Art of Mondays Buy $20

A new book by Evan Bryce

The Freedom First Founder.

Not more hours.
Not another hire.
Not one more launch.

Success without the sacrifice. Hustle culture lied. Build a business and a life you can't wait to wake up to.

The goal was never to be indispensable. It was to be free. This is the operating system that gets you there.

Buy The Book - $20 Get Instant Access - $20

30-day refund · Ebook only · Instant download

Social proof

What early readers are saying.

Three quotes to be filled in before launch
★★★★★
"[PLACEHOLDER QUOTE 1 — short, specific, ideally about a shift in thinking or a concrete change the reader made]"
[PLACEHOLDER — Name, role, company]
★★★★★
"[PLACEHOLDER QUOTE 2 — different angle, ideally from someone at a recognizable stage or company]"
[PLACEHOLDER — Name, role, company]
★★★★★
"[PLACEHOLDER QUOTE 3 — emotional or personal, balances the first two]"
[PLACEHOLDER — Name, role, company]
The honest part

You wanted freedom. You got a prison with a really good view.

Marcus is 31. He's in Hong Kong, sitting in a members' club above the harbour, the week he sells a stake in his agency. His phone buzzes every ninety seconds. His wife is in London with the daughter he hasn't seen in twelve days. A friend asks how he's really doing. He stares at the water for a long moment. And finally says it out loud. "I think I built a prison with a really good view."

You started this thing because you wanted freedom. Somewhere along the way it got swapped out for a calendar that owns you, a phone that won't stop, and a life that runs on someone else's clock.

Tick whatever lands ↓
  • Your phone is the first thing you touch in the morning and the last thing at night.
  • You haven't taken a full week off in over a year without checking Slack.
  • A key person on your team quitting tomorrow would set you back six months.
  • You're earning more than you ever have, and feel less free than when you started.
  • You can't remember the last decision you made because you wanted to, not because something was on fire.
  • "If I disappeared for two weeks, the whole thing would fall apart."
  • You tell people the business is going well. You don't quite believe it.

→ THREE OR MORE? KEEP READING. THE GOAL WAS NEVER TO BE INDISPENSABLE. IT WAS TO BE FREE. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING.

The shape of the book

The trap, the build, the compound effect.

Part I / The Trap · Ch. 1–3

The prison with a good view.

By the end of Part I, you'll know whether you've built a business or a very expensive job. You'll understand the deferred-life plan you've been running on without realising it, and the map you were handed that almost guarantees you never feel free. You'll have run the 14-day offline test on paper, and you'll know exactly what it would expose.

Part II / The Build · Ch. 4–8

The people, the team, the systems.

By the end of Part II, you'll know who in your life is lifting your ceiling and who is lowering it, and what to do about both. You'll have a hiring filter that lets in only people who raise the average. You'll have a starting plan for the systems that should be running without your memory. And you'll know how to run the two-week test for real, on purpose, without anything breaking.

Part III / The Compound · Ch. 9–15

The leverage that works while you sleep.

By the end of Part III, you'll know the four types of leverage every founder has access to, and which two most never use. You'll have a sharper version of your offer. You'll know how to think about big bets so one of them pays for the rest. And you'll have a clear picture of what a year actually looks like when it's built on purpose, not on someone else's clock.

Who this is for

And who it isn't.

★ This book is for ★
  • Founders doing $50k to $5M a year who suspect there's a better way and want a map
  • Operators who've hit the version of success they aimed at, and want their life back
  • Builders who want growth and freedom, and refuse to pick one
  • Anyone who's read the standard advice, done the standard things, and feels more trapped than ever
✗ This book is not for ✗
  • VC-track founders chasing a unicorn at any cost
  • People who think burnout is the price of success
  • Anyone looking for a hustle manifesto
  • Solo operators who already have it figured out and just want validation

If you're in the first list, this book was written for you. If you're in the second, you'll hate it. Save your $20.

The author

About Evan.

Subject · Evan Bryce Riddle · Nomadic

Evan Bryce Riddle.

Evan Bryce Riddle is a writer and entrepreneur. He co-founded Art of Mondays, a community for ambitious young founders building meaningful, profitable companies on their own terms.

The Freedom First Founder is the operating system underneath everything he builds. The same one used by the founders inside Art of Mondays who are doing the thing most people only talk about: building real businesses and real lives at the same time.

Freedom is not the reward at the end of the work. Freedom is the operating system you build the work on.
Chapter 1
The offer

Two things in your inbox, sixty seconds after checkout.

The Freedom First Founder

A field manual for building a business and a life you can't wait to wake up to.

  • 📕 The book · 15 chapters · PDF + EPUB for KindleIncluded
  • 🎟️ Priority application · Founder FamilyIncluded

1. The book. 15 chapters. Read it this weekend, or one chapter a day for two weeks. Each chapter ends with a four-step playbook. Finish a chapter. Close the book. Change one thing. Feel the difference.

2. Priority application to Founder Family. The private community Evan co-founded. Most of the stories in this book came from inside it. This year the collective gathers in a village in France and on a private island in Indonesia.

Secure checkout · 30-day refund · No subscription

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Stamped onto every order · Bonus

An invitation to Founder Family.

★ Application invite ★

The room behind the book.

Every reader of this book gets priority application to Founder Family. It's the private community Evan co-founded. Most of the stories in this book were drawn from it. The freedom first founders you read about are not theoretical. They're alive, on the road, building alongside each other.

This year the collective gathers in a village in France and on a private island in Indonesia. The founders building freedom first companies are doing it together. Not alone in the corner of a co-working space.

Free with the book · application only

Early readers

What the early readers said.

Real testimonials TBD
★★★★★
"Read it in a weekend, ran the two-week test in March, came back to a business that hadn't fallen over. The book paid for itself ten thousand times in one fortnight."
[Reader name] · Founder, [Company]
★★★★★
"The chapter on systems made me realise my entire company was running on my memory. Three weeks of writing SOPs later, I took a Friday off for the first time in two years."
[Reader name] · [Title]
★★★★★
"Most 'how to scale' books are noise. This one is the opposite. It's about scaling the company without scaling the founder's misery. I needed this five years ago."
[Reader name] · [Title]
The deal

A 30-day read-and-refund.

30-Day
Guarantee
★ Sealed ★

Order the book. Read it cover to cover. If a single line in here doesn't shift how you think about your time, your work, or the life you mean to build, email books@artofmondays.com within thirty days. We'll refund every cent. Keep the book. We part as friends.

Last questions

The honest FAQ.

Is this a physical book or an ebook?

A digital book. Instant download as PDF and EPUB (for Kindle) the moment you check out.

I'm not running an eight-figure business. Does this still apply?

Yes. The principles work the same at $50k a month and $5M a month. Most readers are between $50k and $5M a year. The trap looks different at each end. The feeling of being trapped doesn't.

How long does it take to read?

A focused weekend, or one chapter a day for two weeks. Each chapter ends with a four-step playbook designed to be acted on, not just read.

Why $20?

We'd give it away free, but free books rarely get read. A small price is the cheapest way to make sure you actually read it and apply it.

What if I don't love it?

Email books@artofmondays.com within 30 days and we'll refund you. Keep the book.

One last thing

There's never been a better time to be a founder.

The tools are in your pocket. The map is being drawn in real time by founders building businesses that didn't exist a decade ago, in countries they didn't grow up in, on terms nobody handed them.

You don't need permission. You don't need a bigger team. You don't need another year of grinding. You need the map.

Buy The Book — $20