The unexpected gift of doing it differently

Running a Safety Tech Company from a Medieval City in Italy

And why the change in geography made me a better founder

I start my day here in Lucca at 8:00 AM — coffee in hand, dogs sorted, cobblestones walked.

But I don't close my laptop when Italy winds down. I work late into the evening so I can be present for my clients in North America when their day begins.

It means long days. It also means I get the best of both worlds — a proper Italian morning and a full working day with my US clients.

People find this fascinating. Honestly? I do too.

How did I get here?

Earlier this year I made a decision that a lot of people thought was brave, and a few thought was crazy: I relocated to Lucca, Tuscany, to build Tech TLC — a Safety Education Management System for small and medium businesses — from one of the most beautiful medieval cities in the world.

Lucca is the kind of place that stops you in your tracks. It's a city still surrounded by its original 16th century Renaissance walls, completely intact. Locals walk and cycle along the top of those walls every single day, hundreds of feet in the air, as casually as if it's a city park — because it is. The city has been here for over two thousand years. The piazzas, the towers, the cobblestones — all of it built to last.

I think about that a lot when I'm working on Tech TLC.

What Italy taught me about safety

There's something humbling about living inside history. In Lucca, things were built with intention. With care. With the understanding that what you create needs to hold up — not just for a season, but for generations.

That's exactly the problem with how most companies approach workplace safety training.

They do it once. They check the box. They move on. And then six months later the knowledge has faded, the behavior has drifted, and suddenly they're facing an

OSHA citation they swear they didn't see coming.

Lucca's walls have lasted 500 years not because someone built them well once.

But because they have been maintained, reinforced, and cared for continuously.

That's the entire philosophy behind Tech TLC.

What my days actually look like

By the time most of my clients are starting their Monday, I've already had a full Italian morning. Coffee from the bar around the corner — the kind that costs €1.20 and arrives in a tiny cup that you drink standing at the counter in about 90 seconds.

A walk through the market. My dogs demanding attention. Izzy, my blind rescue pup, navigating the cobblestones like she owns the place. Love, my tripawd brindle girl, keeping pace like the warrior she is.

Then at 4 PM, I switch modes completely.

I'm building out safety micro-learning libraries. Writing OSHA-compliant video scripts. Working with clients on their QR code reinforcement systems — the ones we place on ladders, confined space entrances, and equipment so workers get a safety refresher at the exact moment they need it. Managing our AI behavioral analysis platform. Reaching out to prospects across construction, manufacturing, and logistics.

All of it, from a 500-year-old city in Tuscany.

Why this works — and why it might for you too

Here's what I didn't expect: the distance made me sharper.

When you remove yourself from the noise of your usual environment, you see your work differently. The problems that felt urgent at 9 AM in an American timezone feel more solvable at 4 PM in Italy, with a clearer head and a better perspective on what actually matters.

I'm not distracted by the same things. I'm not in the same meetings. I'm not available for the same last-minute requests. And paradoxically, that constraint has made me more focused, more creative, and more productive than I've ever been.

It also reminds me every single day why I built Tech TLC the way I did. Designed around the worker in the field. Not around a conference room. Not around an annual training cycle. Around the moment — the actual, real, dangerous moment — when someone is about to climb a ladder or enter a confined space and needs to be reminded of exactly what to do.

The unexpected gift of doing it differently

People ask me all the time: isn't it hard building a company from Italy?

Yes. And also, no.

Yes — the time zone requires discipline. The admin logistics of living in a new country are real. Finding pet-friendly housing near the sea while running a growing business is... an adventure.

But no — because the quality of life here is extraordinary. Because the perspective shift is priceless. Because when you wake up in Lucca on a Monday morning and walk past a piazza that has been standing for a thousand years, you remember that the things worth building take time, intention, and care.

That's not a bad way to start a work week.

Call Deb for more information 617-417-7797 or if you are outside the US +39 344 543997

Tech TLC is a Safety Education Management System built for small and medium businesses. We deliver point-of-risk QR reinforcement, AI behavioral analysis, and year-round OSHA compliance tracking — starting at $30 per person per month. If your team works in high-risk environments and you're ready to do safety training differently, let's talk.

👉 adopttechtlc.com