Tim Rosenberg, a senior in graphic design, was packed and ready to take a flight to Los Angeles for his internship when just two hours before his departure, he received an email telling him that his internship fell through and there was not a position for him. Nevertheless, Rosenberg boarded the plane with no expectations whatsoever.

“I just decided ‘You know what? I don’t have any promise of really anything in California, but I’m just going to hop on the plane and embrace life and just say, ‘yes’ to see whatever life gives me.'” Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg said this outlook helped him reach achievements he never thought possible.

“I’m just having an extraordinary time…” Rosenberg said. “Basically I have all the free time I want … I’m making about three times as much as I would working nine to five [and]… I basically make my own rates, make my own hours, and I work at home”

Rosenberg said he accomplished it all thanks to the power of stories and storytelling.

“[For] three years, all I did was meet new people and listen to their story…” Rosenberg said. “I met people especially through a network for couch surfing… an extraordinary number of people, people who are doing interesting things.”

With stories from Ukrainian tango dancers, Argentinean drummers and Roman artists ingrained in his mind, Rosenberg said he wanted to fully immerse himself in the craft of storytelling.     

Coupling this realization with his background in design, Rosenberg quickly worked up the plans for his new project: Quillor . The project connects people’s stories through handwritten letters. 

Rosenberg decided to take a semester off to fully focus on the Quillor concept rather than homework

“When I realized the direction that I wanted to take, the path for me became very clear,” Rosenberg said. “I knew that in order to pursue this project, i couldn’t be in school because school was taking up so much time and giving me so less in return.”

Anyone who is interested in being featured on Quillor can send in a handwritten letter detailing an interesting event in their lives – a defining moment, a serendipitous event or an educational hardship. In return for what the story teaches, a letter written by someone else is sent to the previous writer to teach them something new. Rosenberg hopes to collect the letters and publish them in the future.

Wendy Bryant Gow , a client of Rosenberg’s and CEO of the Lily Winston image consulting and wardrobe styling firm, was featured on Quillor . He found her path to success inspiring and asked to have it featured as a story.

“My story reaches out to women specifically because we can accomplish anything, and we don’t realize how strong, capable, and business-minded we are,” Gow said. “I want to help other women and inspire them. If I can do it, then so can they.”

With his full focus on promoting Quillor and continuing his freelance career, Rosenberg has learned the importance of taking risks and embracing the unknown.

“If you can’t jump out and go out to a new country, take a small step,” Rosenberg said. “It’s the small steps like taking the bus to New York City that has given me the confidence to hop on a plane to go to California and study abroad in Italy.”

Rosenberg said he believes in the importance of his work’s representation rather than simply the income associated with each project. Rosenberg was once offered a chance to work with a company that asked him to develop a website similar to tuckermax.com, a site in which a man details his drunken sexual encounters. Rosenberg walked into the job interview and explained his decision not to sign the nondisclosure agreement because he found the contents of the Web site offensive and didn’t want to be associated with it.

“When you take the small steps in that direction, it only leads to more steps further in that direction, and even though I could have used the finances to help me settle in California, it is actually more expensive to compromise your integrity than it is to gain short-term cash.”

For more information, check dear.quillor.com