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- Dispatch #005 | Smokey Bear Mindset
6 Min Read
“Only you can prevent forest fires and that’s the problem.”
I had a fellow agency owner reach out to me this week.
Sharp guy. Solid business instincts. Well rounded technical capabilities.
He was bouncing ideas off me about what kind of tech he could integrate into his company, specially building and incorporating custom GPTs.
I let him finish his explanation and logic, and then said, “Look, man. You’re starting to overbuild the machine. You’ve got more moving parts than mission control and you’re the only one on the planet who knows how it works.”
There was a pause. The kind that comes before realization or potentially regret.
“When something breaks, it’s your inbox that gets hit. When a client’s pissed, it’s your Saturday that gets hijacked. You’re not building a business. You’re assigning yourself lifetime duty as the emergency responder.
Also, I know you want to scale your business so that means you will need to hire and/or train someone to play that role. And here’s the kicker, even if you find someone and got polished SOPs and tidy Loom videos, they don’t replace judgment and experience in a time of crisis. I know. I’ve been there.”
As a technician-turned-founder myself, it’s easy to justify adding another “quick fix.” But over time, all those quick fixes create a brittle monster that only you know how to operate.
Essentially you’ve built yourself a job, not a business.
The smarter play? Build a sprinkler system from using a proven framework.
Let’s dive into the dispatch.
TL;DR | Quick Brief Links
Mission Debrief: A Bot Without A Master
A well known automotive service business decided it was time to level up their lead conversion game.
So they dropped serious cash on a industry known conversational AI platform.
The system promised to instantly engage leads, convert them into customers, and track which marketing channels were delivering the best ROI.
“This is going to automate everything. It’s plug-and-play.”
🚨 The Problem:
No one told the internal IT team.
The system duplicated the exact functionality of an existing system already deployed in their environment.
Conversations were being handled in two separate places, with two different data sets.
Lead attribution reporting became unreliable and contradictory.
Multiple teams were optimizing campaigns based on two completely different performance reports.
What We Did:
✅ Conducted a full systems audit across both platforms
✅ Identified redundancies in automations, lead routing, and attribution
✅ Standardized a single source of truth for lead capture, nurturing, and reporting
✅ Removed the overlapping platform and trained internal teams on process ownership
🔥 Tactical Takeaways:
A new tool doesn’t fix communication breakdowns, it just makes them louder
If your systems don’t talk to each other, neither will your teams
Lead attribution is worthless if every system claims the win
Operator Pro Tip:
📌 Every system needs a Commanding Officer. If no one’s calling the shots, you’re just creating more targets for the next tech war.
As I was thinking through my conversation with Chris, I realized this advice was originally given to me at 15 years old by my dad while working construction with him.
I mean you don’t just show up on the job site with a hammer and start swinging.
You plan, you source tools, equipment, materials, and ultimately you build with the end in mind.
No other way around it and tech is no different.
You don’t need more automation. You need more architecture.
That’s why I follow a simple framework that has saved me from turning into my clients’ unpaid IT therapist more times than I can count.
Process → Program(s) → People
#1. Process
I always start here and ask the question: What’s the transformation journey?
What needs to happen from Point A to Point Z — with no shortcuts, no hacks, no tools yet. Just clarity on what the business needs to function like a machine.
If I can’t map the mission, I don’t move forward.
#2. Programs
Only after I’ve defined the process do I start picking tools. Not before. A few questions I revert to asking myself:
What software can handle these steps with the least amount of friction?
Can this tool integrate or will it isolate?
Will it scale or will I be ripping it out six months from now?
I want tech that supports the process and not just tech that is the process.
#3. People
Last comes the talent.
Who’s going to run it, manage it, fix it when it breaks? If it can’t be delegated, it doesn’t scale.
Even if the SOPs are airtight, there’s a difference between instructions and intuition. So I make sure whoever I bring in either knows how to run the system or can be trained with confidence.
Here’s the rhythm: Architecture. Tech. Operators.
The same way my old man ran a job site as a general contractor is the same way I hand off systems to my Operators knowing they’re walking in with schematics, the right gear, and a clear mission.
Operation: ServiceStack Playbook
This week’s featured playbook is built for the boots-on-the-ground operators in the Home Service Industry.
The contractors, lawn crews, HVAC techs, mobile detailers, pest control teams, and everyone else who closes quotes on driveways, not on Zoom calls.
ServiceStack connects Jobber with HighLevel to create a unified pipeline from lead to quote to service delivery.
Less copy/paste. Less guessing. More closed quotes and on-time jobs.
What’s Inside the Playbook:
✅ Lead Capture & Instant Follow-Up via HighLevel
✅ Auto-Push Qualified Leads to Jobber with Pre-Mapped Fields
✅ Quote Tracking & Status Updates Synced Between Platforms
✅ Notification Logic for Internal Teams and Clients
✅ Unified Dashboard to See What’s Closing and What’s Getting Delayed
📥 Want the ServiceStack Playbook?
We’re currently converting it into a plug-and-play system for certified Operators and clients alike.
👉 Click here to join the waitlist and get exclusive access once we launch it.
