A Something Great cohort, in partnership with the Minneapolis Downtown Council's Chameleon program
You proved it works. Now make it grow.
You already know you have a great idea. You're walking in your purpose. You started this to build something of your own. Most days it feels like the business owns you. The Build Something Great Cohort changes that. You'll walk out knowing what to change, what to charge, and what to hand off — with a plan that makes room for the business you saw when you started.
Chameleon is building a downtown where diverse entrepreneurs thrive. The program fosters an inclusive and vital downtown by supporting BIPOC and women-owned entrepreneurs. This cohort is the business development behind that work.
The twelve weeks
Twelve weeks. Twelve things that change.
Wednesdays, 6:00–8:00 pm, live on video. Orientation is September 9; sessions run September 16 through December 16, with no sessions on November 18 or 25. You leave every one with something you can use on Monday — and by Week 12 it adds up to a complete plan for your business.
- 01
Know your strengths, know your stageSep 16
What you're actually built for, what stage your business is really in, and exactly what stands between you and the next one.
Includes your CliftonStrengths® - 02
Tell your story, name what you sellSep 23
Who this business is really for, and why what you sell is yours to sell — not something anybody could copy off you.
- 03
Know your marketSep 30
The people already out there looking for what you do, where they're looking, and what makes them pick you over the next option.
- 04
Make sense of the moneyOct 7
Read your own numbers. Margin versus markup, what's really overhead, and what has to come in before anything is left for you.
The week most owners say changed things - 05
Get paid and stay cash-positiveOct 14
Close the gap between making the sale and having the money. Set what you pay yourself, and what you keep back.
- 06
Own your brand, turn interest into salesOct 21
Put out the thing you've been sitting on. Then price it so the sale is actually worth making.
- 07
Run it without youOct 28
Map who holds what. See what the missing hands would cost, and what you'd need to earn to afford them.
- 08
Prove the numbersNov 4
Build the financial picture a lender would believe — out of your own real figures, not a template.
- 09
The honest lookNov 11
Who you have to become for this business to get where it's going — and the three reasons businesses quietly stop working.
- 10
Where this is goingDec 2
How far this business actually goes, and the pace that gets you there in one piece.
- 11
Bring it all togetherDec 9
Just you and your coach. Your whole plan, page by page, with a clear list before you present it.
One-on-one - 12
Make the pitchDec 16
You stand up and pitch your business, backed by a plan you wrote yourself. Then you're done — and you're holding it.
Graduation
What you leave with
Not a certificate. A business that runs differently.
- 01
Your stage, named
Where your business actually sits — Existence → Sustain → Success → Take-Off → Maturity — and what has to change to reach the next one.
- 02
Prices that make money
What it costs you to land a customer, what they're worth over time, and what you should actually charge.
- 03
A business that isn't all you
A clear map of who holds what, where the gaps are, what filling them costs, and when you can afford it.
- 04
Your numbers, and a complete written plan
Margins, costs, break-even and pricing — The Greatness Blueprint: The Founder's Growth Plan, eleven sections in your words. Run your business from it, or take it to a lender.
- 05
Your CliftonStrengths®, put to work
Your top five, and how to build the business around them: what you lead, what you hand off, who you hire first.
- 06
A room of owners
People building the same year you're building. Most cohorts keep talking long after Week 12.
How it actually goes
Show up, learn it, use it, come back.
Two hours live each week. Two or three hours on your own applying it to your business — not busywork, the actual thing. Send it in by noon on class day and you get it back Monday with one clear thing to sharpen.
Weeks 4 and 5 are the money weeks, and nothing is due — that's on purpose. Everybody needs a breath by then, and everybody needs those two weeks.
One thing to know going in: you write it, not us. Nobody hands you a plan with your name on the front. What you leave with is yours because you built it — which is also why you'll be able to explain any page of it to anyone who asks.
Who it's for
Six things have to be true.
Seats in this cohort are for BIPOC and women-owned businesses. Past that we look at the business, not at how much you already know — everything you need to know, the twelve weeks teach. Reading your numbers is Week 4.
- Two years of revenue.Not two years since the idea — two years since your first paying customer.
- Money comes in every month.Every month for the last twelve, or every month of your season. Markets, holidays and weather all count as seasons.
- You make the calls.What it sells, what it charges, how the work gets done. Other people can weigh in — the final call is yours.
