Building
The business, and the weekly build-in-public series that documents it. All thirty YouTube videos sit here, running from November 2024 to August 2026, alongside the Instagram posts about work. The series is called Monday Diaries and the channel begins at episode forty-eight; the earlier episodes are not on it, and this archive does not claim to know where they are.
Part of Jai's journey
57 moments in this segment.
- - Here is to all the Monday lovers. "Vintage vibes on a Monday. It's crazy to think how many people in this world live for the weekend. I couldn't think of a more unappealing way to live. Here's to all the Monday lovers." Written in September 2017, six years before he named a company after the idea.
- - An offer to travel with a New Zealand family. "These last 6 months i've never really had a plan. The vision is always there, but a plan? Haha man I only decided half an hour ago where I would park up and sleep tonight." He says he has been offered three months travelling full time with a family from New Zealand, working with James Kemp, and that he is stoked to learn about digital marketing while doing what he loves.
- - A family that built small businesses. "I'm forever grateful to have parents who saw life from a different perspective. Parents who didn't care that I wasn't interested in university, encouraged me to find a passion and build a business around that." He describes his brothers selling candy at Saturday soccer, his sister reselling painted furniture from the tip, and a family business painting house numbers on kerbs. He says he has been funding his travels by helping people grow on Instagram and working as a freelance content creator.
- - Advice he had heard a thousand times before it stuck. "For years, almost every mentor and successful person I've followed have been telling me to put in the work, forget about the next year of my life and put it towards building the future I dream of. I've heard it time and time again, yet it never stuck." He credits three months working closely with James Kemp and his family for making it real: "I had been told a thousand times, but it wasn't until I physically saw it in front of me, it finally stuck."
- - A list of the last two years. "The unknown is scary, but diving into it face first is probably the best advice I could ever give someone." He lists it out: left his job, travelled solo to another country, sold everything and bought a van, went overseas again, flew back to the island atoll, invested the last of his savings. "Now? Who knows. And guess what? I wouldn't change a thing."
- - Remove yourself from the environment. "If you're not happy with where you're at with life, with a relationship, with work, the best thing you can do is remove yourself from that environment and create another experience that betters the old. You need to consciously make a change before anything in your life will change."
- - How a two minute noodle friendship became a job. He describes how the videography work came about: he met someone on a solo trip, they bonded over two minute noodles and morning surfs, stayed in contact, and months later that person sent him a job link. "I applied and suddenly I was living on the Goldcoast (and later, Bali) working with James and the team." The post is addressed to his brother Flynn, leaving for Japan on his first solo trip.
- - Designing a life that looks a little more like this. "
- - Three years of taking Instagram seriously. "3 years ago when I started taking Instagram seriously I had no idea what i was doing. All i knew was that i wanted to escape the rat race." He says he started an account called islandvibess and others, moving from growth hacking into content creation, branding and digital marketing, and that he wants to start sharing what he has learned instead of keeping it quiet.
- - The team hanging out in north Bali. "Few of the team hanging out, embracing the good vibes up here." May 2019, north Bali.
- - Six months quiet, and a year in list form. "Hey, it's been a while. Almost 6 months actually." He walks through 2019: January and February in Bali with a mentor, March in Perth working alone at home for less than the hours were worth, recognising limiting beliefs about money, building an audience on TikTok faster than three years of Instagram, then moving to Cocos to be with family. "My biggest takeaway from this year would be to not overlook mindset. And I'm not just talking about limiting beliefs. I'm talking ground level stuff."
- - Still does not own a shirt. "Update: still don't own a shirt. Brands hmu."
- - Looking back at the 2016 side hustle. "Sat down with a mate this afternoon for a long-overdue catch up and we reflected a bit on the good ole days when we used to grow IG accounts (separately, but at the same time as it turns out) as a side hustle back in 2016/17. Now? I'm posing in front of a newspaper wall because it looked kinda cool."
- - Uncommon amongst common people. "If you're uncommon amongst common people, you're in the wrong place. Let that sink in."
- - A big decision, told the next day. "Made a biggg decision today. Will share more about it tomorrow." The next post announced the studio.
- - A cyc wall instead of four months abroad. "Hey, it's me, just dropping in with my once-every-few-months Instagram post, and showing off the new addition to the studio. This cyc wall is roughly equivalent to 3-4 months living abroad, and up until this year I would have taken the latter (travel) alllll day. Now? It's just the next investment."
- - Reinvent yourself, often. " The only post in the whole of 2021.
- - Back to what it has always been about. "Back to what it's always been about: the journey, the people and the undisputed belief that it will work out in the end." May 2022, after a year of near silence.
- - Recorded after a long-term relationship ended. "I recorded this months ago after a long-term relationship ended and a lot of change occurred within a very short time. I realised the thing that was holding me back was only my own limiting beliefs and I set out to change that. It's been my greatest project so far."
- - Closing the doors after four years. "Last month I closed the doors on the very thing that has given me life for the last 4 years." He describes it in a list: the thing that took him from a shared bunk bed to a studio he had dreamed about as a kid, that left him at zero in the bank more times than he can count, that pushed him to his best and at times all the way down to his worst. "This is a goodbye letter, to something that made me, well, me."
- - A campaign shot in Mallorca. "Stoked to bring my vision to life in our recent Mallorca campaign." Directed for the brand Naming This Later.
- - Leading with art, and a community coming. "This year I decided to use this platform simply for art and not for income, or at least LEAD with art and see what happens on the other side. Choosing this route has taken me all the way back to my 18 year old self, creating and failing and learning and blindly trusting that it'll all make sense at some point." He says he is launching a community later that month for people who want to design their life like art. It is the first mention of Art of Mondays.
