exit
Photo by C.P.Storm

An extraordinary thing happened a month ago! It’s probably a once in a lifetime opportunity and I have been dying to talk about it ever since. Unfortunatelly, I was unable to blog or tweet anything, due to some confidentiality clauses.

But now it’s official and I can share some of that story with you. I’m sure you’re all wondering what event could be so important, that would determine me to quit may way of life (yeah, freelancing is a way of life for me).

The Premise

Those of you that have been following me on Twitter probably know that I was in London in January, on my way to the Dominican Republic, for a well deserved vacation. While in Londond, I got the chance to meet up with a client I worked with in December 2008, who was really impressed by my work (his words, not mine) and wanted to make me a business proposal.

The Proposal

Turns out that my client (for whom I designed a corporate blog) was actually Senior VP for a large company (not at liberty to tell, but it’s from the oil industry). Their plan is to build a corporate portal running on WordPress, that not only requires perfect integration with the corporate brand, but also a great deal of custom features.

After I got back to Bucharest in February, we kept in touch on Skype and after a few rounds of negotiations and discussions about the project, the result was a brief from them, a proposal from me, a signed contract and a kick off date for this exciting project: May 1st. The price for building such a bold website? Can’t say, of course, but it’s a six figure number! So now you know why I was so anxious. ;)

Do you really retire?

Yes and no. :) Confused? Read on:

No, I won’t retire forever, because web design and freelancing is what I love most. Plus I’m sure the money will run out at some point. ;

I will however take a 6 month break from freelancing, during which I intend to do what I always wanted: travel the world and just blog. So while I didn’t win the Name Your Dream Assignment contest, I eventually got my big paycheck that would help me fullfil my dream, proving that hard work (and a touch of luck, I admit) can eventually have unexpected results.

What next?

One month from now I will start work on the big project. There is also another really fun project (pro bono work this time) I’m about to finalize, so I will be sure to keep you posted. And on July 1st, I will embark on my biggest adventure ever and you will hear all about it on my travel blog.

And remember: work smart, work less, live more!