The Cultivated Practice

Cultivated Practice is a fit for landscape architects, landscape designers, and design/build professionals who are ready to elevate the business side of their practice. This means being willing to reflect on your current approach, examine where things may not be working, and engage in conversations that move beyond quick answers into more thoughtful, strategic thinking. If you are looking for a space where you can participate actively and steadily refine how your practice operates, you will find this is the place to do that work.

The designers who benefit most are those who approach their work with a sense of responsibility and curiosity. They are willing to look closely at their own decisions, open to refining their processes, and interested in building a practice that is both intentional and sustainable. They tend to value thoughtful conversation over quick fixes and understand that meaningful progress comes from consistent engagement over time. This work is especially valuable for designers who are ready to move beyond reacting to their business and begin shaping it with greater clarity and purpose.

Members are typically landscape architects, landscape designers, and design-build professionals who are actively running or building a practice.

The Cultivated Practice is designed for professionals who are serious about making meaningful progress in their practice, and participation is an important part of that commitment. To get the most out of this investment, members should expect to spend approximately 2-5 hours per month engaging with the material and the community. This typically includes: • Attending the 75-minute monthly Strategy Studio. Attendance is strongly encouraged because this is an exclusive community with limited seats. Your presence and contribution are part of the collective value of the group. • Watching the monthly pre-recorded lecture in the Resource Library before the Strategy Studio meeting. • Working through the workbook chapter or resource that accompanies the monthly pre-recorded lecture, which helps you build your own evolving reference book over time. • Participating in the Discussion Board, where you can post questions, struggles, or wins. • Attending the monthly Open Forum which is optional but strongly encouraged. Bring your business questions for input and come to listen to and provide input to others. The structure of The Cultivated Practice is designed to support consistent engagement, deeper thinking, and steady development of your practice over time.

As part of your commitment to this community, members must agree to make every effort to attend the live Strategy Studio sessions. These sessions are not recorded, as the value comes from the real-time conversation, shared insight, and trust that develops within the group.

Strategy Studio and Open Forum sessions are not recorded. If you miss a Strategy Studio, you can refer to the short session highlights brief that will be posted in the Discussion Board so members can stay aware of key themes and insights from the conversation.

Your membership is recurring on a monthly basis. At the time of enrollment, you are committing to invest at least six months in the membership. This timeframe allows the circle to develop depth, trust, and meaningful progress within the community.

If you decide to cancel your membership, please to reach out to Mardi directly. Memberships require a six-month commitment at the time of enrollment. Once that commitment has been fulfilled, you may cancel your membership prior to the next billing cycle.

The Cultivated Practice membership cannot be paused. If you need to step away, after the six-month commitment has been met, you may notify Mardi of your cancellation request and reenter The Cultivated Practice when you’re ready, if seats are available.

No. The Cultivated Practice is structured so that members can join at any time without feeling behind. The curriculum is designed around key pillars: defining your position, structuring your practice, shaping the project experience, and sustaining your business. The topics build depth over time rather than requiring a strict starting point. You will also have access to the Resource Library, where previous lectures and accompanying resources live, allowing you to engage with earlier material whenever it is useful to your practice.

Yes! The Cultivated Practice provides a solid foundation and supportive community for those who are serious about building a thoughtful and well-structured business from the beginning. The Cultivated Practice is also helpful for those who have been working in the field for some time. The key is that participants are ready to think strategically about how their practice is positioned, structured, and sustained over time. A willingness to engage in discussion, ask questions, and learn from the experiences of others in the community is very important.

Members of The Cultivated Practice are expected to participate thoughtfully and consistently in the community. This includes attending the monthly Strategy Studio and Open Forum sessions (optional but encouraged), engaging with the lectures and workbook resources, and contributing to conversations in the Discussion Board. The goal is to maintain a community that is active and alive, where members are willing to share perspectives, ask strategic questions, and offer insight from their own experience. The strength of the community comes from members who are committed to participating at a thoughtful, professional level.

Yes. The Cultivated Practice is designed as a working advisory circle, not a one-directional teaching space. Members are encouraged to bring real questions, challenges, and situations from their own practice into the conversation. This works best when members arrive prepared to share context, reflect on their own work, and engage thoughtfully with feedback. The depth of the conversation is directly shaped by the willingness of each member to participate with honesty and clarity.

Topics are guided by the four core pillars of the program: defining your position, structuring your practice, shaping the project experience, and sustaining your business. Each quarter is centered on a single pillar, with a deliberate focus on one to two areas. Within that structure, each month introduces a focused area of work through a combination of lecture, resources, and guided conversation. Within that framework, topics will sometimes be shaped by what is emerging inside the group. Questions raised in discussions, patterns across member experiences, and recurring challenges help inform where we focus our attention. This allows the work to remain both structured and responsive.

The Cultivated Practice is designed to support ongoing development over time. Each year, we move through four core pillars: Defining Your Position, Structuring Your Practice, Shaping the Project Experience, and Sustaining Your Business, with one pillar explored each quarter. Within each quarter, we focus on a small number of topics in depth. For example, within one positioning cycle, we would focus on three specific areas, one a month. When the pillar is revisited in a future year's cycle, new areas of focus are introduced, which allows you to deepen the work over time, rather than repeat it. As you continue, the value compounds through both the evolving curriculum and the relationships built within a consistent, engaged group, supported by Mardi’s guidance.

Mardi is actively involved in all components of The Cultivated Practice, including creating the monthly lectures, as well as facilitating Strategy Studio sessions and Open Forum conversations. Members will engage directly with Mardi and other members of The Cultivated Practice on the Discussion Board. Additionally, members receive $50 off one-on-one consulting sessions with Mardi, so you can have discounted individual support as you need it.

The Cultivated Practice is not a one-time course or workshop. It is an ongoing membership designed to support continued development in your practice over time. Rather than moving through a fixed curriculum and ending, The Cultivated Practice provides an evolving body of lectures, resources, and conversations that deepen month by month. Members engage regularly through the Strategy Studio sessions, Open Forum discussions, and the Discussion Board. This structure allows members to consider concepts, apply them within their own practices, and continue learning alongside a consistent group of peers who are also committed to growing their businesses.

Through lectures, resources, open forums, and strategic conversations, members begin thinking more intentionally about how their work is positioned in the market, how their business is structured, how they communicate with clients and collaborators, and how they build long-term sustainability and satisfaction in their practice. Members also build a growing resource library of lectures and workbook materials they can return to over time. Through conversation with peers, they gain insight from others’ experiences, learning practical do’s and don’ts while having a trusted network where they can ask questions, share challenges, and gain perspective from others running similar landscape design practices.

Live sessions take place on Zoom. The Member Hub is hosted on MardiDover.com (http://MardiDover.com)within a members-only area that requires a login, to ensure privacy.

Members have access to a central hub page where all essential information lives, including Zoom links, Discussion Board access, session schedules, and member benefits. Email reminders are sent for Strategy Studio and Open Forum, as well as any other announcements.

The Cultivated Practice is intentionally limited to 15 to build group trust and support meaningful conversation and participation.

The membership includes both structured teaching through lectures and resources, and discussion through Strategy Studio sessions, the Open Forum, and the community Discussion Board.

Members can post questions and continue conversations in the Discussion Board between sessions. Mardi will typically respond within 48 hours. Members can respond to each other 24/7.

After enrolling, you will receive a welcome email with login information and access to the member hub page where all resources, session information, and community access points are located.