Leaving the Grind: Trading Corporate Success for a Life on the Water

For years, I did everything right.

I climbed the ladder.
Chased the promotions.
Built the kind of career I thought I was supposed to want.

On paper, it looked great.
Success. Stability. A clear path forward.

But inside, something felt off.

I was checking all the boxes, yet none of it truly felt like me.

This is the story of how I walked away from the corporate world and found a completely different life waiting for me on the water.

And honestly, I never expected it.

The Life I Thought I Wanted

When I was in business school, I had a clear vision for my future.

I pictured myself working downtown, wearing suits and heels, travelling between offices, and making an impact inside a big organization.

And for a while, that’s exactly what happened.

I moved to Alberta and spent seven years building my career. I loved the energy of city life and the opportunities that came with it.

By traditional standards, I was successful.

But life has a funny way of shifting the course when you least expect it.

After ending a long-term relationship, I found myself in a new one with someone back home in Prince Edward Island. Neither of us expected it to turn into what it did, but after months of long-distance dating we realized something important.

If we wanted to give the relationship a real chance, we needed to be in the same place.

So I made the decision to move home.

That meant leaving the company I had been with for seven years and starting over.

When Something Inside You Changes

I tried to rebuild the same kind of life when I moved back to PEI.

I took another corporate job, thinking it would give me the same sense of direction.

But something inside me had shifted.

The career path that once felt exciting suddenly felt… limiting.

I found myself craving something different.

Something that felt more aligned.

So during my downtime, I started a coaching business. Helping people find clarity and confidence lit me up in a way my corporate job never had.

But even then, I still held onto the safety net of a steady paycheck.

At the time, success meant titles, promotions, and predictable income.

I hadn’t yet considered that success could look like peace, passion, or purpose.

But that perspective was about to change.

The Question That Changed Everything

One day, I was chatting with my brother Jamie.

He had always been the one planning to take over the family business. Our dad started Joey’s Deep Sea Fishing back in 1978, and Jamie had spent years working alongside him.

I was the one who left the island.

The one chasing a different life.

But during that conversation, a question came out of my mouth that surprised both of us.

“Would you ever want a partner when you take over the family business?”

In that moment, everything shifted.

Not long after, I quit my full-time job.

Jumping Into the Unknown

Our first season owning Joey’s was in 2019.

At the time, quitting my job felt terrifying.

It was the only thing paying me. My coaching business was still new, and the tourism business was seasonal. Walking away from that steady income required a lot of trust in myself.

But I knew I needed the time and energy to give both ventures a real chance.

So I jumped in.

Running the tourism business.
Growing my coaching work.
Learning an industry I had mostly watched from the sidelines.

And in true Julie Ann fashion, I decided to take on everything at once.

There was a lot to learn.

But I was ready for the challenge.

Learning the Rhythm of the Water

A few years later, I added lobster fishing into the mix.

That decision came from a casual conversation with my dad. I remember blurting out that it might be fun to try it.

Before I knew it, I was on the boat.

My first day lobster fishing?

Not exactly glamorous.

I spent most of it throwing up over the side.

But even through the rough start, something about it felt right.

Being on the water changes you.

The early mornings.
The salt air.
The quiet rhythm of the ocean.

It grounds you in a way that’s hard to describe.

And getting to fish alongside my dad has been one of the greatest gifts of this chapter of my life. He’s been doing this work for over fifty years, and he still loves it deeply.

Anyone who can love their work that much is doing something right.

The Emotional Side of Starting Over

Looking back now, I can still feel the fear that came with all these changes.

Moving across the country for a relationship was a huge risk. We had no idea how things would work once we were actually living in the same place.

Luckily, it worked out pretty well.

This year we celebrate nine years together.

Financially, the transition was also a big adjustment.

I had spent years knowing exactly how much money would appear in my account every two weeks. Suddenly, my income became seasonal.

Most of what I earn comes in six months, and then I have to stretch it across the rest of the year.

Learning to manage that has been like learning a whole new language.

And beyond the financial side, there was also the identity shift.

Leaving the corporate world meant letting go of the titles, the office environment, and the version of success I had built my identity around.

I traded power suits for rubber boots.

And stepping into a male-dominated industry as a woman brought its own challenges.

There were moments when I questioned everything.

But even through the discomfort, I knew something important was happening.

I was growing.

I was learning what I was capable of.

Redefining Success

This life has forced me to rethink what success actually means.

For years, I thought success meant climbing higher.

Titles.
Promotions.
More money.

Now my definition looks completely different.

Success looks like sunrise on the water.

It looks like time with the people I love.

It looks like having a body that isn’t burnt out and a business that supports my life instead of consuming it.

It looks like building a life that actually feels like mine.

And while I love the slower rhythm of the off-season, I’ll be honest… learning to embrace that space hasn’t always been easy either.

Seasonal living brings its own lessons.

But those lessons are exactly what this podcast is about.

If You’re Feeling the Tug for Something Different

If you’ve ever felt that quiet pull that there might be more out there…

More joy.
More connection.
More meaning.

I want you to know that you’re allowed to question the path you’re on.

You’re allowed to redefine success.

You can trade hustle for alignment.
Tradition for freedom.
The grind for something that actually feels like yours.

And sometimes, all it takes is one unexpected question to start changing everything.

Listen to the Episode

In this first episode of Tides of Change, I share the full story behind leaving the corporate world and building a life around the rhythms of the ocean.

We talk about:

• Why I left a career that looked perfect on paper

• The messy emotions that come with starting over

• What lobster fishing has taught me about slowing down

• How redefining success changed everything

🎧 You can listen to the episode here on Spotify or Apple

What’s Coming Next

This podcast is all about the real rhythms of seasonal living.

The chaos of lobster season.
The stillness of the off-season.
And the lessons that come from building a life that flows along with nature instead of fighting against it.

In the next episode, I’m taking you behind the scenes of lobster season and sharing what it really looks like out on the water.

If this story resonated with you, I’d love for you to share the episode or send it to someone who might need it right now.

And until next time…

I’m wishing you calm waters and courage for your own tides of change.