> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.philsimon.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Moving Day - URL: https://www.philsimon.com/the-next-chapter/ - Published: 2025-07-24T20:12:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-21T02:07:36.000Z - Description: Some thoughts on where I'm taking my website—and what it means to you. - Author: Phil Simon - Tags: Announcements, Ghost, WordPress, AI, Future of Work, Remote Work, Ghostwriting, Attempted Humor, The Big Lebowski, Low-Code/No-Code "Art is never finished, only abandoned." —Leonardo Da Vinci My website has always been a work in progress. Click [here](https://www.philsimon.com/about-site-history/) if you don't believe me. You might notice a few changes on it today. For openers, it probably loads much faster, and the menu bar now sticks to the left—not the top. Yeah, my trademark orange is still prominent, but the major changes aren't just cosmetic: today marks a new chapter for my website and, more importantly, for my business and me. ## The Skinny In June, I announced that I was moving my publishing website to a [subscription model](https://www.racketpublishing.com/blog/the-next-chapter/?ref=philsimon.com). Today, I'm letting you know that I'm doing the same thing with this one. I'll still occasionally publish free posts for all to see, but the vast majority of my new musings will require people to create accounts and log in to view them. I could use the term *paywall*, but it's a bit of a misnomer. Reading many posts will require no actual payment. Rather, you'll have to subscribe to at least the [Free plan](https://www.philsimon.com/subscriber-benefits/). (For more on the benefits of subscribing, click [here](https://www.philsimon.com/subscriber-benefits/).) ## Why Now? Where to begin? Let's start with the simplest reason: the technical one. ![man in red and black jacket wearing black pants and red helmet holding green and black](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1595856898575-9d187bd32fd6?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDJ8fG1haW50ZW5hbmNlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc1NTExNDQ5MXww&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=2000) Photo by [Антон Дмитриев](https://unsplash.com/@ehmitrich?ref=philsimon.com) / [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=api-credit) ### Maintenance Fatigue I've long known that I'm a geek. At [Carnegie Mellon](https://www.philsimon.com/reflections-on-carnegie-mellon-25-years-later/), even the poets know how to code. At the same time, I realize that I've spent far too much time over the past 15 years performing maintenance on my site—and hiring others to help occasionally. I'll conservatively estimate that I've put in an average of 1.5 hours per week diagnosing a bevy of issues over the last 15 years. That's 1,200 hours in total. To be sure, my old WordPress theme, Divi, served a valuable purpose. Still, [its future direction](https://www.elegantthemes.com/divi-5/?ref=philsimon.com) makes me suspect that my days of debugging wouldn't be ending. I'd much rather spend my professional time writing and [ghostwriting](https://www.philsimon.com/next-ghostwriting-project/) books, [speaking](https://www.philsimon.com/speaking), [creating Notion templates](https://www.notion.so/@philsimon?ref=philsimon.com), and consulting. > Tech alone didn't drive this decision. I'd be lying, though, if I claimed that tech alone drove this important (monumental?) decision. Far from it. ![a computer screen with a game on it](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1685914962460-f362d85829fa?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDJ8fHBhY21hbnxlbnwwfHx8fDE3NTIyNDgyOTZ8MA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=2000) Photo by [Roger Ce](https://unsplash.com/@roger%5Fce77?ref=philsimon.com) / [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=api-credit) ### Protecting My Content From Greedy Tech Companies As an added benefit, the decision will make it harder for soulless tech corporations to illegally hoover up my intellectual property without compensating me. (Count [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jun/20/bbc-threatens-legal-action-against-ai-startup-over-content-scraping?ref=philsimon.com) and [Reddit](https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/679768/reddit-sues-anthropic-alleging-its-bots-accessed-reddit-more-than-100000-times-since-last-july?ref=philsimon.com) among the companies that have recently filed lawsuits against these scoundrels, but I digress.) It's become [such a problem](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/07/01/ai-crawlers-reddit-wikipedia-fight/?ref=philsimon.com) that [Cloudflare](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cache/advanced-configuration/crawler-hints/?ref=philsimon.com) and other companies are launching tools that prevent AI crawlers from doing their thing. ### The Core Reason Since leaving ASU in 2020, I had been relying on [white whales](https://www.philsimon.com/three-freelancing-models/) for clients. Maybe it was time to make a change? A few months ago, my Carnegie Mellon friend and fellow *Die Hard* fanatic [Moneet Singh](https://www.linkedin.com/in/moneet/?ref=philsimon.com) and I were discussing evolving business models and the need to build subscription businesses. Like all good friends, he didn't hold back when he assessed my site. In between [Hans Gruber quotes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJvhsFRaO9Q&ref=philsimon.com), he mentioned how I had already created plenty of solid [lead magnets](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lead-magnet.asp?ref=philsimon.com). I just wasn't using them properly. Moneet was being kind. I wasn't using them *at all*. That conversation stuck with me over the coming weeks. I harbored no illusions about climbing to the top of the [Substack Business