Arvin Josol
@arvinjosol.bsky.social
I'm Arvin, a Navy veteran turned entrepreneur and cloud consultant, rekindling an old writing habit. I'm allowing my writing here to wander; it's a space where I follow my curiosity and slowly find my voice by simply showing up and writing more.
As a consultant, ideas had to go through tickets and approvals. Now? I just build.
Wrote about the freedom (and challenges) of being the solo tech for a small biz 👉https://arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-new-hat-developer-lessons-from-running-my-own-small-business/
Wrote about the freedom (and challenges) of being the solo tech for a small biz 👉https://arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-new-hat-developer-lessons-from-running-my-own-small-business/
Wearing a New Hat: Developer Lessons From Running My Own Small Business
From Ghost migrations to server tuning and CDN integrations, I share lessons learned as a solo developer running a small business.
arvinjosol.ca
November 29, 2025 at 4:30 PM
As a consultant, ideas had to go through tickets and approvals. Now? I just build.
Wrote about the freedom (and challenges) of being the solo tech for a small biz 👉https://arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-new-hat-developer-lessons-from-running-my-own-small-business/
Wrote about the freedom (and challenges) of being the solo tech for a small biz 👉https://arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-new-hat-developer-lessons-from-running-my-own-small-business/
Adding a CDN wasn’t just plug-and-play. I built custom cache rules + Cloudflare Workers to auto-purge content via Ghost webhooks.
Other stories about small business dev work here 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Other stories about small business dev work here 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Wearing a New Hat: Developer Lessons From Running My Own Small Business
From Ghost migrations to server tuning and CDN integrations, I share lessons learned as a solo developer running a small business.
arvinjosol.ca
October 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Adding a CDN wasn’t just plug-and-play. I built custom cache rules + Cloudflare Workers to auto-purge content via Ghost webhooks.
Other stories about small business dev work here 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Other stories about small business dev work here 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Ghost stable on $5 DigitalOcean? Yes, after swap + tuning. MySQL no longer dies daily.
Optimize before upgrading.
🔗 Full blog here:
Optimize before upgrading.
🔗 Full blog here:
Ghost on DigitalOcean: How I Fixed OOM Crashes on a 1GB Droplet with Swap
Running Ghost on a 1GB DigitalOcean droplet resulted in crashes with OOM errors. Here's how I fixed it with swap and tuning for a stable, low-cost blog.
arvinjosol.ca
October 23, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Ghost stable on $5 DigitalOcean? Yes, after swap + tuning. MySQL no longer dies daily.
Optimize before upgrading.
🔗 Full blog here:
Optimize before upgrading.
🔗 Full blog here:
Swap + tuning = stable Ghost blog.
• Swappiness 10 → fallback only
• Cache pressure 50 → keep cache longer
$5 DigitalOcean droplet now rock-solid.
🔗 More details:
• Swappiness 10 → fallback only
• Cache pressure 50 → keep cache longer
$5 DigitalOcean droplet now rock-solid.
🔗 More details:
Ghost on DigitalOcean: How I Fixed OOM Crashes on a 1GB Droplet with Swap
Running Ghost on a 1GB DigitalOcean droplet resulted in crashes with OOM errors. Here's how I fixed it with swap and tuning for a stable, low-cost blog.
arvinjosol.ca
October 9, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Swap + tuning = stable Ghost blog.
• Swappiness 10 → fallback only
• Cache pressure 50 → keep cache longer
$5 DigitalOcean droplet now rock-solid.
🔗 More details:
• Swappiness 10 → fallback only
• Cache pressure 50 → keep cache longer
$5 DigitalOcean droplet now rock-solid.
🔗 More details:
A budget VPS isn’t fast by default. I tuned swap, cache pressure, and swappiness to cut hosting costs in half—without downtime.
Shared what else I learned about small business dev work in my latest post 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Shared what else I learned about small business dev work in my latest post 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Wearing a New Hat: Developer Lessons From Running My Own Small Business
From Ghost migrations to server tuning and CDN integrations, I share lessons learned as a solo developer running a small business.
arvinjosol.ca
September 27, 2025 at 3:30 PM
A budget VPS isn’t fast by default. I tuned swap, cache pressure, and swappiness to cut hosting costs in half—without downtime.
Shared what else I learned about small business dev work in my latest post 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Shared what else I learned about small business dev work in my latest post 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Low-memory Ghost blog crashing? Swap file setup can save it: check existing swap, create a file, add to /etc/fstab. Done!
