# Test What Happens When Profit Leaves

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/profit-out-cash-test · Last updated 30 October 2026

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 cushion never leaves the account

- You keep every profit dollar in the operating account as a cushion.
- Your budget changes nothing because the cash never leaves the account.
- You cannot tell what the business would do without the extra cash.

**THE MOMENT:** 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.

### 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 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.

## 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.

## 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: Profit-Out Test

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.

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.

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.

### What goes on the page

1. The amount: $5,000 a month in the example
2. The day: the 1st, before anything else is paid
3. The destination: a separate account the team cannot spend from
4. The line: payroll, tax and committed costs stay covered
5. The review: one full cycle, then the session
6. The list: which costs and decisions changed without the cash

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 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 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?

### THE FOUR-STEP LOOP

1. The one thing: The cushion that answers every spending question.
2. The numbers: $5,000 a month, and the line payroll never crosses.
3. The story: Why watching the balance felt like control.
4. The commitment: The transfer on the 1st, and one cycle watched.

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.

## 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 programme is the container: 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions, one handover each fortnight, and reviews at month 3 and month 6.

## 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 fits, and who does not

### 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.

### Investment

**AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, 6 months.** 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.

Included:

- 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.

- [Join Letting-Go Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/dRmbJ19u01y114SeUodQQ0v?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=profit-out-cash-test)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=profit-out-cash-test#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Letting-Go Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)

## Questions about 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.

- [Join Letting-Go Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/dRmbJ19u01y114SeUodQQ0v?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=profit-out-cash-test)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=profit-out-cash-test#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Letting-Go Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)
- [The Step-Out Log](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring#step-out-log)
- [The Commitments-Kept Metric](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring#commitments-kept)
- [Name the revenue that pays for a hire](https://ivankamenken.com/salary-cover-test)
- [Weeks of payroll, 13 weeks out](https://ivankamenken.com/13-week-cash-flow-for-founders)

- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka