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- Dispatch #007 | Royalty or Robbery?
8 Min Read
AI crawlers are coming for your content, might as well be getting paid.
I came across a headline this week that I caught my attention.
“Cloudflare launches pay-per-crawl for AI bots.”
At first I skimmed it like I do most tech blurbs, expecting another “privacy theater” announcement with zero teeth.
But the deeper I read, the more it reminded me of something I hadn’t thought about in years: Napster.
Back in the early 2000s, we were all pirates. LimeWire, Kazaa, Napster, we downloaded music like it was oxygen. No one cared about licensing.
We just wanted the tracks while screwing over the artists. The platforms got sued and it was chaos.
Then Steve Jobs walked in wearing his black turtleneck and dropped iTunes.
A dollar per song. No lawsuits. Everyone wins.
It didn’t stop the wave. It structured it.
And that’s exactly what Cloudflare just did but this time it’s not about music. It’s about content.
Here’s the debrief: Cloudflare just resurrected HTTP 402. A long-forgotten “Payment Required” status code and turned it into a programmable toll booth for AI crawlers.
Now if an AI model wants to scrape your blog, your tutorial, your white paper, or your client case study, it has to either be allowed, blocked, or charged per request.
And that last option? That’s the revolution.
Publishers set their own rates
Crawlers authenticate with signed headers
Cloudflare handles payment and enforces compliance
Roughly 16% of global internet traffic goes directly through Cloudflare’s CDN
If this catches on, it fundamentally reshapes how value moves across the web. Content becomes an more valuable asset, not just raw data that fuels billion-dollar LLMs.
This matters. Especially for companies like ours and others who are building in public, documenting systems, writing guides, teaching, and training.
Every word we post is intellectual property that can now have a price tag.
Of course, there’s one giant caveat: Adoption.
Will OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, and Google actually pay? Or will this spark a new arms race of spoofing headers and black-box scraping?
Either way, we’re watching a turning point and the smart content creators will position themselves accordingly.
TL;DR | Quick Brief Links
Mission Debrief: The Vendor from Hell and a $5K Gotcha (ALMOST)
We’re working with a client in the automotive space. A straightforward project, good engagement, scope was clear, and the timeline was tight but doable.
Then we hit a wall.
A third-party vendor entered the picture. One of those “we-own-this-industry” types with a stranglehold on the data we needed.
You know the kind. The ones who think there is no competition, no incentive to be helpful, no urgency outside their own glacial timeline.
The red flags started early.
The access agreement was so overreaching and it felt like signing over a firstborn child. It's fine, we got legal review, pushed it through, kept moving.
Then came the bureaucratic purgatory. They asked for documents. We responded the same day, and then nothing.
No follow-up. No confirmation. No API access.
Weeks passed. We followed up again. Crickets.
Meanwhile, we’re the ones looking bad to the client. We’ve now lost nearly 30 days waiting on their internal process.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get more absurd, they try to slap us with a $5,000 fee they told us would be waived during the original negotiation. Unbelievable.
Here’s what no one tells you, it’s not just about choosing good clients. It’s about knowing when a vendor is going to be the reason your project timeline collapses.
We did our due diligence ahead of time. We asked the right questions but sometimes you don’t find out how dysfunctional a partner is until you’re already knee-deep in the mud with them.
At this point, it’s sunk cost but we finished the mission because that's what we do. But I can assure you, I will not forget this lesson.
What We Did:
✅ Flagged and escalated the hidden $5K fee to protect the client from surprise charges
✅ Documented every interaction and delay to shield our team from blame
✅ Built alternate technical contingencies to minimize further slippage
✅ Reset the project timeline expectations with the client to reestablish trust
🔥 Tactical Takeaways:
Some vendors will micromanage you while moving at a snail’s pace. Prepare your clients for that upfront
Keep your own receipts. Every delay, every approval, every promise. Log everything
There’s a difference between an “integration partner” and “bureaucratic bottleneck.” Know which one you’re dealing with
Operator Pro Tip:
📌 If you’re forced to work with a vendor you don’t trust, build your CYA (Cover Your Ass) file on day one. It's not paranoia, it's preparedness.
AI MSPs Are Coming And You’re Gonna Need One
The Cloudflare announcement got me thinking. Everyone’s talking about how fast AI is moving.
What they’re not talking about is how fast everything else is moving with it.
Regulations. Compliance frameworks. Security risks. Intellectual property protections.
Even billing codes like HTTP 402 that no one touched for decades are suddenly back in play.
This isn’t just about building clever prompts or playing around with chatbots anymore.
This is about managing infrastructure, AIOps (AI Operations)
If you’re a business owner, even a sharp, resourceful one, there’s no way you’re keeping up with all this on your own.
You need someone in the trenches. Someone whose literal job is to track this madness and deploy what matters.
It reminded me of where I’ve already seen this movie play out.
Before RevForce, I spent time as a Director of Business Development for a local IT and cybersecurity startup. I had a front-row seat to how small businesses panicked when the tech landscape started moving faster than they could keep up.
