The business end

What happens financially to members of a community that have to relocate  due to family reasons or community breakdown. 
Should young families not cashed up be worried about financial stability in case of breakdown or do members get a return on the time they put in.


Could a community be built around an intentional business?  Could people live and share a work roster?  Could a percentage of farm profits go back to members. 

Could i be chasing fairy tales? am I asking too many questions?

Jurassic wrote:

Could a community be built around an intentional business? 

Personally I think this might be the most likely to be a durable community - as people depend on each other for their living, not just rooming together, but making a living together.

See "Beyond Civilization" by Daniel Quinn.

That is part of our model - we have a 'family business' which pays our mortgage and some other substantial expenses. Been working for us for 43 years.

I've always thought a B&B would be a great business for a new intentional community - you buy a large run down building - a 'white elephant' in real estate terms.  Cheap.  That is your shelter - and you start renovating it to make it (a) what you want and (b) something that will draw customers.  Your price will start real low and rise as you renovate.  Running a B&B takes a lot of work, much of which isn't hard to learn, but its not that hard if you have lots of hands, and usually what I've seen in ICs is a surplus of low skill and moderate skill labor.

When we bought our first building in 1968 (before I showed up) it was condemned and scheduled to be demolished. It was 'affordable.'  Now we have a nice 3 story victorian -of course we are still renovating ....

I would like to see people at least end up with a little nest egg if they choose to relocate and a business model can provide that.  I'm worried about people becoming dependent upon the system.  if you spend a lifetime in a community and some unforeseen circumstances happen and you are not financially secure, it's going to be a difficult transition into the overpriced world.  I want to help people become more independent and strive for a greater future!

if you had a business model the farm would be profitable, every body gets a share of the profit one way or another.  you could offer incentives, like traveling the world and other parts of the country.  being locked into a community seems like it is a disadvantage to anyone wanting to see the world.  shouldn't it be embraced, i mean after all permanent culture is what we're all about.  seeing and experiencing other cultures is something we want our kids to pursue. 

if the community had separate enterprises, and separate leaders in those skill sets, we could learn from each other and still have the ability to be apart of something bigger.

i know that this is happening around communities at the moment, but how much is going back into communal events, holidays, travel, education. 

this is a quote from another thread that i thought is appropriate in this regard. 

"would i be crazy in thinking that we could just reward everyone else.  i know in the larger communities it would be more difficult. but what if you rewarded people for exceptional behavior.  I was thinking since the community would be so profitable there would be no reason the farm couldn't own holiday houses around the world and offer holidays for families.  i'm sure everyone needs to get away every now and then.  is this type of thing offered in communities at the moment?  you could offer point based reward systems...  you offer higher points for the shitty and important jobs and smaller points for fun filled activities.

i'm just using this as one example but there are many more "

i'm just not sure why this important factor is consistently looked over? is it not viable?