The mission stays the same: practical, honest conversations about AI and what it actually means for your work, your business, and your life. Nothing in this episode, or any future episode, should be taken as business, legal, or medical advice.

For Episode 6, I sat down with Michael Chotikul, an SEO consultant who has spent over a decade getting websites to the top of Google. Here's the thing: in the last several months, the ground under his entire field moved. People aren't just Googling anymore; they're asking ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini what to buy, where to eat, and who to hire. So the question we kept circling was simple and a little unsettling: when the AI hands someone one answer, how do you make sure it's your business?

Michael Chotikul is an SEO and AEO consultant based on the East Coast of the United States, with over ten years in search. His consulting work increasingly centers on getting businesses cited and recommended inside AI answers, not just ranked in traditional search results.

In this episode, we discuss:

◾ SEO Is Becoming AEO: Ranking blue links in Google is giving way to getting cited inside AI answers; Michael calls it the biggest shift search has seen.

◾ Good SEO Feeds Good AEO: A page built cleanly for humans and search engines surfaces in AI answers too; the reverse does not hold, so gaming the robots backfires.

◾ Getting Cited by ChatGPT: When someone asks an LLM for the best option in their area, only a handful of sources get named; being the one cited is the new page one.

◾ The Three-Part Playbook: Real value on the page, clean technicals a robot can parse, and getting talked about off-page; reviews, Reddit, and current business info all count.

◾ Use AI as a Collaborator, Not an Oracle: Push back, make it defend its answers, feed it context, and cut the sycophancy; that is where the good advice lives.

◾ The Human Problem: As AI slop gets harder to spot, we game out a company that certifies human-made work, and the worry that a few firms now set all the rules.

(00:00) The AI Land Grab Nobody's Named Yet

(00:30) Welcome to Let's Rethink AI

(01:05) SEO, AEO, GEO: What Actually Changed

(07:49) Why Optimizing for Robots Backfires

(14:39) What People Really Ask AI About Your Business

(19:41) If You're Not First, You're Last

(24:04) The Three-Part Playbook to Get Cited

(33:11) Stop Offshoring Your Thinking to AI

(43:44) What He's Excited About, and What He's Not

(49:13) Four Companies and the Human Problem

Follow Michael and work with him:

LinkedIn - ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-chotikul/⁠

Follow the show:

YouTube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqj2QizDGblOoFz5He4X8YCaW0yvsZ2cJ⁠

Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/1Rs9qghCsARsoqazl3wb79⁠

Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-rethink-ai/id1890399014⁠

Instagram - ⁠@letsrethinkai⁠

Let's automate your work or business:

Book a call - ⁠https://calendly.com/emmanuel-rethinkai/rethink-call-desk-voice-ai⁠

Website - ⁠www.rethinkai.now⁠

Explore some of the systems we've built:

Funnel, Ads & Marketing AI Solution for Digital Marketing Agencies and Entrepreneurs

https://funnelfab.com/

All-in-one CRM + AI platform for home service businesses: ⁠https://bookingops.app/⁠

Next-generation custom software for construction and general contractor companies: ⁠https://rethink-titan.web.app/⁠

AI-powered haircut and barber platform (AWS 10000 AIdeas Finalist): ⁠https://rethink-grum.web.app/⁠

Fully customizable AI CRM tailored to your workflows: ⁠https://ai-crm.buildmatic.ai/⁠

AI-powered platform for wealth advisors and financial teams: ⁠https://insureflow-pro.pages.dev/

The mission stays the same: practical, honest conversations about AI and what it actually means for your work, your business, and your life. Nothing in this episode, or any future episode, should be taken as business, legal, or medical advice.

For Episode 5, I sat down with Elena Petonova, who came to Bangkok by way of Russia. She wrote and illustrated a children's book with AI, and the first thing people ask her is whether she hired an artist. Her answer stuck with me: it's not only AI, it's her together with AI.

So, we got into what that actually costs. Six months to lock in one consistent character; a full evening on a five-line poem. If you've been told creative work is instant now, this is the honest version.

Elena Petonova is an English teacher, children's book author, and certified life coach, and the founder of Lenara's World. She uses AI as illustrator, animator, and writing partner; the vision and the teaching methods stay hers.

