Here are some ways that are working for me so far:
- Getting mobile. Being flexible and mobile for chunks of time allows for in-person visits, getting-to-know-you time, deeper relationships, and those long meandering conversations that lead to more leads (including those that don't have online presence).
- Using ic.org to find communities I'm interested in, plan routes, and reach out. Proactively contributing to work and being pleasant to have around.
- Visiting a variety of communities with the gentle goal of learning more about myself and what I want. There are lots of people out there living in lots of creative and intricate ways. Narrowing down what I want and don't want, but being open to changing my mind.
- Attending the Communities Conference in Virginia over Labor Day weekend (
https://communitiesconference.org/).
- Making friends who have similar lifestyle desires to mine and getting introductions to their friends who they think I'd really like, and so on... and sharing what we learn as we explore networks of people and ideas.
- Personal work. Cultivating myself to be the kind of person that people I want to be around want to be around.
I've observed that some intentional communities (groups of people living together, often alternatively) have online presence, and some don't. I think that groups are more likely to have online presence if they are (a) large (b) recruiting and (c) more techno-typical. I've observed lots of groups of people living together with no need or desire for online presence.
