About the Book

​Structurally, this book can be divided into four parts: ownership/entrepreneurship, business formation, production of goods and services, and expansion. These four parts correspond with the four phases of a business or the life cycle of a business. The first phase raises fundamental questions about entrepreneurship. Who is an entrepreneur? What does it take to become one? What streaks of character should an entrepreneur possess? Entrepreneurship Made Easy clearly spells out those attributes for the layman to understand. By examining the characteristics of good and successful entrepreneurs, Dr. Appiah underscores the point that there is a commonality of character traits among great and successful entrepreneurs. They are usually great visionaries who are endued with tenacity, patience, and focus. They are risk-takers who have a clear picture of the bigger goal ahead and the realistic steps to achieving it. They might not have the resources to kick-start or grow the business, but they know how to access available resources to make their dreams come true. They are fearless to dream big and big-hearted enough to conquer their dreams. They are human beings who are courageous enough to try, and fail, and try again. 

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Following the conceptualization stage of a business is the formation of that business. Establishing a business requires a lot of thoughtful considerations such as the kind of business structure – that is, Sole Proprietorship, General Partnership, Limited Partnership, C-corporation, S-corporation, and Limited Liability Company – the location of the business, the goods and services that will be offered, etc. These business structures have tax implications as well. Dr. Appiah has provided relevant information about the United States of America’s business environment to enable readers of this book to know how to register the different kinds of business options, the pros and cons of the various business registrations, the tax forms used in filing tax returns and the different lending options available in banks and other institutions. To a large extent, the location of a business – that is, whether virtual or actual or both – influences its registration, tax filing system, and marketing strategies. Knowing about such complex issues will certainly guide a conscientious entrepreneur into making informed decisions about the kind of business option to adopt.

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Decisions about the kinds of goods and services to offer our clients should not be taken for granted. In fact, it is our goods and services that define our businesses; they demarcate our lines of businesses. And the concept of business lines further introduce the notion of competition in the market. If we are in the line of business of selling cars, for example, we must be aware of the fact that there are other car dealers out there who are offering similar products. Thus, our decisions about the goods and services we offer should take into consideration our competitive edge in the market. That is, what new things are we bringing in our chosen lines of businesses that would attract customers to us. It is our competitive edges that will make us survive the competition inherent in the market place. To do business is to assert that one has something new and better to offer to customers; otherwise, their loyalties, habits, and tastes will remain with old business providers. Certainly, our decisions about goods and services must come with a knowledge of customer psychology and behavior.

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Whether we decide to operate on the same scale after launching our businesses or grow our businesses to a much larger scale should definitely be dependent on a lot of factors. Scaling up our businesses, on the one hand, implies an expected growth in our profit margins; on the other hand, it calls for an increase of our operational cost. It might involve the hiring of more staff and the bloating of our wage bills, buying more vehicles and other logistical items to facilitate operations, building more market outlets to increase sales, etc. And there are times when such cash-intensive plough-backs into our businesses do not yield the expected profit margins we envisaged, and our businesses run the risk of plummeting into disaster. This book has provided information on the different types of business expansions and the various caveats to guide our decisions.

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Wealth creation through business investment is a risky endeavor. Thus, to minimize the risk, one must go in with information and knowledge about how the business world works. While business success is often pictured in the luxury cars, fancy vacations, and five-star hotel conviviality of business tycoons, it takes a lot of hard work, stress, frustration, trials and errors to get there. Entrepreneurship Made Easy has provided the information that every entrepreneur needs to navigate the business world safely. The book is reader-friendly, and its contents of business terminologies are quite accessible to even a layman who is intending to start a business for the first time. The language of the book is mostly conversational, providing a step-by-step approach to an understanding of complex business concepts. Anyone who is thinking seriously about going into business must read this book.