We Bought a Business With No Money: Our 18-Year Startup Journey on The Rock

How an impulse decision, a whole lot of ignorance + arrogance, and two very determined humans built a business… and a marriage.

Episode Summary

In this raw, hilarious, and deeply honest episode, Jonny joins me on the mic as we take you behind the scenes of our 18-year adventure of buying, building, and growing The Rock  our very first business we bought together back in 2007.

And no, we didn’t buy it with a trust fund (I wish). We bought it with loose change, blind optimism, and zero clue how big of a ride we were strapping into.

From kicking each other under the table when one of us (me) accidentally said “We’ll buy it!” to survive GFC, volunteer crew realities, handwritten booking sheets, porridge-based cuisine, and running cruises on caffeine and not nearly enough sleep… we’re pulling back the curtain on all of it.

This episode is a love letter to big leaps, messy action, partnership under pressure, and what really happens when you go “all in” on a business you believe in long before you have the systems, strategy, or sleep to back it up.

In This Episode:

🔥 Our Impulse Buy That Changed Everything

The true story behind the night we first heard The Rock might be for sale… and how my mouth said “We’ll buy it” before my brain consulted our bank account.

🔥 What The Rock Actually Is (and why people lose their minds over it)

An overnight adventure cruise through Northland that feels like getting plugged straight into the heart of real New Zealand phosphorescence, fishing, kayaking, island hopping, stargazing, sunrise magic.

🔥 Why Ignorance + Arrogance Were Our Superpowers

We didn’t know the economy was tanking.We didn’t know compliance would explode.We didn’t know most of the crew were volunteers. (Yep. That one hurt.)

We just knew we were all in and honestly, that was enough to get us off the ground.

🔥 The Hardest Parts We Never Saw Coming

• A tax bill that nearly flattened us.

• Endless compliance layers (hi Maritime NZ + liquor licence + food control plan + DOC + Qualmark…).

• Living on the boat, eating leftover sausages and porridge, and running purely on grit.

  
  

  🔥 The Strengths We Discovered in Each Other

  Jonny = calm AF under pressure, natural connector, the steady anchor our magpie-energy business needed.

  Me = fast learner, fast decision-maker, systems brain, the visionary pushing us forward.

  Together = unstoppable (even when completely unqualified).

  
  🔥 What We Would Tell Our 2007 Selves

  • “Enjoy the ride, it's going to shape everything.” (Jonny)

  • “Who, not how. And pay yourself. For the love of god, pay yourself.” (Me).

  
  

  🔥 The Big Lesson

  Taking a big risk together isn’t just survivable, it can be fun, expansive, identity-shifting, marriage-deepening magic when you’re both all in.

  
  

  
  Why This Matters for YOU

  
  

  
  

  Whether you're sitting in business overwhelm, wondering if you’ve made the wrong choice, feeling like your vision is too big or your bank account too small, hear this:

  
  

  Every successful woman I’ve ever coached has had a moment where she made a decision she “had no business making”… and it changed everything.

  
  

  Your version of The Rock is calling.Your leap doesn’t have to look like ours but it does have to be yours.

  
  

  Links & Resources

  👉 Follow The Moxie Movement on Instagram

  
  

  👉 Join us on Facebook

  
  

  👉 Subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode full of real talk, strategies, and stories that sound like your life.

  
  

  👉 Have a question you’d love answered on the podcast? Drop it into our DMs on Instagram or Facebook your question might be featured on an upcoming episode.