This is exactly the problem the founders of the Art of Mondays<\/a> decided to change. Art of Mondays is an exclusive community actively dismantling the outdated conference model and replacing it with something radically different.<\/p>\n Founded by two young Australians, Jai Howitt (28) and Evan Bryce (31), Art of Mondays<\/a> is an application-only community dedicated to \u201clifestyle founders.\u201d These are entrepreneurs who run online businesses, travel the world, and prioritize their physical health and genuine friendships over perpetual burnout.<\/p>\n Their core philosophy is simple yet subversive in the modern startup world: work to live, not live to work. Both Howitt and Bryce run the company remotely from anywhere in the world, living the very lifestyle they champion.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that you can create a business that works and also not have to sacrifice the love of your day-to-day life,\u201d explains Bryce. \u201cThere\u2019s always time and place for [the hustle]\u2026 but we take that business side of things and combine that with our personal philosophies.\u201d<\/p>\n Global Reach: Intimate 10-to-12-day residencies held in diverse locations like Japan, Alaska, Italy, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.<\/p>\n Camp Mondays: Recently, they booked out an entire French village for 112 vetted founders. The event featured special guests like Sam Kolder and Matt Gray. Demand was so intense that tickets sold out in minutes, with one batch vanishing in just 71 seconds.<\/p>\n Future Adventures: This September, the community is taking over a private island in Southeast Asia for an event appropriately dubbed \u201cFounder Residency: Castaway.\u201d<\/p>\n The big idea: Summer camp meets business education<\/p>\n Instead of renting out lifeless convention centers, The Art of Mondays moves founders into rural villages or onto private islands. For a few years, it has conducted its residencies (Bryce told me they prefer not to call them retreats because of the continuing value they offer members) at inspiring locations around the world.<\/p>\n In these 10- to 12-day sessions, they live, build, play and connect. The idea is to bridge the gap between childlike play and serious business problem-solving, and the founders\u2019 intention is to replace superficial contacts with genuine memories and life-long connections.<\/p>\n Bryce, who has a background in facilitating youth camps, integrates these informal educational elements into the retreats, utilizing games and activities to break the ice among highly successful adults.\u00a0<\/p>\n Howitt\u2019s background is equally untraditional. \u201cI think for him, a lot of his entrepreneurial drive comes from his parents,\u201d said Bryce, \u201cbecause they invested a lot in alternative education for the kids,\u201d even spending six months traveling the US in an RV while being homeschooled. \u201cThey would play CASHFLOW<\/a> at the dinner table.\u201d<\/p>\n This shared appreciation for alternative learning forms the bedrock of their events. As Bryce notes, \u201cYou can learn about business anywhere, but where can you get that feeling of true belonging? Where can you get that feeling of youth or nostalgia that you had going to summer camps as a kid? I think that\u2019s what makes us really special.\u201d<\/p>\n Over time, Howitt and Bryce have perfected the recipe for these trips. \u201cThe first few days must be about connection. It must create vulnerability because vulnerability is the fastest way to connection,\u201d says Bryce. \u201cThen the next few days are always about collaboration and creation, and the last few days are usually about celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n Protecting the Vibe: The Strict Vetting Process<\/p>\n The model isn\u2019t just an idealistic concept. The demand for their residences has grown exponentially. In just two years, the company has executed around 30 founder residencies across six continents.<\/p>\n With over 7,000 applications and only about 300 accepted members, Art of Mondays<\/a> boasts an acceptance rate of roughly 3.8%. This exclusivity is entirely by design. Prospective members must meet specific revenue requirements and run an online business, but the ultimate deciding factor is values alignment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to be the community that grows the fastest and makes the most money,\u201d Bryce notes. \u201cWe\u2019re not the kind of founders who wear Rolexes and drive Lamborghinis. We\u2019re the kind of founders who maybe make a fair bit of money but give that money to their parents to help them retire, or go on a trip.\u201d He calls the kind of founders attracted to Art of Mondays the \u201cquiet achievers.\u201d<\/p>\n Ego is left at the door, and presence is prioritized. During events, they actively promote digital detoxes.<\/p>\n \u201cOffline is the new luxury,\u201d Bryce emphasizes. \u201cWe\u2019ll do family-style dinners \u2026 and we just ask everyone to leave [their] phones and don\u2019t bring them to the dinner table. And then we\u2019ll hold hands and do a little gratitude at the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n Redefining the Monday Morning<\/p>\n The partnership between Howitt and Bryce started through a podcast interview and was cemented by a shared work ethic. Howitt serves as the creative visionary, while Bryce acts as the logical operator. Together, they are aiming to cure the isolation often felt by solo entrepreneurs, offering virtual monthly calls and an online hub alongside their physical events.<\/p>\n As for the name of the company, it strikes at the very heart of their mission. For most of the world, Mondays are synonymous with the \u201cSunday Scaries\u201d and the dread of the daily grind.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people dread waking up on a Monday. They have to go to a job they hate just to pay the bills,\u201d says Bryce. \u201cThe Art of Mondays comes from the idea of, if you can create a life that you can\u2019t wait to wake up to \u2014 if you can\u2019t wait to wake up on Monday, that\u2019s the goal. How people feel about Mondays often is a representation of how they feel about a lot of things. So we want to make Monday the best day of the week.<\/a>\u201c<\/p>\n Brooklyn-based financial journalist Will Kenton has over a decade of experience covering the intersection of money, economics and culture. Specializing in investing, personal finance and retirement planning, his work has appeared in Investopedia, AP News, Business Insider and TIME Stamped. While at Investopedia, Will was the creative force behind the Anxiety Index, a proprietary tool used to gauge investor sentiment. His expertise is rooted in behavioral economics \u2014 a field he explored as associate editor of the New School Economics Review \u2014 and he aims to help readers navigate the \u201cpredictable irrationality\u201d that influences financial decisions. Will holds a BA from Ohio University, an MA in economics from The New School and a Ph.D. in English literature from NYU. Beyond his financial career, he is also an award-winning playwright featured in the Red Bull Theater\u2019s annual festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Post may be compensated and\/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[28,527,158,520,12191,163730],"class_list":["post-771077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurs","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-shopping","tag-small-business","tag-travel-secrets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Family](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/family-dinner-001.jpg\")
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