The journey

Planning your we-conomy

Six stages, honestly mapped. Most collectives that fail do so in the first three years — and almost always for reasons that could have been anticipated.

Stage 1

Who are you doing this with, and why?

Before land, before legal structures, before role assignments — you need to know whether your group shares enough of the same vision to build together. This stage is about honest conversation: What does success look like in year 10? What are your non-negotiables? What are you each willing to give up?

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Stage 2

Find the right land before you fall in love with the wrong land.

Land selection is the most consequential and least reversible decision a collective makes. The cheapest land is cheap for a reason — and sometimes that reason is fine (sparse population, remote location) and sometimes it isn't (no water access, poor soil, flood zone).

Tool: Acreage calculator

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Stage 3

Structure your collective before you need to.

Most collectives defer legal and governance decisions until a conflict forces them. This is the single most reliable predictor of early failure. The collective needs a legal entity (LLC, LLP, or land trust are the most common), a written membership agreement, a clear income-sharing formula, and a documented decision-making process — before anyone moves onto the land.

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Stage 4

Map your people to the functions before you discover the gaps.

Once you have a committed group, inventory your skills honestly against the 24 roles. Most groups discover early that they have enthusiastic farmers but no mechanic; a great teacher but no one with medical training; three people who want to do governance and no one who wants to manage procurement. Better to know now.

Tool: Role coverage tool

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Stage 5

Do less. Do it well. Survive the first winter.

Year one collectives reliably try to do too much. The excitement of starting leads to overbuilding, overplanting, and over-committing — followed by exhaustion, conflict, and sometimes collapse by the second winter. Year one should be deliberately constrained.

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Stage 6

Build for succession. Plan for turnover. Protect the culture.

A we-conomy that reaches 10 years has solved problems that most collectives never face: membership turnover, the aging of founding members, the integration of children born into the collective, and the evolution of the original vision. Planning for these transitions from the beginning — not when they arrive — is what separates collectives that last from those that don't.

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