In this episode, we discuss:

◾ AI as the Paintbrush, Not the Artist: Her illustrations get mistaken for hired work; every creative decision came from her. The tool only executed.

◾ Consistency Is Still Real Work: Six months to get one character looking the same on every page. Anyone promising a finished picture book in an afternoon is selling something.

◾ Projects Instead of Prompts: Most people get generic output because they start every chat from zero. A trained project is closer to onboarding an employee than a prompt.

◾ Three Questions for Self-Awareness: What do I feel; where did it come from; what do I do about it. Elena used these with coaching clients and built a book around them.

◾ Speed Isn't Always the Goal: When your audience is kids and their parents, moving fast is a liability. Your objective sets your pace, not the tools.

◾ AI Agents vs Workflows: Elena wants to automate but has no time to learn agents. We break down the difference and what one costs to run.

(00:00) It's Not Only AI; This Is Me Together With AI

(00:44) Welcome to Let's Rethink AI

(01:45) Lenara's World: A Quiet Place for Curious Minds

(03:14) Who Really Made These Illustrations

(14:00) Six Months to Get One Character Right

(18:54) The Projects Feature Most People Ignore

(21:13) Claude vs ChatGPT: What Each One Is Actually For

(25:14) Three Questions That Make You Self-Aware

(36:55) Why She Refuses to Move Fast

(47:39) AI Agents, Explained Without the Hype

Follow Elena and her work:

Instagram - ⁠@elena_petonova⁠

Watch "The Birthday Gift of Colours" - ⁠https://youtu.be/uI15GmBpG3w⁠

Get the book - ⁠https://a.co/d/0exPMnvm⁠

Follow the show:

YouTube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@ai.emmanuelonate⁠

Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/1Rs9qghCsARsoqazl3wb79⁠

Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/lets-rethink-ai/id1890399014⁠

Instagram - ⁠@letsrethinkai⁠

Let's automate your work or business:

Book a call - ⁠https://calendar.app.google/fxdFBhqRWCz9G2Pt6⁠

Website - ⁠https://www.rethinkai.now⁠

Explore some of the systems we've built:

All-in-one CRM + AI platform for home service businesses: ⁠https://bookingops.app/⁠

Next-generation custom software for construction and general contractor companies: ⁠https://rethink-titan.web.app/⁠

AI-powered haircut and barber platform (AWS 10000 AIdeas Finalist): ⁠https://rethink-grum.web.app/⁠

Fully customizable AI CRM tailored to your workflows: ⁠https://ai-crm.buildmatic.ai/⁠

AI-powered platform for wealth advisors and financial teams: ⁠https://insureflow-pro.pages.dev/⁠

The mission stays the same: practical, honest conversations about AI and what it actually means for your work, your business, and your life. Nothing in this episode, or any future episode, should be taken as business, legal, or medical advice.

For Episode 4, I sat down with Thijmen, all the way from The Netherlands, to get into something I think about a lot: most businesses don't have a lead problem, they have a follow-up problem. And that gap, the leads you never call back, is exactly where AI quietly makes or loses you money.

Thijmen is the owner of GOAT Marketing in The Netherlands, where he and his team build custom AI sales systems that follow up on leads, book appointments, and even negotiate on price, all designed to feel like a real salesperson instead of a bot.

In this episode, we discuss:

◾ The Real Problem Isn't Leads: Most companies keep buying more leads when the actual gap is follow-up; fix your conversion rate first and you can double the business you already have.

◾ Speed to Lead: Responding within five to ten minutes can lift conversion odds by 300 to 800%; miss that window and the buyer has usually moved on to the next company.

◾ Making AI Feel Human: The gap between a chatbot and a real sales replacement is in the details; delayed read receipts, typing pauses, and per-client training make it feel like a person, not a script.

◾ The Jobs AI Changes: AI won't replace the agent who closes a six-figure home; it replaces the follow-up role, and it replaces the agent who refuses to use it.

◾ The No-Show Goldmine: The old leads and no-shows your team stopped chasing still convert at 5 to 10%; text them cheaply on autopilot and that's real revenue you were writing off.