- - A stealth launched company. "I stealth launched a company. Weekly episodes on YT." New Year's Day 2024. The YouTube channel in this archive begins nearly a year later, at episode 48.
- - Twenty six things. A list of twenty six facts on his twenty sixth birthday. Among them: he spends half his time in Australia and half travelling, he does not make a living from social media, he is one of seven kids, he never went to university, he spent eight years on a tiny island growing up and calls it his favourite place in the world, he has shot over 1500 film photos and shared only a handful, his first camera was a GoPro, and he says he gave away a business doing $1.5M a year to go all in on Art of Mondays.
- - Self improvement club. " Posted from Milos, Greece, June 2024.
- - Fighting burnout as a seven figure business owner. Episode 48 of Monday Diaries, the earliest episode on the channel. He describes it as building in public and documenting learnings, and the chapter list runs through an honest update, slow growth, a big idea and a business update. Episodes 1 to 47 are not on this channel and where they are is not stated anywhere in the material.
- - Eight days in a house with seven entrepreneurs. "For 8 days I lived in a house with 7 young entrepreneurs in Lombok, Indonesia. Here's what went down."
- - Our biggest week ever, and self-belief. Episode 49 of Monday Diaries. The chapters cover what led to the growth, a current challenge, thinking bigger, and a business update.
- - A designer who says he multiplied his income. An interview with Dylan Stott, a designer and agency founder. Jai describes him as a member of Art of Mondays and says they break down where he came from and how he grew his income in under a year.
- - Our biggest week ever, again. Episode 50 of Monday Diaries, posted a few days late. Chapters cover an honest update, a current challenge, The Art of War, and a business update.
- - The ugly side of getting rich young. Episode 51 of Monday Diaries. Chapters cover an honest update, team updates, a big idea and a business update.
- - A swimwear brand built out of TikTok fame. An interview with Dylan James O'brien, described by Jai as a twenty one year old creative who turned quick TikTok fame into a swimwear brand called One Palm. He says they break down the adversity behind it.
- - How to make 2025 actually count. Episode 52 of Monday Diaries, the last numbered episode on the channel. He walks through three steps: get light, make a vision board, and do what he calls the Pyramid of Clarity. After this the weekly numbering stops.
- - Ten days in a house with nine entrepreneurs. "For 10 days I lived in a house with 9 young entrepreneurs in Noosa, Australia. Here's what went down."
- - Ten entrepreneurs in a lil box. A week living in a house with ten entrepreneurs in Hakuba, Japan. He now says new episodes come every week or two rather than every Monday.
- - Turns out you don't need to hustle. A week in his life living with entrepreneurs in Cape Town, South Africa.
- - Building a global company at twenty seven. A week in his life building a company and travelling full time at twenty seven. The video carries a suitcase sponsorship, disclosed in the description.
- - Building companies with best friends. A week in his life building internet companies with friends. He links the channels of the people he works with, including his co-founder Evan Bryce Riddle.
- - more life. "Documenting my life and travelling for a living at 27." The description drops the weekly framing entirely. From here the channel becomes standalone films rather than numbered diary episodes.
- - I moved to an island. "Documenting my life, travelling for a living in my 20s." He signs off: "See you when I have something worth sharing." Some of the footage is Super 8 shot by a friend.
- - Hustle culture is dead. "A week in the life living with our team, building businesses, not knowing what day it is." He links his co-founder Evan Bryce Riddle's version of the same week.
- - Fifteen entrepreneurs in a lake house in Alaska. "I've always been curious about how successful people live. What makes them different from the rest?"
- - Building an app in Montreal. "This week I spent a few days in Montreal living, working and building. Reminded me that great companies are really just great people aligned around one idea. And maybe that's true for life too."
- - Travelling for a living at twenty seven. "A week in the life of a 27 y/o building a global community and travelling for a living."
- - A life you don't need a vacation from. "A week in Mallorca, Spain, creating a life I don't need a vacation from."
- - I went offline. " The film of the week he cycled Patagonia without a phone.
- - Seven days without a phone. "I went phoneless for 7 days, and it changed me. Here's what I learned."
- - Surround yourself with the right people. "The right people change everything."
- - Parked up in Western Australia. "A week of building a life and a business that I love. This time parked up in Western Australia with some of our team."
- - Building a business with his eighteen year old brother. He works on a business idea with his youngest brother Chayse and shares the one-page playbook shown in the video. He adds a note in the description that Chayse has since pivoted to a different idea.
- - Coming home. "Back home after 9 months on the road."
- - Building from a beach house, two hours a day. "A week of building a global business from a beach house." The description also carries a job ad for a fractional COO.
- - All you need is surf and wifi. "A week of building a global business from a beach house." Filmed during the two months in Hawaii.
- - Alone in Hawaii. 2 months." A standalone film rather than a diary episode.
- - Optimising for peace. "The older I get the more I optimise for peace. As few meetings as possible, deep work when i'm inspired and then 4pm reading on the sun rock." He lists organic meat and roasted sweet potatoes for most meals, present conversations with friends he respects, and playing chess as often as he can. "Anyone that thinks you can't build a generational company from a place of flow and fun and a calm nervous system just hasn't felt it yet." Mallorca.
- - Camp Mondays, and twelve year old Jai. "Thank u Camp Mondays for showing 12 year old Jai that dreams do come true." Posted from the French countryside.
- - Letting the old self die. "You must kill your old self in order to attract your dream life." He says a book is almost ready. It is the most recent video in this archive.