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Hosted by Melissa Franks

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193

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

Do I have to be friends with my co workers to get ahead? Should I take the promotion even if I hate the job? Is my salary big enough or am I getting screwed? Do I have to choose between having a family and having a career? I've been laid off now what do I do? I'm Melissa Franks, and I've spent the last 25 years building my corporate career and a family to along the way, there have been bumps and bruises and some epic going down in flames of glory moments. My journey up the corporate ladder found me forging new ground without a safety net. Through my real life stories, experiences, and special guests on the show, I take the mystery out of how to succeed in the corporate world. I'm going to spill all the tea about how decisions are really made, how to tell who the hidden influencers are, and how to realize your full potential while enjoying the process at the same time. Each week, we will dive into a topic where I will share the good, the bad, and the ugly of my experiences and what we can all learn from them. You will walk away each week with a clear set of next steps to take action and improve your circumstances. We are going to speak frankly and freely about when it's time to opt in or to opt out. Opt In is a place where you can come to get practical, actionable advice to propel your career and your life in the direction you want. Work with me: www.melissafranks.com/offers

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60 recent

September 16, 202628 min

5 Things to Do When Your Business Is in a Slump

Is your business in a slump right now — and are you hiding it from everyone instead of dealing with it? It's not about hustling harder to push through. It's about diagnosing before you react. Spoiler: the founders who make it through a slump aren't the ones who cut the fastest — they're the ones who talk to the most people. In this episode, Melissa breaks down the exact five steps she tells every founder to take the moment sales slow down, including the diagnostic question most people skip entirely, the two numbers you need on paper every month, and the masterclass she flopped so badly the first time that she almost didn't try it again — until she did, and it changed everything. In This Episode: Why you have to diagnose before you react — and the client whose sales dropped 80% in a week How to tell if you have a demand, pipeline, retention, or cash problem (and why each needs a different fix) The #1 mistake founders make: cutting the wrong thing under pressure The two numbers you need on paper, month by month, no matter how much you hate looking at them Why chasing new customers during a slump is the expensive way out The 80/20 vulnerability hiding inside almost every business What "stirring the pot" actually means, and how it turned Melissa's own slow summer around Homework: Pick one number in your business that's changed recently, and write down exactly why you think it changed — before you cut anything. Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks

September 9, 202629 min

How to Know a Client Is a Good Fit Before You Say Yes

What if the client you're about to sign is the one you'll wish you never had? This episode isn't about learning to spot red flags after they blow up your business. It's not about having better luck, being pickier, or trusting your gut more. It's about building a real, repeatable step into your sales process — one final "vibe check" — so you catch the mismatch before the contract, not after the reviews start coming in. Here's the spoiler: the best predictor of how a client will treat you after they sign is how they treated you before they signed — and almost none of us are watching for it. By the end of this episode, you'll have a 5-signal framework you can start testing for on your very next sales call — one that tells you whether a prospect is going to protect your team's capacity or quietly drain it, before you ever sign the contract. In This Episode: Why one bad-fit client costs far more than lost revenue Why bad-fit clients almost never look like bad fits on paper How one client built a 15-minute founder "fit call" into her sales process Using AI to identify patterns across your past bad-fit (and best-fit) clients The 5-signal framework: process behavior, expectations vs. fantasy, how they talk about their last vendor, boundary testing, and the "saying no protects a yes" reframe Homework: Before your next sales call ends, ask one boundary-testing question — response time expectations, weekend availability, what's in scope versus billable — and pay attention to how they push back. That single answer will tell you more than the entire pitch did. Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks

