he Internet isn't just revolutionizing communications, it's creating opportunities for thousands of new entrepreneurs. Cyber-paperboy Blair Schmittel, 16, has wired 30 customers in Utah's Heber Valley to the Internet through his startup company, Cyber-Naut, an Internet service provider that he runs from his suburban bedroom.

Though a seemingly big leap from his previous job milking cows at a nearby dairy, this Eagle Scout's willingness to work odd hours (his day begins at 4 a.m. at the farm) was essential to his success in cyberspace. At first, Blair found it difficult to nod off among the equipment. But now "I can sleep to 117 LEDs constantly flashing, six computer fans, and the squeal of a modem as a user connects," Blair reports. "Now my alarm clock has a hard time waking me up."

Stacy Horn, 39, a New York novelist-turned-electronic salon mistress, set up East Coast Hang Out (ECHO) as a way to surround herself with artists and writers. Today, ECHO is a virtual hangout for some of the best and the brightest of the country's digi-literati. The Whitney Museum of American Art and Ms. magazine host online forums on the website, and the electronic bulletin boards buzz with lively, literary exchanges. Unlike the big online services, whose literary chat rooms can make you feel like you're at the Howard Johnson's piano bar, Stacy's electronic cafe is out of the mainstream. "I want it to be a local scene," she says. "It's an alternative service to the big guys. It's The Village Voice compared to The New York Times."

For Cliff Kurtzman, 36, a former contractor for NASA and now president of Tenagra, an Internet services company, making the jump from aerospace to cyberspace was a logical move. "I recognized that some of today's greatest opportunities and challenges lie not in outer space but in cyberspace," he said. "Today I run a company focused on helping businesses and organizations use the Internet to communicate with others, to reach out to their communities, and to tell their stories.

"The evolution of the Internet and its commercial growth over the past couple of years has transformed my company from a small business with a strictly local market into an exponentially growing company with an international client base. Each day is a new challenge and a new adventure. I've had the opportunity to put Harley-Davidson on the information superhighway, and to create and publicize online resources that will help people solve the coming year-2000 computer crisis.

"I've helped people find lost loved ones, participate in the political process, and get involved with their local charities -- all over the Internet."