🔗 Read more for other settings to tune here:
🔗 Read more for other settings to tune here:
Ghost on DigitalOcean: How I Fixed OOM Crashes on a 1GB Droplet with Swap
Running Ghost on a 1GB DigitalOcean droplet resulted in crashes with OOM errors. Here's how I fixed it with swap and tuning for a stable, low-cost blog.
arvinjosol.ca
September 25, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Low-memory Ghost blog crashing? Swap file setup can save it: check existing swap, create a file, add to /etc/fstab. Done!
🔗 Read more for other settings to tune here:
🔗 Read more for other settings to tune here:
1GB VPS + Ghost = OOM crashes. Swap to the rescue. Slower than RAM, but keeps your site alive.
🔗
🔗
Ghost on DigitalOcean: How I Fixed OOM Crashes on a 1GB Droplet with Swap
Running Ghost on a 1GB DigitalOcean droplet resulted in crashes with OOM errors. Here's how I fixed it with swap and tuning for a stable, low-cost blog.
arvinjosol.ca
September 11, 2025 at 1:04 AM
1GB VPS + Ghost = OOM crashes. Swap to the rescue. Slower than RAM, but keeps your site alive.
🔗
🔗
Hosted Ghost on a $5 DigitalOcean droplet (1GB RAM). Looked fine—until daily OOM crashes killed MySQL.
A “safe bet” quickly became downtime frustration.
A “safe bet” quickly became downtime frustration.
August 31, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Hosted Ghost on a $5 DigitalOcean droplet (1GB RAM). Looked fine—until daily OOM crashes killed MySQL.
A “safe bet” quickly became downtime frustration.
A “safe bet” quickly became downtime frustration.
I migrated two Ghost blogs into smaller servers, set up backups, and learned what “good enough” business continuity looks like when you’re the only tech person.
I wrote about other small business dev insights here 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
I wrote about other small business dev insights here 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Wearing a New Hat: Developer Lessons From Running My Own Small Business
From Ghost migrations to server tuning and CDN integrations, I share lessons learned as a solo developer running a small business.
arvinjosol.ca
August 30, 2025 at 3:30 PM
I migrated two Ghost blogs into smaller servers, set up backups, and learned what “good enough” business continuity looks like when you’re the only tech person.
I wrote about other small business dev insights here 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
I wrote about other small business dev insights here 👉 arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
I use a timer to stay focused on a task. It's pretty common advice in productivity circles. Here's another spin on it.
Use a timer for distractions. Scrolling through on social media is fine. Unlimited scrolling is not.
If a timer helps you stay on task, it can help you stop endless scrolling too.
Use a timer for distractions. Scrolling through on social media is fine. Unlimited scrolling is not.
If a timer helps you stay on task, it can help you stop endless scrolling too.
August 29, 2025 at 3:03 AM
I use a timer to stay focused on a task. It's pretty common advice in productivity circles. Here's another spin on it.
Use a timer for distractions. Scrolling through on social media is fine. Unlimited scrolling is not.
If a timer helps you stay on task, it can help you stop endless scrolling too.
Use a timer for distractions. Scrolling through on social media is fine. Unlimited scrolling is not.
If a timer helps you stay on task, it can help you stop endless scrolling too.
I'm in the middle of filling up my content calendar. My plan is to focus on writing blogs and microblogs.
There's a small voice inside me that wants to sneak in videos too. I have the tools, the know-how, and the desire.
Video creators, what are your best reasons for making videos?
There's a small voice inside me that wants to sneak in videos too. I have the tools, the know-how, and the desire.
Video creators, what are your best reasons for making videos?
August 29, 2025 at 2:46 AM
I'm in the middle of filling up my content calendar. My plan is to focus on writing blogs and microblogs.
There's a small voice inside me that wants to sneak in videos too. I have the tools, the know-how, and the desire.
Video creators, what are your best reasons for making videos?
There's a small voice inside me that wants to sneak in videos too. I have the tools, the know-how, and the desire.
Video creators, what are your best reasons for making videos?
Does anyone else do a good clean of their home before leaving for a short trip on a long weekend?
I try anyway. I find that it's easier to get back into a routine if I return to a clean home.
I know what it's like to leave a mess behind and then deal with it after. Kinda sucks.
I try anyway. I find that it's easier to get back into a routine if I return to a clean home.
I know what it's like to leave a mess behind and then deal with it after. Kinda sucks.
August 29, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Does anyone else do a good clean of their home before leaving for a short trip on a long weekend?
I try anyway. I find that it's easier to get back into a routine if I return to a clean home.
I know what it's like to leave a mess behind and then deal with it after. Kinda sucks.
