Creating and operating profitable solo work-from-anywhere digital businesses

I want to welcome my new friend Chris Elliott to the Lone Wolf Tracks blog and the amazing world of Internet business.  Chris is a high school senior about to make a choice between colleges and is interested in entering the business world after school is completed.

Chris reminds me that there is a legion of potential Lone Wolf candidates among us - the future business leaders that will blossom in the coming generation.  Most of the attention I pay to solo business owners goes to those who have a wealth of knowledge and experience under the belt.

But there is no logical reason why young Lone Wolves can't exist, and even thrive in today's online business environment.  In fact, it will become harder and harder to distinguish the age of the business owner as time goes on because the demographics of the work force are changing significantly.

There was a time not long ago that conventional wisdom taught us all to land a good job with a solid company, build up tenure and longevity, move vertically through the ranks with a progression of promotions, accumulate personal wealth through saving and investing in a 401K, and retire at 65 with a pension and a nice little savings nest egg to spend in the golden years.

Oh, how times are changing!

Solid companies are going bankrupt, being folded into mega multi nationals, and experiencing downsizes in employment and reductions in employee retirement packages, even for the company elite.

Entire industries and marketplaces come and go at a blistering pace.  The ride is dizzying and the stakes are high for anyone that steps off the curb into the business fast lane.

It's amazing to me that the curriculum in most high schools, and even in colleges (to a lesser extent), barely includes education and training in small business development.  With the number of new small businesses popping up all over the globe now and in the near future, it seems to me that our educational system is letting our young people down.

Small business development education is typically a hands-on, learn as you go, on the job training type of learning.  But there is a set of basic business principles and skills that could very effectively be taught to young people, regardless of the business subject, that would help them avoid common pitfalls and learn the "correct" or accepted methods of business operation.

Young people like my friend Chris are hungry for helpful information.  They recognize that their life's path probably won't be set or controlled by a large corporation.  They want help, guidance, and information now that will allow them to chart their own course and succeed and profit from their own ideas and hard work.

I am continually amazed at the strength, creativity and resourcefulness of today's young people.  As I look at them, and compare what I see to my own carefree (more like careless) attitude when I was in high school, I have every hope and reason to believe that the world will be a much better and kinder place with the coming generation at the helm.

Before it's too late, and as we prepare to hand the business ball off, it's my hope that successful entrepreneurs with a wealth of personal knowledge and experience will step forward and offer their insights and wisdom to next wave of entrepreneurs standing in the wings soon to be taking center stage.

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