TRANSFORMATION by Tony Kwame Ansah Jr
9/5/2018
As imperfect humans, we don’t have all of the answers. However, there’s a perfect time and place to find a way to discover new skills and tools. Just Do It yourself has become a popular phrase now at days, especially when access to information is so radially available. For instance, I wrote and self-published several books about my lifetime experiences from very little knowledge on how to do it and plan to write more. Also, I have built websites from scratch with no prior expertise on how to graphic designs, but still found a way to do them for myself and others.
From the age of eight, I sold candies to mostly adolescents. Basically, I would buy these candies wholesale and sell them for retail. I then saved some of my profit and put the rest back into the childhood business. A couple of years later, I began collecting recycled cans and bringing them to recycle centers to get cash in return. Around the same time, I bought basketball cards and later sold them to enthusiasts. Down the road, I helped my parents with their office-cleaning business.
As a Ghanaian-American child of cornmeal, hot pepper sauce, and sardines, I learned how to handle and manage money at a very young age. Not too many can say that before teenage years. But I was able to do so ahead of my peers in elementary days outside of school at Linda’s Market on Mineral Spring Avenue. I continue to evolve and transform to find a way to be positive and productive. Shout out to mom and dad for teaching me how to play monopoly with real money!
Inspired by DIARY OF A GHANAIAN DIASPORA ENTREPRENEUR: Extended Version 2.0