September 2, 202630 min

The First 90 Days: How to Onboard New Hires So They Actually Stay

You just hired your A player. So why is there a good chance they're gone by day 90? Here's the reframe most founders need: it's not that you hired the wrong person — it's that you never built a real onboarding process for the right one. Almost every founder can recite their hiring process from memory. Almost none of you have an onboarding process at all. That gap, not a bad screening call, is where good hires quietly turn into bad outcomes. Melissa breaks down two live client situations — one company hiring 10 people at once in hyper-growth, one bleeding people to constant turnover — and the exact same fix works for both. By the end of this episode, you'll know the five specific moves that determine whether a new hire is confident and productive by day 90, or quietly job-hunting by day 60 — and the one question to ask yourself instead of "did we onboard them?" In This Episode: Why onboarding, not hiring, is the hard part of building a team The real cost of turnover (it's not just morale — it's a line item) Why A players are often the first to leave when onboarding fails Two client case studies: hyper-growth hiring vs. high-turnover roles The 5 things that make onboarding actually stick: a designed day one, showing "what good looks like" in week one, banking decisions, the 30/60/90-day plan as a conversation, and assigning a buddy The one question that tells you whether your onboarding lives in a process — or just in your head Homework: Before your next hire starts, write down what their first eight hours should actually look like — and ask yourself if anyone else in your business could run that day without you in the room. Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks

August 26, 202625 min

5 Things to Do Before September Ends to Win Your Best Q4

Is your year-end goal starting to feel a little too far away? Here's the thing most business owners get wrong when September hits: they think a great Q4 is about doing more — more hustle, more new ideas, more drastic moves to close the gap. It's not. A great Q4 isn't built on addition, it's built on elimination — cutting the noise so you can go all-in on what's already working. Spoiler: if you try to burn your business down and rebuild it in four months, you won't hit your goal. You'll just be starting from scratch with none of the momentum you already have. In this episode, I walk you through the exact 5-step planning process I run with my own business every quarter — a mashup of Rachel Hollis's Last 90 Day Challenge and the book The 12 Week Year — so you can head into the last four months of the year focused, clear, and set up to actually hit your goals. In This Episode: Why "doing something drastic" backfires every time The corporate story behind this framework, and how it created more transformation in 90 days than the previous 9 months Step 1: Define the purpose of each month Step 2: Set three goals for the last four months (not ten) Step 3: Declare a focus for every team member Step 4: Compare where your business started January 1st to where it is today — and what to cut Step 5: Ask honestly, can we really do it? Your homework: Before September ends, sit down and write out the purpose of each of your last four months — even a rough first pass gets you ahead of where most business owners are right now. Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks

August 19, 202627 min

The Vanity Metrics Killing 7-Figure Businesses

What if the number you're proudest of in your business is the exact reason you can't tell what's actually happening in it? This week isn't about tracking less data. It's not about a bad number to feel a little worse about. It's about the fact that the numbers you've been trained to celebrate, followers, opt-ins, traffic, even gross revenue, aren't the numbers that steer a business. They're the numbers that steer your ego. Real metrics aren't flashy. They're the ones that tell you, plainly, whether to spend more, pull back, hire, or hold. This episode is about learning the difference before it costs you. I once had to walk away from a $30 million company almost as soon as we started working together, because their headline revenue number was hiding a 2% net margin. By the end of this episode, you'll be able to run a one-question test on any metric in your business to know instantly whether it's vanity or real, and you'll know the four numbers I actually want on your dashboard: net margin, cash flow, customer acquisition cost, and founder dependency. In This Episode: What a vanity metric actually is, and the one question that separates vanity from reality Why "AI employees" is quickly becoming the newest vanity metric The real story behind a client whose huge social following couldn't actually buy anything Why I had to walk away from a $30 million company after finding a 2% net margin Why your team may be handing you good news instead of the truth, and how to fix that When EBITDA actually matters (and when it's a waste of your time) How to calculate net margin, cash flow, and customer acquisition cost in plain terms The time-study method for measuring how dependent your business is on you Your homework this week: pick one metric you currently report on or brag about, and ask yourself honestly if it's ever changed a single decision you've made. If it hasn't, it's time to replace it. Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks

August 12, 202623 min

When to Hire a Fractional COO - The Exact Number I Use (Interview on Business Growth Podcast)

