Opt In

What if the biggest thing holding your business back is you?

In this episode of the Opt In Podcast, Melissa Franks shares the framework she calls "firing yourself first", a counterintuitive approach to growth that she recently delivered to a room of six- and seven-figure entrepreneurs. If your business has plateaued, if every decision routes through you, or if you can't take a real vacation without something breaking, this episode is your wake-up call.

Melissa breaks down exactly why delegation alone doesn't work (and actually creates more work in the short term), and walks you through the decision audit matrix that reveals where you're bleeding time, money, and momentum. You'll learn the three-phase handoff method, from task to process to authority, that's the real key to scaling, plus why "good enough" beats perfect every time when it comes to letting go.

You'll also hear the story of a former client, a 12-person business whose revenue had been stuck at the same level for three years, and how getting the right people in the right chairs with real authority unlocked her growth and a fully unplugged three-week vacation to the Amalfi Coast.

In this episode:

• Why you — not your strategy — are the bottleneck
• The math that proves decision-making is costing you a full quarter of your year
• How to use the 2x2 decision audit to find what to hand off now
• The 3-phase authority handoff (and why most founders stop at phase one)
• The 70% rule that will finally let you delegate without guilt

Your homework: pick one recurring decision from your danger zone and hand it off — with full authority — this week.

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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

What does it actually take to leave your business for a week, without it falling apart?

In this episode of The Opt-in Podcast, Melissa Franks shares the exact six-month plan she built to step away from On Call COO during one of the most personally demanding weeks of her life. Recorded in real time, Melissa walks through every decision, every near-miss, and every mindset shift that made it possible to unplug and come back stronger.

Spoiler: while she was out, they secured a six-figure client renewal.

 If you've ever pushed off a vacation because you're afraid the business won't survive without you, this episode is your permission slip, and your playbook.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why you need to put the date on the calendar first, before you have a plan
• The "what if I disappeared tomorrow?" exercise that reveals every business vulnerability
• How to do a ruthless calendar audit and what Melissa cut 3 months out (including a trade show)
• The F1-style practice run strategy: how to test your team while you're still there to catch mistakes
• Why you should notify clients and partners two months in advance, and exactly what to say
• How to engineer project milestones so delivery deadlines don't land during your absence
• The gradual pullback method: how to stop doing work and start coaching your team in the final weeks
• What "checking in" can look like without derailing your rest (Melissa's actual approach)
• Why asking your team for help before you cancel the vacation is always the right move

Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with the business owner in your life who hasn't taken a real vacation in years.

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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

Everyone is talking about AI, but is the hype matching reality in your small business? This week, Melissa Franks is pulling back the curtain on what AI actually is, where it can genuinely move the needle, and where blind trust in it could cost you everything.

As a technologist who's been building automation systems since before most AI tools existed, Melissa brings something most AI conversations are missing: lived experience and historical context. She was building bots, automation layers, and intelligent systems long before ChatGPT had a user interface, and that perspective changes everything about how she sees today's AI boom.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why AI isn't actually new, and what that means for how you use it
• The "lipstick on a pig" truth about the tools everyone is obsessing over (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot)
• Why using AI in areas where you lack expertise is genuinely dangerous, and could push your business toward bankruptcy
• The two best use cases for AI in a small business right now
• Why hiring an "AI architect" without the right pedigree is one of the most expensive mistakes you can make
• How to prompt AI correctly so it actually gives you useful, accurate output
• Why 70% of current AI platforms will disappear, and what that means for your tech stack

The biggest takeaway: AI is a powerful tool in the hands of someone who already knows what they're doing. In the hands of someone using it to replace expertise they don't have, it's a liability.

This episode is equal parts how-to guide and cautionary tale — and it's a conversation every small business owner needs to have right now.

Feeling like you need a real conversation about AI in your business? On Call COO is actively booking AI strategy consultations. Whether you're just getting started or already knee-deep in tools you don't fully trust, let's talk. Book your free consultation — link in show notes.

