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The prospect of quitting the rat race and moving to the beach or country holds massive appeal for many, but few end up doing it – or making it work financially.

But former media industry power couple, Dallas and Donna Gurney have – swapping Auckland corporate life for owning and running the Whananāki General Store in the tiny Northland town.

A major health scare prompted Dallas to resign from his role leading Today FM, but before he’d even left the building, parent company Mediaworks dramatically shut the station.

The couple decided even if they could continue to hold senior roles in an industry where job security is fraught, the prospect was no longer appealing.

“Our whole lives would be cutting, cutting, cutting, and pulling money out of budgets, and frankly, making people redundant, and neither of us wanted to do that … we wanted to be in control of our own destiny,” Dallas told Nadine Higgins on the NZ Herald’s personal finance podcast, .

So, they took the leap. With zero experience of the grocery industry but a strong connection to the area, they’ve been on a steep learning curve – but love their new lifestyle in what they describe as “real” New Zealand.

Donna has some advice for others considering a similar move, including “making sure that financially you’re in the right position to do it”.

“Without that base, it will be too hard, and I think it would break you.”

She also cautions that, while the stresses are different “We’ve never worked harder in our lives than the last 18 months!”

Dallas says he’s proud that they didn’t just talk about doing it – they made it happen.

“That lifestyle-work balance, it’s out there and you can do it, too. But the key is taking that first step and just saying, why not?”

For more on the challenges, stresses and financial considerations of moving to the beach, listen to the full episode of for more

The podcast is hosted by Nadine Higgins, an experienced broadcaster and a financial adviser at Enable Me.

You can follow the podcast at , , , or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are released every Monday.