Meet Madison Fields | Brand & Web Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Madison Fields and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Madison, how do you think about risk?
As a general rule, I’m a pretty play-it-safe kind of person. I’ve always been someone who follow rules because I hate getting in trouble, and I especially hate disappointing myself or other people. However, starting my business is the one big risk that I can remember taking in my life. I went to college thinking to pursue a nursing degree because I wanted to “help people,” and everyone else said “people are always going to need nurses.” After one semester, I realized that wasn’t the path for me, but the healthcare cliches were so ingrained in me that I played it safe and decided to pursue a career as a speech language pathologist. I never really loved it, but I was helping people and that’s what I thought mattered. Dropping out of my master’s program crossed my mind on multiple occasions, but it was a risk that I thought I couldn’t afford to take.

Fast forward to the COVID pandemic, I was working as a speech therapist at a hospital and I was so miserable. Everyone was working from home or starting businesses, and I thought, “why couldn’t I do that?” I was stuck working 40 hours a week in a windowless office doing something that made me miserable for a paycheck that was never going to get any bigger. But I thought that I couldn’t leave because what else would I do? My degree was specialized and my resume reflected that. I couldn’t risk losing a paycheck during a pandemic.

So I started looking for side hustles just to make a little extra cash and I stumbled upon some online courses for brand design. It mostly just sounded like a fun creative outlet that would help me to save up to buy my first house. As soon as I realized that I actually had the skills and the drive to be a good designer, I marked a date on my calendar to quit my job by December 31st, 2021. I did everything I could to make sure I could quit my job by that date and ended up quitting on October 1st, 2021, almost 3 months before my goal date.

I went to networking events, put my work on Instagram and LinkedIn, and took courses about marketing, business, etc. Everyone asked if I was sure I was ready to quit my job. The truth is that I wasn’t. I didn’t know anything about running a business. I didn’t have a giant savings or a steady list of clients. I didn’t know how to get private healthcare insurance. But I knew I’d figure it out — because I had to if I was going to make it work.

Owning a business is full of risks, and I’ve considered throwing in the towel more times than I can count. The freedom makes the risk worth it — freedom to work when and where I want, freedom to run around outside with my dogs in the middle of the day, freedom to create a life and a business that feels good to me. The safety net of corporate jobs will always be there if I need it, but for now I’m enjoying the risks.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Madkind Design Studio is the lovechild of my obsession for funky, colorful brands and passion for food. I’ve always been a foodie at heart so I love venturing to cool new restaurants and browsing the aisles of Whole Foods for modern brands just for fun. When I first started my design studio, I tried to carve my niche in the food and business space but had no idea how to market myself. I switched my target audience to woman-owned service-based businesses, but that still didn’t feel quite right. I started learning more about marketing and connecting with more people in the food and bev space, and I decided to go all in on developing brands for woman-owned food and beverage businesses. It’s been a rollercoaster and I still work with amazing woman-owned brands outside of that niche, but it’s been exciting to carve this path for Madkind.

I feel the most proud of Madkind’s growth when people send me photos of food brand packaging because it reminds them of me and my business or because at first glance they think that I designed it. When I get new inquiries from potential clients who say they want to work with Madkind because of my design style and use of bold typography and color palettes, that truly is the icing on top of the cake.

When I think about the future of Madkind, I hope to one day design a restaurant brand from top to bottom: branding, website, restaurant interior, menus, staff apparel, branded merch that people actually want to purchase, etc. Dreaming big for that opportunity.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This question was made for me! Just a foodie living in a foodie city. Louisville, Kentucky is home to bourbon but it also has an amazing food scene. An ideal weekend in Louisville looks something like this: stay at The Bellwether Hotel, a boutique hotel in a historic building in The Highlands neighborhood. Your morning agenda should include an iced dirty chai latte with oat milk from Quills in NuLu and then a short walk to Biscuit Belly for The Rockwell Supreme: a breakfast biscuit stacked with fried chicken, cheese, bacon, an over easy egg, and goetta sausage gravy. Don’t forget an order of Bonuts (biscuit donut holes) with bourbon cream cheese icing. I’m drooling just thinking about it.

After you let the food settle, take a tour of a bourbon distillery or two and learn about the history of bourbon in Kentucky. Depending on the time of year, you could even venture to Louisville Slugger Stadium to catch a baseball game or Churchill Downs for some horse racing.

For dinner, La Bodeguita de Mima is the place to be. A bright yellow Cuban restaurant in NuLu that knows how to make an experience out of a meal. Delicious Cuban dishes and amazing cocktails in a fun atmosphere.

If there’s still room for dessert (let’s be honest), walk over to Louisville Cream for the best gourmet, small batch ice cream around.

Louisville is home to some truly amazing people, businesses, and experiences, and I’m lucky to call it my city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The list of people who have helped me get where I am in my entrepreneurship journey is truly endless. I’ve become part of an amazing community of women in the Louisville KY area and it’s been my favorite aspect of owning my business. However, I wouldn’t have taken the leap to quit my corporate job when I did without my friend and client, Amanda Dare.

Amanda is the owner of a pretty, pink feminist gift shop called Woman-Owned Wallet. I met Amanda at a networking event while I was still working as a speech language pathologist, and I knew we’d get along right away. We both showed up in cute, summer-y outfits, complete with sandals to throw axes… The woman who checked us in handed us some pre-worn, too-big navy blue Crocs to wear instead. Who shows up in open-toed shoes to throw sharp objects at a wall? Apparently we do.

She asked to chat with me after the event was over and inquired about my web design services. I actually turned her down at that time because I was way too overbooked to take on her giant Shopify site while still working full-time. But she said she knew I was the person she wanted to hire, so she was willing to wait.

A month or two later, I showed up to her office in my scrubs after a long day working at the hospital to discuss her website for a second time. At that point, I was so mentally and emotionally exhausted from working in healthcare during a pandemic, and I still had no idea how I was going to take on such a large project. I met with her anyway and tried to keep an open mind. Amanda told me for the second time that she knew I was the person she wanted to hire to re-design her website, but I couldn’t fathom how she knew that after only briefly meeting me at an axe-throwing event one time. After talking about her site and her goals, I asked her what she was truly looking for. She didn’t just want a web designer; she wanted someone to come in and take charge of the brand and website, and she wanted that person to be me.

I was ready to quit my job on the spot, but she made me sleep on it. I put my two-weeks notice in at the hospital two days later and never looked back. Amanda believed in me and saw my potential as a business owner way before I did, and I’ll always be so grateful for her friendship and support.

Website: https://madkinddesign.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/madkinddesign

Linkedin: https://instagram.com/madkinddesignstudio

Image Credits
Madison Van Zile (MDVZ Photography)