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Sky's The Limit EarthLink's founder tells how he found his fortune on the Net - and how you can, too.

By Robert J. McGarvey

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The internet is an enticing but treacherous business arena--forevery company that has prospered, hundreds have been mauled in afast-moving, continuously changing marketplace. Basic access is acase in point: Just five years ago, the giant online accessproviders were Prodigy and CompuServe. Now Prodigy is strugglingfor survival as it fights against bruising newcomers such asAmerica Online (AOL) and Microsoft Network, while CompuServe hasbeen gobbled up by AOL.

But in the midst of this warfare, one company founded threeyears ago by a 23-year-old has kept humming along and today ranksas the nation's third largest Internet Service Provider (ISP),with upwards of 350,000 members.

"We keep our eye on the customer. That's where ourfocus is, and it's the key to our success," says SkyDayton, who, at 26 years old, presides as chair of Pasadena,California-based EarthLink Network Inc. "We deliver theservice customers need to have a satisfying Netexperience."