by Case Lane

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs have a long, dynamic impact on the economy, and society in general.  If you look at the great grand inventions like electricity and automobiles and planes – you can quickly conclude that entrepreneurs are basically indispensable to progress.

Now as our society evolves and changes with technology, what is the role of entrepreneurs? 

In the documentary, Consume this Movie, they put the transition of human labor like this: when human beings first became settled around farms, they traded with each other using barter – you do something for me, I’ll do something for you and it’s even. 

When cities were formed the farmers could sell their goods – grain, fruits and vegetables to the city dwellers and buy stuff they need for the farm – equipment, tools, implements – goods for goods on an individual basis. 

When the industrial age came around, large groups of people left the farm and gave their time and their labor in exchange for money, they earned in large organized industrial enterprises which required concentrations of labor at a time so you traded – time for dollars. 

Now in the technological age, we have a new trade going on for human brainpower – information, knowledge and how-tos.  Which means entrepreneurs are among the best positioned people to take advantage of this evolution.  Because 21st century entrepreneurs like you are all about the application of knowledge, and the distribution of information.

Are you ready to be part of the Brainpower Age?

The brainpower required in the digital age means that instead of needing to have a certain type of body to do a job, you need to have a certain type of mind.  One that can think and produce results through your ability to analysis and act.

An entrepreneur is a brainpower person regardless of the type of product or service you are delivering to the global marketplace.  You have to figure out first where you can add value.  This requires observation, contemplation and curiosity about the opportunities around you.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, the Digital Age is a set-up that’s tailor-made for your chosen pursuit.  Since you are already that person who is looking at the world critically and looking for opportunities.  You are not just going passively go through life.  Even when you may be working at your 9-to-5 or studying in school, you are actively looking at the world, and wondering where you can make your contribution.

This constant firing of your brainpower eventually leads to a spark that creates a business that provides a solution for those who want or need your product or service offering.

The evolution of our labor force towards a more knowledge-based individual is sweeping you up from your position as an entrepreneur.  This inevitability is exciting and loaded with possibility.  The knowledge you gain building your business can translate across other enterprises.

Many entrepreneurs do not build just one business, so your brainpower skills, the successes and challenges, are continuously worthwhile in an advanced economy.

Some may believe the Brainpower Age is going to limit the majority of humans from finding productive employment because, unlike during the agrarian and industrial ages, the thinking you have to do requires analysis that people do not typically use.

Without an education system that encourages analytical thinking, many people will rise to adulthood and not be able to cope with the demands of the tech age.

The transition has already begun, but it’s important to understand, the current lapse is not a permanent state.  The education system just happens to be behind the times, eventually people will catch up.

The Tech Age is Designed for Entrepreneurs

For entrepreneurs, technology is actually designed to allow thinking people to participate in the new economy without having to code.  How often do you see new software that specifically says – no coding required.

Living in the Brainpower Age is not an untouchable reality if you are not an engineer or computer programmer.  You can take advantage of online tools by learning how to use them, or you can use online services to outsource to another individual who is willing and capable of doing the work.

In all cases, you are participating as an entrepreneur in this economy because you are thinking for yourself, and developing your contribution based on your own analysis.  What makes you part of this evolution is your ability to look at the world differently – and to act on what you see. 

Take Action

As Tony Robbins says – knowledge is not power, execution is power.  You have the knowledge when you see opportunity that you can develop as an entrepreneur.  But you become an entrepreneur when you execute on that knowledge and build your business. 

And you execute really well, when you use existing technology resources to make your business move forward.  You can get your landing page or website up and be doing business all over the world without being a computer programmer.  But you do have to know and understand how to use the software tools that are available.

The difference for today’s entrepreneur is you have to be willing to adapt and experiment even with established software because there are so many features available.  Microsoft Office products have been around for 35 years, which is amazing – and although there are tens of millions of people who use its core products like Word and Excel – there are probably not more than a handful, if any, who know what all the features are.

You, as an aspiring entrepreneur, take the features that are of interest to you, and adapt them to your business.  You can share documents across borders, and people do not need an explanation of how to use the features either.  Everything is just available.

In my fiction books, in the Life Online series, which take place in the near future are about global cyber threats. But the underlying societal situation involves a world where most people are docilely functioning under an omnipresent Network, and thinking people like entrepreneurs are taking advantage of technology to give themselves a better life.

You want to be using your brainpower to ensure you capture the gains of tech change and minimize the losses. 

Summary: Your Opportunity as an Entrepreneur in the Digital Age

• We are past the time when you bartered and traded your production equally with someone else
• We are past the time when you produced goods with your labor and sold them for goods that others produced
• We are past the time when you traded your hours for dollars in organized industrial enterprises
• Now is the time you can use your brain to create from your imagination, observation and analysis, a valuable product or service that you can deliver directly to those who want or need it
• As an entrepreneur today, you are participating in the evolution of the labor force and society by being someone who is actively not only observing, but also taking action
• You provide value through thinking and organizing knowledge in a way that people want and need to absorb it
• And you create a community, tied to your vision and your brainpower

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