All Episodes

September 29, 2025 27 mins

Ever wondered how you can create a sustainable business in a world obsessed with relentless productivity? In this powerful interview, Anna Lundberg sits down with AI strategist and Apricity Lab founder Aleksandra Osipova to unpack the journey from burnout to building an enterprise anchored in alignment, resourcefulness, and genuine human connection. Tune in to discover refreshing perspectives and practical advice for building a business you truly love - one that supports your wellbeing as much as your ambitions.

Key takeaways:

  • Redefining Success: Aleksandra shares the evolution of her definition of success, from chasing deliverables and relentless productivity to prioritising personal resourcefulness, wellbeing, and authentic relationships.

  • Building with Alignment: Discover why aligning your work with your values and natural strengths is not just more enjoyable but also commercially effective, attracting better-fit opportunities and clients.

  • Human Connection in the Age of AI: The discussion explores how AI can increase capacity for solopreneurs, but that lasting success relies on cultivating human connection and presence, not just automating outputs.

  • Critical Thinking & Continuous Learning: Aleksandra’s forthcoming book emphasises the importance of critical thinking and practical experimentation with AI—skills relevant for all ages, especially as the digital and business landscape evolves.

  • Sustainable Routines: Learn how Aleksandra handles the risk of burnout, balancing early starts, creative deep work, and even ballet classes to maintain energy, inspiration, and health as a solopreneur.

Want to build a business that actually works - without burning out chasing the next big thing?
Inside the Business Accelerator, we help independent experts like you design simple, sustainable strategies for growth - so your work supports your life, not the other way around.
🎯 Doors are closing as we speak - apply now or register your interest for the next intake at onestepoutside.com/accelerate.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Reimagining Success, episode 361. And in this
interview episode, we're exploring what it really takes to build a meaningful,
sustainable business in a world that is obsessed with speed and scale.
Aleksandra Osipova, AI strategist, founder and
former data scientist, shares her journey from burnout
and relentless productivity to designing work around

(00:22):
alignment, resourcefulness and genuine human connection.
It's a powerful reminder that success isn't just about doing more.
It's rather about focusing on the work that matters, building
relationships that energise you, and creating a business that
supports the. Life you actually want.

(00:43):
Welcome to Reimagining Success, the podcast that helps you build a
profitable business as an independent expert, one that works for you and your
lifestyle. I'm your host, Anna Lundberg, former corporate insider
turned business mentor, executive coach and mom of two.
Whether you're a solopreneur, a coach, speaker, consultant,
I'm here to guide you in creating a business that gives you freedom,

(01:04):
flexibility and the fulfilment you're looking for, ready
to redefine success and build a business that you love. Let's
get started. Okay.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to this month's interview. And I'm here with Aleksandra
Osipova. And Aleksandra, I'd like to, as ever. Hand straight
over to you and tell us very briefly, I suppose, a little bit about your

(01:27):
journey and then we'll dig in in a moment. So what do you do and
how have you got there? Hi, I
am founder of Apricity Lab and
I'm an AI strategist. My journey to this point was
quite long, starting from Applied Mathematics and

(01:47):
Research and Academy and a couple of startups along the way,
then work as a data scientist, as AI product manager. All in
all, it was very fruitful journey in
AI and I'm quite happy with what I'm doing right
now. Amazing. So, obviously it's a pretty hot topic now,
but back when you started in this field, was it something you were always passionate

(02:10):
about? What led you to make the initial career decisions to get
into this world? I loved mathematics.
And at that time, AI was called
intellectual systems or complex models,
or
we didn't speak about it as AI. And when I

(02:33):
started my master degree and I told my supervisor that
I want to do a project in AI, he said, do you mean
statistical learning? And I said, yes, exactly this.
And it was pure mathematics. And
I was interested in the work of Alan Turing
and his idea that a machine can construct the same

(02:56):
machine. And once it's possible, then we
enter the point when we have artificial
Intelligence. And I always loved
reading books, always loved building complex models.
And it turned out that what people call AI now
you sound like my dad. My dad said, oh, we used to do that long

(03:19):
before it was called AI. We put new names on things,
don't we? But there you go. But that's amazing that you started so early. So
it sounds like that was then your interest in the subject matter that drove you.
Was that always the driving factor when you were looking at what startup
to join or what role to take on or how did you make your different
career decisions within that field?

(03:39):
I. Well, when I founded my first startup it was
about keeping track of medicine log and I had
two passions, one was AI and another was
building services that serving people.
And then I gained another huge passion for neuroscience.

