INSIDE LETTING-GO MENTORING
Let AI Draft Your Estimates, Not Price Them
It is nine at night and you are still typing up the day’s estimates, 20 to 30 minutes each, after every site visit. Ivanka Menken uses the Automation Handover Map inside Letting-Go Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, to split each estimate into the steps a system can draft, the price call you own and the check before it goes out. You leave with a written estimate workflow and a 14-day test.
The Automation Handover Map is a tool inside the programme, not a separate product. Ivanka does not set up software for you.
AN EXAMPLE ELECTRICAL BUSINESS
Twenty-five minutes an estimate. Four of them were the price.
- EVERY ESTIMATEtyped at night, after the site visit20 to 30 min
- THE PRICE CALLthe only step that needs the founderabout 4 min
- THE TESTa system drafts, the founder prices and checks14 days
THE RULE
“A system drafts the words and layout. The founder makes the price call and checks scope before anything is sent.”
Your steps and minutes will be your own.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Every site visit becomes an evening of typing
- 01You write every estimate yourself, usually after dinner.
- 02Quotes go out a day or two after the visit, and some jobs go to whoever quoted first.
- 03You bought a tool to speed it up and now type the same words into a different screen.
ONE ESTIMATE, AS IT RUNS
- Site notes: on the phone, in shorthand
- Scope wording: typed fresh each time
- Layout and terms: copied from the last quote
- Price call: about four minutes
- Sent: the next morning, if nothing else comes up
Most of the time goes to typing, not judgement.
THE EXAMPLE CASE
The founder who bought a tool and kept the typing
01
THE MOMENT
Estimates written at the kitchen bench
Three site visits today. The ute is unpacked, the kids are in bed, and the laptop is open on the kitchen bench. Each estimate takes 20 to 30 minutes: the scope written out again, the same terms pasted in, the layout fixed. The price itself takes a few minutes. By eleven, one quote is still unsent.
02
WHAT THEY HAD TRIED
Another quoting tool
In this case, the founder ran a six-person electrical business at about $900k revenue and wrote every estimate personally. The obvious fix was a new quoting tool. It looked tidier, and the founder still typed the scope, the terms and the layout into it at night, so the only change was which screen the evening went into.
03
WHAT IVANKA NOTICED
The price was the small part
Ivanka asked the founder to time one estimate step by step. The wording and layout took most of the 25 minutes; the price call took about four. The part that needed the founder was the smallest part of the job, and nobody had written down which steps could leave the founder’s desk and which could not.
THE DIAGNOSIS
A handover question, not a software question
The real problem was not the tool. It was that nobody had decided which part of an estimate a system could draft, which part the founder owned, and which part needed a check before a client saw it.
The reframe: split the estimate into its steps and mark each one. A system drafts the site notes into scope wording and lays out the quote. The founder makes the price call and checks scope. Then the quote is sent the same day, and the founder reviews the test after 14 days.
Hand over the typing. Keep the price call.
THE COST OF STAYING STUCK
Every estimate sent a day late is a job someone else can win, and every evening at the bench is time the founder does not spend on the next site or at home.
THE TOOL
The Automation Handover Map, for one electrical business
The Automation Handover Map is how Letting-Go Mentoring decides which steps of a repeat task move to a system, which stay with the founder and which need a check before anything leaves the business. For estimates, it splits one quote into six steps and marks each one before a 14-day test.
Tap a part. The minutes are an example; time your own next estimate.
Automation Handover Map · a framework by Ivanka Menken
What it is
It is one page. Down the side, the six steps of an estimate: site notes, scope wording, layout and terms, the price call, the check and the send. Beside each, who does it: a system drafts, the founder owns, or checked before sending, with the minutes each step takes today. Under it, the 14-day test and what is reviewed at the end.
What it replaces
It replaces writing every estimate at night, buying another tool that moves the typing, and a founder who reads every word because nothing says which words matter.
It sits inside Letting-Go Mentoring, next to the fortnightly handover, because an estimate is one of the most common jobs a founder cannot let go of. It is coaching, not a software build, and Ivanka does not recommend or set up a particular product.
THE MAP, AS WRITTEN
- 01Site notes: dictated on site, a system turns them into scope wording
- 02Scope wording: system draft, about 2 minutes to read
- 03Layout and terms: system draft from the standard template
- 04Price call: the founder, about 4 minutes
- 05The check: scope and price, before sending
- 06The test: 14 days, then minutes per estimate and quotes sent same day reviewed
HOW IVANKA WORKED WITH THEM
From one long evening to one written workflow
In the session, Ivanka asked the founder to talk through the last estimate minute by minute, then marked each step together with them: system drafts, founder owns, or checked before sending. They agreed the price call and the scope check stayed with the founder, and everything else became a draft to read. The founder left with the map and a 14-day test starting the next morning.
