# Keep Cash Moving While You Build

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/side-work-cash-bridge · Last updated 3 November 2026

You are up on someone else’s roof on a Saturday to make Friday’s payroll, while the business you are building waits. Ivanka Menken uses the Cash Bridge Review inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, a 6-month programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, to separate side work that covers payroll from side work that quietly drains the main business. You leave with a one-page cash bridge: keep, raise or drop, a payroll-cover rule and a stop rule.

## Side jobs pay the wages, and nobody knows which ones

- You take side work so payroll goes out on time.
- Every side job feels like cash, so you say yes to all of them.
- The main business gets your evenings, if anything is left.

**THE MOMENT:** It is Thursday night and payroll is tomorrow. A trade you know rings about a re-roof on Saturday and a take-off by Monday. You say yes before they finish, because yes has kept the wages paid for months. Then you look at the quotes for the main business sitting unopened, and wonder when that work will start paying for itself.

### THE SIDE WORK, AS IT STANDS

- Re-roofs: whenever a trade rings
- Take-offs for other builders: most weeks
- Margin on each: never worked out
- Time taken from the main business: not counted
- Point where side work stops: none

## Take every side job that comes in

In this case, the founder ran a 6-person construction services business at about $800k revenue and was building the main company while taking re-roof jobs and take-offs for other trades to cover payroll. The obvious fix was to take every side job that came in. Payroll was met, and the main business still had no view of which work actually covered it.

## Cash counted, margin, time and risk not

Ivanka noticed the founder counted every side job as cash and never separated the margin, the time and the risk each one added. Some re-roofs paid well and took a weekend. Some take-offs paid little and took a crew off main-company work for days. On the bank balance they all looked the same.

## A bridge without a stop rule, not a lack of focus

The real issue was not laziness or a lack of focus. Side work was doing a real job, keeping cash positive while the main company grew. It simply had no rule: no test for which jobs earned their place and no point at which the bridge ends.
The reframe: side work is a cash bridge, and a bridge has two ends. Sort each kind of side job into keep, raise or drop by its margin and its pull on the main work, write a payroll-cover rule, and write the point where side work stops. Then review it every month.

> Side work is a cash bridge, and a bridge has two ends.

**The cost of staying stuck:** Every month without a rule, the cheapest side jobs take the crews and the evenings that the main business needs, and the bridge never ends.

## The tool: Cash Bridge Review

The Cash Bridge Review is how Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring treats side work as a deliberate cash bridge. It sorts each kind of side job by margin and by what it takes from the main business, writes the rule for taking one, and writes the point where the bridge ends.

It is one page. On one bank, payroll due. On the other, the main business growing. Across the gap, each kind of side job as a plank, marked keep, raise or drop. Under it, the payroll-cover rule, the stop rule and the date of the monthly review.

It replaces saying yes to every call from a trade, a bank balance that hides what each job cost, and side work with no end in sight.

### What goes on the page

1. The business: six people, about $800k revenue, the main company still growing
2. Keep: side jobs that cover payroll at a fair margin in a weekend
3. Raise: side jobs worth keeping only at a higher price
4. Drop: side jobs that pull a crew off main-company work for days
5. The payroll-cover rule: a side job is taken only if it earns its place
6. The stop rule and the review: written, and read monthly at the scorecard

It sits inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, next to the monthly five-number scorecard, where payroll cover is read every month. It is coaching, not accounting or tax advice, and there is no separate checkout.

## From yes to everything to a bridge with two ends

In the session, Ivanka asked the founder to list the side jobs from the last few months, what each paid, how long it took and who it pulled off the main work. Together they sorted each kind into keep, raise or drop, wrote the payroll-cover rule and wrote the point where side work would stop. The founder left with the bridge and a commitment to check it before the next re-roof or take-off.

### The questions

- Which side jobs did you take last month?
- What did each leave after time and materials?
- Which ones pulled a crew off the main work?
- Which would you take again at a higher price?
- When does the side work stop?

### THE FOUR-STEP LOOP

1. The one thing: Side work taken to cover payroll, with no rule.
2. The numbers: Margin, time and crew pull for each kind of side job.
3. The story: Why yes to every job kept cash in and growth out.
4. The commitment: Keep, raise, drop, a cover rule and a stop rule.

Before the next session, the founder checked the next two side-job calls against the rule, quoted the raise jobs at the new price and brought the payroll cover to the scorecard.

## Side work with a rule and an end

By month 6, every kind of side job is sorted, the payroll-cover rule is checked before each yes, the stop rule is written and the monthly scorecard shows how much of payroll the main business now covers.

**BEFORE**

- Yes to every side job.
- All side work counted as cash.
- Crews pulled off main work without a count.
- No point where side work ends.

**BY MONTH 6**

- Side jobs sorted into keep, raise and drop.
- Margin and crew time counted for each.
- A rule checked before every yes.
- A written stop rule, read monthly.

The programme is the container: 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions, a monthly scorecard, and reviews at month 3 and month 6.

## Give the bridge two ends

Ivanka Menken built Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring for founders of $500K to $3M businesses that are growing while cash tightens. Side work that pays the wages is often the right call, as long as it is a decision rather than a habit.
This fits if you take side jobs to cover payroll while you build the main business and cannot say which ones pay. It does not fit if you want bookkeeping, tax advice or someone to find you work. The decision in front of you is one page. Sort the side work, write the rule and write where it stops.

> 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 take side work to cover payroll.
- Your main business is growing but not yet paying its own way.
- You do not know the margin on each side job.
- You will write a rule and a stop point.

### It does not fit

- You want accounting, tax or financial advice.
- You want someone to find work for you.
- You have no payroll to cover.
- You will not track what each job takes.

### Investment

**AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, 6 months.** The Cash Bridge Review 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.

Included:

- 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions
- The monthly five-number scorecard
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6
- The Cash Bridge Review for your side work

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 Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/eVq4gzdKgekN6pcbIcdQQ0t?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=side-work-cash-bridge)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=side-work-cash-bridge#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/cash-tight-growing-founder)

## Questions about Cash Bridge Review

### Should I take side jobs to cover payroll while I grow?

Often yes, as a deliberate bridge rather than a habit. Take the side jobs that cover payroll at a fair margin without pulling crews off the main work, and write when the side work stops. Ivanka Menken sorts that with you inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, using your own recent jobs.

### How do I know which side work is worth keeping?

List each kind of side job with what it paid, how long it took and who it pulled off main-company work. Keep the ones that pay fairly for the time, raise the price on the borderline ones and drop the rest. Ivanka Menken builds that list with you inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### When should side work stop?

At a point you write down in advance, usually when the main business covers payroll on its own for a run of months. Without a written point, the bridge never ends. Ivanka Menken helps you set that stop rule and reads it at the monthly scorecard inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. It is coaching, not accounting advice.

### Is side work a sign the main business is failing?

No. Plenty of founders keep cash positive with side work while the main company grows. The risk is side work with no rule, which takes the crews and evenings the main business needs. Ivanka Menken turns it into a cash bridge with two ends inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.


## Sort the side work first

If side jobs cover your payroll and you cannot say which ones pay, start with Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring. The Cash Bridge Review is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether the programme fits.

- [Join Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/eVq4gzdKgekN6pcbIcdQQ0t?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=side-work-cash-bridge)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=side-work-cash-bridge#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/cash-tight-growing-founder)
- [Nine revenue streams still need cash](https://ivankamenken.com/revenue-streams-do-not-fix-cash)
- [Set a gross margin floor before you quote](https://ivankamenken.com/gross-margin-floor)
- [The Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/cash-tight-growing-founder)

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