(04:01):
And that was the reason why I
exited my business in my home country and decided to move to the
UK to do master degree. And I ended up doing
a research project in studying
epilepsy and data from the eeg. I learned a
lot and I learned what it is to be a

(04:23):
data scientist, surprisingly, without any support
of the data scientist or the book about data science itself.
I had two supervisors, one from one,
one who's mathematician and another who's neurologist.
And I just had data models, me,
laptop, lots of coding, lots of coffee. Yeah,

(04:45):
I love that. And would you say that your definition of success
has changed from when you started coming out of university? And yes,
I'm passionate about Alan Turing's work and this is the field I want to get
into versus where you are today. After your many
startups and experiences, how has your definition of success shifted over those
years? At the beginning I didn't

(05:06):
think about success at all. It was all about being in the
flow and doing stuff. And then once I enter
entrepreneurship, I started to think about
successes, amount of things that I can do per day. And it
was crazy, crazy. Working hours every day a
week. And

(05:29):
everything was measured, everything was written. And then
I started to think I was more about the mission
and the value of things that I'm building.
But I always measure that in terms of deliverables to
be happy that I'm doing well.
And now I'm measuring success in terms

(05:51):
of my resourcefulness and amount of
connections that I can build, an amount of things that I can help other people
to deliver with things that I'm building. Can you tell me
more? I love that definition. It's a very nuanced one. So what does that mean
in practical terms for you? For me,
as someone who burn out Quite

(06:14):
a lot within the journey. It's like every second
year I would experience a burnout for
one or another reason. And a couple of years ago it was
a heavy state when I needed to stop everything, what
I'm doing to recover. And in that moment
it shifted for me that I need to take care of

(06:36):
my sleep, my well being, my sports
routine. So at that moment I started thinking
about resourcefulness and about feeling
connected to myself in the first place. And then,
and then I noticed that the more you speak with people and the,
the more genuine this connection is, it just

(07:00):
fulfilled me more and more and I shifted
from delivering information and knowledge to,
to communicate and, and to learn about other people to what they do to be
present and that,
that is a current definition of success, though I'm not thinking about success,

(07:21):
it's more like the way of living. Yeah, I love
that. And especially funnily enough, in the world of AI, that kind of human
connection is all the more important, right? And as you mentioned with burnout and so
on. But a lot of us, if not all of us, get caught up in
that kind of productivity, doing more, more, more, more, but being present
and genuinely connecting human to human. I think, and maybe I'm wrong, but

(07:43):
I think we can't possibly burn out from that. I
don't know, correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like I can't late into
night be like, oh my gosh, I've just got to humanly connect with another 20
people. That just makes it upside down. So I, I, I'd like to think, just
thinking spontaneously, that that approach is such a great way to
sort of slow things down, go for quality over quantity, get to know

(08:05):
people, you know, not push for the sale right now, not go for all the
automation software and so necessarily and not just churn out work,
but really be a bit more thoughtful, a bit more present. But in doing so
it becomes much more sustainable for you, for the
business, and enjoyable as well. What do you think? Yeah,
absolutely. One more thing that is

(08:25):
helpful in this journey is to stay aligned with
what you really want to do. And
this thing changed for me quite a lot because before
I would set the goal and just walk through the doors and
walls and nothing could stop me really. But

(08:47):
it's not the best approach. Now I feel that if
someone really aligns with what I'm doing and they see the value,
we instantly can match and do the project or do the business,
but if not, it's just a game of chasing and
pursuing and

(09:07):
it doesn't resonate with me anymore. So alignment does help.
It's such a cool word and I keep. I keep wanting to talk about alignments
and it feels like quite a coachy word, but it captures so much. And I
think you're right that especially. Now, the world is so cluttered and.
AI and ChatGPT has a part to play there where we're just kind of
pumping out generic content and so there's so many experts and everything and so on.

(09:29):
Actually, again, the human connection and everything we're talking
about and, and not worrying so much about
the, the sale and I don't know what you're saying with it. With alignment,
it feels like it's. It's a nicer way to do it, but it's also a
much more effective way. What's the point? And the analogy I was thinking about
is dating. And I may have said this on the podcast before, but, you know,

(09:51):
when you're younger, I don't know about you, but, you know, you kind of pretend
to be cool, you. You like the same music as the other person or
whatever, and then you. You don't realise that actually if you keep doing
that, if you do get married, let's say with that person, you have to keep
pretending to be someone else the rest of your life or they'll be very disappointed
when they realise that you're totally different. And I'm sure that happens many times and
the same with clients. Now, if you're building a business because that's the business you