Seth Wixtrom: Digital Solutions Architect
Meet Seth Wixtrom, call sign Post Master (formerly known as Tech Monkey)
Christian. Husband. Father of four boys.
A leader forged in blue collar grit and faith-driven purpose.
From hard hats to high stakes, Seth’s journey didn’t start in tech, it started in the trades.
Then came the pivot: Professional Leadership Development.
Where most saw operations as chaos, he saw choreography.
Today’s he’s wielding code as a Digital Solutions Architect and API Integrator deployed with RevForce.
✅ Custom APIs that bridge the gaps between broken systems
✅ Seamless integrations that eliminate manual labor
✅ Smart automations that save time, money, and headaches
✅ Architecture built to scale, not just survive
Clients don’t just hire Seth for tech. They gain a strategist who sees the blueprint behind the business.
A craftsman who understands leadership, load-bearing systems, and long-term durability.
In this week’s episode of FrontlineFocus we talk about:
His approach to solving complex problems
His passion for innovation and continuous improvement
Team work tactics to building systems that drive efficiency and scalability for clients
⚠️ Warning: After listening to Seth, you will find yourself to wanting to learn more about API keys.
Time for your recon drop.
This is Intelligence that matters—globally and inside the HighLevel war room.
🤖 Apple Eyes Perplexity. The Quiet War for Search Just Got Loud.
Word on the wire is Apple’s circling Perplexity, the rising AI-powered search engine as a possible acquisition or strategic partner.
And if that happens? It’s a major tectonic shift.
Here’s what we know:
The head of Apple’s M&A unit, Adrian Perica, has already floated the deal internally.
He’s briefed Apple’s inner circle, including Services VP Eddy Cue , as they shape Apple’s next-gen AI roadmap.
Meetings with Perplexity’s CEO have happened multiple times over the past few months.
The goal? Infuse Perplexity tech across Safari, Siri, and Apple’s ecosystem without relying so heavily on Google.
Apple hasn’t made a formal offer yet but they’re clearly doing recon.
Why it matters:
Apple currently shells out $18 billion to Google every year just to keep Google Search as the iPhone default.
Antitrust regulators hate that and Apple knows it.
By moving closer to Perplexity Apple not only hedges against regulatory pressure, they also weaponize a fast-growing AI engine that could turn Siri from joke material into something formidable.
This isn’t just a product move. It’s a strategic decoupling from Google’s infrastructure.
And a quiet declaration of war in the search engine space.
Bottom line?
The future of search won’t be decided by web crawlers. It’ll be decided by which AI gets embedded into your default experience.
Apple doesn’t want to rent that future anymore. They want to own it.
SOURCE: Apple is looking into buying Perplexity AI
My top three choices from this week’s HighLevel Feature drop
Voice AI - Appointment Booking
Cleaner dashboard to showcase the AI performance metrics
Conversation AI - Human Handover
Customize the handover from the bot to a human interaction
Voice AI - 20 New Voices Added
New accents for new use cases.
📺 Want the Full Feature Breakdown?
#1. HighLevel Summit 2025 | Dallas, TX, USA | October 13–16, 2025
The mothership event.
Product reveals, ecosystem shifts, live workshops, and all the HighLevelers in onc place.
If you miss this, don’t call yourself “plugged in.”
RevForce Academy Enrollment Is Now Open
If you’ve been lurking on the sidelines, viewing our social media posts, reading dispatches, and wondering if you’ve got what it takes to become part of the RevForce Team?
This is your call to action.
This is the door. Kick it open.
The Academy is where recruits transform into full-stack Operators.
Where careers get rebuilt.
Where mission-driven technologists are trained, equipped, and deployed into the digital economy.
Are you ready?
👉 Apply HERE 🫡
Free Resource: Software 3.0 Keynote by Andrej Karpathy
It doesn’t get more free than a YouTube video.
If you only watch one thing this week, make it this.
On June 17, 2025, Andrej Karpathy took the stage at AI Startup School in San Francisco.
He laid out the future of software and made it crystal clear that we're not just building with new tools. We're building an entirely new kind of computer.
Karpathy’s resume speaks for itself: Stanford. OpenAI. Tesla.
Now back in the public arena, he’s putting language at the center of the software stack.
The old model? Humans wrote explicit code.
Software 2.0? Neural nets took over narrow domains.
But now? We’re entering Software 3.0 where natural language becomes the interface, and models handle the heavy lifting.
For founders, devs, and operators, this isn’t just a tech shift. It’s a complete change in how systems are designed, how users interact, and how intelligence gets deployed.
Watch the keynote. Take notes.
Alright Be Honest, How’d I Do?
Your opinion matters to me.
Seriously. I don’t write this newsletter because I’ve got nothing better to do.
I do it because I am hell bent on building REAL value for you.
Did this Dispatch deliver? Or should I call in an airstrike and start fresh?
Drop a comment or leave some stars
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Mission Accomplished – Tactical, tight, and ready for deployment
⭐️ ⭐️ Needs Reinforcements – Some hits, but it’s limping
⭐️ Mission Failure – Absolute FUBAR
Until next week,
Stay Frosty!
Michael
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