Consider Sue Thompson of East Carbon. She sells fishing lures. These are not just ordinary lures, but hand crafted, wooden lures. Working out of her home, she sells them through her web site, www.easterncedarlures.com.

She launched her web site a year ago, doing research beforehand on web sites, banner exchanges, fishing lure companies, and suppliers. At her web site, she has numerous links with fishing exchange organizations. “They’ve been invaluable,” she says. “The links give me such exposure. They give me an edge I wouldn’t have otherwise—especially living in a small county.

Once a month she gives away lures. “I’ve had people from Mexico sign up. I’ve gotten calls from Canada. There was one man doing a thesis in college on how to make lures. He lives in the Netherlands.”

Sue is grateful for the extended education program at the College of Eastern Utah, where she learned how to build a web site and run computer programs. “I found it challenging, but when you accomplish a process by doing it over and over, it becomes just plain fun.”

Her web site lessens the need to travel to promote her lures. Plus, she loves working out of her home. “I’m the director of operations and my son is the marketing person. It’s exciting to be starting a whole new business.”

Seven new people supposedly come on line every second, adding up to over a hundred million Americans who tap into the Internet. E-commerce promises to transform the way we do business, facilitating purchases and sales, data management, inventory control, as well as computer integrated design and manufacturing. Consumer transactions are expected to crack the trillion-dollar barrier in the next year or two. People are transferring funds, making credit card purchases, buying stocks, browsing electronic catalogues, and purchasing everything from cars to airline tickets online.

So what does that mean to rural areas like ours? A lot. It means that a small business serving a niche market, like Eastern Cedar Lures, can now market in similar niche markets throughout the world. It means that a company selling ostrich feathers in Oregon or a company selling spurs in Wyoming, for example, can now act like a much larger corporation by aggregating supply and demand. Its storefront need not be just Main Street, but the entire World Wide Web.

Mike Jones, assistant manager for Ace Hardware in Emery County, uses the Internet for inventory and ordering. “If we don’t have an item in the store, we can get the item shipped to us. Or if a customer wants, say, a hundred of something, we can access www.ourhouse.net, and it will tell us how many of those items are in the warehouse. If there are 250, we can take 100 out of inventory, and the site will indicate that there are 150 left. In addition, we can go over the Internet and download information on any particular department to find out which items are the best sellers elsewhere. We also use the Internet to return defective products.”

Jessica Madsen is an independent insurance agent for James Banasky Insurance in Price. Contact her about automobile insurance, and she will visit eight to ten (password protected) web pages to obtain quotes on charges and coverage. “I have access to all account information,” says Jessica. “Through the Internet, I can issue a policy or change coverage, adding a vehicle or driver or access a bill.”

Carolyn Abeyta of East Carbon is a bookkeeper. She relies on the Internet for preparing taxes for her clients. She connects to the IRS and the State of Utah to access forms and information. “It’s invaluable for asking questions. You don’t have to call and be put on hold. You can ask the question, do something else, come back, and the reply is in your mailbox.”

Indeed, we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the Internet as a business tool. Beyond the world of business, the Internet promises to transform education, entertainment, and the way we interact.

Sue Thompson has found the Internet a tremendous tool for the education of her four children. “Let’s face it. We have a limited number of books at the local library. The Internet is great for research. You can get all the papers and pull up any article you wish. Or you can go to the Library of Congress.’

Retired coal miner Larry Cologie, a 20-year resident of Emery County, uses the Internet to play games, exchange e-mails, and keep up on the sports results. “I can also find out what’s going on back in my hometown of Harrison, Ohio, by pulling up the county paper through countypost.com.”

Darlene DeBry of Emery County even bought a vehicle online. She had heard that natural gas supplier Questar was selling its surplus vehicles. Darlene went to www.questarsurplus.com, looked at the pictures of the vehicles, and put in a bid for a 1992 Ford Pickup that ran on natural gas. A week later she got a phone call from Questar saying that her bid had been accepted. Darlene says she is very happy with her purchase. Recently, she made another online purchase from Queststar, a cement mixer.

You could say that the World Wide Web has become the Information Age’s version of the old Sears catalogue that rural Americans once depended on for their retail needs. Businesses from the mail order clothing house, L.L. Bean (www.llbean.com) to J.C. Penney (www.jcpenney.com) have set up shop at their web address sites. Anyone for ostrich burgers? At one time you could go to www.molalla.com, the home page of Molalla Communications, and under businesses you could find an Oregon rancher selling ostrich products. He would ship the meat to you on dry ice. He has since retired, but I’m sure if you did a search, you would find someone on the planet selling ostrich meat. Whatever you want can be found on the Internet.

The beauty of the Internet is that no one owns it, and no one controls it. The government can’t quite figure out how to tax the transactions online. Pornography can be a problem, as well as hate groups, but overall, I believe the good far outweighs the bad. Usage of the Internet seems limited only by the imagination. Very soon, you will not need a computer enter cyberspace. You will only need the TV remote in your hand to e-mail China, play a game of hearts with someone in Germany, and order flowers for a friend next door—all while watching the Packers play the Jets.

To help you navigate cyberspace, we’ve listed some useful web sites. Look for this (as well as other tips) as an ongoing feature in our newsletter.

If you would care to share with us how you use the Internet, we’d love to hear from you. Let us know some of your favorite web sites. Please contact us at sales@etv.net. (top)