(10:14):
think you should build, or if I'm, you know, if you, if we were having
a sales call or a chemistry call and I sort
of pretended to be aligned to your vision, I'm like, oh, yes, I am. You
know, I'm the person to coach you because of XYZ reason. I'm persuading myself and
you, that's never going to be persuasive for you, I think.
But also it's not going to work ongoing and it's going to make me unhappy

(10:36):
and so on. Whereas actually, if you can take the pressure off, I don't need
to convince you here we have a conversation. It
may lead to, in this case, a podcast interview. It may lead to working together
or you recommend me to someone else, or it may not lead to anything and
that's absolutely fine. Just taking the pressure off, whatever kind of business we're running
and looking for those genuine connections. I think it's easy to say, of course, if

(10:57):
we're in a place where we desperately need money, it feels like Oh, I just
want to sell something. But I think still even with that, if we can
trust that the money will come, I guess if we can focus
on those genuine connections, I think that's both beautiful and
a viable commercial strategy. Yeah,
absolutely. I heard very interesting statistics that

(11:19):
we spent more time, three times
more time and
energy on sales that are not successful than
the sales that are successful. And once I
heard that, I had my life going like, okay, this
meeting, this meeting, this meeting, this meeting. And it makes sense

(11:43):
when you generally aligned and things happen
instantly and if it's not, you're just thinking
what do I do next? How do I do this and that. So
I'm learning now that I'm building the business and it's just
a couple of months, it's quite fresh and young business.

(12:05):
I do need do more sales and try more things.
But I keep this statistic in mind that if I feel it's a
no, then I better go. Yeah, I think that again.
Yeah, there's a subtlety there I suppose because there is a lot
fortune is. In the follow up they say and sometimes, you know, especially
B2B decisions are made after the fifth, sixth call, whatever,

(12:27):
but, but I mean a few weeks ago I had a call with someone, I'd
never met her before. We had an immediate connection. She wanted exactly what I offered
and she joined the accelerator the next day. She'd made the payment and it's always
like, oh, this is how it should be. It shouldn't be checking in for
five, six years. Hey, do you, you know, that just becomes
exhausting for everybody. So yeah, I think that's a really nice reminder. There is an

(12:49):
important part of following up and nurturing
and making sure that everyone's ready. But when it works, it really
works, doesn't it? But I'd love to hear about your business then. So it is
quite fresh. But what is the business model at the moment? What are you working
on? And yeah, tell us more about the picture and the vision for the next
few years. The vision for it is that

(13:09):
I'm building AI automations and I'm
building it for small and medium businesses with focus on people
who are underrepresented in business. So I, I work
quite a lot with female LED projects and,
and some coaches and
what I notice is that lacking AI in business is not really

(13:32):
a problem. Like no one think, okay, I really need a tool or something,
get the bait. It's more, more about delivering the
value and it's quite interesting to
see that solopreneurs. I, I'M a solopreneur right now
that it's possible to achieve much more

(13:52):
with, in terms of, of, of the volume of what you can do and also
in terms of things that you can delegate. And once you see that
things are working, they're working. And it gives lots
of satisfaction to see that people don't want to revert to the way they
were before that. One part of the
business, another. I'm experimenting with lots of

(14:15):
AI generated apps and as a product
manager I know how to construct the
application and I have almost an army of custom
DPTs that are trained for everything you can imagine. I
have a productivity coach, time management coach,
like more like a therapist, business administrator,

(14:37):
like it's an architect developer.
And I'm experimenting with what, what can be done with, with
mixing different workflows and different style of chats.
Yeah, I'm doing the same, I'm sure far less advanced than, than you have. But
it's great to experiment, isn't it? And I guess there is a bit. Of a
backlash against, you know, there's all this complaint around people using the so

(14:58):
called ChatGPT. I don't even know, is it em dash they call it.
There's sort of American grammar and so on. Right. But as you say as a
solopreneur, my argument is, you know, what's the difference between me
hiring a copywriter versus using an AI tool
or likewise creating images or the admin support and so on. But your point
I guess about the goal for us as individuals

(15:20):
in hiring you, let's say, wouldn't be like a company might go, oh, we must
have AI, we've got to invest in AI. Whereas an individual, it's more,
oh, how can I get to this result faster, how can I
sell, create more content, et cetera, et cetera. And then the way to do that
is probably AI these days. It's not that I'm going around saying, oh, I must
get some AI, it's really, it's a means to an end. Right. And I think

(15:42):
that's an important thing to remember. Yeah, absolutely. And
I experiment quite a lot and I figure out that
like I begin with AI Strategy session. It's like Clarity
session when I really don't focus
on AI, but I focus on what they want to achieve
and it's a strategy call, Clarity call.

