In today’s episode of The Opt-In Podcast, I’m taking inspiration from the unexpected king of business advice: Tom Hanks.

His mantra, “This too shall pass” became my lifeline during one of the darkest moments of my entrepreneurial journey… and again during one of the best.

Whether you’re drowning in problems or overwhelmed by opportunities (yes, that kind of chaos exists too), this episode is your blueprint for getting grounded, getting clear, and getting back in control.

I’ll walk you through:

• The Exercise That Saved Me: The exact process I use, and now teach to move from panic to clarity in under 24 hours.
• Why Chaos Is Normal (and why you should stop trying to eliminate it)
• How to Separate Real Problems from Emotional Noise
• The Business Triage Method: How to quickly determine what to fix first (and what to completely ignore)
• My Own Story of Hitting Rock Bottom… and Hitting Capacity Overload Two Years Later

This episode is both a pep talk and a practical framework for decision-making when everything feels urgent.

📌 If you’re in a season of overwhelm — good or bad — listen to this. Save it. Share it. And repeat after me: This too shall pass.

Connect with Melissa:

Watch the Episodes on Youtube

Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks

Schedule a call: melissafranks.com

Does everyone you interview look like you, sound like you, and maybe even want to be you? If so, it’s time to rethink your hiring approach.

In this episode of the Opt-In Podcast, Melissa Franks takes a candid look at why diversity matters in small business hiring, and what can happen when diversity of thought, background, and experience disappears from an organization. Using both real-world headlines and her corporate COO background, Melissa explains why innovation, creativity, and growth depend on having a diverse team.

You’ll learn:

• Why diversity isn’t just about what you can see, it includes socioeconomic background, education, life experiences, and more.
• How a lack of diverse perspectives can limit creativity, create blind spots, and weaken company culture.
• 5 practical steps to improve diversity in your hiring:
  1. Write inclusive job descriptions.
  2. Broaden where you post and source candidates.
  3. Standardize your interview process with structured questions and scorecards.
  4. Include a diverse panel in interviews.
  5. Track applicant and hiring data to uncover unconscious bias.

Melissa also connects today’s hiring challenges to what’s happening in government, showing why protecting diversity of thought is vital—not just for society, but for the long-term survival of your business.

👉 Whether you’re hiring your first team member or expanding a growing company, this episode will help you attract the best talent and build a stronger, more resilient business.

To learn more about how On Call COO can help your business: Https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices

To learn about working for On Call COO: https://www.melissafranks.com/careers

Connect with Melissa:

Watch the Episodes on Youtube

Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks

Schedule a call: melissafranks.com

Every business owner eventually faces it: the dreaded plateau. Sales stop climbing, growth stalls, and suddenly you’re left wondering what went wrong. In this episode of the Opt-In Podcast, Melissa Franks breaks down the truth about business plateaus and how to navigate them without panic or wasted effort.

Melissa dives into the four core areas every entrepreneur should interrogate when growth has flatlined:

1. Your Data – Why understanding metrics like customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, churn, and return on ad spend is essential for diagnosing issues.
2. Your Sales Process – How inefficiencies, distractions, or broken funnels quietly kill conversion rates and what to do about it.
3. Your Time – The surprising ways a founder’s calendar can hold back growth (and how delegation and focus create momentum).
4. Your Team – How misaligned priorities, poor culture, or lack of standard processes can drag down performance across the business.

Melissa also shares a powerful analogy: think of business growth like a mountain range, not a roller coaster. Plateaus aren’t failures, they’re natural flat stretches where you regroup, stabilize, and prepare for the next climb.

Whether you’re currently in a plateau or preparing for the inevitable, this episode gives you the tools to diagnose, adjust, and reignite momentum.

Connect with Melissa:

Watch the Episodes on Youtube

Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks

Schedule a call: melissafranks.com

This week on The Opt-In Podcast, Melissa Franks unpacks a rarely discussed—but vitally important—topic: how your personal behavior in public spaces can deeply affect your business or employment. Whether you're a business owner or an employee, your actions, your posts, your tone, and your choices in public and on social media all have ripple effects and sometimes, unintended consequences.

Using a powerful personal story from a youth baseball tournament gone sideways, Melissa explores how behavior, even outside of work hours, can reflect on your business and your brand, whether you realize it or not. This episode is not about ideology or political hot takes, it’s a practical, heartfelt guide for staying aligned with your values while protecting your business, your voice, and your livelihood.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• ⚾ A real-world story about how a youth sports game turned into a brand crisis for a business
• 🧠 Why everything you do, even off the clock can be traced back to your business or employer
• 📱 The risks of unfiltered social media posting and how cancel culture intersects with employment
• 🛡️ What every business owner needs: a clear social media and branded apparel policy
• 📘 Why your employee handbook matters more than you think (especially the fine print)
• 🧭 How to navigate being vocal about causes and core values without putting your business at risk
• 👀 Why “your personal brand is always showing” — and how to stay in control of it

In this candid solo episode, Melissa Franks opens the curtain on a deeply personal and strategic recalibration she made in both life and business. As the fourth quarter looms, a season that often demands more from entrepreneurs, Melissa shares the internal reckoning that led her to rewrite how she works, lives, and leads. This isn’t a burnout story; it’s a blueprint for realignment. From hiring help to reshaping routines, Melissa offers a powerful invitation to evaluate how we’re spending our time, protecting our energy, and honoring the life we say we want.