🔗 Book a free consultation with On Call COO

Connect with Melissa: 

• Website: melissafranks.com
• LinkedIn: Melissa Franks
• Instagram: @youroncallcoo

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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

Last summer, I watched a business owner sit on a beach in Hawaii with her face buried in her phone at 8pm because her team needed her to approve a $200 refund. That's not a vacation. That's working in a different time zone with a worse Wi-Fi connection.

If you're already pre-stressing about how the next 12 weeks are going to go, this episode is for you. We're skipping the usual advice — no out-of-office templates, no SOP documentation, no "fortify your business" generalities. Instead, I'm walking through the 5 unusual moves I help my fractional COO clients make every year so they can actually unplug — and most founders have never heard any of them.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why running a "Ghost Week" in stealth (without telling your team) is the only honest test of whether your business can run without you — and the surprise story of a "stealth leader" one client discovered hiding in plain sight
• How to bank pre-decisions instead of writing more SOPs — and why the Ritz-Carlton $200 rule is the model your business is missing.
• The one reverse delegation question to ask each of your direct reports before you leave — and what their answers will reveal about the bottlenecks you didn't know existed.
• Why you should book the non-refundable trip BEFORE your business is ready (and how this "burn the boats" approach forces the hires, fires, and decisions you've been procrastinating for years)
• The return strategy almost no one talks about: why coming back on a Thursday instead of a Monday — and blocking your first three days — is the difference between a vacation that sticks and one that disappears the moment you walk back in

The thread running through all five: every one of these shifts the question from "how do I prevent problems while I'm gone?" to "what does my business reveal about itself when I'm not there?" That second question is the one that builds a business you can step away from — not just this summer, but for the rest of the time you own it.

ABOUT THE HOST

Melissa Franks is the founder of On Call COO, a fractional COO services firm that helps founders get out of the weeds, operate more efficiently, and build businesses that can run without them. She is not a coach. She is not a consultant. She is an operator who loves running businesses, and she helps founders do the same.

Learn more: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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

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're MORE buried than you were before — this episode names exactly why, and shows you the way out.

You'll learn:

• Why hire #2 is the trap (and how to tell if you've already fallen into it)
• The three roles every business needs — and the one founders almost always skip
• A simple framework for who to hire next at $500K, $1M, and $2M in revenue
• The calendar audit you can do this week to know — with zero guessing — what kind of hire your business actually needs
• Why a fractional COO often pays for themselves in 60-90 days at the right stage
• The mindset shift that gets founders out of the bottleneck for good

This is the episode for any founder who's said the words "I just need another set of hands" lately. Spoiler: you don't. You need something better.

If this episode hits close to home, Melissa is offering a free consultation to walk through the calendar exercise with you — no pitch, no pressure, just clarity on your next right hire. Book at melissafranks.com.

Resources & Links

• Book a free consultation with Melissa → https://www.melissafranks.com
• Learn more about On Call COO fractional services → https://www.melissafranks.com

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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

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 have to course-correct before summer slows everything down. You'll walk away with a simple, repeatable mid-Q2 audit you can run on your business in less than an hour.

What you'll learn in this episode

• Why May is a setup month, not a coast month, and the "summer cliff" most founders never see coming
• The 5 numbers every founder should be looking at right now (revenue vs. plan, gross margin trend, cash on hand, Q3 pipeline coverage, and team capacity)
• The 3 honest questions to ask about Q1 and Q2 so far: what worked, what broke, what you've been avoiding
• How to find the one bottleneck that's actually slowing your business down (and why fixing five things means fixing nothing)
• Two real client stories, one that almost hit a brick wall from succeeding too fast, and one that nearly went bankrupt from flying blind
• The 4 things to lock in before June so your business runs without you all summer
• How to install a weekly operating rhythm that carries you past summer and into a calmer Q4

Want help running this audit on your business?

Book a free 30-minute Mid-Year Audit consultation with our team. Walk through your 5 numbers and pinpoint your one bottleneck before summer slips away. Visit www.melissafranks.com to grab a time.

About the show

The Optin Podcast is where business owners go from surviving to thriving. Hosted by Melissa Franks, founder of On Call COO — fractional COO services for founders who want to get out of the weeds, build scalable operations, and make faster decisions backed by real data.

If this episode hit home, follow the show, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with the founder friend who keeps saying "I'll look at the numbers later."

