Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexander Madaus. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Alexander thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
These are questions I think about almost every morning, and the answer is always yes; I often think about what it would be like to have a regular job, and I am so much happier as a business owner. I wake up every day untethered to an externally imposed schedule, which is both terrifying and liberating. In theory, I could close the shop, drive up to my mom’s house and spend time with her. I could escape to the woods when I feel overwhelmed, or I could just stare across the Baltimore harbor and listen to the water lapping the dock. I could do all of that, and no one would stop me, and no one would pay me.
Being raised in a conventional school system for 21 years, followed by directly entering the corporate workforce, I had no choice but to conform to the schedule, structures, and projects of an entity that simply did not work for me. No matter how much I railed against that system, however, it provided me with helpful structure.
At 4:30 pm on the Friday I quit my bank job, I closed my laptop and cried for about an hour. I sobbed uncontrollably for the time that I’d spent within that system; for the overwhelming fear that rose up when I realized that my entire future now depended on a structure I hadn’t yet worked out, a structure that I had never had the option or opportunity to work out for myself. It felt like the very Earth had fallen out from under me.
When I was done crying, however, I went to my shop and worked until two in the morning, making sure that everything was right and ready for the next morning when we would open our doors. It was like being entrusted with new life. It was grounding by necessity.
Every day I am reminded of that choice. Creating a structure for myself has been one of the greatest challenges and rewarding experiences of owning a business, and one that is still ongoing.
I constantly recall how I felt working and living under a structure that didn’t take my strengths and weaknesses into account, that didn’t care if I was happy, and that placed my value solely on what I could produce, regardless of my own personal values. I also recall the security I sacrificed when I forfeited this predetermined structure.
But now every morning, i get to wake up, take my mornings slow, exercise my body and creativity, and walk into the world fuller and more on my own terms.
The first thought I have (most days) is how blessed I am to be in this position, and that if i walk out that door with a plan to help my business grow, I’ll get to help others, too. And I’ll get to keep at this for at least one more day. I love my life as a business owner, and when I do think about what it would be like to have a regular job again, I think about my mornings, and how I get to wake up and be more authentically myself than ever before.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Alexander Madaus. I’m the co-owner, brand manager, and living interior designer of Cultivated Creations. Prior to owning the shop, I spent years working various finance jobs. During the pandemic in 2020, my company had furloughed most of our in-person staff because they lacked a remote work infrastructure. In that time before I had to start working from home, I found myself with free time, stable income, and a passion for art I had never before been able to pursue.
In those first few months I began posting my artwork online as a diary to expose my creative side. The reception was overwhelmingly positive. Soon, I began selling prints and taking commissions on a small scale. My neighbor Dave learned of this, and put me in touch with his friend Mike Holcomb, a local entrepreneur, who was looking for a muralist for his new business.
Our connection was instant. After painting the mural, Mike brought me into this old Buck Appliances storefront that at the time was a hoarder house. The previous tenant had filled it with so much stuff that only the small front room was passable. Mike pitched me his plan to open a plant shop in this storefront, and asked if I’d want to be his business partner. I hated my job in finance and had no idea where I was going in life.But I knew I loved doing art, and I figured that if I could get the shop up and running, I could continue making art from behind the counter.
So I said yes, and that began one of the best chapters of my life. Every evening, I logged off work at my finance job, walked over to the shop, where we’d start hauling junk, stripping ceiling tiles, removing plaster, building furniture, installing light fixtures, painting a mural, and before we knew it, Cultivated Creations had sprung into being.
What makes Cultivated Creations unique is the community that has grown around it and grown with it. We started by offering what we call ‘rowhome-friendly’ houseplants and some local art pieces, and that has blossomed into a host of local makers, local markets, and pop ups all over the city where we can show off everything that makes Baltimore unique.
Today, the shop holds a number of classes taught by local artisans and creatives and has its own community Art Club that is free to the public, and is still growing to this day. At Cultivated Creations, you can get advice & maintenance for your houseplants, find soil made in-house with upcycled mushroom compost, as well as plant-themed jewelry, candles, local streetwear, and so much more.
In the past three years of growth and development, I have been able to practice my art more, and that has blossomed into our design arm, Cultivated. Cultivated is a design and brand consulting service, and my space to explore the intersection of living elements and interior design, introducing these elements back into homes, business spaces, restaurants & more. We offer design and brand consultation services to businesses, working specifically on the elements of natural growth both in a space and as a concept.
