INSIDE CASH-TIGHT GROWTH MENTORING
Price Your Partner Event Before the Split
A venue has offered you a themed event and a profit split, and you have not yet worked out the ticket price or when the event cash will land. Ivanka Menken uses the Price-Cash-Confidence Chain inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, to price the event before the split is agreed. You leave with a one-page event price and cash plan: the ticket price, the split threshold and the cash timing.
The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain is a tool inside the programme, not a separate product.
AN EXAMPLE EVENT
The split was on the table. The price was not.
- THE OFFERa themed event with a local venueA profit split
- STILL BLANKlast season’s ticket price, copiedPrice and cash date
- THE ORDERa split threshold written firstPrice, then split
THE RULE
“Write the ticket price and the cash date first. Agree the split last.”
Your event and venue will be your own.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
A good offer with the numbers missing
- 01You are about to split profit before you know the ticket price.
- 02You have not worked out when the event cash arrives.
- 03You are copying last season’s price without the new costs.
THE EVENT PLAN, AS IT STANDS
- Ticket price: copied from last season
- Venue deposit: due before tickets go on sale
- Profit split: proposed by the venue
- Gross margin after costs: not worked out
- Weeks of payroll the event covers: unknown
A split percentage under discussion, and no price or cash date underneath it.
THE EXAMPLE CASE
An events founder negotiating the wrong number first
01
THE MOMENT
A venue offer and a copied price
The venue owner likes the idea: a themed night, a set menu, a higher ticket than your usual events, and the profit split between you. They want an answer this week. You open last season’s spreadsheet and copy the ticket price across. Then you notice the venue wants a deposit up front, and the split is paid after the event. You cannot say whether the cash works.
02
WHAT THEY HAD TRIED
Last season’s ticket price
In this case, the founder of a small events business had a local venue offer a themed event and a profit split. The obvious move was to reuse last season’s ticket price and focus the conversation on the split percentage. It looked quick and safe. But the venue deposit and the split changed when cash arrived and how much was left, and the old price had never been tested against either.
03
WHAT IVANKA NOTICED
The split before the margin
Ivanka noticed the founder was negotiating the split before knowing the gross margin or how many weeks of payroll the event needed to cover. Every conversation with the venue was about the percentage. Nobody had written the ticket price, the costs per guest or the date the founder’s share would actually land in the bank.
THE DIAGNOSIS
A price and cash timing problem, not a split problem
The real issue was price and cash timing, not the split percentage. A generous split on a ticket that barely covers the costs leaves nothing. A modest split on a well-priced ticket can cover weeks of payroll.
The reframe: price the event first, then test when the cash lands, then decide what split the numbers can carry. The split threshold is the last line on the page, not the first.
A profit split is only safe after the ticket price and cash timing are written down.
THE COST OF STAYING STUCK
Agreeing the split first can lock the founder into an event that pays the deposit up front, returns the share weeks later and covers less payroll than an ordinary night.
THE TOOL
The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain, for one partner event
The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain is how Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring tests a decision in order: price first, then cash, then confidence. For a partner event, the chain starts at the ticket price, runs through the gross margin and the cash dates, and only then reaches the split.
Tap a link. Your event and numbers are yours.
Price-Cash-Confidence Chain · a framework by Ivanka Menken
What it is
It is one page for one event. The ticket price, the costs per guest, the gross margin, the deposit date and the date your share lands, then the weeks of payroll the event covers. At the bottom, the split threshold: the lowest share the numbers can carry.
What it replaces
It replaces a copied ticket price, a split agreed in a friendly conversation and a deposit paid before anyone checked when the money comes back.
It sits inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, next to the monthly Money-and-Clarity Scorecard. The plan is written in the session and the actual cash and margin are checked at the next one. It is coaching, not accounting or financial advice.
THE CHAIN, FOR ONE EVENT
- 01Price: the ticket, set for this event, not last season
- 02Margin: what each ticket leaves after food, venue and staff
- 03Cash out: the venue deposit and its date
- 04Cash in: when your share of the profit lands
- 05Cover: the weeks of payroll the event pays for
- 06Split threshold: the lowest share the numbers allow
HOW IVANKA WORKED WITH THEM
Price, cash and the split, in that order
In the session, Ivanka put the venue offer to one side and started with four questions: what is the ticket price, what does the split leave after costs, when does the cash land, and how many weeks of payroll does it cover? Together they wrote a one-page event price and cash plan with a split threshold. The founder took the page back to the venue and asked to move the deposit date.