◾ Don't Outsource Your Thinking: Leaning on AI for every small task is like skipping brain day at the gym; use it to speed up real work, not to avoid using your own head.

(00:00) You Don't Have a Lead Problem

(01:20) Welcome to Let's Rethink AI

(04:56) Making an AI Agent Feel Human

(09:15) Why Real Estate Is Leaking Money on Follow-Up

(14:15) The Jobs AI Replaces, and the Ones It Won't

(21:29) Speed to Lead: The 300 to 800% Difference

(32:08) Why Closed Software Is Losing to AI-Native

(39:07) Using AI to Cut Through Misinformation

(48:32) The Real Danger: Outsourcing Your Thinking

(54:42) Live Build: A Council of Agents for Ad Data

Follow Thijmen and work with him:

Instagram - ⁠@goatmarketing.and.ai⁠

Website - ⁠https://www.goatmarketing.nl/⁠

Follow the show:

YouTube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqj2QizDGblOoFz5He4X8YCaW0yvsZ2cJ⁠

Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/1Rs9qghCsARsoqazl3wb79⁠

Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-rethink-ai/id1890399014⁠

Instagram - ⁠@letsrethinkai⁠

Let's automate your work or business:

Book a call - ⁠https://calendly.com/emmanuel-rethinkai/rethink-call-desk-voice-ai⁠

Website - ⁠www.rethinkai.now⁠

Explore some of the systems we've built:

All-in-one CRM + AI platform for home service businesses: ⁠https://bookingops.app/⁠

Next-generation custom software for construction and general contractor companies: ⁠https://rethink-titan.web.app/⁠

AI-powered haircut and barber platform (AWS 10000 AIdeas Finalist): ⁠https://rethink-grum.web.app/⁠

Fully customizable AI CRM tailored to your workflows: ⁠https://ai-crm.buildmatic.ai/⁠

AI-powered platform for wealth advisors and financial teams: ⁠https://insureflow-pro.pages.dev/

The mission stays the same: practical, honest conversations about AI and what it actually means for your work, your business, and your life. Nothing in this episode, or any future episode, should be taken as business, legal, or medical advice.

For Episode 3, I sat down with Kassandra and Elli of Visionary Financial. We got into something I keep coming back to: how do you bring AI into a business built entirely on trust, without losing the human part that makes people pick up the phone in the first place?

Kassandra and Elli are financial advisors and the owners of Visionary Financial in Tempe, Arizona where they handle everything around money: planning, retirement, protection, and estate work. With around eight years in the industry, they're folding AI into a deeply personal business while making sure the human side never gets automated away.

In this episode, we discuss:

◾ Buying Back Your Time: The real win is not fancy automation; it is the hours AI hands back on emails, follow-ups, and paperwork so you can spend more time across the table from people.

◾ The Human Element AI Can't Replace: Finance runs on trust, and trust is still a human thing; AI can draft and proofread, but your own touch is what keeps clients working with you.

◾ Verifying Your Sources: When anyone can ask a chatbot about their money, the edge is knowing where the answer came from; credible sources matter, and Reddit is not one of them.

◾ Thinking Out Loud With Voice: You can talk far faster than you type; voice tools that clean up and format your thoughts turn a head full of open tabs into something usable.

◾ Training a Team Faster: AI can turn rough ideas into real training material and run interactive practice, so new people ramp up on the work that matters, not the busywork.

◾ The Industry AI Can't Easily Touch: Some white-collar roles are already being cut, but trust-based work is more insulated; we get into where finance is safer and where it's changing fast.

(00:00) The White-Collar Jobs Getting Wiped Out First

(02:45) Welcome to Let's Rethink AI

(03:08) Meet Kassandra and Elli of Visionary Financial

(07:54) The Human Element AI Can't Replace

(12:38) Thinking Out Loud With Voice Tools

(15:05) What People Still Get Wrong About Money

(22:29) Why Your Sources Matter More Than Ever

(31:29) Six-Month Paperwork, Now Fifteen-Minute Approvals

(34:43) Where the Financial Industry Is Headed

(44:39) What Excites Them, What Worries Them

Follow Kassandra and Elli and work with them:

Instagram - ⁠@kasstalavera & @financial.elli⁠

Follow the show:

