Build a clear, structured
system for your entire
practice
Align clients, pricing, and workflow with your business model
Move from reactive decisions to intentional, sustainable operations
Accelerate The Learning Curve
Starting and building a landscape design business can feel overwhelming!
Where do you go for expert help? This online course gives you expert guidance, advice, and resources, plus all of Mardi's insider tips for running a successful landscape design business.
The Foundations of a Landscape Design Business is your roadmap for building, growing, and nourishing a sustainable, profitable practice.
And it is now available as an on-demand course!
The Foundations Course is currently available at an introductory enrollment of $700 (a $200 savings)
until May 20 before returning to the full $900 fee.
Code: FoundationsOnDemand at Checkout
Learn the Tools Mardi Used to Build a Profitable Business
The Foundations of a Landscape Design Business course is taught by industry expert Mardi Dover, CPLD. She’s an award-winning, certified landscape designer with a thriving practice in Asheville, North Carolina. You can read more about Mardi's experience and certifications here!
Foundations is not a generic business course. It’s a comprehensive business system built specifically for landscape designers.
Most business education focuses on isolated tactics or one-size-fits-all solutions. But in a creative field like landscape design, the real challenge is having a clear structure to guide how your business operates as a whole.
This system is designed to help you:
• Think strategically about every part of your practice
• Build aligned systems that support the way you actually work
• Communicate with clarity and confidence across clients, contractors, and vendors
• Create a business framework that evolves as your practice grows
Across nine intentionally sequenced sessions, with over 5.5 hours of instruction and a comprehensive workbook, you won’t just learn concepts. You’ll actively build the structure underneath your business.
By the end, you won’t just have tools. You’ll have a connected, working system, one that supports your creativity, strengthens your decisions, and allows your business to grow with clarity and sustainability over time.
How This System Has Helped Students Just Like You
"“Taking Mardi's Foundations course was one of the best business decisions I've ever made! The course workbook has an abundance of exercises to improve business practices and implement better systems, and the available templates are incredibly helpful. In fact, as I've implemented them in my practice, the templates have proven far more valuable than I imagined! I recently landed my highest paying design project! The resources have given me an edge over my competition and significantly leveled up my practice, including giving me the confidence to finally raise my rates. The course has paid for itself many times over!”
A. T
Landscape Designer, California
Mardi's Foundations of a Landscape Design Course was game changing on two levels: the first was the very practical tools and information provided to
make my design practice more efficient and thoughtful.
Second, this course encouraged me to ask fundamental questions about the foundation and future direction of my business that has positively changed the way I will approach every aspect of my work going forward, allowing me to tailor my practice to better suit my lifestyle, professional goals, client relationships, and creative process. I am immensely grateful to Mardi for her wisdom and generous teaching style. After taking this course I feel energized and confident that I can implement my newly acquired knowledge to continue building a successful practice that reflects my values.
S. H.
Landscape Designer, California
"I feel much more confident as a business owner. The course is packed full of practical information to prepare you."
D.S.
Landscape Designer, California
"The Foundations Course is a must for anyone in the business of landscape design. The topics that Mardi covered made us all think about how we could structure our own businesses to incorporate systems that would streamline our workflow, develop lasting client and contractor relationships, and ensure that we have considered the various legal, professional, and licensure needs."
R.E.
Landscape Designer, West Virginia
“This course gave me the opportunity to take a look at my business holistically (what *exactly* did I want my unique business model to be), as well as enough specific information (systems suggestions and client avatars) to drill down deep enough to make significant changes that will guide my future decisions to create a practice that is fulfilling and realistic. This course provided space and prompts to allow me to pause my status quo and redirect my efforts in more specific, helpful, efficient, and thoughtful ways which I am confident will improve my business exponentially.”
S. F.
Landscape Designer, California
"The strength of Mardi’s teaching lies in how she centers the designer’s values and then moves outward from there. The course is welcoming and non-judgemental and helped me develop solid boundaries and do the work around perfectionism and fears that we grapple with as business owners."
K.N.
Landscape Designer, Virginia
"What became clear in this course was: my core values and how they influence every decision in my business, my ideal client and projects, how to gear my marketing to attract those, how I block my time so that every part of my business is getting the attention it needs, my boundaries, and my pricing."
A. H.
Landscape Designer, Washington
“I am so grateful for Mardi’s guidance as I have worked toward improving my business. Our management of projects improved immediately after taking her course. She has dealt with the specific challenges of our industry, and her systems for improving a business have been developed and tested over many years.
L.W.
Landscape Designer, Oregon
"The most measurable result from this course was a change in myself and how I approach my business. Much less stress!. Each topic taught me something major about how to approach different areas of my business. I now know who my ideal client is and what my ideal projects are, where my proposal fits into my process. I've honed in on the core values that feel true to me and how the business should reflect those."
A.H.
Landscape Designer, Washington
"Mardi is an engaging teacher. She has many years of experience and helpful well-organized content to share. The handouts are going to really help me going forward."
K.B.
