INSIDE 1:1 MENTORING
Name One Pain and One Opportunity
A composite client example.
You start every week with a long list of problems and a vague sense that something needs fixing. Ivanka Menken uses the Ten-Minute Mini Assessment inside 1:1 Mentoring, a 6-month programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. Ten minutes, one pain point, one opportunity, then it stops. In a composite example, a service founder with a small team turned the same returning problem into one written fortnight commitment. You leave with a mini assessment note and the next step to take.
The Ten-Minute Mini Assessment is a tool inside the programme, not a separate product.
AN EXAMPLE ASSESSMENT
Ten minutes. Two answers.
- MINUTES 1 TO 5the one that keeps coming back1 pain
- MINUTES 6 TO 9the one area worth acting on1 opportunity
- MINUTE 10written down for the fortnight1 commitment
THE RULE
“When the ten minutes are up, the assessment stops. The list does not grow.”
A composite example, not a client result.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
A long list and no next step
- 01You are generating activity without a clear next step.
- 02The same problem is back on Monday, every Monday.
- 03You are unsure what to fix first.
THE LIST, AS IT STANDS
- Open problems: 14, and growing
- The one that keeps coming back: not named
- Opportunity chosen: none
- Written commitment: none
- When it gets reviewed: never
A composite example. Fourteen problems, no stopping rule.
THE EXAMPLE CASE
One founder, one list that kept growing
A composite client example.
01
THE MOMENT
Fourteen problems on a Monday
It is Monday morning. You open your notes and the list is longer than last week. Late invoices, a team member who needs more of your time, a proposal template that is out of date, the website, the pipeline. The same problem that annoyed you last Monday is still there, near the top, because nobody ever wrote down what to do about it. You spend the morning on whatever is loudest.
02
WHAT THEY HAD TRIED
A longer planning session
The obvious fix was more planning. The founder blocked out a half day, went through everything and came out with a better organised list. It was also a bigger list. Every problem got a heading and none got an owner or a date. By the next Monday the same pain point was back at the top, and the half day felt like it had cost time instead of saving it.
03
WHAT IVANKA NOTICED
The founder could describe the pain in detail
Ivanka noticed that the founder could describe the returning problem in detail, with examples, costs and who was involved. What they had never done was spend ten minutes turning that pain into one opportunity. Every review ended with more analysis. None ended with a choice. The skill was there. The stopping rule was not.
THE DIAGNOSIS
Not a lack of analysis. No stopping rule.
The diagnosis was not that the founder needed to think harder about the business. It was that the assessment had no stopping rule, so it never produced one written commitment. Every review could always find one more problem.
The reframe: the list is not the plan; the next decision is. A ten-minute limit forces the choice. Name the one pain that keeps coming back, name the one opportunity that would remove it, and write what happens in the next fortnight. Everything else stays on the list, where it was anyway.
The list is not the plan. The next decision is.
THE COST OF STAYING STUCK
More activity without a clear next step just fills the calendar. The returning problem keeps costing time every week, and the bigger list makes it harder to see.
THE TOOL
The Ten-Minute Mini Assessment, for one fortnight
The Ten-Minute Mini Assessment is a short, timed conversation with a fixed end. Five minutes to name one pain point. Four minutes to name one opportunity area that would deal with it. One minute to write the commitment for the next fortnight. Then it stops, on purpose.
A composite example session. Tap a part. Your pain and opportunity are yours.
Ten-Minute Mini Assessment · a framework by Ivanka Menken
What it is
It is a one-page mini assessment note. The pain point in one sentence, what it is costing, the one opportunity area, the commitment for the fortnight, and how you will know at the next session whether it happened.
What it replaces
It replaces the half-day planning session that produces a longer list, the Monday review that starts with whatever is loudest, and the returning problem nobody ever writes a decision about.
It sits at the start of a 1:1 Mentoring session, before the Fortnight Loop. The note it produces becomes the one thing the loop works on. Ivanka runs the clock and asks the questions; you make the choice. There is no separate checkout.
THE TEN MINUTES, FOR ONE FOUNDER
- 01Minutes 1 to 5: the one pain point that keeps coming back
- 02Minutes 6 to 9: the one opportunity area that would remove it
- 03Minute 10: the fortnight commitment, written down
- 04The stop: nothing else is added in the ten minutes
- 05The measure: one sign, at the next session, that it happened
- 06The loop: the note becomes the one thing the fortnight works on
HOW IVANKA WORKED WITH THEM
Ten minutes at the start of the session
At the start of the next session, Ivanka set a ten-minute clock. She asked which problem had come back again, what it had cost this fortnight, and which single change would stop it returning. When the founder drifted to the next item on the list, she brought them back. At minute ten, the founder wrote the note: one pain point, one opportunity, and the commitment for the fortnight. The rest of the hour worked on that one thing.
