# If you were unavailable for 30 days, would the business survive?

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/single-person-risk-model-shift · Last updated 20 October 2026

The single-person-risk shift is the six-month arc inside Ivanka Menken's 1:1 Mentoring, priced at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, that moves a founder of a $500K to $3M business from a company that stops without them to one that keeps running. It starts with a 30-day absence test: what would break if you were gone for a month, and on which day. Each fortnight one of those dependencies goes to a named person, and the test is run again at month 3 and month 6.

## Answer honestly: what breaks without you?

- If I disappeared for 30 days, sales would stop
- Only I can close the big client
- Every important decision needs my sign-off
- My team cannot answer client questions without me
- The thing only I do is written down nowhere.

## Five dependencies the test tends to surface

Yours will be specific to your business. These are the shapes they usually take.

1. The sale only you can close
2. The sign-off every decision waits for
3. The client who only talks to you
4. The price exception only you can approve
5. The process that lives in your head

## Six months, one dependency at a time

Run inside the twelve fortnightly sessions of 1:1 Mentoring.

1. Run the test: List everything that would stop if you were gone for 30 days, and the day it would stop. Names, clients, decisions.
2. Rank it: Start with the dependency that would cost the most if it broke this month.
3. Hand one over: Each fortnight one dependency goes to a named person, written down as the session's one commitment.
4. Run it again: At month 3 and month 6 the test is run again, to see what is still on the list.

The monthly scorecard tracks commitments kept, and the month 3 and month 6 reviews run the 30-day test again.

## Questions about Single-Person-Risk Shift

### What is the single-person-risk shift?

The single-person-risk shift is the six-month arc inside 1:1 mentoring with Ivanka Menken that turns a business which stops without its founder into one that keeps running. It starts with a 30-day absence test, then hands one dependency to a named person each fortnight, and runs the test again at month 3 and month 6.

### What is the 30-day absence test?

A simple question asked properly: if you were unavailable for 30 days, what would break, and on which day? In the single-person-risk shift Ivanka Menken asks for names, clients and decisions rather than general answers. The list becomes the order in which dependencies are released, starting with the one that would cost the most.

### How much does it cost?

The single-person-risk shift is part of 1:1 mentoring with Ivanka Menken, which is AUD $1,500 a month ex GST for six months, with twelve fortnightly 60-minute sessions. There is no separate fee. Three founding places are available at AUD $1,000 a month in return for honest monthly feedback and a testimonial, which can be anonymous.

### How is the shift tracked?

Each fortnight's handover is written down as that session's one commitment, and commitments kept goes on the monthly scorecard. At month 3 and month 6 Ivanka Menken runs the 30-day absence test with you again. The single-person-risk shift is measured by how much of the original list is still there.

### Do I have to take 30 days off?

No. The single-person-risk shift uses the 30 days as a test you think through, not a holiday you must take. Ivanka Menken asks you to work out honestly what would happen in your absence. Some founders later test a single day out of the business, which makes the answers more concrete.

### Is this the same as succession planning?

Not quite. Succession planning asks who takes over the business. The single-person-risk shift asks which parts of the business would stop without you, and moves them one at a time over six months. Ivanka Menken keeps it practical: one dependency, one named person, one fortnight, written down.

## Start

Email ivanka@ivankamenken.com with the dependency you want to release first.

- Part of Mentoring: https://ivankamenken.com/mentoring
- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka