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Northcity Solutions

Northcity Solutions

You built something because you loved the work.
Then everything else piled up.

Servers. Mail. Payments. Data stuck in old systems. None of it is your work. All of it has to keep running.

The work only you can do

Writing the column. Sitting with the client. Teaching the class. Shipping the loan tool. Getting the books out the door. This pile is yours. It stays yours.

Everything that has to stay running

Hosting, mail, backups, payments, memberships, the cutover, the restore at 2am, the data that will not come out of the old system. I take this pile so you can stay in the first one.

Tell me what you're sitting on See this year's work

This year's work

Four people. Four different worlds. Same second pile.

The Free Will Astrology home page

Rob Brezsny, writer

Free Will Astrology and Beauty & Truth Press

Rob writes a column millions read. His new imprint needed a home he could run himself, on a custom CMS that fought every edit. Now Rob adds his own books. Rob writes.

What was in the second pile

  • A custom CMS that only accepted plain text
  • No safe place to try anything
  • Every change waited on a developer
The technical version

Custom PHP CMS (not WordPress). Full dev copy with its own database. Rich text on book fields, image pipeline with web-optimized output, legacy access points closed, credentials rotated. Weekly call, running list in his order.

The nlm.wtf home page

Neil Meyers, lawyer and instructor

A law practice and a tactical training school

Neil runs a practice by day and teaches by night. Two audiences, one site, and mail that had to land. Neil stays with clients and students.

What was in the second pile

  • A site that had to serve two very different audiences
  • Email that needed setting up right the first time
  • Hosting he never wants to think about
The technical version

WordPress + Elementor with custom snippets. Authenticated sending through Amazon SES. Managed hosting on Northcity infrastructure with monitoring and backups.

The eqLend home page

Brent Emler, mortgage lender

eqLend

Brent had a prototype from an AI builder and a meeting in five days. He got a real site he edits himself, with his own key to the server. Brent ships when inspiration hits.

What was in the second pile

  • A prototype that had to become a real site fast
  • Eleven old pages that could not just disappear
  • Forms, redirects, and a cutover with no public mess
The technical version

TanStack/Vite prototype ported to a custom WordPress block theme in one day. Native blocks so he edits in place. No-plugin form handler with honeypot and private submissions. SSH key issued so he can drive edits with Claude. Redirect plan for cutover.

The Hierophant Publishing home page

Randy, publisher

Hierophant Publishing

Randy mails more than a hundred thousand readers. The server behind that list cannot hiccup mid-send. It is watched, patched on a schedule, and reported on every month. Randy's books keep going out.

What was in the second pile

  • A mail server with 100K contacts on it
  • Updates that could break a send in progress
  • Backups nobody had checked
The technical version

Dedicated VPS running WordPress + FluentCRM. Every update staged first, promoted only after checks. Pre-pass gate on server load and send queue. UpdraftPlus plus direct S3 backups, uptime monitors, hosted monthly reports behind signed links.

How it works

Two piles

You tell me what you're sitting on. We sort it. Your craft stays in pile one. I take pile two.

Human pace

A standing call if you want one. A running list in your priority order. Blockers fixed in days, not quarters. No ticket queue.

A few people at a time

I work with a handful of people, not a roster. When something breaks, you reach me, not a form.

Keys if you want them

Everything is built so you could run it without me. Hold the keys yourself, or hand them to me. Your call, and you can change it.

Who takes the pile

I'm Nate Nordby.

I know the must-do pile because I carry one too. By day I'm a case manager for veterans in Boise. Northcity is the rest of the week, and has been for six years. I build things that stay running, and I fix them fast when they don't.

If my name is on it, I did it. No handoff to someone you've never met.

What I actually work in
WordPress Laravel Custom CMS AWS SES email Stripe MemberPress MCP servers Cutovers Restores AgencyLaunch (course platform, 2026)
Photo of Nate, at work

Tell me what you're sitting on.

The half-finished migration. The mail that isn't landing. The platform that fights you. The renewal you dread. Write it down the way you'd say it. I'll read it and reply myself.

Or just email nnordby@northcitysolutions.com

No Calendly. No free consultation theater. A reply from me, usually within a day.