Our first broadcast of Your Opportunity Knox, Knoxville's only talk radio show devoted exclusively to East Tennessee's small business community and heard every Saturday from noon to 1 pm on WNOX, we described today's new workplace phenomenon as the new "free-agent" economy. Unlike the baby-boomers who were promised and sought the security of working for a single employer for their entire working careers, today's workforce is quickly adapting to a rapidly changing work environment where millions of would-be employees are entertaining the nontraditional world of the self-employed...

As difficult as it may be to believe, the inspiration for this article came after putting $72.19 of regular unleaded gasoline into Judy's automobile.  In the few minutes it took to fill up, I began contemplating the tremendous impact that skyrocketing fuel prices had imposed on each of us.  While some of us shrug our shoulders wishing we could once again pay less than a dollar a gallon not uncommon to us a decade ago, we elect to fill up, perhaps foregoing an evening out each week. There are others, we are led to believe, however, that cannot simply forego any evening out that was likely never part of their normal routines to begin with.  Instead, we are told they face much more difficult choices...