"I save lives during the day. That's the simple version. The complicated version is that I'd come home from a 14-hour shift and spend an hour writing notes about the hotel I'd stayed at last weekend  -  what they got right, what they didn't, what I'd change if it were mine. I've done this for years. My wife thought it was charming but pointless.

Then one day Ania encouraged me to actually sent one of those reviews to the hotel. Unsolicited. Very detailed. They wrote back within a week, asking if I had more. That was the moment I thought  -  wait, people will pay for this?

What I was looking for was someone who knows how to connect dreams with the reality of actually building a business. A colleague who'd been through Ania's process three years earlier recommended her. I notice things other guests don't. I think in systems  -  probably the ER trained me for that. Today I run a small practice called J’s Restaurant Tips. I do guest-perspective audits for hotels and restaurants. Friendly, specific, things they can actually act on.

It's not my main income. But it's real. And honestly? For the first time in my life, I don't have to choose between the doctor and the food obsessive. Both get to exist."

"I managed operations for a company with 800 people. I was good at it. I was also exhausted in a way I couldn't admit, because I'd built my whole career on one rule: if you're resting, you're not producing. And as a woman in a leadership role  -  you especially don't get to slow down.

When I came to Ania, I had a very specific idea: help me find a side business that will allow me to leave my exhausting day job. Something I can slowly build on the weekends.

What actually happened was different. We spent weeks on the beliefs I was carrying  -  the ones I didn't even know were running the show. And what came out surprised me more than anyone: I didn't want to leave my COO job. I wanted to keep it. But I also wanted to teach people how to rest properly  -  because I'd had to learn it the hard way myself.

Today I still run operations. And alongside it, I train corporate teams and individuals in what I call strategic rest. It sounds like a contradiction, but it's not. The biggest thing that changed wasn't my CV. It was the belief that slowing down is a professional skill  -  not proof that you can't keep up."

"Thirty years. That's how long I was 'the marine engineering guy.' I was respected. I was well-paid. And I was completely boxed in by an identity I'd built when I was twenty-five.

I'm turning sixty soon, and I had these two things I'd been doing on the side forever  -  woodworking and photography. Everyone around me called them hobbies. I did too, because it felt safer that way.

Nine months with Ania changed how I saw them. Not because she told me to quit engineering  -  she didn't. She helped me see that my engineering brain was actually my advantage. I think in measurements, tolerances, structural logic. When I design a piece of furniture, I produce mock-ups so detailed that a carpenter can build from them without asking a single question. Clients come to me because I think like an engineer and design like a craftsman. That combination doesn't exist anywhere else.

The photography took longer. I invested in proper training, and I've just landed my first commissioned work. It's early days. But the point is  -  I didn't have to become someone new. I just had to take seriously what was already there. Thank you, Ania."

“I work at one of the so-called ‘Big Four’ firms and for the past few years, I’ve felt tremendous frustration, as if I’ve missed something. I’m approaching fifty, and it often seemed to me that it was too late for changes. On the market, I’m perceived mainly through the lens of consulting. Last year, thanks to collaboration with Anna and her team, I managed to develop a new work model - or rather, a new way of life. I moved from Wrocław to the seaside, where I work 50% time at my previous company. I devote the other half to developing, with my wife - a Germanist with a passion for sewing - an eco-friendly business related to children’s clothing. Our target market is Germany. Additionally, every Thursday, I develop my communication skills through Toastmasters. I dream of becoming a mentor for young people.”

“I’m a biochemist at a large international pharmaceutical company. I love my job, but I know my organization is facing changes. I was looking for someone who could see me from the outside and help me identify and then articulate my skills in a pragmatic way - one that I could turn into additional professions. Today, thanks to Ania’s help, I not only sell my hand-painted scarves on 3 continents, but I also run workshops for youth at a private high school.”

"I'm probably not a typical CPI client - I'm 26. Leaving university, I had plenty of business ideas but no one to test them against. My dad recommended Mrs. Anna; he'd been through an outplacement programme she ran back in 2007. Eight months on, three things have changed for me: I've named my life goal, I've realised my market is the world and not just Poland, and I've learned to build relationships with genuine ease."