World Record Mindset For Tech (EP 1007)
I sit down with world record skydiver and keynote speaker Melanie Curtis to unpack what jumping out of planes at scale can teach us about fear, growth, and leading a business when the stakes feel sky-high. We connect her decades of skydiving and coaching with the everyday reality of MSPs and IT business owners navigating tough clients, burnout, and high‑pressure decisions.
I caught Melanie Curtis at ACES 2026 in Minneapolis after her keynote, and this conversation goes way beyond “what does skydiving have to do with tech?” Melanie walks through how she went from traditional corporate track to professional skydiver, coach, and full‑time keynote speaker, and how that journey reshaped how she thinks about fear, risk, and reaching the edges of our potential.
We dig into what it really takes to prepare for a world record jump: years of skill‑building, coaching, repetition, systems, and mental discipline so you can perform when it counts. Along the way, we map those same ideas directly back to MSP life—landing clients, handling outages, leading teams, dealing with rejection, and learning to detach from outcomes so you can show up as a better leader for your staff and your customers.
Chapters
- 00:25 Opening at ACES Conference
- 02:26 Skydiving Meets Business
- 03:44 From Overachiever to Diver
- 06:27 The First Jump Changes Everything
- 07:08 Speaking Career Takes Off
- 10:53 Cat Comedy and Serious Goals
- 12:24 Audience Questions and Relevance
- 13:36 World Record Preparation Secrets
- 18:08 Where to Find Melanie
=== Guest: Melanie Curtis – Keynote Speaker & Coach
- Website: https://melaniecurtis.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniecurtis11
=== Shout-outs
- Justin Esgar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinesgar
- ACES Conference: https://acesconf.com
=== SPONSORS:
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- Digital Partner, Designer Ready: http://itbusinesspodcast.com/designerready
=== SHOW MUSIC:
- Item Title: Upbeat & Fun Sports Rock Logo
- Item URL: https://elements.envato.com/upbeat-fun-sports-rock-logo-CSR3UET
- Author Username: AlexanderRufire
- Item License Code: 7X9F52DNML
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Keynote Speaker. World Record Pro Skydiver. Peak Performance Coach.
Melanie Curtis is a world‑record professional skydiver, keynote speaker, and peak performance coach who helps ambitious leaders push past fear and tap into their unrealized potential. After starting her career in investment banking, she traded spreadsheets for skydives, logging more than 12,000 jumps and coaching thousands of people around the world over the last 30 years. Today she works with business owners, sales teams, and leadership groups to translate high‑stakes lessons from skydiving—risk, resilience, preparation, and courageous communication—into practical strategies for growth in work and life.