- The money is tracked somewhere.Bank account, sales platform, software, or a tax filing. You don't have to know how to read it. It has to exist.
- You can be in the room.No more than two sessions missed, and your work in every week. That's the standard, and it's the whole difference between finishing and not.
- You'll still be running this a year from now.Not a guarantee. An intention. This is a plan for a business you're staying in.
What you don't need
Half the people who belong in this room talk themselves out of it.
So let's be plain. None of this is required, and none of it is asked for.
Your plan should sound like you. Nobody is ever marked on how formal their writing is — and if writing slows you down, you can talk it out instead. Week 1 shows you how.
To apply
Three things your business already has.
Nothing here takes a bookkeeper to make. It already exists — in a drawer, an inbox, or your sales app. Screenshots and phone photos of paper are fine.
1 · Proof the business is real
Any one of these
State registration, EIN letter, business license, or assumed-name filing.
2 · Proof you've been at it two years
Any one of these
Your last two tax filings or Schedule C, a prior-year sales summary from your sales app or register, or a year-end statement from whoever does your books.
3 · Proof money comes in monthly
Any one of these
Twelve months of business bank statements, twelve months of sales reports, or a month-by-month summary from your accounting software.
Missing one? Tell us which and why. There's almost always another way to show the same thing. Email us at info@somethinggreathq.com with the details and we'll reach out to provide support.
Questions
Before you apply.
Is money attached to this?
No. Something Great doesn't lend and no funding comes with the program. What you get is a business a lender can say yes to — and a plan good enough to put in front of one. Most owners never get that far because they walk in without it.
What does it cost me?
Nothing. Your seat is fully covered. Your cost is time — two hours a week live, plus two or three on your own.
My records are a mess. Is that a dealbreaker?
No, and you're in good company. What matters is that a record exists somewhere — a bank account, a sales app, a notebook. Week 4 is where we open it up and sort it out, and it's the week people most often say changed how they run things.
I'm not good with technology.
Say so on the application. It doesn't count against you — it just tells us who to call first. Each week names the one tech thing you'll need and we walk through it. Every group has people who've never shared a screen, and every one of them thought they were the only one.
What if I miss a week?
Sessions are recorded and you can catch up. But more than two missed and you won't finish — and we'd rather put you in the next cohort than watch you fall off this one. Weeks 4 and 5 have catch-up time built in.
My business is seasonal.
Then we look at your season, not the calendar. Markets, holidays, weather, school-year work — all seasons. Tell us your months on the application.
Who sees my information?
What you share stays with Something Great and the organization sponsoring your participation in the program. Your numbers, your assessments, your plan and anything you say in session are not passed on. If we ever want to quote you, we ask first — and no is a complete answer.
I've got a business partner. Can we both come?
Apply as one business and tell us who else is in on decisions. Whether a second seat makes sense depends on the group — ask us on the call.
Filling out applications is hard for me.
Email us at info@somethinggreathq.com with the details and we'll reach out to provide support. Owners get help this way every cohort.
Apply
Fifteen minutes and three documents.
Apply by August 21. Applications are reviewed the first week of September, orientation is September 9, and sessions run Wednesdays, 6:00–8:00 pm from September 16. Everybody who applies hears back.
Key dates
- Aug 5–21Applications open
- Aug 21Last day to apply
- Week of Sep 1Applications reviewed
- Sep 9Orientation
- Sep 16Session 1
- Nov 18 · Nov 25No session
- Dec 16Graduation — last session
Every session is a Wednesday: Sep 16, 23, 30 · Oct 7, 14, 21, 28 · Nov 4, 11 · Dec 2, 9, 16. Seats are limited.
A Something Great cohort, in partnership with
www.somethinggreathq.com · info@somethinggreathq.com · 612-396-4678 · @somethinggreatofficial
Delivered in partnership with the Minneapolis Downtown Council's Chameleon program, which fosters an inclusive and vital downtown by supporting BIPOC and women-owned entrepreneurs. No funding or retail placement is attached to this program.
Built on the foundational stage research of Churchill & Lewis and Greiner, extended by Something Great into a working diagnostic. CliftonStrengths® is a registered trademark of Gallup, Inc. Something Great is not a law firm, an accounting firm, or a financial advisor, and nothing in this program is legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice.