The Real Money podcast serves as a sanctuary for women breaking financial taboos. This platform aims to transform fear into financial empowerment through practical advice and inspiring conversations. As a keynote speaker and bestselling author, I bring valuable insights to help women navigate money challenges and build the financial freedom they deserve.
In my latest episode, I welcome Dr. Jill Schiefelbein, an award-winning entrepreneur revolutionizing business communication through AI and synthetic media. Having transitioned from academia to entrepreneurship, Jill now helps companies scale their communication capabilities using innovative technology. Her expertise in creating digital clones that maintain human connection while expanding reach demonstrates the powerful intersection of technology and authentic business growth.
Breaking Money Taboos for Women
Many successful women struggle with financial discussions despite their achievements in other areas. This discomfort with money talk creates unnecessary barriers to financial success. We’ve observed that removing the stigma around financial conversations helps women gain confidence and achieve greater financial independence.
Moving Past Money Fears
Financial anxiety often stems from lack of knowledge rather than lack of ability. Women frequently report feeling intimidated by financial terminology or worried about making mistakes with money management. These fears are normal but can be overcome through education and support.
Financial confidence grows with practice. Start by acknowledging your current relationship with money without judgment. Many women find that simply naming their financial fears—whether it’s concern about debt, retirement planning, or investing—begins to diminish their power.
Small steps make a significant difference. Try these approaches:
- Join financial communities specifically for women
- Read one financial article weekly to gradually build knowledge
- Ask questions when working with financial professionals
- Track your spending for just one week to increase awareness
Simplifying Money Management for Empowerment
Complex financial systems often create unnecessary barriers. We believe financial freedom comes through creating straightforward approaches to money management that fit your lifestyle and goals.
Women who develop personalized, simple money systems report feeling more in control and less stressed about finances. The key is consistency with methods that work for you, not following complicated strategies that feel overwhelming.
Try these simplified approaches:
- Create automated savings for specific goals
- Review accounts weekly rather than daily to reduce anxiety
- Use digital tools that align with your thinking style
Financial empowerment isn’t about becoming an expert overnight. It’s about taking manageable steps toward understanding your money and making it work for your unique situation. We find that women who approach finances with curiosity rather than fear make steady progress toward their goals.
Embracing Financial Freedom And Entrepreneurship
In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, more professionals are breaking away from traditional career paths to create their own entrepreneurial journeys. The intersection of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, with business ownership has opened unprecedented opportunities for scaling impact while maintaining a human touch. As former educators who transitioned to entrepreneurship, we’ve witnessed firsthand how this shift creates not just financial freedom but also greater potential for meaningful impact.
This transition often begins with recognizing limitations within traditional systems and identifying opportunities to create value independently. Many professionals now realize that their expertise can be leveraged more effectively outside institutional boundaries.
Key benefits of the entrepreneurial transition:
- Control over time and resources
- Ability to scale personal expertise
- Freedom to innovate without institutional constraints
- Potential for greater financial rewards
Building Impact And Redefining Success
The entrepreneurial journey offers opportunities to create impact that often exceeds what’s possible within traditional employment structures. Modern business owners are leveraging technology, particularly AI tools, to amplify their reach while maintaining authentic connections with their audiences.
Ways technology enables greater entrepreneurial impact:
- Creating scalable content through digital tools
- Reaching global audiences through multiple channels
- Automating routine tasks to focus on high-value activities
- Personalizing experiences for different audience segments
The definition of success shifts fundamentally when transitioning to entrepreneurship. Rather than climbing corporate ladders, success becomes about creating value aligned with personal values. We find that business owners increasingly measure achievement through impact metrics alongside financial ones.
Technology now allows entrepreneurs to maintain their distinctive voice while reaching far more people. For instance, AI-powered tools can help distribute expertise widely without sacrificing the human element that makes it valuable. This balance between technological leverage and human connection represents the frontier of entrepreneurial success in today’s digital landscape.
