Over the years, I've told people that CMS Report is a side business. While I would never become rich from this blog, I've been lucky enough to have been able to put a little extra cash in my wallet from this website's ad revenue. In truth, what has actually sustained CMS Report is not money but my passion for information systems. I absolutely love this magical process where people, hardware, software, and infrastructure come together to improve the business or organization. A decade ago, I could find no better example of information systems in the real world than the content management system. I decided to write about CMSs and created a blog and website to host those articles. After spending ten years as this site's founder, editor, and primary writer I've decided it is time for me to move on to some new challenges.
What an amazing and crazy ride this has been for someone that started his career as a meteorologist and now works full time in government IT. This was supposed to be a one year exercise for feeding my hunger to learn more about CMSs. Instead, this became a ten year project that tapped into a community of developers, marketers, analysts, founders, executives, small business owners, and entrepreneurs. It has been a joy to have met so many creative, smart, and hardworking people through this website. I received more than I gave. But in the past few years, my passion to write only about CMS topics has diminished and I'm not happy that my articles lack the shine they once had. After considerable thought, I've decided it's time for me to pass the torch to another.
What is Bryan Ruby's plan after CMS Report?
In the short term, I would like to spend a few months away from blogging and minimize my computer time. I've done this before and found it beneficial. Given that it is my nature to write, I suspect in my weaker moments I'll want to write about something and will use my personal website to post the articles. You're welcome to join me there.
In the long term, I have some new projects that I'm trying to get off the ground. As far as websites go, I'd like to startup a website that reflects my broader interest in technology, social networks, and entrepreneurship. For the past few years, I've been holding close to my chest a domain that I've always thought would be perfect for a rebranding of CMS Report. If I do move forward with the project, the earliest I would bring the new website online is Fall 2016. I'm also not opposed to the idea of being a guest writer on another website. I may even allow myself to become available to do consulting/analyst work for those that need me. Again though, I'm not making myself available to do any of this until I've had time to take a break from it all.
If looking back I find that CMS Report was the peak of my online success, I'm perfectly fine with this. I still have a gratefully busy work life as an Information Technology Officer in the National Weather Service. Prior to working in government IT, I was a meteorologist forecasting the weather, accessing a multimillion Doppler radar, and issuing countless lifesaving warnings in my weather career. Outside of work, my time with my family and my community is what I value most. I'm not even 50, yet I have already done things that people still dream about doing. So, you ask, what are my plans? To follow my passions wherever they lead me with absolutely no regrets.
What is to happen to CMS Report?
Starting today, the cmsreport.com domain and/or website is for sale. If you're interested in making an offer, please let me know. If I do not get a reasonable offer for the domain, I have some other options including transferring the domain to someone I know would be a good steward for this website. I could also merge as a rebranding the traffic from this site to that "new project" I talked about earlier.
Until further notice, we're going to put a hold on publishing new articles here at CMS Report. However, we will continue to actively manage our Twitter account. With this Twitter account, I have a long history of advocating for the ideas, stories, people, and companies that do "good work" in the CMS industry and would like to continue to do so.
As we put the website in "dry dock", our content will continue to remain available to read and source. Don't be surprised to see the presentation and layout of the website change even if we don't publish new articles. I just can't help myself trying new things out with the CMS that runs this website. Once a CMS enthusiast, always a CMS enthusiast.