Marlon George: “From one awesome business to another …creating an awesome system”
Our vision is to build an awesome business that supports other awesome businesses… by providing business efficiency through outsourcing.”
Karateka Marlon George is on a mission to save every local business owner or self-employed person from the tedious but necessary tasks of back office work – doing the accounts, ensuring NIS and GRA compliance, etc, so that they can focus on doing more of what makes them great – their core business.
Marlon George
Solutions Pro, the business support outsourcing company he owns with his wife, Melisa, offers a risk-free, money-back guarantee that all of its clients’ accounting, administrative and financial documentation needs will be met, so business owners can let go of those tasks with confidence they are being done correctly.
George sees Solutions Pro as a flexible and responsive strategic partner to each client, as its worry-free back office services provide cost savings and a competitive advantage by putting information in businesses’ hands to help them make informed decisions for growth, as well as time savings in providing freedom from most paperwork.
For the father of two, organisation and meticulous care and thought underlie every faucet of his life. “I continue to look for more efficient ways to get things done. I work with a schedule.” He cites as his influences motivational speaker Anthony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki of <<<Rich Dad, Poor Dad>>> fame, business thought leaders John Maxwell and Stephen Covey, and Vishnu Doerga on the local front.
The Georgetown native’s journey into business ownership has been a challenging one, but one he does not regret. For those of us who do not have business DNA – no history of business ownership in our families – entrepreneurship is fear-inspiring, he says. But a quote used by John Maxwell inspires him: “There are two important days in a person’s life – the day you are born and the day you discover why”. George added: “Fear is excitement with brakes… [it] stands for ***F***ail ***E***arly ***A***nd ***R***esponsibly, then pick yourself up and go again.”
“You need to get fed-up of your current situation (whether it’s the paycheque that’s done two weeks into the month) to enable you to realise your purpose and give you lasting reason to do what you need to, to grow (into business or better employment),” he stressed in citing the first of the lessons he has learnt along the way. Second, remove your limitations – the thoughts of you’re not bright enough, good enough; you don’t have enough money, get rid of them. “The most powerful capital that you need is between your ears – your brain….talk to the right people – those who are doing what you want to – ask for their advice. The third lesson George shared builds on the second: “It is important that you do the learning for whatever you want to do so that you can do it well and set the standard. [Then], you just need to do” – execute your plan.
The Christianburg Secondary and Linden Technical Institute graduate continued, “Understand that you need to be persistent and have patience. Success does not happen overnight: it is a process.”
He further advised entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs that they needed to understand what their clients were looking for and to speak their language.
In forecasting Solutions Pro’s path in the current economy, George says because his business is service-oriented and a business-to-business provider, its trajectory is firmly upwards as he anticipates an explosion in demand.
When asked what could be done to assist entrepreneurs, especially when starting up their businesses, the independent contractor said organisations and Government need to continue providing practical business training – but across the length and breadth of Guyana. In acknowledging the Small Business Bureau, IPED, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and ScotiaBank for providing practical help as well as loans or grants, George suggested that these entities widen their scope to capture more budding entrepreneurs while popularising their offerings so that the populace will know where specifically to get help. He stressed that Government should start a national conversation on entrepreneurship to have discussions on what support is needed – possibly tax breaks for small businesses— and the ideas Guyanese have that may change the world and how to make them work.
However, he highlighted that belief in one’s self is the most important trait of an entrepreneur.
“A lot of dreams have died with a lot of people, because they weren’t confident and never allowed themselves the possibility to realise that dream for whatever reason. I think it’s criminal when there is an absence of systems and discussion to help make that [entrepreneurship] happen and people make a contribution.”
“Success is relative… It is whatever you idealise it to be. ***I**** believe success is being able to impart value from your experience to impact the lives of others positively and leave a legacy.”