Navigating Technology’s Real-Time Evolution
The AI Revolution Unfolding
Artificial intelligence has transformed from a theoretical concept to a practical business tool in remarkably short order. We’re witnessing unprecedented advancement in AI capabilities, particularly in the last three to six months, where technology that once required programming expertise has become accessible to everyday users.
Today’s AI systems can be personalized through training with your own content—books, articles, speech transcripts, and other materials—to create agents that understand your unique voice and communication style. These personalized AI assistants can generate content that maintains your distinctive approach while multiplying your productivity.
For instance, responding to media requests that might have taken hours can now be accomplished in seconds. AI can draft quotes, articles, and even book manuscripts that capture your essence while saving valuable time. The key difference from previous technologies is how these tools learn from your existing work to create new content that genuinely reflects your expertise.
Maintaining Business Relevance in the AI Era
For business owners and entrepreneurs, staying competitive now requires understanding how to leverage AI effectively while preserving authentic human connection. The concept of “synthetic media” offers tremendous scaling opportunities—imagine your digital likeness communicating in 28 languages or creating thousands of personalized client videos simultaneously.
This technology enables significant business growth without proportional time investment. We can now:
- Scale personal expertise beyond individual coaching or consulting hours
- Communicate more effectively through video content without the traditional resource constraints
- Create personalized experiences for clients at unprecedented scale
The most successful implementation follows these principles:
- Always disclose when using synthetic media or AI-generated content
- Use AI as an enhancement, not a replacement for your expertise
- Maintain quality control over AI outputs
- Focus AI on repetitive tasks to free your time for high-value activities
Business owners who embrace this “humanized automation” approach gain competitive advantages while preserving what makes their offerings unique—their human perspective and expertise. The goal isn’t replacing ourselves but multiplying our impact through thoughtful technology integration.
Smart entrepreneurs view AI not as a threat but as a powerful expansion tool that, when used transparently, allows them to serve more people more effectively while becoming more human in their highest-value interactions.
Innovation And The Digital Enhancement Of Communication
Understanding Synthetic Media Technologies
Synthetic media represents a revolutionary advancement in digital communication technology. It functions like traditional media but is created through artificial means. Think of it like vegan leather – it looks and functions like the real thing but is manufactured differently. With synthetic media, we can create digital clones that appear, sound, and interact like their human counterparts while being entirely computer-generated.
These digital replicas can communicate with minimal delay, making them increasingly indistinguishable from real human interaction. The technology has advanced tremendously since 2021, predating Chat GPT by about 18 months. This timeline shows how rapidly the field is evolving.
Digital clones excel at video communication, which studies consistently show delivers more powerful messages than text alone in most contexts.
Real-world implementation: Major organizations including L’Oreal, Charles Schwab, and professional sports leagues have already embraced these technologies to enhance their communication strategies.
The most effective use cases don’t aim to replace human communicators but rather augment their capabilities. Digital clones handle repetitive communication tasks while humans focus on high-value interactions requiring genuine presence.
Revolutionizing Business Through Human-Centered Automation
In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, businesses face the challenge of scaling operations while maintaining authentic connections with clients. We’ve discovered that leveraging artificial intelligence doesn’t mean sacrificing the human element—in fact, it can enhance it. The key lies in approaching automation with intention and purpose.
Modern AI tools enable us to extend our reach exponentially without losing what makes our businesses unique: our voice, expertise, and personal touch.
Building AI Assistants With Your Expertise
Training AI with our own knowledge creates powerful extensions of ourselves. We’ve found success by feeding our systems with books, articles, podcast transcripts, and speeches—essentially our entire professional body of work. This comprehensive approach teaches the AI our unique communication style and expertise.
The results are remarkable. Within seconds, these personalized assistants can generate content that authentically represents our voice and perspective. For instance, when media opportunities arise, our AI can quickly draft quotes that incorporate our key phrases and concepts.
Key benefits include:
- Faster content creation
- Consistent brand voice across all channels
- More time for high-value activities
- Ability to scale knowledge-sharing
These systems become more refined through continued interaction. The more we engage with them, the better they understand nuances in our communication style.
