Systems, WordPress 7, and a Mac Mini

So, I’ve got a question for you…

My goal with this newsletter every week is not only to keep you informed about the world of WordPress (as applicable to solopreneurs, mainly)… but also to create a newsletter WORTH READING.

Not just a casual link blast, but actual stuff worth spending a few minutes reading every week.

With that said, these issues sometimes get a little…. wordy. 🤪 Because, I treat each one like one of my major content deliverables for the week. But, am I making it too long?

Do you LIKE these kinds of meaty newsletter issues? Or… should I keep these issues shorter and more to-the-point and keep most of the meat solely on the website in the form of articles?

What works best for you?

As always, smack the reply button and let me know.

So, this week… I want to talk about something I’m actually doing right now in my own business. A full spring cleaning, function by function, with AI helping me run the whole thing. And there’s a Mac Mini involved. 😄

I’ll explain. Let’s go…

FEATURE ARTICLE

Your Effort Is Becoming Worthless (Unless You Do This)

Effort is a real commodity. It’s the gas in your tank. And most solopreneurs spray it in every direction without any real organization.

You sit down to “work on the business” and you bounce between writing a post, fiddling with the homepage, answering email, checking analytics, posting on social, and tweaking the logo. By the end of the day, you’ve worked hard but the business hasn’t moved.

This is what happens when effort is not organized into systems.

And the thing is… when I say that effort is a commodity, it also happens to be a commodity which is dropping in value. In the growing age of AI, where effort can be automated, the value of YOUR effort approaches zero.

Weird to think about it like that, but it’s true. The value of your human effort is approaching zero. Unless…

It is structured. And high-level enough to actually count. More and more as time goes on, if you’re putting your personal effort into things which are low-level… or continuing to just spray effort around randomly because you have no real system on how you spend your time…

You’ll just become obsolete.

What Unstructured Effort Looks Like…

Been there. Done that. 🤪 Tell me if this sounds familiar…

The inbox steered my day. An email came in… I’d respond in real time. I’d be inside Basecamp working on client stuff, a message would pop up, and I’d deal with whatever was sitting in front of me. Reactive, all day long.

And because there was no system organizing my time between client work and my own business, client work always won. It always does. It’s more urgent-feeling. It never stops coming. My own business got the leftover hours. Which were usually not many.

Because of this, there was a LOT that wasn’t happening in my own business that should. And even when I had time to work on my own business, I would sit there and wonder WHAT to work on. 😂

That’s not a time management problem. That’s a systems problem.

What “Systems” Actually Means…

Here’s the thing about the word “systems” — it makes people’s eyes glaze over. Or they feel like they now have to stop everything and architect some grand structure before they can do any real work.

That’s not it. A system is just a predictable, repeatable process. Instead of improvising the same thing over and over, you’ve thought through how it gets done and written it down.

And here’s the part people miss: you don’t have to build the system before you do the work. You can create it as you do it. Do the thing the way you normally would — but write down what you’re doing and why while you do it. A little extra time in the moment, and you’ve got a documented process. Run it again, refine it. Every iteration gets a little faster and tighter.

The mindset to get into is this…

Your business is a system. It is actually a system of systems. Whole bunch of little mini-systems going on. And, if you’re like most solopreneurs, all of that stuff is in your head and that’s the only place it lives. And because it is all in your head, it is a big mess. 😜

Your business shouldn’t live in your head. It should exist separately from YOU. You shouldn’t be the business – even when you’re the solopreneur behind the whole thing. So… get it out of your head. Write it down and give it some real order.

Here’s What I’m Doing Right Now…

I’m actually in the middle of a massive “spring cleaning” of my business. My framework for this is the 7 core functions that I discussed in last week’s issue as well as:

→ The 7 Functions Every Business Has (And Why Most Solopreneurs Neglect At Least One)

I didn’t write that article just for giggles. 😎 It is quite literally the framework behind my entire approach here. And I’m going one by one, function by function, division by division. Identifying what’s not working, removing the clutter, documenting what the actual processes are.

I’m capturing everything in my Obsidian vault. Getting it out of my head. Having AI help fill in the gaps. It is amazing how effectively you can capture systems out of your head when you use AI as a co-pilot. My Vault is divided up into those 7 divisions… and each division has stored within it the processes, the knowledge… anything that should go there to make that function work.

And why Obsidian? Many use it, but frankly I always found it to be an overly nerdy notes app. And there are so many notes apps, right? Well, Obsidian has advanced a lot. But, the core strength here is that the entire thing works on Markdown. And Markdown happens to be INCREDIBLY efficient for AI to read.

This means that by creating these systems, AI will be able to know exactly how my business functions. Claude Code has direct access to my Obsidian Vault and uses that for reference.

