Lone Eagles fly their own way

Lone Eagles, my name for a growing group of freelance professionals who are abandoning life in large cities and their positions in the 9-to-5 world to move back to small town America or an adjacent rural area, are getting increased attention by national media.

Lone Eagles are typically writers, analysts, brokers, accountants, attorneys, consultants, manufacturers' reps and others who live by their wits and remain connected to the outside world -- and the market for their services -- by faxes, modems, express mail and airplane tickets.

I believe there are 10 million potential Lone Eagles and their numbers grow with each corporate downsizing, each drive-by shooting that is answered by gun sweeps rather than gang sweeps, and each encounter with urban schools that place "feeling good about yourself" above reading, writing and counting.

Based on interviews with more than 100 Lone Eagles, one thing is clear: They are a diverse species. For starters, Eagles don't flock. They are found all over the place. Upscale Golden Eagles nest in places like Aspen, Palm Springs, Jackson Hole, Telluride; but Lone Eagles are found in all those places plus Brush, Montrose and Durango; Superior, Neb.; Rapid City, S. D.; Bend, Ore; Bozeman, Mont.; and Pocatello, Idaho.

Though scattered, there are some central tendencies. Lone Eagles are largely middle-class professionals. Most are in their most productive years -- 40-55 years old. They are married, though many waited till their late 20s or early 30s. Having married late and delayed child-bearing, many still have kids in school, so they care a lot about the quality of education.

Lone Eagles are not poor, but they're not rich, either. They typically have a net worth of $200,000 or more, most of which is in their home -- cash they acquire when they sell out to become Lone Eagles.

When they move, they often return to their home town or to a fishing hole where they have vacationed or to some other place they have learned about. Result: Lone Eagles pick communities, not the other way around.

When Lone Eagles move to their chosen community, they sink their roots. They settle in. The wife will run for the library board and the husband for the civic association board -- or vice-versa. They get involved. They give something back to the community they adopt.

Many Lone Eagles bring with them contracts worth $150,000 per year, and they don't require tax abatements or public subsidies as lures. Lone Eagles pay their own way and bring in new wealth from outside the community.

Lone Eagles are the first wave of those who are changing the way we live, work, play, learn and move around because of the telecommunications revolution. In fact, I believe that Lone Eagles, seeking a new way of life, may represent America's most important lifestyle change since the rise of the two-wage earner family in the 1970s.