INSIDE PRIVATE ADVISORY
Run the meeting rhythm that runs the business
An example, not a client story.
The Builder Meeting Rhythm is a one-page management rhythm Ivanka Menken builds inside Private Advisory, her 12-month engagement at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST, by application. If your sales, finance and operations meetings happen when someone calls them, the numbers arrive late and you sit in every one, you replace them with three set meetings, a short scorecard, a decision log and a named owner for the CRM.
The Builder Meeting Rhythm is a tool inside the engagement, not a separate product.
AN EXAMPLE WEEK
A 40-person building company, three set meetings
- MondaySales, chaired by the sales lead
- WednesdayFinance, chaired by finance
- FridayScorecard read, 20 minutes
THE OWNERS
“Every decision in the log. The CRM owned by operations.”
An example, not a client result. Your meetings, numbers and owners will differ.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
You are in every meeting and still cannot see the business
- 01Sales, finance and operations meetings happen when someone calls them.
- 02The numbers arrive weeks after the decisions they should have shaped.
- 03The CRM is full of data and nobody owns it.
AN EXAMPLE
A 40-person building company. There is a meeting most days, called when something goes wrong. Job costs come through a month late, so margin leaks between jobs before anyone sees it. The CRM was bought two years ago and nobody is responsible for keeping it right. The founder sits in every meeting, because the founder is the only place the numbers meet.
THE MEETING WEEK, BEFORE THE RHYTHM
- Sales meeting: when a big quote is due
- Finance meeting: when cash is tight
- Reporting: whatever the founder asks for
- Decision log: none. CRM owner: none.
An example, before the rhythm. Your week is yours.
WHAT IVANKA SEES
The meeting rhythm is the management system
The founder in the example had tried the usual answers: more meetings, a second CRM, longer reports. More meetings took more of the founder's week. The new CRM held the same unowned data. The longer reports arrived as late as the short ones.
Ivanka looks at the week, not the software. There was no set rhythm for sales, finance and reporting, so there was no moment where the numbers and the people who own them met. Nothing recorded what was decided. The CRM had no owner. The business did not need more meetings. It needed fewer, better ones, each with its numbers and its owners.
Fewer meetings, better numbers, named owners. The rhythm does the managing.
THE COST OF STAYING STUCK
Staying stuck means decisions wait, margin leaks between jobs, and the founder becomes the reporting system. The business grows and the management rhythm does not.
Builder Meeting Rhythm
Fewer meetings, each with its numbers and its owners
The Builder Meeting Rhythm puts the sales, finance and reporting meetings, the scorecard numbers for each, the decision log and the CRM owner on one page.
An example week. Tap a part. The days, chairs and numbers are yours.
Builder Meeting Rhythm · a framework by Ivanka Menken
What it is
It is a one-page operating rhythm, not a meeting template. It sets which meetings happen each week, who chairs them, which few numbers each one reads, where decisions are written down, and who owns the CRM that feeds them.
What it replaces
It replaces meetings called when something goes wrong, reports nobody reads before the decision, a second CRM bought to fix the first, and a founder who sits in every room to join the numbers up.
It sits inside Private Advisory, beside the monthly five-number scorecard that each fortnightly session reads. A Clarity Day can be spent on the biggest decision the rhythm brings up. No separate checkout.
THE RHYTHM HAS FIVE PARTS
- 01Sales meeting: pipeline, quotes out and quotes won, chaired by the sales lead
- 02Finance meeting: cash, margin by job and debtors, chaired by finance
- 03Reporting: one short scorecard the week runs on
- 04Decision log: every decision, its owner and its date
- 05CRM owner: one named person who keeps the data right
INSIDE A SESSION
Map the week before you change it
In the example, Ivanka and the founder lay out a normal week: every meeting, who attends, what numbers it uses and what it decides. Most meetings decide nothing. They write the rhythm: a weekly sales meeting and a weekly finance meeting, each with three numbers and a chair who is not the founder, one scorecard, a decision log, and the operations manager as CRM owner. Before the next session, the founder runs two weeks of it and attends only the finance meeting.
THE RHYTHM PAGE, FILLED IN
- Sales meeting, Monday
- Chair: sales lead. Pipeline, quotes out, quotes won.
- Finance meeting, Wednesday
- Chair: finance. Cash, margin by job, debtors.
- Scorecard, Friday
- One page, read in 20 minutes.
- Decision log
- Decision, owner and date, checked at the next meeting.
- CRM owner
- The operations manager
An example. The meetings, numbers and owners are yours.
THE FOUR-STEP LOOP
- 1The one thingThe meeting week that runs the business.
- 2The numbersThe few figures each meeting reads, on time.