When Should You Hire a Fractional COO? Are you googling "how do I know when it's time to bring in a fractional COO" at 11pm because the business feels chaotic again? Here's the thing: it's not about being big enough. It's not about "someday." It's not even about how hard you're hustling. It's about whether you've proven a repeatable model — and there's a specific number that tells you when you're there. I sat down as a guest on the Business Growth Podcast with Leonard DeBeer and gave founders the exact revenue framework I use, no vague "it depends." Spoiler: it's not $1 million. It's not even close. By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly where your business needs to sit before a fractional COO can actually move the needle for you — and you'll know the difference between a COO who "talks at you" and one who rolls up their sleeves and gets it done. You'll also hear the real numbers behind how On Call COO grew from $9,000 in cash collected in 2023 to a $3M run rate this year, and why 90% of our clients find us through paid ads instead of referrals. In This Episode: [01:30] Why the fractional COO market is underserved [03:00] The biggest misconception about fractional COO support [04:30] The $1M–$3M framework for knowing when it's time [06:00] How On Call COO actually got started [09:00] What drove rapid growth once demand outpaced supply [12:00] Why paid advertising beats referrals for a service most people don't know they need [17:30] Goals for the rest of the year: retention, referral partners, brand [21:00] Book recommendations: Big Magic and Psychology of Money Your homework: Before you do anything else this week, figure out which range you're actually in — still proving the model, or repeating it consistently above $3M. Then book a free consultation and let's map your next step from there. Listen to Leonard DeBeer on The Business Growth Podcast Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks

August 5, 202625 min

The Financial Blind Spot That's Quietly Bleeding Your Business Dry

Have you ever had a record-breaking month and then wondered where all the cash actually went? It's not that you're bad with money, and it's not that your business is failing. Your top line is climbing and you're still watching your bank account like a hawk before payroll runs. That's not a revenue problem — it's a blind spot problem. The number you've been chasing isn't the number that tells you the truth. The most dangerous blind spot isn't the one big bad decision — it's the small, invisible ones you never notice piling up until you're already in the red. By the end of this episode, you'll be able to name the three financial blind spots quietly draining growing businesses, understand why your revenue number can't be trusted on its own, and know exactly which four numbers to start tracking — no CFO, no finance degree, no fear required. In This Episode: Why revenue is a vanity metric and what actually reflects the health of your business Blind spot #1: the gap between booking revenue and collecting cash Blind spot #2: margin dilution from discounting, scope creep, and slowly rising costs Blind spot #3: the owner's blended blind spot — draws, commingled expenses, and tax strategies Why your bookkeeper and accountant won't catch this for you (and why that's not their job) The simple financial dashboard: cash runway, gross margin, AR aging, and burn rate How to build an owner's mindset around cost vs. return before every decision Before your next weekly check-in, pull up your last P&L and answer one question honestly: what is your actual gross margin, by product or by client — not "it's good," an actual number. Ready to build your own financial dashboard? Book a free consultation with Melissa and get clarity on your cash and margin. Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks

July 29, 202630 min

How to Screen Job Applicants Before You Ever Interview Them (The Process Behind 10,000+ Hires)

