INSIDE LETTING-GO MENTORING
Test What Happens When Profit Leaves
A composite client example.
You check the operating account before payroll, see the same cushion, and still cannot tell what the business would do without it. Ivanka Menken uses the Profit-Out Test inside Letting-Go Mentoring, a 6-month programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. A set amount of profit leaves the operating account on a regular day, and you watch which costs and decisions change. In a composite example, the founder moved $5,000 a month. You leave with a written profit-out decision and a review date.
The Profit-Out Test is a tool inside the programme, not a separate product.
AN EXAMPLE TEST
One transfer. One cycle. One review.
- THE AMOUNTa month, out of the operating account$5,000
- THE DAYevery month, before anything elseThe 1st
- THE REVIEWwhich costs and decisions changed1 cycle
THE RULE
“Move the profit first. Then watch what the business does without it.”
A composite example, not a client result. Your amount will differ.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
The cushion never leaves the account
- 01You keep every profit dollar in the operating account as a cushion.
- 02Your budget changes nothing because the cash never leaves the account.
- 03You cannot tell what the business would do without the extra cash.
THE CASH, AS IT STANDS
- Profit kept in the operating account: all of it
- Regular transfer out: none
- Costs that grew with the balance: not listed
- The budget: written, never felt
- What the business does without it: not known
A composite example. A cushion that answers every question.
THE EXAMPLE CASE
One business, one cushion nobody tests
A composite client example.
01
THE MOMENT
The same balance, the Wednesday before payroll
It is the Wednesday before payroll. You open the operating account out of habit and see the same comfortable balance as last month, and the month before. Payroll is covered. It always is. But you notice that the subscriptions, the small supplier extras and the approvals you never quite say no to have grown with the balance. Nothing in the business has ever had to work without that cushion, so you cannot tell what is necessary and what is just possible.
02
WHAT THEY HAD TRIED
A tighter budget
The obvious fix was a tighter budget. The founder built a careful spreadsheet with lower limits for every cost line. It changed nothing, because the cash never actually left the account. When a request came in, the balance said yes before the budget could say no. The spreadsheet turned into a record of good intentions, and the cushion kept quietly absorbing every decision.
03
WHAT IVANKA NOTICED
The balance was watched, never moved
Ivanka noticed the founder watched the account balance closely, sometimes daily, but had no rhythm for moving profit out and observing the effect. Watching felt like control. It was really a way of keeping the cushion in place. The founder could not let go of the cash, so the team never had to make a choice without it, and every spending call kept coming back to the founder.
THE DIAGNOSIS
Not a missing budget. A cushion hiding the question.
The diagnosis was not that the business needed a better budget. The cushion hid the efficiency question, so the tool needed to move a set amount out and watch what happened. A budget asks people to imagine less cash. A transfer makes it real.
The reframe: taking cash out is a discipline test. The business gets more efficient when it cannot lean on the cushion, because the choices the cushion used to make for you now have to be made on purpose. It is also a letting-go test. You stop being the person who says yes from the balance.
Taking cash out is a discipline test: the business gets more efficient when it cannot lean on the cushion.
THE COST OF STAYING STUCK
Staying stuck keeps every dollar of profit in the operating account, so the business never feels the efficiency test. Costs grow to match the balance, and you stay the one who approves them.
THE TOOL
The Profit-Out Test, for one cycle
The Profit-Out Test moves a set amount of profit out of the operating account on a fixed day, before anything else is paid. Payroll and committed costs stay covered. Then you watch one full cycle and write down which costs, requests and decisions changed when the extra cash was not sitting there.
A composite example. Tap a part. Your amount and your line are yours, agreed with your adviser.
Profit-Out Test · a framework by Ivanka Menken
What it is
It is a one-page profit-out decision. The amount, the day it moves, where it goes, the line it never crosses (payroll and tax stay covered), the review date, and a short list of what changed in the cycle when the cash was not there.
What it replaces
It replaces a budget that is written but never felt, a balance checked every day and never moved, and spending decisions made by whatever the cushion allows.
It sits inside Letting-Go Mentoring with the Step-Out Log and the Commitments-Kept Metric. You set the amount with your own adviser; Ivanka works with you on the rhythm and what the business does next. It is coaching, not accounting or financial advice, and there is no separate checkout.