- 3The storyWhy the founder sits in every meeting.
- 4The commitmentRun the rhythm for two weeks and leave one meeting to its chair.
THE QUESTIONS
- Which meetings happen in a normal week, and what does each decide?
- Which three numbers should each meeting read?
- Who chairs each meeting, if it is not you?
- Where is a decision written down, and who checks it?
- Who owns the CRM, and what does owning it mean?
Before the next session, the founder brings back the decision log and the scorecard from two weeks of the rhythm, and the meetings that still needed them.
WHAT CHANGES OVER THE ENGAGEMENT
Fewer meetings, better numbers, named owners
By month 6, the business runs on a weekly rhythm the founder no longer has to hold together.
NOW
- Meetings are called when something goes wrong.
- Numbers arrive after the decisions.
- Nothing records what was decided.
- The CRM has no owner, and the founder is in every meeting.
BY MONTH 6
- A weekly sales, finance and reporting rhythm.
- A short scorecard read on the same day each week.
- A decision log with an owner and a date for each decision.
- A named CRM owner, and the founder out of routine reporting.
THE 12 MONTHS
- 12 sessions
- 22 sessions
- 32 sessions
- 42 sessions
- 52 sessions
- 6Rhythm runs
- 72 sessions
- 82 sessions
- 92 sessions
- 102 sessions
- 112 sessions
- 122 sessions
The engagement is the container: 12 months, 24 fortnightly 90-minute 1:1 sessions and three Clarity Days.
ILLUSTRATIVE RESULT
In the example, the company runs a weekly rhythm with its scorecard, every decision goes into the log, and the operations manager owns the CRM. The founder steps out of routine reporting and joins the meetings where a decision needs them. Illustrative, not a client result.
WHY IVANKA
A management system, built around the founder's week
Ivanka Menken built Private Advisory for founders of A$2M to A$10M businesses whose business and decisions have grown past the six-month mentoring programme. She takes two clients at a time, by application.
The Builder Meeting Rhythm is one of the tools inside that year. It does not replace your finance team, your CRM or your project managers. It sets the week they work to, and it makes the numbers and the owners visible in the same room.
“Ivanka is a no fuss, to the point advisor who doesn’t shy away from the tough questions and challenges you on your excuses.”
Business owner
WHO IT IS FOR
Who fits, and who does not
It fits
- You run an A$2M to A$10M building or trade business.
- Your sales, finance and reporting meetings are ad hoc.
- You sit in every meeting and still see the numbers late.
- You want a year of advice, not a one-off fix.
It does not fit
- You want a done-for-you fix or someone to run your meetings.
- You want a full-time adviser or an interim manager.
- You want a new CRM chosen and installed for you.
- You are not ready to hand a meeting to its chair.
THE INVESTMENT
AUD $5,000
per month ex GST
12 months · 24 fortnightly sessions and three Clarity Days
The Builder Meeting Rhythm is part of Private Advisory, a 12-month engagement at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST, by application, two clients at a time. It is not sold separately.
- 24 fortnightly 90-minute 1:1 sessions
- Three Clarity Days
- The monthly five-number scorecard
- Short messages between sessions
The Builder Meeting Rhythm is one of the tools inside Private Advisory. It is not sold separately.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions about the Builder Meeting Rhythm
Is the Builder Meeting Rhythm right for my business?
It fits when your sales, finance and reporting meetings are ad hoc, the numbers arrive late and you sit in every meeting. Ivanka Menken builds it inside Private Advisory for founders of A$2M to A$10M businesses. The engagement runs 12 months at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST, by application, and the rhythm has no separate checkout.
What happens in the work?
Ivanka Menken maps a normal week with you: every meeting, who attends, what it reads and what it decides. You write the rhythm: set sales and finance meetings with their numbers and chairs, one scorecard, a decision log and a CRM owner, then run it for two weeks. It is part of Private Advisory, 12 months at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST.
What changes by month 6?
The business runs on a weekly sales, finance and reporting rhythm with a short scorecard, every decision is logged with an owner, and one person owns the CRM. In Private Advisory, Ivanka Menken reads the rhythm with you each fortnight. The engagement is 12 months, 24 sessions and three Clarity Days, at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST.
What is not included?
Ivanka Menken does not run your meetings, choose or install software, or act as a full-time adviser or interim manager. You and your leaders run the rhythm; she designs it with you and holds you to it. Private Advisory runs 12 months at AUD $5,000 per month ex GST, by application.
Let the rhythm run the week
If you sit in every meeting and still see the numbers late, apply for Private Advisory. The Builder Meeting Rhythm is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether it fits.