Landscape Architect, California
"Mardi’s course provides a framework for new and established landscape designers alike to take their businesses to the next level. Her course teaches you how to think strategically, work smarter and prioritize your time so you are getting the most out of your business. She helps you evaluate and personalize your business to work for you. The course acts as a bedrock for building a profitable, balanced and enjoyable landscape design business."
D.S.
Landscape Designer, California
"I have gained a lot of insight to apply to my landscape design business. The information is clear and abundant."
L.L.
Landscape Designer, Florida
RELY ON SOMEONE WHO’S BEEN THERE
Stop operating reactively and start making business decisions with more clarity, confidence, and intention.
Are you ready to build a business that feels as thoughtfully designed as the outdoor spaces you create?
Let me help you transform your landscape design business!
Most designers don't struggling due to a lack of talent. They struggle because the business underneath that talent hasn’t been fully built. Decisions end up being made project by project, without a consistent structure to guide them.
My Foundations System was created to change that.
This is not a course you simply watch. It’s a complete business system designed to help you build the structure your practice needs to support your work, your clients, and your long-term sustainability.
Inside, you’ll work through how each part of your business connects, from your values and business model to your workflow, client process, pricing, and capacity. You will not collecting ideas, but you will build a cohesive framework for how your practice operates.
By the end, you’ll move from reacting to each decision as it comes, to running your business with more clarity, confidence, and intention.
My signature business system, The Foundations of a Landscape Design Business is now available on-demand!
This course moves through 9 intentionally sequenced modules.
Each one builds on the the last and the result is a system of building blocks for a profitable and enjoyable landscape design business.
Week 1- Defining your Core Values: How they impact your business model.
Week 2 - Creating Systems: Translating your business model into consistent processes.
Week 3 - Defining your Business Model: The what, who, how, where and why of your design practice
Week 4 - Your Workday: Schedules, time blocks, tracking work.
Week 5 - The Proposal: What to include, determining pricing, invoicing.
Week 6 - Your Ideal Client: Evaluating fit, maintaining engagement, red flags.
Week 7 - Business Framework: Structure, licenses certification, insurance, accounting.
Week 8 - Designing a Profitable Design Firm: Setting your business up for financial success.
Week 9 - Making Space for the Creative Process: Making time for design work and inspiration, staying motivated, dealing with overwhelm.
You will also receive a 100-page digital course workbook with checklists, templates, and reflective questions to help you immediately integrate the course content into your business.
Many talented designers struggle not because they lack creativity, skill, or commitment. They struggle because the business underneath the creative work has never been fully structured. Foundations was created to change that!
IN 3 SIMPLE STEPS
Stop piecing your business together
and start operating from a clear, intentional system.
Enroll in the Foundations Course.
1.
Reserve your place in the on-demand program. You’ll receive immediate access to the full 9-module business system, including recorded lessons, workbook chapters, templates, worksheets, and exercises.
2.
Work through one module at a time
Begin with Module 1 and follow the sequence intentionally. Each module builds on the last, helping you move from core values into systems, workflow, proposals, client alignment, profitability, and creative sustainability.
3.
Implement the system
Use the workbook and tools to apply the concepts directly to your own practice, so you can create stronger structure around your pricing, clients, workflow, profitability, and creative sustainability.
The Outcome: A landscape design practice that operates with greater clarity, confidence, professionalism, and purpose.
Be as confident running your business as you are designing a gorgeous garden!
How is This Course Structured?
• A complete business system designed to help you structure or rebuild your landscape design practice from the ground up
• Nine intentionally sequenced modules that guide you through the core components of your business: values, systems, business model, workflow, clients, and profitability
• A comprehensive 9-chapter workbook (100+ pages) to help you apply each concept directly to your own practice
• Practical templates, worksheets, and exercises to translate ideas into clear, repeatable systems
• A preferred rate for 1:1 consulting session, reflecting a 20% discount from the standard rate. Get personalized guidance from Mardi for refining your business.
This Introduction is a Quick Look at What's Inside the Workbook!
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Is This Course for You?
Foundations is for landscape architects and landscape designers who are ready to build a more intentional, profitable, and sustainable practice.
The Foundations Course is for you if you are:
• A landscape designer, landscape architect, or garden professional building or refining a practice
• Ready to move beyond reacting to each project and begin operating from a clear, strategic structure
• Willing to engage with your business through reflection, decision-making, and real implementation
Rather than giving you disconnected lessons, the course walks you through a deliberate sequence of modules, beginning with your core values and moving into your systems, business model, workflow, proposals, client relationships, business structure, profitability, and creative sustainability.
The result is a system for building the underlying structure your business needs to support your work, your clients, and your long-term sustainability as a designer.
Mardi Dover | LA CES & APLD Approved Education Provider
"Taking Mardi's Foundations course was one of the best business decisions I've ever made! The course workbook has an abundance of exercises to improve business practices and implement better systems, and the available templates are incredibly helpful. In fact, as I've implemented them in my practice, the templates have proven far more valuable than I imagined! I recently landed my highest paying design project! The resources have given me an edge over my competition and significantly leveled up my practice, including giving me the confidence to finally raise my rates. The course has paid for itself many times over!"