Young Guyanese aims to help others to maximise their potential

“I WANT to teach people to be great at what they do, how to succeed and how to be the best you can be and how to get better results; how to work fewer hours for more money. Stop working hard and start working smart!”

Those are the words of Raymond ‘Ray’ Harlall, a Guyanese-born entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, international speaker and business coach, who did not complete college, yet he owns and operates several businesses and is earning a six figure income annually.

Raymond, who has a passion to serve humanity, is on a mission to give back by sharing his knowledge, skills and expertise. He wants to share how to stop working hard and start working smart so that we can maintain perfect health, maximise wealth and ultimately, achieve peace
of mind.

The 29-year-old resident of Toronto, Canada, who is formerly from #56 Village East Berbice Corentyne, is on the verge of launching his third book ‘The Handbook to Holistic Health’ which he produced, published and co-authored with 20 other world-renowned experts through one of his companies, the Local Experts Group. He is the author of two other books, including one which he co-authored with New York Times best-selling author Dr. Brian Tracy. He is also the award-winning Author of “Financial Freedom by 30”, which has a Foreword written by New York Times best-selling author Raymond Aaron. Harlall owns and operates a large transportation company; inclusive of a trucking company, auto-sale, auto rental, taxi and driving schools internationally, in addition to his publishing company and video marketing companies.

Speaking with the Pepperpot Magazine, Harlall explained that he wants to produce and publish 20 books by 2020, so he can make himself more financially viable to return home to give back and help develop his country.

“I want to build an empire where I don’t need to be present to earn and am free to move around so I can dedicate my time to my homeland. I have a passion for helping youths and I see a lot of our youths in Guyana are very talented but need help, and I want to lead them in the right direction to help realise their full potential,” he said.

No stranger to struggle himself, the humble young man recalled his days at No. 56 Primary School before gaining passes to New Amsterdam Multilateral, where he spent a year but had to transfer to Skeldon Line Path Secondary School.

SELF-MADE
At age 14, he migrated with his family to Toronto, Canada where he completed high school and started college but opted to return to Guyana to pursue a degree in Civil Engineering. However, given his Canadian status he had to pay higher tuition rates and decided to return to Canada to work and attend college. Upon his return, he decided to start earning to pay for his tuition and worked fulltime as a labourer in a warehouse while attending part-time school on the weekends.

In a bid to elevate himself, he dropped out of college and started doing certification courses to move up the ranks in his company, firstly by becoming a forklift operator, then upgrading his license to become a hauler driver.

He continued by upgrading himself to a forklift trainer and started a YouTube channel giving instructional videos on driving and operating, and with the extra cash he eventually bought his own trucking company moving freight for Amazon and other companies within the US and Canada.

It was on one of these many trips from Canada to the US where he fell asleep at the wheel, however that became the turning point in his life.

“Fortunately I was okay [but] that basically woke me up. It took me falling asleep, risking my life to make money. At that moment I realised that money is not as important as my life and my health,” he said.

NEW DIRECTION
After getting a second chance at life, as he puts it, Harlall evaluated his life and recognised that in a bid to earn and live a celebrity-like lifestyle he was doing more harm than good to himself and decided to consult Dr. George Grant a Health and Wellness coach who is also a professor with the World Organisation of Natural Medicine, to help him on the road to healthy living.

The two formed a great relationship and recognising the fire and passion in him, Dr. Grant introduced him to his colleagues and after learning he had over a million views across 224 countries, they sought his help in reaching the younger population through his channel.
Raymond decided to go hands in and invested over $USD 50,000 in self-development instead of going to a traditional school (College). He went to seminars, training, workshops, read books, did online courses, received coaching and got several mentors for different aspects of life and business such as health and wellness, finance, writing, public speaking, real estate investment etc. and started the Local Experts Group.

FOLLOWING HIS DREAM
He then decided to pursue his boyhood dream of writing and did two successful books with renowned authors but he wanted more and he pitched his idea of doing a collaborative effort with Dr. Grant and his colleagues taking from his own successful journey.

The rest, as they say, is now history as what initially started as a collaborative effort with three to five authors is now a mega collaboration with 21 of the sharpest minds on the planet- all experts in their own fields including the Foreword written by one of the world’s number one motivational speakers, Leslie Calvin “Les” Brown.

Despite not yet officially released, the book and its launch titled ‘The Power of Collaboration’ slated for October 27, is an already eagerly anticipated event. On the day of the launch, the e-books will be available on Amazon at a special price.

Given that people can now purchase one book instead of 21 to get the best of the authors.

Ray is already looking at how he can produce 17 more books covering various sectors in as short a time as possible so he can focus on his goal of returning home and helping to provide guidance to those in need.

“ I want young people who have a passion; who really I see are trying and searching for answers. I don’t want them to spend their whole life searching, I want to help them to be the best at what they do,” he said.

A very strong advocate for local leaders and local development, Harlall is encouraging companies and governments to seek local expertise first before looking outside of the community or country, which is why he returned home in Guyana in 2015 for 25 hours just to exercise his franchise in the national elections.

Though already successful, he feels he has a long way to go in his bid for self-development but is happy that he has his wife, former Miss Guyana India Divya Sieudarsan, by his side to help him along the way.

His advice to those with dreams is, “Take the first step, even if you stumble and fall you would have already started making it a reality, but don’t be like most people who instead of trying, wait and make excuse that ‘I have to go to school first.’ Unless you get up and get it done, it won’t happen. You have options beyond the traditional routes. You can see yourself whole and learn how to balance all the parts in equal harmony.”