Cultivated Creations has been a grand experiment in creating a living, breathing business.Taking these lessons and bringing them to life for our clients is something that brings an incredible feeling of having cultivated something brand new and getting to watch it grow into its power. On the houseplant side, we solve problems of light, nutrition, pest control and repotting. On the design side, we solve problems of building a space that flows around and works with the needs of the houseplants, people, and pets.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Prior to the shop, I rarely used social media. My friends had to force me to get a Facebook in high school and I was a latecomer to Instagram as well. Tik Tok didn’t even make it onto my phone until we were two months into business. In opening the shop, however, I knew that a large part of our traffic and base would be built on the back of our digital presence, and that meant I had to get comfortable using social media, and quickly. My first challenge, and I’d guess one of many other business owner’s challenges, was figuring out how Cultivated Creations was going to be marketed, a concept that I now know is referred to as the “brand voice”.
Establishing that voice was challenging at first.I had little experience using social media for myself, so how was I going to market a business? Every time I thought of an idea or a concept, I’d back down and scrap it. I spent a lot of time making excuses. Finally, I decided to start embarrassing myself online. It started with one-off photos I’d toss up on my personal accounts; stories of me in my unicorn onesie, a photoset I did on a chair I found in an alleyway, you name it. I forced myself to expose who I was, and once that pin was pulled, I was off to the races. It didn’t matter what the response was. What mattered was that I was falling into the habit of using my voice online and honing that into a digital personality.
That was a gamechanger for Cultivated Creations. Once I was comfortable writing my own online narrative, doing it for my business became second nature. How would the shop talk? What would it want to say to people who were coming in? How would it want them to feel? Excited? Intrigued? Welcomed? I wanted them to feel like I felt walking into the shop everyday. Cultivated Creations’ voice became my wild side; all caps text, memes I made on my iPad. The excitement and joy I felt in the shop was splattered all over the internet.
Once Cultivated Creations’ voice was established, all social media and marketing material flowed naturally. Creating a brand palette, logo, and other materials made repetition and recognition easier, and now we are working on characters, font bundles, and everything else Cultivated Creations needs to enter its next stage of growth.
My advice for anyone out there starting to build a social media presence is this; if you have an idea, put it into the world. Nothing hinders your own growth, personally and professionally, like the fear of being embarrassed or missing the mark. The river finds its path as it flows outward. Some paths may not resound with you or your business, and that’s okay. But in trying, you figure out what works and what doesn’t. If you are having trouble finding that voice, or even where to start, find someone you can talk to and work on it with, be that a friend, business partner, or fellow creative. But don’t let that voice of self-criticism have the final say.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Quality, honesty, and follow-through. The concept of ‘rowhome-friendly’ houseplants came to me after I had gone to plant shops in the city that sold me something I had no clue how to care for with minimal instruction. I’d bring those plants home, they’d start to decline, and nothing I did would bring them back. It was always a stressful process and each time it would discourage me from trying new plants. So when we were looking for plants for the shop, I wanted to stick to the hardy types, those that would thrive even in the low light environments that many of our homes offer. We even created a section for ‘pet-friendly’ houseplants, to eliminate the guesswork for pet owners. The goal of Cultivated Creations was, and still is, to empower everyone–even those self-proclaimed ‘black thumbs,’ to bring life into their homes in a lasting way. A big part of that is the advice we provide. It’s about matching a person to the plant and understanding where they are coming from and the environment in which they live. Our goal is to cultivate each individual experience in our store, with the same care you give to your plants. It’s the experience we would want in a plant shop. Business success kind of mirrors successful plant care. If you care for your customers and for your potential customers, and you give them the attention and unique connection they deserve, your reputation will flourish all on its own.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fpcultivatedcreations.com/
- Instagram: @fpcultivatedcreations @amadaus_theartist
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-madaus-10157367/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fells-point-cultivated-creations-baltimore
- Other: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/cultivated-creations-74428476693 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5stXiyTf4zbmt97vt0L9sD?si=B5HyMEWRQamELZdELsuYyg&pi=u-3pDBayGbS2Wu
Image Credits
All photos were taken by myself, our manager (Audra Bissett) and my partner Elior Moskowitz!