In this episode, Melissa unpacks:

🔹 The warning signs that told her change was non-negotiable

🔹 Why “working harder” stopped being the right strategy

🔹 Her surprisingly simple nutrition fix that boosted brainpower

🔹 What she outsourced at home (and what’s next)

🔹 The time management tweaks that helped her reset

🔹 Her new rules for weekends, Slack, and client boundaries

🔹 Why she’s finally hiring an executive assistant, and the mindset that made her delay

🔹 The trap of always moving the finish line, and how she’s breaking the cycle

🔹 A powerful call to recalibrate your life and business in harmony

Key Takeaways:

• Success in one season can create dysfunction in the next, don’t wait for burnout to course-correct.
• White space isn’t a luxury; it’s a growth strategy.
• Personal decisions—like meal delivery and weekday boundaries—are business decisions, too.
• You don’t need to wait until you’ve ‘made it’ to live the life you want. Start now.

Fourth quarter isn’t just October through December—it starts now. In this episode, Melissa Franks breaks down why the most successful businesses treat September as the true kickoff to Q4 and how you can use this mindset to set yourself up for a profitable year-end.

Melissa shares insights from industry analysts on consumer behavior this holiday season—what Gen Z, middle-class, and affluent buyers are really planning to spend on—and what that means for your business strategy. From stacking promotions and driving momentum early to preparing for January (yes, January is part of Q4 too), Melissa offers practical, real-world advice to help you thrive, not just survive.

You’ll learn:

• Why Gen Z is prioritizing experiences over products this holiday season
• Which income groups are likely to spend more (and which are tightening their wallets)
• Why you should generate “shock factor” attention and sales in September
• How to use historical data without falling into the trap of copy-paste planning
• Why planning for January now is the hidden key to avoiding a sluggish start in 2026
• The danger of being impatient with short-term sales data—and how to react fast without being reactionary

If you’ve ever felt stressed about hitting your year-end goals, this episode will help you shift your perspective and take intentional action today.

👉 Want help building a plan you can actually execute? Melissa is quietly offering a limited number of 4-hour VIP planning sessions to design your Q4 strategy using her Growth Formula Framework. Book a call: https://calendly.com/oncallcoo/on-call-coo-info-call

If your business collapses the moment you go on vacation, you don’t have leaders—you have helpers. In this episode of the Opt-In Podcast, Melissa Franks, your On Call COO, unpacks the hard truth about bottlenecks in small businesses and why your growth may be stalling because you are in the way.

Melissa shares real client stories of founders who couldn’t unplug, explains the signs that you might be the bottleneck, and introduces a practical framework for building a team that can operate independently—whether you’re in the office, on vacation, or preparing your business for a future sale.

You’ll learn:

• How to recognize if you’re holding your business back.
• The four-part framework for creating a self-sufficient team:
  1. Clear roles and accountability
  2. Defined decision rights
  3. Systems and SOPs
  4. Leadership development
• Why empowering your team to lead (not just help) is the fastest path to freedom, growth, and long-term business value.

By the end, you’ll know the exact steps to start shifting from being the bottleneck to becoming the visionary leader your business actually needs.

👉 Tune in to discover how to stop firefighting, delegate with confidence, and finally buy back your time.

To get support for this framework or strategic guidance for your business, you can book a complimentary consultation call at https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices

What separates the CEO who scales from the CEO who stalls?

Spoiler: it’s not strategy—it’s habits.

In this episode of The Opt-In Podcast, Melissa Franks, your on-call COO, pulls back the curtain on the daily practices that either propel businesses forward or keep them stuck. Drawing on insights from working with nearly 50 entrepreneurs across industries, Melissa explains why consistency beats intensity and how three core habits can transform your role as a leader.

You’ll hear:

• The three growth-driving habits every CEO must master: owning your calendar, tracking numbers weekly, and delegating ruthlessly.
• The hidden bad habits that sabotage growth, like checking email first thing in the morning, attending every meeting, and constant context switching.
• Real client stories that show how simple habit shifts unlocked millions in growth.
• A practical three-step framework to audit your day, double down on good habits, and replace harmful ones.

If your business feels stuck—or you’re burning out trying to do it all—this episode is your playbook for clarity, focus, and momentum.

👉 After listening, DM Melissa to share the habit you’re committing to shift. Accountability starts here.