The Email That Changed Everything

“We are sorry to inform you that your visa application is no longer valid. You need to leave the country.”

One email.
That’s all it took for my entire life to be turned upside down.

In just three months, new Australian government regulations erased everything I had worked for. Eight years of building a business, creating a life, and spending over $100K to secure my future, gone. Suddenly, I had to rethink everything.

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Hi, I’m Veronica, and this is Work Unplugged. This blog is about my journey, what it’s really like to embrace uncertainty, run a business while traveling, and create a life on your own terms.

Maybe, just maybe, my experience will help someone else navigating the unknown.

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Let me rewind a bit.

I come from Italy, but for the past eight years, Australia was home. I built my branding and design business there, grew a solid client portfolio, and was ready to settle down in Sydney. My friends, my chosen family, everything was there. But life had other plans.

Suddenly, I had two choices: return to Italy and start over, or take a leap of faith, travel, run my business remotely, and search for a place I could truly call home.

Crazy, right? I thought so too. I kept asking myself, why make life harder? Why not just go home, where my family and old friends were? But deep down, I knew it. There was still so much to see, and my business gave me the rare opportunity to break free from the traditional grid of society.

So, I decided to take the leap, what did I have to lose?

Today, I’m writing this from Koh Lanta, Thailand.
And I’m quickly realizing that there’s more to digital nomad life than just work and travel. Maintaining balance isn’t easy, time zones, meetings, building a routine, finding community, it’s a whole new world to navigate.

That’s why I started this blog.

I’ve never been someone who openly shares their thoughts. I’m not a writer, and I don’t crave the spotlight. But I feel like this journey, this messy, unpredictable, exciting way of living, is worth unpacking.

So, if you’re curious about what it’s really like to leave behind a fixed location, run a business remotely, and embrace a life of movement, let’s figure it out together.

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Veronica,
currently in Koh Lanta.
“where the ocean is calling and I’m pretending not to hear it (for now).”