I try anyway. I find that it's easier to get back into a routine if I return to a clean home.
I know what it's like to leave a mess behind and then deal with it after. Kinda sucks.
The challenging part about hard goals is the uncertainty and thoughts, like:
- Am I good enough
- Are my efforts working
- How long does this take
- Is the time and effort worth it
Ways I deal with it:
- Celebrate small wins
- Social connection
- Stepping away
- Grit.
How do you deal with this?
- Am I good enough
- Are my efforts working
- How long does this take
- Is the time and effort worth it
Ways I deal with it:
- Celebrate small wins
- Social connection
- Stepping away
- Grit.
How do you deal with this?
August 28, 2025 at 2:37 AM
The challenging part about hard goals is the uncertainty and thoughts, like:
- Am I good enough
- Are my efforts working
- How long does this take
- Is the time and effort worth it
Ways I deal with it:
- Celebrate small wins
- Social connection
- Stepping away
- Grit.
How do you deal with this?
- Am I good enough
- Are my efforts working
- How long does this take
- Is the time and effort worth it
Ways I deal with it:
- Celebrate small wins
- Social connection
- Stepping away
- Grit.
How do you deal with this?
Recently, I've done two full rounds of job interviews, only to be rejected.
Discouraging. I want to walk away with something positive:
- I know my advantages and can point them out
- My resume writing gets me through the start
- I talk through questions decently
I just have to try again.
Discouraging. I want to walk away with something positive:
- I know my advantages and can point them out
- My resume writing gets me through the start
- I talk through questions decently
I just have to try again.
August 28, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Recently, I've done two full rounds of job interviews, only to be rejected.
Discouraging. I want to walk away with something positive:
- I know my advantages and can point them out
- My resume writing gets me through the start
- I talk through questions decently
I just have to try again.
Discouraging. I want to walk away with something positive:
- I know my advantages and can point them out
- My resume writing gets me through the start
- I talk through questions decently
I just have to try again.
What does an unemployed tech worker do? Here's what I'm up to:
- Looking for a job
- Resting from the search
- Writing and sharing content again
- Using my skills on my wife's small business
- Learning more tech (right now, fullstack SaaS on Cloudflare)
If you're unemployed, what are you up to?
- Looking for a job
- Resting from the search
- Writing and sharing content again
- Using my skills on my wife's small business
- Learning more tech (right now, fullstack SaaS on Cloudflare)
If you're unemployed, what are you up to?
August 27, 2025 at 4:44 AM
What does an unemployed tech worker do? Here's what I'm up to:
- Looking for a job
- Resting from the search
- Writing and sharing content again
- Using my skills on my wife's small business
- Learning more tech (right now, fullstack SaaS on Cloudflare)
If you're unemployed, what are you up to?
- Looking for a job
- Resting from the search
- Writing and sharing content again
- Using my skills on my wife's small business
- Learning more tech (right now, fullstack SaaS on Cloudflare)
If you're unemployed, what are you up to?
Ghost on 1GB DigitalOcean seemed fine… until daily OOM crashes killed MySQL.
Here’s how I fixed it:
🔗
Here’s how I fixed it:
🔗
Ghost on DigitalOcean: How I Fixed OOM Crashes on a 1GB Droplet with Swap
Running Ghost on a 1GB DigitalOcean droplet resulted in crashes with OOM errors. Here's how I fixed it with swap and tuning for a stable, low-cost blog.
arvinjosol.ca
August 27, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Ghost on 1GB DigitalOcean seemed fine… until daily OOM crashes killed MySQL.
Here’s how I fixed it:
🔗
Here’s how I fixed it:
🔗
I've transitioned from cloud consulting on government projects to serving as the sole developer for a small business.
The shift has me focusing on very different challenges.
Here's what I've been learning 👇
arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
The shift has me focusing on very different challenges.
Here's what I've been learning 👇
arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Wearing a New Hat: Developer Lessons From Running My Own Small Business
I've recently run out of contract work. I've been using my tech skills on my partner's small business, and it has been a refreshing change of pace. When I worked as a cloud consultant, I used my time…
arvinjosol.ca
August 25, 2025 at 11:52 PM
I've transitioned from cloud consulting on government projects to serving as the sole developer for a small business.
The shift has me focusing on very different challenges.
Here's what I've been learning 👇
arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
The shift has me focusing on very different challenges.
Here's what I've been learning 👇
arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Feeling stuck in your creative work?
Step away from it. Go for a walk. Put away some laundry. Make a meal. Do anything else other than brute forcing the creative process
Your brain will process the problem in the background.