Servers went virtual. Compliance laws tightened. Cyber threats exploded.
Managed Service Providers stepped in to be the outsourced department for small businesses.
One monthly retainer. A full bench of experts.
Then the threats got scarier, and MSPs evolved into MSSPs, Managed Security Service Providers.
Same model. More specialization. More critical infrastructure.
Now? We’re seeing the next leap. Except this time, it’s not about your network. It’s your AI stack.
The models you use, the tools you connect, the data you're pushing through them, the crawlers hitting your site and the IP you’re exposing without even realizing it.
This isn’t an “IT problem” or “marketing experiment," it’s an operational imperative.
That’s where the AI MSP model comes in.
(AKA: What RevForce already is. We just built it before the acronym existed.)
You wouldn’t run a business without cybersecurity. You shouldn’t run one without AI governance either.
And if you think your intern or your cousin who’s “good with ChatGPT” has it covered you’re going to be outpaced, out-complied, and outplayed before you even know what hit you.
Operation: RallyPoint
Running an event sounds simple until it’s not.
You start with a form and a calendar link and then quickly realize you need a reminder system, a check-in process, and a follow-up strategy that doesn’t feel like a spray-and-pray.
That’s where Rally Point comes in.
Our internal playbook for making event management feel less like herding cats and more like running comms for a tactical deployment.
We’ve used Rally Point for everything from networking mixers to workshop events.
📥 Want the RallyPoint 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.
Mary Alice Elizabeth | The Medic
Meet Mary Alice Elizabeth, callsign The Medic.
Agile Project Manager. Strategic hub. Team morale booster.
She keeps RevForce running smooth under pressure while turning big ideas into structured execution.
Former corporate PM. Fluent in Russian. Once lived in Moscow.
Known for her calm presence and one mission-critical trait.
She makes the chaos make sense.
Watch her Frontline Focus episode below.
In this week’s episode of Frontline Focus we talk about:
Her background in agile coaching across diverse teams
The supportive and nurturing approach to project management
Code-named "The Medic" intentionally to keep the team healthy and thriving
⚠️ Warning: After listening to Mary Alice, you will be inspired to take action to go out and "find your tribe."
Time for your recon drop.
This is Actionable Intelligence that matters, globally and inside the HighLevel war room.
🤖 Amazon Deploys 1 Millionth Robot And It’s Just Getting Started
This week’s macro intel leans heavier into robotics but don’t scroll past it.
Amazon just hit a milestone that should make every business owner and Operator pay attention.
They’ve officially deployed their 1 millionth robot into operations. That’s not a typo. One million.
Here’s where it gets wild, they’ve now developed a new AI foundation model to power those robots, boosting travel efficiency by 10% across their fleet.
In other words: Faster delivery, lower operating costs, and smarter movement all powered by generative AI.
Yes, this is warehouse tech. Yes, it’s logistics. But it’s also Amazon, the second-largest private employer in the U.S.
And every single one of us has interacted with their ecosystem in some way and it doesn’t stop at machines either:
To date 700,000 employees have already been upskilled through future-of-work training initiatives inside the company.
Amazon’s not just automating, they’re educating their workforce at scale.
Whether you agree with it or not, this is a prime example of what a full-spectrum AI strategy looks like. (Pun intended 😉)
Resource: Amazon launches a new AI foundation model to power its robotic fleet and deploys its 1 millionth robot
HighLevel Ranks #1 in Marketing Automation
According to BuiltWith, HighLevel now holds the #1 position for Marketing Automation Software usage across the entire internet. That’s right, more businesses are choosing HighLevel than any other platform, including long-time leaders like HubSpot and Klaviyo.
My top three choices from this week’s HighLevel Feature drop
Voice AI Translation Service Call Transparency & Summary
The call summary and transcript can be written in any of the supported languages within the voice AI feature
Workflow AI: Learn More Button
Get a better understanding of a specific trigger and action step while building out a workflow.
AI Capabilities embedded to the Social Planner
Best time to post suggestion that will help in getting engagement for your social media posts.
📺 Want the Full Feature Breakdown?
#1. HighLevel Summit 2025 | DALLAS, TX | October 13–16, 2025
The mothership event.
Think: product reveals, ecosystem shifts, live workshops, and the full Operator elite in one place.
If you miss this, don’t call yourself “plugged in.”
Operator Training Now Enrolling
Become a Certified AI Operator and deploy with confidence.
RevForce Academy isn’t a course. It’s a deployment pipeline.
We train, equip, and certify high-caliber Operators who can build, manage, and deploy AI-powered systems inside real businesses.
While attending the Academy you will learn the following:
Master the HighLevel Platform
Develop skills in RevOps and AIOps
Build real systems for real clients
Earn your Operator badge and deploy into the digital economy
This is your invitation to join the next generation of elite digital professionals.
Ready to report for training?
👉 Apply HERE 🫡
Thanks to our friends over at Run Autopilot for extending their free marketing audit offer for one more week.
If you haven’t yet taken advantage of checking your business’s digital presence, now’s your chance, because the link is only live for the next few more days.
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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