Published September 30, 2013
lightbulb growing on plant - microsoft outlook clip art.jpgWhere am I going to focus my attention next (aside from client work)?

Here’s the overview of my idea.  If you find you’re interested, I invite you to keep an eye out for more to come.

It’s been almost four weeks since I gave my presentation at the Twin Oaks Communities Conference.  My presentation was on choosing a legal structure, and tax status, for egalitarian communities.  You can learn about the substance of my talk, by checking out this blog post.

In order to prepare for that presentation, I had to zoom deep into the legal and tax weeds of one particular strategy.  That is, I needed to research the legal and tax details surrounding one way  that people might live their egalitarian or hybrid RBE values: egalitarian communities.

Unfortunately, in doing that research I ran headlong into some legal and tax challenges with the strategy.  While the challenges would present little problem for some potential egalitarian community founders and joiners (whom I hope to help as clients), they could be deal breakers for others.

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As detailed in my blog post talk handout, the “outside income” of professionals and others must be kept to an absolute minimum.  That was a downer for my husband and I, as we had been excited about the idea of someday founding or joining an egalitarian/hybrid RBE community ourselves.  The trouble for us is, at least right now, we’re pretty committed to our current “outside income” arrangements.  Not that we’ve given up hope in this strategy for ourselves – not by a long shot – but we do feel a bit “blown back,” if you will, by my discoveries.

Given the above, when the conference was over, I concluded that it might be time to zooooooom out again.  That is to say, before diving into the weeds of my next legal research project – or the egalitarian communities one again – I decided to back way out of the weeds.

So, my plan is to step back . . .

and take a 40,000 foot view of broader questions like:

When I imagine a “new economy” (and an RBE or “hybrid” RBE in particular), what elements or values underlying that vision are most critical in my mind?

To what extent might I want and be able to live, or otherwise promote, those values now?

How do I choose between those different “now” options?

So, if such questions interest you, keep your eyes peeled for my future posts!  And feel free to contribute your thoughts in the comment area below as well!