(16:06):
And again, I shifted from
selling this strategy as a service when I built the
maps presentation documentation to
alignment with a person, with a team to where they want
to go. Because strategy is a life
documented. It's Almost how you think, how you behave

(16:29):
day to day. And it works much better. I
see much better results within clients. Yeah, I can imagine. I think that's for
lots of us. The business model of having a kind of diagnostic first
before getting to work with them. So you're bringing your expertise. Clearly, she knows what
she's talking about. She's walking me through this process. And then if it's not
the right tool, then you can say that and they can go off and do

(16:49):
something else. So I think that's a really smart move in terms of the business
model and positioning you as an expert and the right person then to work with.
If we do find that the AI is the right answer, what about in terms
of sort of the marketing side, building your personal brand? Obviously, we're speaking. I know
you've been working on your book, so tell us about how. How are you building
your personal brand at the moment? Well, that's.

(17:12):
I. I'm bringing authenticity and I do what
I really like to do. I love writing
and I'm writing the blog about AI
and I'm writing a lot on LinkedIn and
I see how people respond
to thoughtful questions or topics that

(17:36):
are more personal. And I noticed that you never
know who is reading. People might not react or something,
but they would DM you and say, I would like to work with you or
like, can we have a call? So that's what I'm doing at the
moment. And I will grow,
sell brand on iterations. I don't want to

(17:58):
have a perfect idea and then wait lots of time until I
gain all the resources to do that. I will just do as I
go. And about the book, I'm writing it and I'm
very happy about what's happening. Um, and
the book is about critical thinking and initially it was
about communication with chats and generative AI.

(18:22):
But I figure out that critical thinking is the
skill that we can apply
everywhere with ourselves. With other
people. With chats, it doesn't really matter. And one of
the key concept is leading with questions.
What I notice a lot with generative AI with chats

(18:45):
is it would normally reflect what you bring.
So if you bring the expertise, you can
create great results. So what I see, for example,
if you're a product manager, then you can generate very good
product materials. If you worked in the film industry,

(19:05):
you can generate videos that are amazing. So
I learned that generative AI is very good in
upskilling whatever you do. And
I'm writing the book about it.
It's coming soon. Yes. And hopefully when this is out, the book might be

(19:25):
out as well, so we'll make sure to put the details if so. But critical
thinking, my goodness. I just think it's the thing we should be teaching insofar as
it can be taught. It should be the focus of school curricula now, right? I
mean from mathematics before, the whole process of
moving to calculators was a similar shift, albeit not as dramatic perhaps as
now. Suddenly you can go home and write your whole essay with an AI tool,

(19:45):
you know, so the critical thinking is so powerful. And I spoke to a friend
actually who's, who's working in a startup and he said slightly stereotypically, you know,
this whole Gen Z thing. But he noticed that some of. Some of the younger
people in his team seem to be very easily
persuaded by certain things that came out of social media,
let's say, oh, we were never on the moon or whatever it is and they

(20:05):
haven't yet, I suppose learned. And it is a difficult one for all of us
to critically assess the massive onslaught of information we
get. So I think that's a very hot topic and very much
needed. And I love that you found the angles. It's not just how do you
use AI for your business, but it's really so much more powerful and
with such longevity, I think, and so, so important whether you're young

(20:26):
or, or those of us who are a bit older and more. More
experienced. I think that that's such an exciting thing to be focusing on.
So needed. I write a book
for people in their 20s or people figuring
out how to learn how to create
with tools that are available now. But also it's a book for

(20:49):
people who are transitioning into new ways of working. So
it's not age limited to anyone. I'll get a copy and give it to my
friends for his team, definitely get some copies for him.
So what does the day to day look like for you? I know you've mentioned
that you've experienced burnout a few times time. So do you make sure that you
have boundaries in place? How do you take care of yourself? You mentioned obviously sort

(21:11):
of health and exercise. What does a typical day or a week look like for
you? I.
I work with a flow so I don't have
a certain days when I work or don't work like I, I work on
Saturdays and Sundays most of the time I start
at 5am, sometimes at 6. I would meditate,

(21:33):
do some writing notes. Sometimes it's a very creative time for me.
So I would do the most of the Work and then
I either would have a nap or like till. Till nine,
till normal hours or go to the gym, go for a run.
And then I'm just doing my daily stuff,

(21:55):
balancing time I spent writing
just with handwriting, with
laptop, meeting people, connecting with people.
And I also recently started in Bali, which is
lots of fun. Love that it's so important to have,
I mean first of all to. Yeah. To do something for ourselves, which I think

(22:17):
is quite rare for women our age perhaps as well. But also.
Yeah. Just to distract us from work. Right. If we only do work,
it's very easy to. That becomes our full identity, especially when we're passionate about it.
We love what we do. So I love that, that. Oh, that's very ambitious.
I just shared with someone the other day that I used to obviously as a
four year old, want to be a ballerina, but I've long since given that up.