THE DECISION, FOR ONE CYCLE
- 01The amount: $5,000 a month in the example
- 02The day: the 1st, before anything else is paid
- 03The destination: a separate account the team cannot spend from
- 04The line: payroll, tax and committed costs stay covered
- 05The review: one full cycle, then the session
- 06The list: which costs and decisions changed without the cash
HOW IVANKA WORKED WITH THEM
The amount, the day and the watch list
In the session, Ivanka asked three questions. What profit amount can leave the operating account and still keep payroll and tax covered? What would the business do without it? Which cost or decision would change first? The founder set a regular transfer of $5,000 on the 1st of each month, checked the line with their adviser, and wrote a watch list of the costs that had grown with the balance. Before the next session, the transfer ran and the founder noted every request that would once have been an easy yes.
THE PROFIT-OUT DECISION, AS WRITTEN
- The amount moved
- $5,000 a month, to a separate account.
- The line
- Payroll, tax and committed costs stay covered first.
- The review date
- The session after one full cycle.
- What changed
- Two subscriptions cut, one supplier extra declined, one approval handed to the office manager.
- Review
- After each cycle, then monthly
A composite example. Your amount and changes are yours.
THE FOUR-STEP LOOP
- 1The one thingThe cushion that answers every spending question.
- 2The numbers$5,000 a month, and the line payroll never crosses.
- 3The storyWhy watching the balance felt like control.
- 4The commitmentThe transfer on the 1st, and one cycle watched.
THE QUESTIONS
- What profit amount can leave and keep payroll and tax covered?
- What would the business do without it?
- Which cost or decision would change first?
- Where does the money go, so nobody spends it?
- When will you review what changed?
Before the next session, the transfer ran on the 1st and the founder kept a short list of every request that would once have been approved from the balance.
WHAT CHANGED
Profit out on a rhythm
By month 6, a set profit amount leaves the operating account on a regular rhythm, the business has adjusted without that cash, and the founder can name the efficiency change in the monthly review.
BEFORE
- All profit sat in the operating account.
- A budget that changed nothing.
- Costs grew with the balance.
- Every spending call came to the founder.
BY MONTH 6
- A set amount out on a fixed day each month.
- Costs adjusted to the cash that is really there.
- Spending calls made on purpose, some by the team.
- The efficiency change named in the monthly review.
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 composite example, the founder set a regular profit-out transfer, kept it running for the next cycle, and used the session to name which costs and decisions changed when the cash was not there. The change was in how cash and spending calls were handled, not a claim about profit. Illustrative, not a client result.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
Let go of the cushion, one cycle at a time
Ivanka Menken built Letting-Go Mentoring for founders of $500K to $3M businesses who became the bottleneck. She asks what you are gripping without noticing, and keeps you to the one change you write down.
This fits if payroll is covered, the balance never moves and the budget never bites. It does not fit if the business is short of cash for payroll today, or if you want someone to do the books. The decision in front of you is one amount and one day. Agree the line with your adviser, then move it.
“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 $500K to $3M business that is profitable.
- You keep every profit dollar in the operating account.
- Your budget is written but never felt.
- You will move a set amount and watch one cycle.
It does not fit
- You want accounting or financial advice.
- You want open-ended coaching or a done-for-you fix.
- Your business cannot cover payroll today.
- You want a savings plan, not a change in how decisions get made.
THE INVESTMENT
AUD $1,500
per month ex GST
6 months · 12 fortnightly sessions
The Profit-Out Test 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
- A monthly one-page scorecard
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6
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 Profit-Out Test is part of the programme. It is not sold separately.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions about the profit-out test
How much profit should leave the operating account?
An amount small enough that payroll, tax and committed costs stay covered, and large enough that the business notices. In the example, $5,000 a month. Agree the line with your own adviser first. Ivanka Menken works on the rhythm and what changes inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. It is coaching, not financial advice.
What if the business needs the cash cushion?
Then the test starts smaller, or waits. The point is not to empty the account; it is to see what the business does with slightly less. If payroll would be at risk, cash cover comes first. Ivanka Menken helps you judge which applies inside Letting-Go Mentoring, which runs 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, and the money stays reachable in a separate account.
How does the profit-out test fit inside Letting-Go Mentoring?
It is a letting-go test as much as a cash test. When the cushion stops answering every request, spending calls have to be made on purpose, and some can move to your team. Ivanka Menken uses it alongside the Step-Out Log inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, with one handover each fortnight.
Is this accounting or financial advice?
No. The Profit-Out Test is a coaching tool about rhythm and decisions. The amount, the account it goes to and the tax position are for you and your own accountant or adviser. Ivanka Menken works on what the business does differently once the cash is not sitting there, inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.
Move one amount, on one day
If the cushion answers every spending question and you are the one who says yes, start with Letting-Go Mentoring. The Profit-Out Test is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether the programme fits.
Not open-ended coaching, financial advice or a done-for-you fix.