Why I Sold My Successful Business Of Eight Years And Went Sailing

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My high school teacher told me I’d be lucky to work at McDonalds when I graduated. My parents were too messed up to care about what I did with my life. My friends were the type that aimed to master the art of doing keg stands. By the age of 18 I couldn’t understand why life was so unfulfilling.

Fortunately I was a kid that lived in an upstate New York suburbia so my path was somewhat predestined. I was programmed to graduate high school, go to University, get a job, find a life partner, have babies and worked to pay taxes until I retired or died.

So that’s what I did – I set out on the path laid out by society.

Without having much guidance as a teenager I didn’t realize I had any choice about my future. All I discerned is that I had to get a college degree to get a good job. As I turned 20 I knew that there must be a better way to live life – after much thought I determined that the secrete to happiness was by making money.

I set out to prove my teacher wrong and I set out to show my parents that I was worth noticing. I decided to follow the path laid out for me. I worked full time to pay for my education. After three universities and mounds of student debt I eventually graduated with a degree in Business Management – the degree you get when you don’t know what you want to do in life!

By the time I graduated, my grades were high and I was academically quite smart. And because of working full time through my degree I achieved loads of real life experience.

After graduation, I then climbed the ladder of ‘success’.

I started off as an executive, then a manager, moved up to a director and eventually I became the President of an IT services company. Being the head of a company was great but I realized that I didn’t have control – the Board pulled all the strings.

So it didn’t take long for me to decide to start my own company.



In 2004, I stared a currency exchange company in London, England (I married a Brit therefore I ended up in England). At the time there was a massive overseas property boom. The UK banks took hefty profits on the currency exchange so someone buying a property in Euros in France paid £1,000’s more than necessary.

All I did was get less expensive rates from the bank and then pass the savings onto my customers. In eight years the company grew from two owners to two owners, fifty staff and a turnover of ½ billion GBP.

I became a millionaire and should have felt successful – yes?



No. No, I didn’t feel successful. I spent eight years forcing myself to do things that I didn’t like. To begin with, I had absolutely no interest in currency, exchange rates or anything do with the currency markets. Nothing could be more boring.

Second, the company I created attracted the type of employees, suppliers, and connections that worship money. At heart I’m actually one of those soft woo woo spiritual types that likes to save injured animals, picks up other people’s trash in a park and likes to talk about true purpose in meaning.



Furthermore, the person I had to become to run the currency company was a fake. I was a foreigner in my own body. I had to sit in meetings and pretend I was interested. I had to have tough conversations with people that didn’t make any sense. Oh, I also had to endure being sued from a wide variety of professionals (people that sue others for a living)!

And this is what success is?

Fortunately, I had a massive wake-up call. I gave birth to my daughter, Sienna, in 2010. My world changed the day she was born. Something inside me snapped. I looked at her and realized that I need to make some massive changes so she didn’t end up like me.



My world spiraled out of control. I told my business partner that I wanted to leave the company. Our parting was similar to a divorce. The whole exit was one of the worst things I’ve ever endured.

After my exit I lived in a daze. I was available for my daughter and I kept ‘working’ on various projects to fill the 9 – 5 time frame but I was lost. I was no longer the owner of a successful company. I was nobody. Everything I worked for was no longer valuable in my eyes.

It took some time, but after the fall I rose up through the ashes and reinvented myself. I learned that society is not my boss. I learned that I have the power to decide what I value, what I want and who I want to do it with. And most of all, I learned that life can be amazingly fulfilling if we take the time to figure out what makes us thrive (I put ‘we’ because I’m talking to you too!)

My mistake was to chase money rather than to chase what made me fulfilled.

I went into business in the currency arena because it was relatively easy money. It’s not rocket science – I simply sold money to make money. Never did it occur to me to discover what I like and then build a business around that! Well…I’ve learned my lesson.

After a year of living in the void and analyzing what I like and don’t like I decided to sell my house, sports cars and all my possessions so to buy a 56’ Oyster yacht.



Call me crazy if you want but my decision has been the most liberating, fulfilling and dynamic thing I’ve ever done. For the first time, I’ve ignored what society says and I’ve ignored what friends and family have thought. I contemplated the things that made me happy – sailing, good food, time with family, connection to others and freedom to choose life’s course.



In April 2014, my husband, 3 ½ year old daughter and I (age 39 at the time) left Gibraltar with our boat named Britican (my husband is British, I’m American and my daughter is both – the name is a combination of British-American).

Thus far we’ve sailed over 3,300 miles and are more fulfilled than ever before.

We’ve endured force 10 storms, been stormbound in Algiers, Algeria (that was scary!), have seen over 47 Greek and Italian ruins, been accompanied by pods of dolphins over 100 in number, seen whales, caught a tuna (and ate it), have met the most incredible people, have been on a massive learning curve regarding boats, sailing, homeschooling, cooking and the ways of a cruiser and so much more.



And you can’t say ‘it must be nice for some…’

We did not retire. Yes, I made some money by selling my 50% of the company to my business partner however the money made wasn’t enough to retire from. In fact, the money I made might last a few years – maybe five, if that.

Aside from sailing around the world, I’m also building up my next business. But this time, I’m doing it within a field I love! I’m writing about our journey while creating and sourcing products that fit into the nautical theme.

Hence I’m making an income from writing articles, being interviewed, online advertising (people paying me to be advertised on my website), selling t-shirts, nautical belts, galley herb and spice blends and soon to come is my first line of nautical jewelry and outdoor soft furnishings – I found this amazing outdoor material last month with an anchor pattern so I’m having pillow cushions made!



I’ve also published a book on using the VHF Radio – when I first started using the radio, I was nervous so I assumed others are the same. This book is like a ‘VHF Radio for Dummies’ – it offers tips and guidance on how to make calls in addition to listing the broadcast templates for all the urgency or emergency calls like MAYDAY, PAN-PAN, and so forth.

My little empire is small right now but if I keep doing what I’m doing, after three years I suspect we’ll have a nice income stream coming in to keep us floating in fulfillment.

I realized that after you make a certain amount of money, more doesn’t change anything. What’s necessary is cash flow – getting X amount a month to enable you to do what you want to do in life. For me, I need money for food, repairs/maintenance, insurance and mooring fees (when required). You’d be surprised how inexpensive sailing is once the boat is in good shape.



The whole concept of working hard, saving up and being able to enjoy your money when you retire is a LIE. You don’t have to subscribe to that path – there are other options. There are ways and means to enjoy life now – I’m living proof.

So…I sold my successful business of eight years and went sailing because I had had enough of what society deems as success. Did I make the right decision – hell yeah!

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