A native of Sacramento, CA, with over 25 years of experience in retail, recruiting, sales, management, and analytics, Author Billy F. Wroe Jr. has a diverse professional background. As an inspirational speaker and empowerment coach, he has worked with individuals, groups, and companies to help optimize productivity in leadership communication. Over the years, Billy has adopted the leadership concepts inspired by Stephen Covey, John Maxwell, Brian Tracy, Les Brown, and a host of other phenomenal inspirational speakers. His advanced comprehension of emotional intelligence has guided him in creating content that resonates with the heart of the human experience.

Wroe’s motivation comes from 3 areas in his life. His tribe, goals, and his legacy. “Each one of these areas is entrenched in my identity.” Wroe’s tribe includes all the people he loves. “It is important to me that I edify the people I am surrounded by in both words and deeds.” Wroe’s goals ensure that he does not arrive at his final destination prematurely. “Each time I achieve a goal, my mind takes a moment to celebrate and then moves to planning the next.” Lastly, Wroe’s legacy is how he measures his impact. “I want our children to have big shoes to fill, and more importantly, want to teach them how to fill them,” he says. 

As a dedicated husband, father of 4, and friend, Billy possesses a gift to connect deeply when building rapport. By identifying with his audience, not as an expert, but as a compassionate mentor, he embraces vulnerability when sharing both his faults and successes during interactions. Rather than telling people what they need to do to achieve their goals, he focuses on guiding them to discover solutions for themselves.

Wroe’s journey was like the journey that many others have experienced. He was working in an environment where He was able to make a living for himself, but the toxic nature of the environment was transforming him into a person that he knew he did not want to become. “The contamination was showing up in many areas of my life outside of the workplace. As a result, I fired that job and began to listen to that tiny voice in my mind about what type of legacy I wanted to leave behind.” The outcome was a ton of deep reflection and soul searching that revealed that these experiences needed to be captured and shared. 

This inspired Wroe to write, Fire Your Job, Hire Your Passion, a guide to aligning your lifestyle with your passion. “I wrote this book for people who want to experience a more meaningful life outside of the routine that most of us have grown accustomed to. It does not matter if you are in high school, at the bottom level of the company, or the CEO of a Fortune 5000 organization, this book is about where you are in your personal journey.” Wroe continues, “In the community that I grew up in, there were so many people that lacked a guide to help navigate the pitfalls in life. Furthermore, educators in the community may not have fully grasped the magnitude of their responsibility to help the community thrive. I wish I had someone asking me these questions at an earlier age, but I had to learn many of these lessons through hard-fought challenges.” 

Believing that people learn best through experiential learning, Wroe made the stories in the guide an experience by incorporating exercises and questions to make it easier for readers to consume the content. “Fire Your Job, Hire Your Passion is written in a way that requires the reader to reflect on their similar experiences and make decisions that will help them develop the solutions necessary to break the cycle of passion complacency.”

Below, Today’s Purpose Man continues the conversation with Author Billy F. Wroe Jr. 

Your book is a guide. When did you discover that it’s more effective in guiding people than telling them what they need to do?

I am a very stubborn person. Growing up in a tough neighborhood, you learn how to stand your ground. It is a survival mechanism that can quickly spiral out of control. For many years when dealing with correction, I perceived it as an attack and became very defensive. Once I became a father, I had to learn the art of negotiation. That is what being a guide is, but rather than negotiating to receive from the other party, you are negotiating for the other party to receive you. When thoughts feel forced or foreign, the natural reaction of the recipient is to reject the information. However, if you invite the recipient to be a part of the construction process of the newly formed paradigm, it will resonate with their identity in a way that establishes a stronger bond for future application.

Why do you feel that there is no way a reader will read this book and not be changed?

When the reader approaches the book with a sense of honesty and vulnerability, they will be forced to take some deep dives into the person in the mirror. The internet has made hiding behind a facade easier than ever. In the silence of the book, there is only the content and our identity. This isolation provides the environment necessary to have an internal dialog about where we are, who we want to be, and the impact that person will have on our life and the lives of others.

Is there any advice or tips you would like to leave the readers you intend to reach?

Complete the entire book. Though this is a simple read, make sure you stop at each exercise to maximize the opportunity to develop yourself beyond the surface. In almost every endeavor in life, rarely does success come down to our physical abilities. Success is often driven by the mindsets that we are willing to adopt & nurture. Be intentional about the mindset you want to gain from this experience.  

Is there anything else you would like to share?

No journey is too great for us to embark on. We simply must take it day-by-day until we arrive at the destination we desire. Stop underestimating yourself, for you are powerful beyond today’s current means.

How can readers get a copy of your book and connect with you?

You can preorder the Fire Your Job, Hire Your Passion on www.1stWroe.com/shop. The benefit of preordering the book is that your book will be signed, and you will have access to 3 virtual Q & A sessions with me. Each session will focus on one of the three sections in the book. 

You can learn more about 1stWroe at www.1stWroe.com or you can find me on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter @1stWroe.