(22:38):
That's, that's not even on my bucket list anymore. But there are other things I
could probably pursue a bit more. Oh, I love that. That was my dream when
I was 3, 3, 4 years old. And I become a
mathematician instead. And now what, what I'm learning, it's,
it's a, it's a great thing to do. Like the, the,
the whole body is working and also you learn coordination, you learn

(22:59):
new words, new things. And have you done it before or is it completely
new to you? No, that's new. So it's not too late. I mean, yeah, I
just wonder. My, my body is kind of locked into place. I never had flexibility
even when I was younger, so I think now it's too late for me. I'll
send you the information. There I
was. I thought I was off the hook, but fine, it sounds like a good
idea. I do a lot of running, so my muscles get really tense and actually

(23:22):
elongating and stretching. You know, whether it's Pilates or yoga or
possibly ballet is probably a good idea. So thank you for that tip.
So to wrap up, I suppose, well, either a career tip, but really given.
That you're working in such an exciting space. I mean, as we speak,
obviously things are changing, but what advice or sort
of wisdom or what maybe an insight from your book would you share with

(23:45):
someone who's kind of excited but a bit afraid maybe. Is
AI going to take my job? What can I do to use AI? You know,
speaking to the solopreneur, expert audience, the kind of people you work with.
What would you say to someone at this?
If you want to learn about AI, you learn

(24:06):
you learn the skills by practising. So if you're watching lots
of YouTube videos or reading about stuff, about trends,
my experience is that I got overwhelmed by all the news.
But if I practise and for example, there's a new tool,
new approach, new prompt, I would just sit down for an hour and play

(24:26):
with it and see what's the outcome. How can I link this
knowledge to anything else? How can I apply it? The
advice is to start practising, maybe
create a focus, time, hour for AI to try it,
and speak with people who are building. Not
with, like, not. Don't hang out with people who are very sceptical about

(24:49):
AI. I know everything about risk and about addicts
and I love this kind of conversation as well. But I spend a lot of
time with people who are building something because it just create the
momentum and energy. Effy? Yeah, I'd love that advice. I mean, I always think
if you want to write a book, spend time with people who are writing books,
right? It suddenly becomes a natural thing. If you want to do ballet, obviously spend

(25:09):
time with people doing ballet. And if you. If you want to, yeah, advance in
technology, then find people who are doing exciting things there and get inspired
rather than staying with those sceptics. I think that's a great piece of advice. So,
Aleksandra, hopefully, as I said, I will link the book once that's available, but in
the meantime, where can we find you and read more about the work that you're
doing? I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on

(25:30):
Substack. On Substack, I have two blogs, one about
specialty copy and embodiment, one about AI
and Apprecitylab. Co is the website
of my business. So, yeah, I.
You. You can find me by. By Googling my name. We'll find you. Yeah, you're
lucky. I've got. I've got a problem. We can talk about that offline and ask

(25:52):
everyone for advice. My name is so common in Sweden, but also there's a famous
actress now who had a baby with another famous actor and she's taken over my
online presence. So I. I very much need to work on my. My
PR strategy, unfortunately. But I'm very jealous of you with a more unique name.
Thank you, Aleksandra. Thank you so much. It's been so lovely to speak to you.
Such a thoughtful assessment, I guess, if I can call it that, of your own

(26:15):
journey and some really good advice there as well. So thank you so much. Best
of luck with the next stage of your journey and looking forward to staying in
touch. I really appreciate
the conversation with you and I love what you're writing on your LinkedIn.
I really feel seen when I read your posts and it's quite rare
when you read the post and

(26:38):
you're doing or like what you're going through. So I'm very
grateful to stay connected. Oh, thank you. That means a lot. It's
always nice to know that people are reading and it's not just going out into
the ether. So thank you so much. I appreciate that.
If you're ready to grow a business that actually works, one that pays you well,

(26:59):
protects you your time, and reflects what matters most. The Business
Accelerator is for you. It's a 12 month journey for independent experts who
want strategic growth without burnout and without
compromise. Apply or join the waitlist@onestepoutside.com
accelerate onestepoutside.com
accelerate.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.

Crime Junkie

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.