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Your first hire was probably fine. It's hire #2 where founders go off the rails — and it's quietly costing them years of growth.   In this episode of the Optin Podcast, Melissa Franks unpacks the most common (and most expensive) hiring mistake she sees founders make: hiring another doer when what they actually need is an integrator. If your team has grown, your revenue is up, but you&apo...

If you blinked and somehow it's already May, and you have no idea if you're on track to hit your goals this year, you're not alone, and you're not behind. There's one thing you need to do this week, and you need to do it fast.   In this episode, Melissa Franks unpacks why May is the most overlooked month in a founder's year, and why it's the only clean window you...

If you started your business for freedom and somewhere along the way it started running you instead of you running it, this episode is for you. Melissa walks through why founders really stay stuck in the weeds (it's almost never the reason you think), introduces the four-tier CEO Time Audit framework, and gives you a 7-day assignment that will change how you spend every hour of your week. Plu...

What if the culture that makes your company feel like home is the exact thing keeping the right people from ever walking through the door?   In this episode, Melissa Franks — founder of On Call COO and 25-year operator — tackles one of the most under-examined growth levers in small business: company culture. Drawing on real client work, her own corporate-turned-startup experience, and lessons from...

Your best employee is still hitting their numbers. They're polite. They don't complain. And something feels off. Stop reaching for a raise. You don't have a compensation problem, you have a leadership problem. And at $3M+, it's one of the top plateau-makers in your business. In this episode: Why A-players disengage (it's never what you assume) The four real reasons, each w...

What does it actually look like to grow a business from a $10K/month survival goal to a $100K month, in real time, with real numbers, and zero sugarcoating? In this episode, Melissa Franks, founder of On Call COO, pulls back the curtain on everything that happened in Q1 2026: the wins, the unexpected setbacks, the hard decisions, and the mindset shifts that are fueling the path to $3 million. This...

Most people think the difference between a $1M business and a $10M business is more leads, better marketing, or a bigger audience. It's not — not even close. The real gap between a 7-figure and an 8-figure business isn't effort. It's structure. And in this episode, Melissa Franks breaks down the five core operational differences that separate businesses that stay stuck at a million...

“I think we need a new strategy.” If your business feels stuck, this is probably the sentence you’ve said, or thought, recently. Maybe your revenue isn’t where you want it to be, the team feels busy but progress is inconsistent, you’re working harder… but not seeing better results.   So the instinct is to change direction. New plan. New ideas. New strategy. But in most cases, that’s not the real p...

Are you working harder in your business, but seeing worse results? Many founders right now are experiencing slower sales cycles, unpredictable revenue, exhausted teams, and strategies that suddenly aren’t working the way they used to. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In this episode, Melissa Franks explains why business feels harder right now and the operational shifts smart companies ar...

Many founders believe their team simply moves slower than they would. They say things like: “Everything takes longer than it should.” “My team needs too much direction.” “In the end I just do it myself.” But in most growing businesses, the real issue isn’t effort, capability, or urgency. It’s a decision bottleneck the founder accidentally created. When every decision needs approval, review, or con...

What if the fastest way to grow your income, influence, and impact is to stop focusing on yourself? In this International Women’s Day special episode of The Opt-In Podcast , executive leader and Fractional COO Melissa Franks shares a powerful leadership shift that applies to women in business, corporate executives, founders, and growth-stage CEOs worldwide. After 25+ years scaling businesses, from...

As your business grows, your role changes. When it was just you, giving feedback directly was fast and effective. Once managers are in place, skip-level feedback creates confusion, erodes trust, and slows execution, even when your intentions are good. In this episode, Melissa breaks down why bypassing managers undermines performance and how to cascade feedback without losing control. This isn’t ab...

Most business owners don’t lack discipline. They’re drowning in responsibility. In this episode, Melissa Franks challenges the idea that success comes from more hustle, grit, or motivation. If your business only moves forward when you’re “on,” that’s not a discipline problem, it’s a design flaw. You’ll learn: Why discipline and motivation are finite resources How decision fatigue is quietly draini...