Do you keep hiring the wrong person, someone who looked exactly right on paper and in the interview, and then turned out to be someone else entirely once they were on your team? This isn't about getting better at reading people in the interview room. It's about making sure the wrong people never make it into that room in the first place. After 30 years and more than 10,000 interviews, Melissa has learned that the real work of hiring well happens before the conversation ever starts, in the application, the resume, and the cross-checks most small businesses skip entirely. One resume-review habit alone, checking whether achievements come with actual numbers attached, will eliminate half your bad hires before you ever pick up the phone. By the end of this episode, you'll have a repeatable, five-step screening system you can run before any interview: a 30-minute application that filters out easy-apply candidates, an optional video submission that reveals how someone really shows up, a way to safely (and skeptically) use AI for screening, a resume-reading checklist that catches red flags in under five minutes, and a method for cross-checking a resume against LinkedIn that exposes inconsistencies most hiring managers never think to look for. In This Episode: Why Melissa's real interview count is closer to tens of thousands, not 10,000 The assumptions this process requires you to have already made (builder vs. steady-state, job description, comp) How to build an application that takes 30 minutes and why that length matters What an optional video submission tests that a resume and interview can't How to request and verify work product samples Using knockout questions and AI to sort applicants, and why you have to check the work A real story about Claude's candidate screening getting it backwards, and what caused it The three-part resume read: typos, data-backed achievements, and role duration The one exception to the "duration over title" rule (the VP vs. Director story) Why resume and LinkedIn need to match, and what a mismatch tells you How to spot an AI-written application, and why that's a dealbreaker Why you can't outsource the hiring decision itself to AI Homework: Before your next round of hiring, pull up your current job application and time how long it actually takes someone to complete. If it's under 10 minutes, it's not doing its job, go back and add the open-ended questions this episode walks through. Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks

July 22, 202628 min

What Are You Actually Working Toward? (It's Not Your "Why")

Have you ever spent the quiet minutes of the morning, or the late hours of the night, asking yourself: why am I even doing this? This episode isn't about finding your "why." It's not about your purpose, and it's not about your values. Melissa reframes the question entrepreneurs actually need to answer: not "why," but what your driver is — the specific, sometimes unflattering dream that pushed you to start in the first place. Because here's the thing most founders get wrong: it's not burnout, and it's not hustle culture that makes you hate a profitable business. It's not even knowing your "why" that's missing. It's not identifying a value system — it's never having named the actual driver behind the leap, and having no way to tell whether you've already hit it. Melissa shares the two very unglamorous goals that drove her to start On Call COO, a five-minute conversation that helped a founder realize she'd already achieved everything she set out for, and the decision she made this spring to pull back her own hours — on purpose, eyes wide open — to be present for her kids this summer. In This Episode: Kristen Cavallari's "I'd hate my life" comment on Emma Grede's Aspire podcast, and why it's the smartest thing a founder can say Why "what's your why" is a question Melissa can't stand — and what to ask instead Melissa's own driver behind starting On Call COO What happens when you don't know your driver (and start chasing other people's results instead) A live coaching moment: how one founder realized in five minutes that she'd already won Why Melissa chose to pull back this summer, even while the business was growing How to build a real plan before you chase your next big goal Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks

July 15, 202626 min

Builder vs. Steady State: The Hiring Mistake Costing You Top Talent

Have you hired the same role more than once and watched it still not work out, even with genuinely talented people? If your answer is yes, that's not a talent problem. In this episode of the Opt In Podcast, Melissa Franks tackles one of the most common hiring mistakes small business owners make: assuming an A player is an A player everywhere. Not a question of skill, but of fit. There are only two operating modes at work, builder and steady state, and hiring the wrong one into a role sets even the most talented person up to fail. If your job description hasn't changed since the last time this role turned over, someone is paying for that gap. Spoiler: it's your business. Melissa breaks down why founders keep hiring skilled people into the wrong seat (it's not bad luck, it's an undefined role), walks through the two-column audit you can run on any role this week, and gives you the exact framework for figuring out whether the seat needs a builder or a steady state person, before you ever post the job again. In This Episode: Why "I want the best person" is the wrong starting point for a job description The real difference between a builder and a steady state person, and why it has nothing to do with seniority or department The two-column exercise to diagnose exactly why past hires in this role didn't work Why a job description without defined performance metrics guarantees your new hire defaults to what worked at their last job How to figure out which one you are as a founder, and why that determines who you hire next Why your best people quietly leave, and it's rarely about the money Your homework: one role, one audit, one honest answer. Connect with Melissa: Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com Watch the Episodes on Youtube Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks LinkedIn: Melissa Franks