Key Insights From Dr. Jill Schiefelbein’s Journey
Transitioning From Academia to Business
After spending over a decade as a professor at Arizona State University, I made the leap into entrepreneurship, serving as the Chief Experience Officer at Render. This career shift allowed me to apply my doctorate in communication toward helping businesses grow and communicate more effectively in the digital landscape.
The transition wasn’t without challenges, but it opened doors to working with major clients like L’Oreal, Charles Schwab, and even professional sports organizations such as the NFL Super Bowl and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. Many women are now leaving traditional careers to create greater freedom and impact through entrepreneurship.
My experience demonstrates how expertise in one field can be leveraged into new opportunities when we’re willing to take calculated risks and apply our knowledge in different contexts.
Effective Communication and Digital Innovation
Communication is the cornerstone of business success, especially in today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape. My work with synthetic media began in 2021, about 18 months before Chat GPT was released to the public. This technology creates digital versions of ourselves that look, sound, and function like us but are generated artificially—similar to how vegan leather resembles real leather.
The practical applications are remarkable:
- Speaking in 28 different languages
- Creating thousands of personalized videos for different clients
- Scaling personal expertise without physical limitations
I’ve recently developed what I call a “humanized automation agent” by training AI with my books, articles, podcast transcripts, and speeches. This agent now understands my voice, style, and content so thoroughly that it can:
- Generate media quotes in my authentic voice
- Draft entire books based on my collective knowledge
- Respond to requests with my specific terminology and perspective
Important ethical consideration: I always disclose when content comes from my digital likeness rather than directly from me. The goal isn’t replacement but enhancement—allowing my digital clone to perform tasks that would be impossible for me as “a mere human.”
This technology solves the fundamental challenge many experts face: how to scale personal expertise without sacrificing quality or authenticity.
3 Powerful Lessons from Women Leaders on Wealth
1. Valuable Wisdom From Experienced Female Leaders
Women who have reached high levels of success often reveal practical approaches to overcoming fear and challenges, especially around money. They emphasize the importance of clear, consistent communication and staying adaptable to change. Their experiences show that building financial confidence is a critical step to gaining greater freedom and impact.
2. Embracing Change Through Technology
Staying current with innovations in technology, particularly AI, is essential. I’ve seen how leveraging AI and synthetic media can expand communication capabilities and increase scalability. Instead of replacing human presence, these tools enhance efficiency by automating repetitive tasks and personalizing outreach at scale.
3. Using Communication to Drive Success
Effective communication is a powerful force in business growth. I focus on making communication smarter by integrating digital strategies that resonate. Video and personalized content often carry more weight than text alone, and technology enables these methods to reach people faster and more meaningfully.
ABOUT LISA CHASTAIN:
Lisa also uses many tools that she used throughout her money journey and invites you to try them as well. As a first step, she recommends reading her book, Girl, Get Your $hit Together in which she helps women tackle their financial story and shares her entire story. After reading the book, she invites listeners to join the Stop Budgeting System– the very method she used to gain financial freedom and clarity.
ABOUT MY UPCOMING BOOK:
I’m thrilled to share some exciting news with you! My new book, “Stop Budgeting Start Living,” will be released this summer. This project has been a labor of love and represents years of working with women to transform their relationship with money.
In this book, I explore how our financial history shapes our beliefs about money. I’ve found that many women today are still operating under mindsets that were formed generations ago, when our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had little financial power or autonomy.
The book offers practical strategies for:
- Identifying the roots of your money mindset
- Breaking free from restrictive financial patterns
- Creating new pathways for financial success
- Moving from financial dependence to financial power
I believe that understanding where our money beliefs come from is the first step toward changing them. When we recognize that many of our limitations aren’t external “blocks” but rather pathways that haven’t yet been created, we can begin to build new financial futures for ourselves.
This summer release feels particularly meaningful during Women’s History Month, as we reflect on how far women have come financially and how much further we can go. I can’t wait to share this work with you and continue our journey toward financial confidence together.