Most business owners set revenue goals every year, very few define how their business will actually support them. In this episode of The Opt-In Podcast , Melissa Franks explains why revenue-only goals are one of the most common ways small businesses create chaos. Teams hustle harder instead of smarter. Marketing and operations fall out of sync. Margins shrink. Leaders become bottlenecks. Revenue i...

As teams grow, the way work gets done has to change. What worked in a small, scrappy business starts to break once multiple layers, managers, and priorities appear. Employees feel overwhelmed, managers lose visibility, and execution slows down, not because people aren’t capable, but because communication hasn’t evolved. In this episode, Melissa speaks directly to employees and middle managers abou...

Do politics belong in business or is that the wrong question entirely? In this episode of The Opt-In Podcast , Melissa Franks reframes the conversation away from parties, candidates, and debate, and toward what actually matters: values, integrity, and alignment. As political and social issues increasingly collide with the workplace, many business owners believe staying silent is the safest move. B...

January has a way of convincing business owners that something is wrong. You come back from a break, look at your business with fresh eyes, and suddenly everything feels off. The offers feel stale. The strategy feels tired. The urge to change everything kicks in. But here’s the truth most people don’t want to hear: Your business probably isn’t broken. Your focus is. In this episode, Melissa breaks...

If your business feels harder right now, even though nothing is technically “wrong”, this episode is for you. In this week’s episode of The Opt-In Podcast , Melissa breaks down why instability is often a sign of growth, not failure . As businesses mature, the systems, decisions, and leadership style that once worked stop being sufficient and that transition can feel uncomfortable, confusing, and e...

If January already feels heavier than you expected, it’s not because you didn’t plan well, it’s because most plans break once execution begins. Every year, founders enter January with clear goals, only to find themselves back in the weeds, making rapid-fire decisions while their teams wait for direction. This episode breaks down why that happens and what January is really revealing about your busi...

If your business hit a plateau in 2025, you’re not failing, your business just outgrew its systems. In this New Year episode, Melissa breaks down why plateaus happen, how to diagnose them, and the exact steps to reset your business for growth in 2026.   You’ll learn: • Why businesses plateau It’s not laziness, it’s a system mismatch. Your offers, team structure, or delivery model may have hit thei...

In this special anniversary episode, host Melissa Franks celebrates three years of The Opt In Podcast, a journey that began as a mission to mentor women navigating corporate life and has since evolved into a platform for small business owners seeking clarity, strategy, and real talk about entrepreneurship. Melissa takes us on a heartfelt walk down memory lane; from hiding her pregnancy to avoid ca...

AI has exploded in the business world, and most founders are still confused about how to actually use it. In this episode, Melissa breaks down what AI is good at, where it completely falls apart, and how small business owners can integrate it without chaos, overwhelm, or bad decisions. Drawing from decades of experience in machine learning and automation (long before “AI” was a buzzword), Melissa...

As 2025 wraps, many business owners are feeling the wobble, slower demand, rising costs, and uncertainty about what 2026 will look like. In this episode, Melissa explains why the economy feels off, why small businesses feel the impact more intensely, and how to regain control with her Wobbly Economy Planning Framework. Four planning mistakes to avoid Trying to cut your way to growth Creating one r...

In this episode, Melissa breaks down one of the most misunderstood concepts in small business growth: organizational design . If you’ve ever wondered why your team feels stretched thin, why certain roles aren’t “working out,” or why it’s so hard to hire strategically this conversation is your roadmap. Small businesses often grow faster than their internal structures, and that leads to confusion, o...

It’s the end of the year, do you know how your employees are really performing? In this episode, host Melissa Franks walks you through exactly what business owners should be doing in the final stretch of the year to evaluate their team, strengthen retention, and prepare for a smooth start to the new year. Drawing from her experience as a Fractional COO, Melissa breaks down a simple, actionable fra...