THE ESTIMATE WORKFLOW, AS WRITTEN
- System drafts
- Scope wording from the site notes, layout and standard terms.
- Founder owns
- The price call and any variation from the standard scope.
- Checked before sending
- Scope and price read once, then sent the same day.
- The test
- 14 days, then minutes per estimate and same-day quotes reviewed.
- Review
- After 14 days, at the next session
Your steps and your test will be your own.
THE FOUR-STEP LOOP
- 1The one thingEstimates written by the founder at night.
- 2The numbers25 minutes an estimate, four of them the price call.
- 3The storyWhy a new tool only moved the typing.
- 4The commitmentA 14-day test: system drafts, founder prices and checks.
THE QUESTIONS
- How long did your last estimate take, step by step?
- Which step needs your judgement?
- What would you be uncomfortable for a system to write?
- What must be checked before a client sees it?
- How will you know in 14 days whether it worked?
Before the next session, the founder ran every estimate through the map for 14 days, timed each one and noted any draft that needed real rewriting, then brought the numbers to the review.
WHAT CHANGED
Estimates out the same day
By month 6, estimates follow the written workflow, the founder spends minutes on each one instead of evenings, quotes go out the day of the visit, and one more repeat task has been through the same map.
BEFORE
- Every estimate typed at night.
- Quotes sent a day or two late.
- A tool that moved the typing.
- No line between drafting and pricing.
BY MONTH 6
- A system drafts, the founder prices.
- Quotes sent the day of the visit.
- A written check before sending.
- The next repeat task on the map.
THE 12 FORTNIGHTS
- 1Call
- 2Call
- 3Call
- 4Call
- 5Call
- 6Month 3
- 7Call
- 8Call
- 9Call
- 10Call
- 11Call
- 12Month 6
The programme is the container: 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions, one handover each fortnight, and reviews at month 3 and month 6.
ILLUSTRATIVE RESULT
In this case, the founder ran a 14-day test where a system drafted each estimate, the founder made the price call and checked scope, and the quote was sent the same day. The test left a written workflow instead of another tool to manage.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
Time your next estimate
Ivanka Menken built Letting-Go Mentoring for founders of $500K to $3M businesses who became the bottleneck. An estimate the founder writes alone is one of the clearest bottlenecks there is, because jobs wait on it.
This fits if you write every quote yourself and know the price in your head long before the document is done. It does not fit if you want software chosen and set up for you. The decision in front of you is which steps of the estimate leave your desk. Time the next one and mark them.
“During our sessions Ivanka isn’t just talking theory. She is sharing her own lived experiences.”
Business owner
WHO IT IS FOR
It fits
- You run a trade or home-services business and write every estimate.
- Quotes go out late because the typing waits for the evening.
- You know the price in minutes and the document takes far longer.
- You will run a 14-day test and time it.
It does not fit
- You want software chosen and installed for you.
- You want a system to set your prices.
- Someone else already writes your estimates well.
- You will not check a draft before it goes out.
THE INVESTMENT
AUD $1,500
per month ex GST
6 months · 12 fortnightly sessions
The Automation Handover Map is part of Letting-Go Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. It is not sold separately.
- 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions
- One handover each fortnight
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6
- The Automation Handover Map for your estimates
Three founding places in total, shared across all 1:1 mentoring, are available at AUD $1,000/month ex GST, in return for honest monthly feedback and a testimonial, which can be anonymous. Claim a founding place.
The Automation Handover Map is part of the programme. It is not sold separately.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions about handing estimates to AI
Can AI write my estimates for me?
It can draft them: the scope wording from your site notes, the layout and the standard terms. The price call and the scope check should stay with you, because that is where the judgement and the risk sit. Ivanka Menken maps which steps move and which stay inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, then tests the split for 14 days.
Which part of an estimate should the founder keep?
The price call, any change from your standard scope, and one read of scope and price before it is sent. Everything else is typing that a system can draft for you to read. Ivanka Menken marks each step of your estimate inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, so you know which words actually need you.
Will a new quoting tool fix late estimates?
Rarely on its own. In this case, a new tool looked tidier and the founder still typed the same words into it at night. The change came from deciding which steps leave the founder’s desk. Ivanka Menken works on that decision inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. She does not choose or set up software.
How do I test an AI estimate workflow safely?
Run it for 14 days with a check before every send. Time each estimate, note any draft that needed real rewriting, and count the quotes sent the day of the visit. Then decide what stays. Ivanka Menken sets up that 14-day test with you inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, and reviews it at the next session.
Keep the price call, hand over the typing
If your evenings go to estimates you could price in minutes, start with Letting-Go Mentoring. The Automation Handover Map is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether the programme fits.
Not a software build or a pricing service.