just pitching to each other. “The networking experience is completely different when you don’t have direct competitors in the room and you’re there to connect rather than walk away with an immediate sale,” she says. “It’s less aggressive and less intimidating than a lot of networking groups. The structure leads to a relaxing and fun experience for all the ladies in the room.”
With a full-time career, a healthy client-list and a women’s group to lead, Frisch must carefully structure her weeks to maintain quality time with her husband and take in the occasional horseback ride. Helpfully, Frisch says that her coaching work has taught her to be calmer, more productive, and more positive. “I’ve learned to slow my thought-process down. I naturally have a busy brain, but when it starts going in a negative direction, I’ve learned how to reign it back in,” she says. “Through coaching I’ve also learned to be more brave. It’s amazing how much more willing we are to put ourselves out in the world and go after what we want when we know we’ll have our own back no matter what happens.”
For more information on Missy Frisch Coaching, visit her website: https://missyfrischcoaching.com/
