Letting people go, holding your team accountable, and figuring out what kind of leader you actually want to be.. none of it’s simple. In this episode, Melody and Curt talks about the messiness of managing people you genuinely care about, the emotional cost of firing, and what happens when your "people-first" values run up against business realities. Expect stories, frustration, a little sparring, and a surprising amount of compassion.

What Melody & Curt Talk About:

1. Why Melody waited way too long to fire people (again) and regrets “keeping them because I love them”
2. Curt’s “boiling frog” metaphor for how dysfunction sneaks up
3. The comfort trap: when loyalty and long-term relationships blur the line between family and business
4. The great fight: Is it better to have relationships or to treat staff as interchangeable “numbers?”
5. Real talk on KPIs, weekly scorecards, and why “feelings aren’t data”
6. Melody’s February company reset: six weeks where everyone has to prove they can lead themselves
7. Struggling with being a “cheerleader” versus embracing the hard-ass accountability role
8. The exhaustion (and necessity) of moving someone out of a job, especially in a tiny team where roles overlap and money’s tight
9. The myth of “changing yourself” into the perfect leader and why building the right leadership team matters more

Key Takeaways:

1. Keeping someone just because you care about them is usually a sign you need to let them go.
2. Accountability doesn’t happen by accident—it takes structure, and sometimes, giving someone else the authority to deliver the tough news.
3. You don’t have to fit the old-school “boss” mold to be a real leader; your job is to find complementary strengths and let go of what drains you.
4. When self-accountability is missing, no number of meetings or systems will save you (but you still have to try).
5. Growth almost always means outgrowing someone. The worst part? You’ll know it long before you act.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Why it’s so hard to let people go

8:55 – Relationship vs. results: The accountability fight

31:28 – Wearing too many hats when the business is small

46:43 – The myth of the “perfect” leader and reframing leadership roles

57:58 – Growth, fear, and why change is always painful (until it isn’t)

Ever get that feeling your brain is sprinting in a million directions while the rest of the world is taking a slow stroll? This episode is all about living and thriving with ADHD as an entrepreneur. Melody shares the vulnerable, messy reality behind her diagnosis and running a business with a “sparkly brain,” while Curt brings his undiagnosed-but-oh-so-familiar Ferrari brain energy and the worry, self-doubt, and relentless hacks that go with it. We get personal, philosophical, and practical about what ADHD means in a world built for Hondas and why that might not be a bad thing.

What We Talk About:

1. Why Melody feels like her ADHD diagnosis gave her “the handbook” for her brain (and why Curt resisted getting one)
2. The Ferrari vs. Honda Pilot analogy are ADHD brains just built for a different kind of track?
3. Stories about homework meltdowns, parenting kids with wildly different operating systems, and the heartbreak of letting go of school expectations
4. The hacks, tricks, and self-management systems that actually help, plus why those only work for the person who invented them
5. Curt’s visual “milestone” strategy for corralling racing thoughts in meetings
6. Melody explaining why her whole company is designed for ADHD entrepreneurs (and why work is her “healthy addiction”)
7. How shame and comparison warp the experience of ADHD and the real work of finding your strengths
8. What happens when faith, God, and fairness collide with neurodiversity (Curt gets philosophical!)

Key Takeaways:

1. ADHD isn’t just distractibility—it’s relentless energy and hyperfocus that can be superpowers if you learn to channel them (but the crash is real)
2. Diagnosis isn’t a crutch—it’s the start of self-compassion, better strategies, and actual confidence
3. The best hacks are unique—trying to model someone else’s perfect system usually ends in chaos (or shame)
4. Building a purpose-driven business is possible with ADHD, but you need systems, structure, and help—and it still won’t be linear
5. Parenting, business, and relationships are all harder—and richer—when you embrace the unpredictability instead of fighting it

Timestamps:

0:00 – Melody’s ADHD energy and the joy of new ideas

1:10 – Diagnosis journeys and how it shifts self-perception

6:00 – Ferrari brains vs. Honda brains: what does that mean for business and life?

16:00 – Hacks for keeping focus (but only if they fit your brain)

30:00 – ADHD tendencies and why entrepreneurship attracts them

39:00 – The faith question: why are we all so different, and what does that mean?

46:00 – Everyday coping strategies that actually stick

Curt and Melody sit down with their friend Meaghan Likes- entrepreneur, accountant, investor, and the human behind the name Meg Likes Money, for a conversation that goes exactly nowhere they expected.

Curt tries to talk about capitalism.

Meaghan politely shuts that down.

And what unfolds is a surprisingly grounded conversation about money, power, obligation, and what’s really driving entrepreneurs when they say they “want more.”

Meaghan has built and partnered in businesses across accounting, software, home services, and tech. She’s seen the bank accounts, profit margins, and pressure points behind thousands of businesses. She’s sat behind closed doors with very wealthy people. And she’s watched, up close, what money actually does (and doesn’t) fix.

Her Take? It’s almost never about the money.

They talk about

-Why chasing money is usually a cover for something else

-The moral obligation entrepreneurs take on when they choose to build

-Why profit isn’t greedy

-How money reveals people instead of changing them

-Why “passive income” is mostly a myth

-What happens when you stop making money about you

This episode is thoughtful, funny, and occasionally uncomfortable, but it’s the kind of conversation that will stick with you.

If you’ve ever felt conflicted about money…

This one’s for you.