For MN Canvas, the sky is literally the limit.
In our business, since we only promote from within, every business owner has been trained on tried-and-true systems and business ethics. This is to ensure not only replicability for every office, but also for mistakes and weaknesses in an office to be easily addressed.
To become a business owner, all one needs to do is get promoted to management. The steps to management are explicitly outlined and reinforced over their tenure as a leader, and they must have also built a solid team. These are not obstacles, but tiers necessary to run a successful office.
Steps to Management
- Training: Learning the fundamentals of the business, taking place over the first 3 days
- Account executive: Being able to work independently and develop individual success, taking place over 2-4 weeks
- Leader: Learning to train and interview new hires and generally improving one’s own business skills, taking place over around 6 months
Once an individual has met the criteria for these steps, and has built their own worthy team, they are eventually promoted to management, and will get to open their own office.
What a Business Owner Gets
Once in control of their own office, the previous owner takes their team and expands to a new city, with the current office and brand now run completely by the manager. What this new manager inherits is a familiar space, the same clients, a set of locations known to be fruitful, a plethora of private pitching sites, and a brand, which includes an established website, a running recruitment pipeline, and a social media presence (the strongest of any office in our business).
What this new manager already has is a team they themselves trained and can trust – one day, being able to bestow upon them said heritage. Alongside their own team, they have their own skillset that brought them to management in the first place, and consistent opportunities to network and engage with other offices across the country.
Expansion
After promoting someone on their very own team to management (at this point, the title is “promoting owner”), someone who has climbed all this way now has the opportunity to expand into a new city. Our recent expansions, as mentioned on the site, include New Orleans, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis. Some of our prospecting owners across the country are looking at locales as far as Salt Lake City and Honolulu!
The most recent expansion from Minnesota Canvas’s office, to Milwaukee, has been a fresh start for everyone involved. A new city means new opportunities and new potential for growth. Success stories like Milwaukee lead to more expansion, and therefore a better environment in every community, for non-profits, donors, and the team.