YouTube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqj2QizDGblOoFz5He4X8YCaW0yvsZ2cJ⁠

Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/1Rs9qghCsARsoqazl3wb79⁠

Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-rethink-ai/id1890399014⁠

Instagram - ⁠@letsrethinkai⁠

Let's automate your work or business:

Book a call - ⁠https://calendly.com/emmanuel-rethinkai/rethink-call-desk-voice-ai⁠

Website - ⁠www.rethinkai.now⁠ // www.funnelfab.com

Explore some of the systems we've built:

All-in-one CRM + AI platform for home service businesses: ⁠https://bookingops.app/⁠

Next-generation custom software for construction and general contractor companies: ⁠https://rethink-titan.web.app/⁠

AI-powered haircut and barber platform (AWS 10000 AIdeas Finalist): ⁠https://rethink-grum.web.app/⁠

Fully customizable AI CRM tailored to your workflows: ⁠https://ai-crm.buildmatic.ai/⁠

AI-powered platform for wealth advisors and financial teams: ⁠https://insureflow-pro.pages.dev/

The mission stays the same: practical, honest conversations about AI and what it actually means for your work, your business, and your life. Nothing in this episode, or any future episode, should be taken as business, legal, or medical advice.

For Episode 2, I sat down with Lara Bruner back home in Arizona to talk about how to use AI to amplify your work without losing the human edge that makes persuasion actually work.

Lara Bruner is the Founder and Principal Consultant at Vulcan Consulting in Arizona. With over 20 years of teaching psychology, she helps mid-level professionals sharpen the skills AI can't easily replicate: honest, ethical persuasion.

In this episode, we discuss:

◾ Trusted Sources Over the Open Internet: Feed AI research-backed materials in Notebook LM or a private GPT, and the output stops sounding generic; quality in, quality out.

◾ Building Authority When People Already Like You: Friends don't automatically see you as the expert; layering certifications, talks, and endorsements closes that gap.

◾ The Three Pillars of Ethical Persuasion: Every challenge breaks into building relationship, reducing uncertainty, or motivating action. Name where you're stuck, and you stop guessing.

◾ Pre-suasion and Admitting a Weakness: What you do before a conversation primes how it lands; admitting a weakness builds trust and sets up the most powerful word in English.

◾ Voice Cloning Scams and Family Code Words: AI voice clones are already calling relatives asking for ransom. The simplest defense is a phrase your family agrees on to verify a real human.

◾ Reciprocity Beats Bonuses: Ask an employee what their perfect job looks like and give it before they ask; that loyalty doesn't come from a raise.

(00:00) Why Honest Persuasion Still Wins

(01:51) Welcome to Let's Rethink AI

(02:20) Meet Lara Bruner: 20 Years of Psychology Meets AI

(07:08) Brand Voice in AI: Train It On What You Trust

(20:18) The Three Pillars of Influence

(30:48) Why Sales and Persuasion Survive the AI Era

(36:50) Voice Cloning Scams and Family Code Words

(43:38) Rapid Fire: Persuasion Across Marketing, Sales, and Leadership

(58:25) What We Lose If We Stop Wondering

(1:07:33) Cutting Through Tool Overwhelm When Starting a Business

Follow Lara and work with her:

Website - ⁠https://vulcanconsult.com⁠

Useful AI tools mentioned:

Notebook LM: ⁠https://notebooklm.google.com⁠

Claude: ⁠https://claude.ai⁠

ChatGPT: ⁠https://chatgpt.com⁠

Perplexity: ⁠https://www.perplexity.ai⁠

Gamma: ⁠https://gamma.app⁠

Follow the show:

YouTube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqj2QizDGblOoFz5He4X8YCaW0yvsZ2cJ⁠

Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/1Rs9qghCsARsoqazl3wb79⁠

Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-rethink-ai/id1890399014⁠

Instagram - ⁠@letsrethinkai⁠

Let's automate your work or business:

Book a call - ⁠https://calendly.com/emmanuel-rethinkai/rethink-call-desk-voice-ai⁠

Website - ⁠www.rethinkai.now⁠

Explore some of the systems we've built:

All-in-one CRM + AI platform for home service businesses: ⁠https://bookingops.app/⁠

Next-generation custom software for construction and general contractor companies: ⁠https://rethink-titan.web.app/⁠

AI-powered haircut and barber platform (AWS 10000 AIdeas Finalist): ⁠https://rethink-grum.web.app/⁠

Fully customizable AI CRM tailored to your workflows: ⁠https://ai-crm.buildmatic.ai/⁠

AI-powered platform for wealth advisors and financial teams: ⁠https://insureflow-pro.pages.dev/

Welcome to the Let's Rethink AI Podcast.

