Volume 17 Number 3 • 2004

Pioneering the Electronic Frontier

The Montana Job Training Partnership's Montana Choice demonstration project is bringing real choices for web-based self-employment to individuals with disabilities. A dozen Internet introductory presentations have already taken place in Montana communities from Plentywood to Darby. Online classes and hands-on skill-building workshops are available for Workforce Center customers in participating communities.

Heading up this electronic training effort is Frank Odasz of Lone Eagle Consulting in Dillon, Montana. Odasz has been a carpenter, oil field roughneck, dude ranch manager, college professor, and is now a "Lone Eagle," an independent instructional entrepreneur. He presented a program on e-commerce and telework at a recent Montana Workforce conference and was invited to participate in the Montana Choice project. Throughout the project he will work on developing rural e-commerce and telework strategies.

"Some rural folks are anti-technology and anti-literacy," says Odasz. "Many rural people are threatened by too much information and too much change and as a result the Internet is viewed negatively. But only through change and adaptation are rural communities going to thrive."

In January-February of 2004, Odasz barnstormed across Montana delivering twelve two-hour presentations about e-commerce on behalf of the project. Local Workforce Centers organized the trainings in computer lab facilities in schools and job service offices across the state. The sessions were open to the public and offered an online "beginner's guide" to the Internet and world of e-commerce. "eBay represents the easiest e-commerce opportunity and offers maximum flexibility for fast-track supplemental income", said Odasz.

Frank Odasz

Selling on eBay takes minimum technical training and is an easy way to get selling on-line and begin growing a business. In April Odasz followed up with four regional six-hour skills workshops on search engines and how to create web pages. People who attended were also invited to participate in the online course, A Beginner's Guide to Profiting from the Internet, which provided ten two-hour, hands-on lessons covering an overview of what's already working for others in the fields of e-commerce and telework.

"The Federal Government is mandating expansion in telework to save money and for national security reasons," says Odasz. Telework includes information processing of all types - data entry, typing case files, and medical transcription to name a few. As information becomes increasingly managed electronically, opportunities increase for telework. "How we deal with new knowledge will determine if we can create new opportunities. Instead of out-sourcing telework jobs to India, we should be training rural citizens to do this work",
added Odasz.

You can contact Frack Odasz at Lone Eagle Consulting, 2200 Rebich Lane, Dillon, MT 59725, (406) 683-6270, frank@lone-eages.com, http://lone-eages.com.