It’s one thing to use AI to draft an email faster. It’s another to use AI as part of the system itself — running processes, generating my daily priorities, flagging what needs attention.

And, I just acquired a little Mac Mini computer. It is going to sit over in the corner of my office without any monitor attached. This will not be MY work computer. It will be an automation computer. Always on. And it’s entire purpose will be to perform automated functions within my business – powered by AI.

That one is pretty new. Not set up yet, but it is where I’m heading.

The Practical Takeaway

Nothing can be truly made efficient if it is all inside your head. We all have moods. We all forget stuff. It needs to be captured and outside of you. Like an artist who captures his/her idea onto a canvas. Except, as a solopreneur, your canvas is the business and the systems which make it function like one.

But, the practical reality of all this is that it puts ORDER into your efforts. So that you’re not flying by the seat of your pants all day, but you’re actually working with structure. You’re working on a specific function and you know exactly what to do.

It also enables you to move to the next level. Because, nothing can expand in your business as long as the whole thing is a mish-mash of thoughts inside your head. For any other human or AI to perform ANY of it for you, you need the system outside of yourself.

So, by capturing it separately (and for me that’s in Obsidian), it means it opens up ways for me to outsource the lower-level effort to AI.

Effort is a commodity. So, why waste MY effort on lower-level things that are repetitive? I can outsource that to AI.

My time should be spent on creation, on ideas, on communicating with my clients and providing the best service. AI can deal with a lot of the more mechanical stuff, such as ensuring the right little components are in that post, generating reports, creating feature images. AI can even perform some automated functions to help ME be more efficient with my own time. It’s job is to assist me.

But, none of that can happen if the system is in my own head.

So, where to start?

Pick one function. One of the 7. Write down what actually happens inside it. Get it out of your head. That’s the whole move. AI automation can come later, if you want it to.

WordPress News & Updates

WordPress 7.0 “Armstrong” is officially out. Released May 20th, the biggest WordPress update since Gutenberg launched in 2018 is now live. More than 875 contributors from around the world built this release — including over 200 first-timers — delivering 420+ enhancements and fixes. The AI layer is the headline story, but I’ll be getting into the specifics of that in this week’s feature article below. For the full release announcement, see the official WordPress.org post.

FluentCRM 3.1 is already out. Just ten days after 3.0 dropped, version 3.1 is here — built directly around feedback from the initial launch. If you just upgraded, check what’s new in FluentCRM 3.1 to see what got refined.

FluentBoards 1.95 adds Gantt charts, MCP support, and pinnable tasks. This release is a preview of the upcoming 2.0 — the team shipped a few features early rather than making everyone wait. The MCP support means AI agents can now interface with your project boards directly. See what’s coming in FluentBoards 2.0.

FluentCommunity 2.5 brings sequential lesson locking. If you’re running courses through FluentCommunity, this is a useful one — Lesson 2 stays locked until Lesson 1 is complete. Also adds some mobile UX polish. Full details on FluentCommunity 2.5.

ActiveLayer — AI spam protection with no CAPTCHA. New plugin from Syed Balkhi (WPBeginner/Awesome Motive) that blocks form and comment spam using AI, server-side, with zero friction for real visitors. Works with WPForms, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Fluent Forms, and more. Free to start. ActiveLayer on WordPress.org.

JetMessenger — native private messaging for WordPress. Crocoblock launched a context-aware messaging plugin that ties conversations directly to orders, products, posts, or listings — no third-party service required. Built for marketplaces, LMS sites, booking platforms, and membership communities. JetMessenger on Crocoblock.

GravityKit open-sourced Block MCP. The team at GravityKit built their own WordPress MCP server specifically to let AI agents edit posts at the block level without breaking Gutenberg’s block structure — something existing tools weren’t handling cleanly. They’ve now released it as open source. Introducing Block MCP on the GravityKit blog.

Relevanssi has been acquired. The popular WordPress search plugin — long a go-to replacement for WordPress’s default search — has been acquired by comesio solutions GmbH. Creator Mikko Saari is staying on as lead developer and continuing to guide the plugin’s direction. Existing licenses, updates, and support all remain unchanged. Site got a nice snazzy re-design, too. Full announcement on relevanssi.com.

WordPress security report: over half of sites running vulnerable plugins. GuardingWP published its first State of WordPress Security report. The headline numbers: 52.8% of WordPress sites are running at least one plugin with a known vulnerability, 55.9% are publicly leaking their WordPress version, and 93.2% are missing modern security headers. Worth a look if you haven’t audited your own setup lately. Scan your site free at GuardingWP. Or, just enroll your site into Concierge and I will ensure you don’t have to worry about it.