A quick note before we jump in: this is our first episode. Production will keep improving, but the mission stays the same: practical, honest conversations about AI and what it actually means for your work, your business, and your life. Nothing in this episode, or any future episode, should be taken as business, legal, or medical advice.

For episode one, I sat down with Tong Pitchsinee right here in Bangkok, Thailand. We got into something I think about a lot: how do you master what you're already good at, leverage AI to amplify it, and not lose yourself in the process?

We also talked about what I believe could be a crucial 24-month window, a kind of Golden Era where the biggest gains in wealth, health, and productivity are still available to those who move now, before all of this becomes the new standard and the competitive edge closes.

Tong Pitchsinee is a marketing expert and owner of Qwerty House Digital Production in Bangkok, Thailand. With over 10 years of experience, she's actively integrating AI into her business while helping others make sense of the tools and shifts reshaping her industry.

In this episode, we discuss:

◾ Job Displacement vs Adaptation: Companies are already replacing roles to cut costs, but the people who come out ahead are the ones using AI to amplify their existing skills.

◾ Medical and Health Breakthroughs: AI is accelerating drug discovery, expanding access to advanced procedures, and pushing longevity research forward at a pace most people aren't tracking yet

◾ Boosting Efficiency and Creativity: Hours of execution can now happen in minutes, and when that shift happens, your energy goes toward direction, strategy, and the work that actually requires you

◾ The Psychological Toll of Job Loss: "AI grief" is real. Losing work to automation isn't just a financial challenge; it can mean losing your identity, your routine, and your sense of purpose.

◾ Dangers, Scams, and Hallucinations: Voice cloning, deepfakes, and AI-generated misinformation are already here and easier to pull off than most people realize. We talk about why verification is crucial.

◾ The "Golden Era" of Opportunity: The next 24 months may be one of the most important windows we'll see to build real leverage using AI; through content, side projects, or scaled output. We have to move quicker than ever.

(00:00) Why AI Will Change Everything Fast

(01:20) Welcome to Let’s Rethink AI

(02:27) Emmanuel’s AI Background and Current Projects

(04:10) The Speed of AI and Why Most People Aren’t Ready

(07:40) Information Overload and Using AI the Right Way

(10:17) Will AI Take Your Job or Amplify It?

(20:38) The Good Side of AI: Health, Efficiency, and Creativity

(29:36) The Dark Side: AI Grief, Disconnection, and Losing Your Voice

(38:05) Hallucinations, Deepfakes, Scams, and AI Misuse

(46:29) The 24-Month Golden Era of Opportunity

Follow Tong and work with her:

Instagram - @tonggaaa

Website - https://www.qwertyhouse.com/

Special shoutout to Miguel Cerda. Follow him @miggylaflaire on IG

Follow the show:

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqj2QizDGblOoFz5He4X8YCaW0yvsZ2cJ

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1Rs9qghCsARsoqazl3wb79

Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-rethink-ai/id1890399014

Instagram - @letsrethinkai

Let's automate your work or business:

Book a call - https://calendly.com/emmanuel-rethinkai/rethink-call-desk-voice-ai

Website - www.rethinkai.now

Explore some of the systems we've built:

All-in-one CRM + AI platform for home service businesses: https://bookingops.app/

Next-generation custom software for construction and general contractor companies: https://rethink-titan.web.app/

AI-powered haircut and barber platform (AWS 10000 AIdeas Finalist): https://rethink-grum.web.app/

Fully customizable AI CRM tailored to your workflows: https://ai-crm.buildmatic.ai/

AI-powered platform for wealth advisors and financial teams: https://insureflow-pro.pages.dev/