Own Your Own
I was on Squarespace for ten years. This year I moved my website, my reader list and the tools I use every day onto a server of my own, and I’ve been doing the same for clients. Here’s what that looks like, what it costs, and how I’d help you do it.
It’s like hiring a construction company to build your house. They’ll build your house, but then it’s your house. You don’t have to keep paying them after the house is built.
What are you renting?
Tap the ones you pay for. Each one shows what owning it looks like, and where I’ve already done it. Add what you pay each month if you like, and you’ll see what you’re spending on rent each year. Nothing you type here leaves this page.
Nothing picked yet.
What I’ve built for myself
Everything here runs on one server I rent from DigitalOcean, at an address I own. No page builder, no platform. Plain files I can read, change and keep.
Off Squarespace, nothing lost
A video tour of my old site next to the new one, and how I moved twenty years of writing without breaking a single old link.
The whole setupTech Independence
My domain, server, email and reader list, step by step: when I did each one, what it costs, and how.
My own AIBuilding Sky
The AI assistant that lives on my server. I can read and change the files that shape how it thinks.
An app on your phoneDaily Gratitude
One question a day. Put it on your home screen like any app. Your answers stay on your phone.
An app for two friendsBack to the Feature
A movie picker for me and my best friend, with our own sign-ins, shared lists and phone notifications.
A writing app1000 Words
A blank page a day for anyone. No account, and the writing never leaves your browser.
What I build for others
Most of my work is building systems for people and organizations doing good work. When a client needs a tool, my first question is whether we can build our own instead of signing up for one more subscription.
Website, backend and database
Their public site, an application process, and a private portal for their grantees, with nightly backups kept off the server.
Their own document signing
Agreements sent and signed inside the client’s own system, so there’s no per-envelope service to pay for.
Site, book and newsletter
A new website, a home for the book, and a newsletter that sends from the client’s own domain.
Keeping it running
Monitoring that pings me when a site goes down, security updates, and backups copied off the server every night and checked.
Five steps, at your pace
- Start with what you’re trying to do. Not a brief to execute: what you want your site, your list or your organization to make possible, and what’s getting in the way today.
- Look before we touch anything. We list every tool you pay for and every address your site has now. That list becomes the checklist.
- Build it with you, in the open. Your code lives in your own GitHub, on your own server. I build with Claude Code, and you can see every change.
- Move without breaking anything. Every old link forwards to its new home, your whole list comes with you, and the old service stays on until the new one works.
- Hand you the keys. The domain, the server, the code, the list, and plain notes on how it all fits together. Keep me around for upkeep, or don’t. It’s your house.
What owning costs
Owning isn’t free, but it’s much cheaper than renting, and your list has no contact limit to outgrow. These are my own numbers.
| Piece | What I use | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Your address | A .com at Cloudflare, which charges what the registry charges | $10 a year |
| A server | DigitalOcean (mine is bigger, so I pay more) | From $4 to $12 a month |
| Email at your domain | Cloudflare Email Routing into Gmail | Free |
| Sending your newsletter | Resend; the list itself stays on your server | Free for a small list (3,000 emails a month) |
| Your website | Plain web pages on the server you already rent | Free |
The real cost is a little learning. It’s a bit of a curve, but it’s not bad, and it’s the best thing to be learning right now. The step-by-step version is on Tech Independence.
A great tool. Your vision.
AI is why one person can build all of this now. I use it to think harder, not less: not “give me the answer” but “ask me the question.” What it can’t bring is the part that’s yours.
I wrote more about this in How I Use AI and Handmake Your Life.
Let’s talk
If you’re ready to move your site or your list, or you’re just curious what it would take, send me a note. No rush and no pressure. I love this stuff.
Email me
Follow along
I’m writing about all of this, one essay every Saturday. This form saves to my own list, on my own server.