Leaderboard](https://substack.com/leaderboard/business/paid?ref=philsimon.com) and pocketing six figures per month. Still, was the idea of taking advantage of my existing blog posts, courses, Notion templates, and other assets to create a decent monthly revenue stream really farfetched. ### Returning to the Tech I didn't think so, but my website's legacy underpinnings would mean adding even more software in the form of [subscription plugins](https://wordpress.org/plugins/paid-member-subscriptions/?ref=philsimon.com) and [proper newsletter capabilities](https://wordpress.org/plugins/newsletter/?ref=philsimon.com). I realized if I wanted to create a viable subscription business, I didn't *need* to tear down my website. Make no mistake, though: A [more contemporary and faster content management system](https://ghost.org/vs/wordpress/?ref=philsimon.com) would certainly make it easier for me to achieve my goals. ## Sign up for Simon Says Award-winning, 14-time author Phil Simon chimes in with his musings on AI, the future of work, collaboration, workplace tech, and more. SUBSCRIBE Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. ## The New Foundation With the help of rockstar developer [Cathy Sarisky](https://www.spectralwebservices.com/?ref=philsimon.com), I have successfully migrated my WordPress site to [Ghost](http://www.ghost.io/?ref=philsimon.com). (I'm [hardly alone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IewnxUAgsLc&ref=philsimon.com) in doing so.) You'll notice a significantly faster website. The difference between Ghost and my old WordPress/Divi site is almost comical: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8f/b5/8fb5e321-49a6-4cf5-8a28-c6f6d5417e54/content/images/2025/07/site_speed.jpeg) GTMetrix Site Speed, July 27, 2025 | Click on the image to enlarge it. All of my old posts should render, just at different URLs that [should automatically forward](https://ghost.org/tutorials/implementing-redirects/?ref=philsimon.com). I'd be mystified, however, if we caught *all* the bugs. Please let me know if you find: - Any 404 errors or dead links. - Any missing images. - Something else janky. I'll get them fixed as quickly as I can. [I FOUND A SITE ISSUE](https://www.philsimon.com/connect/) ## What Has Changed I've fused all of my prior followers into Ghost. If you subscribed to my WordPress blog, [Patreon page](https://www.patreon.com/philsimon?ref=philsimon.com), or [Substack](http://philsimon.substack.com/), I've moved you to this site's Free plan.[1](#fn:1) I've used the email address that you gave me when you signed originally up days, weeks, months, or years ago. My new Ghost site is a clean, lightning-fast, [SEO-optimized](https://ghost.org/help/seo/?ref=philsimon.com), and responsive one that looks good on any device—all without third-party software and caching plugins. I'm kicking myself for not moving to Ghost sooner. Check out the subscriptions part of my FAQ page [here](https://www.philsimon.com/about-faq/#section-zero-title). If you don't find what you're looking for, comment here (after you log in) or [contact me](https://www.philsimon.com/connect). [AI’s Continued Lack of Transparency and ConsistencyAdventures in truly amazing, opaque software that makes basic errors.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8f/b5/8fb5e321-49a6-4cf5-8a28-c6f6d5417e54/content/images/icon/newlogo-2-194.png)Phil SimonPhil Simon![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8f/b5/8fb5e321-49a6-4cf5-8a28-c6f6d5417e54/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1444837881208-4d46d5c1f127)](https://www.philsimon.com/transparency-consistency/) ## The Future of My Site Look for more frequent and longer posts from me over the coming months and years on [AI](https://www.philsimon.com/tag/ai), the future of work, [Notion](https://notion.grsm.io/philsimon?ref=philsimon.com), [citizen development](https://www.philsimon.com/ghost/#/tags/lc-nc), workplace tech, hybrid work, and the usual *bouillabaisse* of other work- and tech-related topics. (Future posts on writing and publishing will live on [Racket Publishing](https://www.racketpublishing.com/?ref=philsimon.com).) Why the renewed [enthusiasm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igVkg65MGf4&ref=philsimon.com) for writing? A few reasons. First, I want people to subscribe and for some of them to pay. In order to achieve these goals, I have to bring the goods. The occasional short post just won't cut it. By all accounts, posting content irregularly leads to increased churn. Second, [on a personal level](https://youtu.be/WXUtmUnBsUA?t=168&ref=philsimon.com), I absolutely love Ghost's über-clean backend UI. It's very Notion-y. Here's a screenshot: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8f/b5/8fb5e321-49a6-4cf5-8a28-c6f6d5417e54/content/images/2025/06/notion-UI.jpeg) Notion Back End UI for This Post. Pretty slick. [In Defense of SlackCal Newport is a smart dude whose new book is based upon two fundamental misconceptions.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8f/b5/8fb5e321-49a6-4cf5-8a28-c6f6d5417e54/content/images/icon/newlogo-2-60.png)Phil SimonPhil Simon![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8f/b5/8fb5e321-49a6-4cf5-8a28-c6f6d5417e54/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1496200186974-4293800e2c20)](https://www.philsimon.com/in-defense-of-slack/) Now that I'm not waiting 60 seconds for WordPress and Divi to create a new post, I'm stoked about putting more of my thoughts and creations out there. Get your popcorn ready, and thank you for reading this post. Phil Simon #### Footnotes 1. Medium doesn't let users export their followers. [↩](#fnref:1 "Jump back to content") ❓ Finding any problems with my new website? There's no way that we caught all of the bugs. [Let me know](https://phil-simon.ghost.io/connect?ref=philsimon.com) if you find any issues or would like to provide any feedback.