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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

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. Plus: a free worksheet that does the math for you.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• The three unmistakable signs you're operating in the weeds (not just busy)
• Why "just delegate" is useless advice, and the five real reasons founders stay stuck
• How to calculate what your hour is actually worth (and why you're hemorrhaging money you don't see)
• The four-tier CEO Time Audit framework: $1,000 / $100 / $25 / $10 per hour work
• The three-step process to free up 10–20 hours a week: audit, categorize, reassign
• The honest truth about why this exercise feels uncomfortable, and why that's the point

CEO Time Audit

Ready to find out what your week actually looks like? Download the free CEO Time Audit, run the 7-day exercise, and bring the results to a free 30-minute consultation. We'll find your biggest leverage point together — no pitch, no pressure. Just one operator helping another founder figure out the next move.

https://oncallcoo.myflodesk.com/ceoaudit

ABOUT MELISSA

Melissa Franks is the founder of On Call COO and host of the Optin Podcast. Before launching her fractional COO practice, she served as COO of a Fortune 100 financial services business, where she helped grow the company from $50M to $350M. She now works with small business founders to help them grow, scale, and actually love the life they've built — without being the hardest-working employee in their own business.

Book a free consultation https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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

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 companies like Hobby Lobby and Ben & Jerry's, Melissa makes the case that the culture that got you to your first ten employees is rarely the one that will carry you to your first hundred.

You'll hear the two truths every founder has to hold in tension, why a strong culture can quietly become an exclusionary one without anyone meaning for it to, and the three reasons homogeneous cultures cost more than founders realize, in talent math, legal exposure, and slower, worse decision-making.

Then Melissa walks you through her 8-step Culture Audit, the same framework she uses with fractional COO clients, so you can honestly assess whether your culture is an asset or a ceiling, and decide exactly what to keep, evolve, or let go.

Free Download: The Culture Audit Worksheet

Want to run the full 8-step audit on your own company? Download the free Culture Audit Worksheet, the same framework Melissa uses with her fractional COO clients

https://oncallcoo.myflodesk.com/cultureaudit

Work With Melissa

If you're not sure whether your culture is an asset or a ceiling, that's exactly the kind of thing On Call COO helps founders figure out. A culture audit is one of the first things Melissa runs when she steps in as a fractional COO. Book a free 30-minute consultation and she'll tell you honestly whether your culture is going to get you where you're going.

Book your free consultation: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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

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 with a named tactic: the Scope Audit, the Cover Question, the "Why" One-on-One, the Two-Year Conversation
• A three-question diagnostic for you, alone at your desk
• The 30-day re-engagement plan — one conversation per week, no new system required

"Your best people want to stay. They're waiting to see if you can still see them."

This week: one A-player. One conversation. One action.

Book a strategy session: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

More at https://www.melissafranks.com

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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

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 isn't a highlight reel. This is the full picture, and it might be exactly what you need to hear right now.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Melissa set a $3 million "impossible goal" for 2026, and what that actually means in practice
• The one decision made at the end of 2025 that directly led to On Call COO's first $100K month in February 2026
• How to identify where YOU are the bottleneck in your own business (and what to do about it)
• What "firing yourself" from a role really means, and why it's the most important thing a scaling founder can do
• The leading indicators Melissa watches daily that have nothing to do with revenue, and how they saved the business from a pipeline crash in March
• What happened when Google Ads suddenly stopped spending (and how she diagnosed and fixed it fast)
• Why Melissa made the intentional decision to step BACK into client fulfillment, even after retiring from it
• The truth about rest, recovery, and why "hustle culture" advice can quietly kill your business growth

Ready to find your own bottleneck?

If any of this resonated, and you're sitting in the owner seat wondering why it's so hard, you're not alone. Melissa and the On Call COO team offer a free consultation call to help you see the forest through the trees. 

👉 Book your free consultation at https//www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices

Connect with Melissa:

• Website: melissafranks.com
• LinkedIn: Melissa Franks
• Instagram: @melissafranks

Connect with Melissa:

Consultation Call: https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices 

3 Operational Leaks Every Business Has Masterclass. https://oncallcoo.melissafranks.com/3operationalleaks

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