THE EVENT PRICE AND CASH PLAN, AS WRITTEN
- Ticket price
- Set for this event, from its own costs.
- Gross margin
- Written per ticket, after food, venue and staff.
- Cash timing
- Deposit date and the date the share lands.
- Split threshold
- The lowest share the event can carry.
- Review
- Next session, against actual cash
Your event and numbers will be your own.
THE FOUR-STEP LOOP
- 1The one thingA themed event with a venue partner.
- 2The numbersTicket price, margin, deposit date, cash date.
- 3The storyThe split is the hard part of the deal.
- 4The commitmentNo agreement until the plan is written.
THE QUESTIONS
- What is the ticket price for this event?
- What does each ticket leave after costs?
- When does the deposit leave, and when does your share land?
- How many weeks of payroll does it cover?
- What is the lowest split the numbers can carry?
Before the next session, the founder sent the venue the ticket price and the split threshold, asked for the deposit to fall after early ticket sales, and brought the reply back.
WHAT CHANGED
Events priced before they are promised
By month 6, the founder prices each event before agreeing a split, records cash timing and gross margin on the monthly scorecard, and checks the weeks of payroll covered before committing.
BEFORE
- Ticket prices copied from last season.
- Splits agreed in the first conversation.
- Deposits paid before the cash date was known.
- No view of payroll cover per event.
BY MONTH 6
- A written price and cash plan for each event.
- A split threshold before every partner talk.
- Cash timing on the monthly scorecard.
- Weeks of payroll covered checked first.
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, a monthly scorecard, and reviews at month 3 and month 6.
ILLUSTRATIVE RESULT
The founder wrote the price and cash plan first, set a split threshold and renegotiated the deposit timing with the venue. The event went ahead only after the numbers were written down, and the next partner offer started from the same page.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
Write the price before you talk about the split
Ivanka Menken built Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring for founders of $500K to $3M businesses growing fast while cash tightens. She helps you put a decision through the chain in the right order and check it against the bank account at the next session.
This fits if a partner has offered you an event, a launch or a joint promotion and the split is already being discussed. It does not fit if you want accounting, financial advice or someone to run the event for you. The decision in front of you is one ticket price and one cash date. Write them down before you reply to the venue.
“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 events or experiences with venue or brand partners.
- A profit split is on the table.
- You run a $500K to $3M business with cash that feels tight.
- You will write the plan before you agree the deal.
It does not fit
- You want accounting or financial advice.
- You want a done-for-you fix or an event manager.
- You have no partner event in front of you.
- You will agree the split first regardless.
THE INVESTMENT
AUD $1,500
per month ex GST
6 months · 12 fortnightly sessions
The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain is part of Cash-Tight Growth 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
- The monthly Money-and-Clarity Scorecard
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6
- The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain for each event
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 Price-Cash-Confidence Chain is part of the programme. It is not sold separately.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions about pricing a partner event
Is this accounting or financial advice?
No. It is coaching. You write the ticket price, the margin and the cash dates from your own figures, and you check tax and accounts with your accountant. Ivanka Menken helps you put the event through the chain in the right order inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, a 1:1 programme of 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.
Do I need a restaurant partner?
No. The chain works for any partner event where a ticket price and a profit split are being agreed: a venue, a brand, a co-host or a sponsor. The order stays the same: price, margin, cash timing, then the split. Ivanka Menken works through it with you inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.
What if the venue wants a profit split?
That is fine, once the ticket price, the gross margin and the cash timing are written down. Then you know the lowest share the event can carry and can say yes or ask for a change with confidence. Ivanka Menken helps you write that split threshold inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.
How long is Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring?
Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring runs for 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST: twelve fortnightly 60-minute 1:1 sessions with Ivanka Menken, the monthly Money-and-Clarity Scorecard and reviews at month 3 and month 6. The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain is part of the programme and is not sold separately. A 20-minute intro call shows whether it fits.
Price the event before the split
If a partner has offered you an event and the split is already being discussed, start with Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring. The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether the programme fits.
Not accounting, financial advice or a done-for-you fix.