Sometimes that's exactly what's needed to breakthrough.
Step away from it. Go for a walk. Put away some laundry. Make a meal. Do anything else other than brute forcing the creative process
Your brain will process the problem in the background.
Sometimes that's exactly what's needed to breakthrough.
August 24, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Feeling stuck in your creative work?
Step away from it. Go for a walk. Put away some laundry. Make a meal. Do anything else other than brute forcing the creative process
Your brain will process the problem in the background.
Sometimes that's exactly what's needed to breakthrough.
Step away from it. Go for a walk. Put away some laundry. Make a meal. Do anything else other than brute forcing the creative process
Your brain will process the problem in the background.
Sometimes that's exactly what's needed to breakthrough.
I migrated two Ghost blogs to smaller servers, set up backups, and gained insight into what "good enough" business continuity looks like when you're the only tech person.
This was just a small part of being the sole developer for a small business, read more here 👇
arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
This was just a small part of being the sole developer for a small business, read more here 👇
arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
Wearing a New Hat: Developer Lessons From Running My Own Small Business
I've recently run out of contract work. I've been using my tech skills on my partner's small business, and it has been a refreshing change of pace. When I worked as a cloud consultant, I used my time…
arvinjosol.ca
August 24, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I migrated two Ghost blogs to smaller servers, set up backups, and gained insight into what "good enough" business continuity looks like when you're the only tech person.
This was just a small part of being the sole developer for a small business, read more here 👇
arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
This was just a small part of being the sole developer for a small business, read more here 👇
arvinjosol.ca/wearing-a-ne...
August 24, 2025 at 5:39 AM
When in doubt about creativity, tidy up.
It's surprising how many ideas come up when you're mindlessly going through some chores around the house.
Be ready to capture any fleeting inspiration with your favorite notetaking tool/app.
It's surprising how many ideas come up when you're mindlessly going through some chores around the house.
Be ready to capture any fleeting inspiration with your favorite notetaking tool/app.
August 24, 2025 at 3:00 AM
When in doubt about creativity, tidy up.
It's surprising how many ideas come up when you're mindlessly going through some chores around the house.
Be ready to capture any fleeting inspiration with your favorite notetaking tool/app.
It's surprising how many ideas come up when you're mindlessly going through some chores around the house.
Be ready to capture any fleeting inspiration with your favorite notetaking tool/app.
If you could chat with your future self, they would be your best supporter.
They'd know you’ve made it through tough setbacks before.
They’d tell you to act boldly now, not play it too safe.
They'd tell you to stick to it even when it gets hard.
Trust your future self.
It's you.
They'd know you’ve made it through tough setbacks before.
They’d tell you to act boldly now, not play it too safe.
They'd tell you to stick to it even when it gets hard.
Trust your future self.
It's you.
August 24, 2025 at 2:20 AM
If you could chat with your future self, they would be your best supporter.
They'd know you’ve made it through tough setbacks before.
They’d tell you to act boldly now, not play it too safe.
They'd tell you to stick to it even when it gets hard.
Trust your future self.
It's you.
They'd know you’ve made it through tough setbacks before.
They’d tell you to act boldly now, not play it too safe.
They'd tell you to stick to it even when it gets hard.
Trust your future self.
It's you.
When I get stuck in indecision, I ask: What would future me want?
That perspective cuts through hesitation.
It’s less about what feels easiest now, more about what tomorrow will thank me for.
That perspective cuts through hesitation.
It’s less about what feels easiest now, more about what tomorrow will thank me for.
August 24, 2025 at 1:50 AM
When I get stuck in indecision, I ask: What would future me want?
That perspective cuts through hesitation.
It’s less about what feels easiest now, more about what tomorrow will thank me for.
That perspective cuts through hesitation.
It’s less about what feels easiest now, more about what tomorrow will thank me for.
Here's one way I push against procrastination:
I remind myself that future me relies on present me to get the work done.
If I skip the work now, I’m just handing my future self a bigger problem.
It's better to tackle the small, hard task today than to let myself down twice.
I remind myself that future me relies on present me to get the work done.
If I skip the work now, I’m just handing my future self a bigger problem.
It's better to tackle the small, hard task today than to let myself down twice.
August 24, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Here's one way I push against procrastination:
I remind myself that future me relies on present me to get the work done.
If I skip the work now, I’m just handing my future self a bigger problem.
It's better to tackle the small, hard task today than to let myself down twice.
I remind myself that future me relies on present me to get the work done.
If I skip the work now, I’m just handing my future self a bigger problem.
It's better to tackle the small, hard task today than to let myself down twice.