Divi 5 gets five new modules. Elegant Themes shipped Timeline, Breadcrumbs, Table of Contents, SVG, and Instagram Feed modules for Divi 5 users. See the Divi 5 update.

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TECH FOCUS

The AI Angle of WordPress 7

WordPress 7.0 dropped on May 20th, and I’ve already upgraded. Pretty painless, for what it’s worth. I actually haven’t found any issues at all.

In my view, most of the value of WordPress 7 is the underlying infrastructure regarding using it with AI. It is mostly fundamental… and there to enable AI to work more natively with WordPress. Nothing AI-related just happens by default because there would be no connections. But, for those who wish to use AI with WordPress, the entire WordPress 7 release makes it more AI-native.

One API key, every plugin

Before 7.0, every AI-powered plugin managed its own connection to OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, or whatever — its own key input, its own credential storage. WordPress 7.0 ships a new Settings > Connectors screen in wp-admin. You pick your AI provider, enter your API key once, and every compatible plugin shares that connection automatically. Simple, but genuinely useful housekeeping.

NOTE: There is a security issue with how WordPress stores this by default. The API keys are stored in plain-text in the database. Which means, if it is leaked as part of a breach, your API key could be used by others, racking up usage bills. I’ll talk more about this later, because there are more secure ways to store it. Plus, always make sure to use a separate API key… so you can easily revoke it if needed.

So, that API key would enable little AI features throughout WordPress. Cool, but that’s the surface-level stuff. Here’s the more interesting part (at least to me)…

AI Can Now Work Inside WordPress Natively

WordPress 7.0 includes the Abilities API natively in core — a standardized registry that lets plugins expose what they can do so AI agents can discover and act on those capabilities directly. Paired with the MCP Adapter (a separate plugin you install), your WordPress site essentially becomes an MCP server. MCP — Model Context Protocol — is the open standard that lets AI tools like Claude interface directly with external systems.

What this means in practice: instead of clicking around wp-admin, you ask your AI.

And the setup is more approachable than you might expect. Here’s the basic process for connecting Claude to your self-hosted WordPress site:

1. Install the WordPress MCP Adapter plugin from the WordPress GitHub repository and activate it
2. In your WordPress admin, go to Users → Profile, scroll to Application Passwords, and generate one — give it a name like “Claude MCP”
3. In Claude Desktop, go to Settings → Connectors → Add Custom Connector, paste in your site’s MCP endpoint URL along with your credentials, and click Add

That’s it. No editing JSON config files, no terminal commands. Meow Apps has a solid walkthrough if you want a more detailed step-by-step, and the WordPress Developer Blog’s MCP Adapter introduction covers the full picture of how it works under the hood.

Another Example- FluentCRM 3.0

WordPress 7 is a big environmental change for AI compatibility, but this is a big trend across plugins, too. And to illustrate the power of it, let’s talk about FluentCRM 3.0.

If you’re running FluentCRM — and there’s a good chance you are if you’re a regular here — version 3.0 ships with 25 MCP tools built directly by the FluentCRM team. And connecting it to Claude is genuinely straightforward: Go to the FluentCRM settings → AI configuration. In the MCP section, you just turn it on. Generate an application password (similar to above), then follow the on-screen instructions.

Once connected, you can manage your CRM conversationally. Some examples of what that actually looks like in practice:

• “Show me all contacts who subscribed in the last 30 days but haven’t opened a single email” — instant, no filter-building required
• “Create a tag called ‘webinar-attended’ and apply it to everyone on this list” — done in seconds
• “Give me a summary of how my last three campaigns performed” — pull the data without digging through reports
• “Draft a 3-email welcome sequence for new subscribers and set it up as an automation” — write the copy and wire the automation in one conversation

FluentCRM’s MCP explainer is worth a read if you want to understand exactly what’s possible before diving in.

And with WordPress connected via the MCP Adapter, similar things open up at the site level:

• “What plugins on my site haven’t been updated in more than six months?”
• “Create a draft post titled X with these five subheadings as the outline”
• “List all posts published in the last 90 days with no featured image”

What This All Means

I know some people out there are rather AI-hesitant. They don’t really get it, or have various concerns about it and just don’t want to use it. And that’s fine.

To be clear, WordPress 7 does nothing with regard to AI all by itself. If you don’t want to use AI, WordPress 7 isn’t going to feel much different to you. But, under the hood, WordPress 7 has become FAR more directly compatible with AI tools – if you wish to use it.

And what this means is that…. instead of pointing and clicking manually through every little thing you do with WordPress, we’re moving quickly toward a world where you can just…. talk to it. And tell it what to do.

This isn’t about having AI write content for you. It is more about having AI handle the mechanics for you. AI tools can now connect to it directly, take actions inside it, and do so through accurate, standardized connections rather than workarounds.