Last updated: September 13, 2024
Sianne is wearing a crop top. She has blonde hair and she is dangerously fit.
She looks like an athlete and she is also very smart.
This is a problem because I love crop tops. I am susceptible to the influence of crop tops.
But not today. Not today, Satan.
Today I am reporting the news. I will show you something interesting.
We’re at a big brewery. There are a dozen other people here and we all have our laptops.
It smells like hops. This is an unusual place for a morning meetup.
Sianne calls us to attention. She has a warm, grounded energy.
We circle up to introduce ourselves and say what we hope to accomplish on our laptops.
“My name is Nick Gray,” I say, “and today I want to learn about how y’all do coworking here.”
Everyone introduces themselves. And then we sit down to work.
The quiet silence of productivity fills the air.
Sianne used to get the Sunday Scaries. She was struggling with the isolation of remote work. She would procrastinate on Mondays and not truly start her week until Tuesday.
“I needed something to entice me, to hold me accountable to start work on Monday. I wanted to start the week on a high note,” Sianne whispers.
And so Momentum Monday was born. It is a meetup to kick off and cowork together. People gather for a structured coworking session on Monday mornings from 9AM to noon.
Remote workers and entrepreneurs are invited. So is anyone looking for a productive start to their day.
Sianne started to host these coworking sessions a few years ago. Now it has changed her life.
“I realized that I needed community, but I didn’t necessarily have the time for it,” she tells me. “So I asked myself, How can I fit community into what I’m already doing?”
I like this question so much that I say it back to her.
How can I fit community into what I’m already doing?
I hear this from a lot of people. We’re all so busy. But we want to see our friends and acquaintances. Maybe hosting your own coworking session is an answer.
After 35 minutes of work we take a break. Sianne leads us in a little breathwork. It’s the Pomodoro Technique with a twist of mindfulness. And make it Austin, with some manifestation and meditation.
After the break I ask Sianne if I can interview her about her meetup.
We go sit outside. It’s hot out and she is still wearing the crop top. But I do not notice. I don’t see color, or age, or beauty. All I see is a good story.
This is a lie. I am allowed one lie per story. Please allow me this lie.
I tell Sianne that my friend Alexa recently signed up for a WeWork membership. She was expecting a vibrant community. Instead, she found a beautifully designed but soulless corporate environment to plug away on her laptop.
“This place sucks,” Alexa texted me.
Momentum Monday is totally different. Sianne facilitates each session, adding accountability and community that’s often missing from “just show up and work” spaces like WeWork.
It makes an impact on people’s lives. Sianne tells me the story of Bill, a successful tech entrepreneur whose life was shook by divorce, family illness, and losing his company. He found solace and a fresh start in Momentum Monday.
“Within a month or two, he built a new business from scratch,” Sianne tells me. “Momentum Monday was where he could find that consistency to show up for himself again.”
All from a morning meetup at an otherwise empty brewery that was happy to have a crowd drinking coffee and ordering their breakfast tacos.
There is shared productivity in the power of Pomodoro, yes. But Sianne’s also helping remote workers and entrepreneurs to foster relationships, set goals, and grow together.
This is my second session here and I like it. I start to think about how I can share this. To capture her formula for others to create similar groups in their own cities. Sianne’s eyes light up at this idea.
“My dream is to license Momentum Monday to others,” she says. “We’ve had requests from London, Brooklyn, Dallas, Reno, Chicago… It’s just a matter of putting together the curriculum to make it successful from a distance.”
For those inspired to start their own Momentum Monday-style group, Sianne gives me some bullets:
- Choose your venue wisely. Look for places with friendly staff, available food, a semi-private area, good Wi-Fi, and enough power outlets.
- Do the meetup in the morning, not in the afternoon. It helps people prioritize and plan their day.
- Consistency is key. Even if no one shows up some days, keep hosting.
- Use the Pomodoro Technique with 35-minute work sprints. Include breaks for networking and personal connections. Maybe do a short group walk during one of the breaks.
- Be clear about the structure and expectations for the session. Then celebrate wins at the end.
I like what Sianne has created here. It’s one of the best coworking sessions I’ve been to.
She’s found an easy way to beat the isolation of remote work, boost productivity, and build a community. Momentum Monday fulfills the promise of what coworking is supposed to be.
It all started with a simple question:
“How can I fit what matters most into what I’m already doing?”
I pack up my laptop after a few hours and check things I got done off my to-do list.
On the drive home I wonder: What if every city or neighborhood had a Momentum Monday? What if we all had a place to kick off our week with intention and community?
Maybe the next Momentum Monday is waiting to be born in your friend group.
THE END
Originally posted on my X / Twitter.
Hi from Nick! I’ve been doing these interviews with people like this one and posting them on my Instagram and Twitter / X. I’ll add some others into the Profiles category. Leave me a comment if you liked this and I’ll try to add some more.