Bill has been speaking to audiences ranging from Fortune 100 companies to interested individuals straight off the streets for 25 years. Recently, Bill had an epiphany and adjusted his speaking to focus on people who are struggling with grief or tragedy, or just searching for meaning in their life. Drawing from a wild-ride life, Bill uses examples from his various experiences as a Marine, biker, award winning extreme sport professional, serial entrepreneur, and his decade in prison, to show all events have Purpose and even in the darkest of times, your life has meaning.
His search for Purpose in his own words:
On my seventeenth birthday I signed the papers to become a Marine. Four days later I was in boot camp, beginning a journey that would end four years later, but would shape my being for the rest of my life. I gained structure and order and an inner appreciation for the brotherhood and camaraderie that only something like the Marine Corps can instill.
There were moments as a Marine where I felt I had purpose, but they were fleeting. Guardian of my country's freedoms and watcher of my fellow Marine's "six" were heavy responsibilities that gave meaning when I was actively engaged in them. But in the quieter, more mundane moments, that sense of purpose was hard to hold on to. It faded in the drudgery of day to day life.
Fresh out of the Marine Corps, I missed the camaraderie and floundered in the loss of any sense of purpose being a Marine had given me. I quickly found another brotherhood to replace my fellow Marines, and it wasn't long before I was a patch-holding member of a motorcycle club that was gaining increased notoriety in the Mid-West. Like my time in the Marine Corps, I found moments of purpose when I was with my club brothers or actively working to further the club's causes.
My loyalty to the club, and my need for the meaning I felt that gave my life, blinded me to the realities of right and wrong. I allowed myself to spiral down the rabbit hole, at first blurring, then whole heartedly crossing, the lines of legality. My search for Purpose was pushed aside by the near constant efforts to survive, to avoid exposure and eventual capture by the law enforcement hot on my heels.
Disillusioned with the life of an outlaw biker and its consequences, I refocused and continued my search for meaning and purpose. I still thought it could be found in the "doing." Like so many other adrenaline junkies, I felt most alive when my blood was pumping at a fever pitch and the adrenaline flowed like flood waters through my veins.
I started skydiving and thrived on the rush that gave me. I immersed myself in the life, becoming an instructor, gaining my PRO rating (allowing me to do exhibition jumps into stadiums), and winning a silver medal at Nationals (the Olympics of skydiving).
Among other things, I added scuba diving, taking it to the limits I could reach, becoming a rescue diver and an instructor for nearly two dozen certifications. Like my time skydiving, I travelled the country and the world to partake. Like an addict, I kept searching for that next adrenaline high, chasing the rush and feel of "the first time," and always thinking and hoping that next fix would be the one.
As always, there were moments when I thought I felt I had Purpose. And as always, those moments were fleeting and quickly faded to leave me feeling lost and adrift.
While I chased the adrenaline fix, I drove myself to find success in the business world, thinking success would equal meaning and purpose. I became a successful, well respected, and highly sought software developer and trainer. I've been employed by many of the most famous Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, developing applications, creating databases, and/or training their IT people.
As sidelines, I created and helmed a number of additional businesses; most successfully, a couple not so much. From building custom motorcycles, to marketing, from event organizing to dark attraction props (haunted houses), I've been a serial entrepreneur. I've even been a wandering artist, creating works and selling them at fine art shows across the country.
Business success, was just that; success. But it didn't fill that hole in my soul seeking meaning, seeking Purpose.
All of the adrenaline rushes filled their moments with a vibrant life force, but didn't give me purpose beyond surviving the moment.
The brotherhood and camaraderie gave me responsibility and a sense of belonging, but didn't answer the why am I here question. Didn't give meaning to me.
All of these things made life interesting; often gave fun to the moment. While it was thrilling, none of it was fulfilling. All of it lacked true meaning.
It took a bought with PTSD and related depression to show me how truly lacking all of this was. I came out of that with an understanding of how full my life actually was, without any of those activities. I now understand that my life is full of purpose and full of meaning.
Life still isn't perfect, it still has its ups and downs, but through it all, I am comforted knowing my purpose for being alive. And currently, my Purpose is sharing this serenity with anyone who wants it.
Discovering your Purpose gives your life meaning.
Bill can help you discover the Purpose and Meaning your life ALREADY has.