THE MINI ASSESSMENT NOTE, AS WRITTEN
- The pain point
- Late client invoices, chased by the founder every week.
- The opportunity
- Invoicing on a fixed day, owned by the office manager.
- The fortnight commitment
- Hand over the invoice run and stop chasing personally.
- The sign it happened
- Two invoice runs done without the founder.
- Review
- At the next session
A composite example. Your pain and opportunity are yours.
THE FOUR-STEP LOOP
- 1The one thingThe pain point named in the ten minutes.
- 2The numbersWhat it cost this fortnight, in hours or dollars.
- 3The storyWhy it never got a decision before.
- 4The commitmentOne opportunity, acted on before the next session.
THE QUESTIONS
- Which problem has come back again?
- What did it cost you this fortnight?
- Which single change would stop it returning?
- What will you do before the next session?
- How will we know it happened?
Before the next session, the founder acted on the one opportunity and kept a short note of what happened, so the review could start with evidence instead of a fresh list.
WHAT CHANGED
One commitment that can be reviewed
By month 6, the founder starts each session with ten minutes and a choice, not a list, and each fortnight has one written commitment to review.
BEFORE
- A list that grew every week.
- The same pain point back every Monday.
- Planning sessions that added headings.
- Nothing written to review.
BY MONTH 6
- One pain point and one opportunity each fortnight.
- A written commitment reviewed at every session.
- Returning problems closed one at a time.
- The monthly scorecard showing which commitments were kept.
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
In this composite example, the founder used a ten-minute mini assessment at the start of the next session, named one pain point and one opportunity, and wrote a fortnight commitment that could be reviewed. The change was in how the session started, not a claim about revenue. Illustrative, not a client result.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
Your next ten minutes are a decision
Ivanka Menken is a strategic mentor for founders of $500K to $3M businesses, co-founder of The Art of Service, an author and an international speaker, based in Brisbane, Australia. She asks the question that ends the list, and keeps you to the one commitment you write down.
This fits if the same problem keeps returning and planning has made the list longer. It does not fit if you want someone to fix the problem for you. The decision in front of you is which pain point gets the next ten minutes. Name it before you add anything else to the list.
“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 with a small team.
- The same problem keeps coming back to your list.
- Planning sessions give you more headings, not decisions.
- You will write one commitment and be reviewed on it.
It does not fit
- You want accounting or financial advice.
- You want a done-for-you fix or someone to run the business.
- You want a full strategic plan from one session.
- You would rather keep every option open.
THE INVESTMENT
AUD $1,500
per month ex GST
6 months · 12 fortnightly sessions
The Ten-Minute Mini Assessment is part of 1:1 Mentoring, a 6-month programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. It is not sold separately.
- 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions
- A monthly one-page scorecard
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6
- The Ten-Minute Mini Assessment when the list grows
Three founding places in total, shared across 1:1 Mentoring and its three focus programmes, are available at A$1,000 a month, in return for honest monthly feedback and a testimonial, which can be anonymous. Claim a founding place.
The Ten-Minute Mini Assessment is part of the programme. It is not sold separately.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions about the ten-minute assessment
What do I bring to the ten-minute assessment?
Only the problem that keeps coming back, and a rough idea of what it costs you each fortnight. You do not need a report or a full list. Ivanka Menken runs the clock and asks the questions inside 1:1 Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, and the ten minutes end with one pain point and one opportunity written down.
What counts as one opportunity?
One change you can start before the next session that would stop the pain point coming back. Not a project plan, not three options. If it needs more than a fortnight, the first step of it counts. Ivanka Menken helps you narrow it inside 1:1 Mentoring, which runs 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, and the opportunity goes into the fortnight commitment.
What should I measure?
One sign that the commitment happened, chosen before you leave the session. In the example, two invoice runs done without the founder. Keep it simple enough to check in a minute at the next session. Ivanka Menken reads it with you inside 1:1 Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, and it goes on the monthly scorecard.
What happens after the ten minutes?
The rest of the session works on the one thing you named, using the Fortnight Loop: the numbers, the story behind it and the commitment. The other problems stay on the list until their turn. Ivanka Menken keeps the session on that one pain point inside 1:1 Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, and the next session starts with the review.
Give the returning problem ten minutes
If the same pain point is back on your list every week, start with 1:1 Mentoring. The Ten-Minute Mini Assessment 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.