Part of the free course Conscious Coliving in Action: Practical Steps to Getting Started. Prefer it paced? Get it by email — one lesson a day.

Day 7: Creating your CC space

Hello conscious human,

I can’t stress enough how much of a big topic this is–we could write a whole series on this. However, that isn’t practical at this point in time, and perhaps you’re more interested in gaining an overview of the work involved than a comprehensive ‘how to’.

By now you should have an idea of the people, the plan, the vision, the set-up, and the agreements that are needed for your space. If you need a reminder, check out the previous lesson.

So, what's next? It’s time to create 😄.

#1 Take your time to create the vision

Going slow in the implementation phase is equally crucial. Creating a vision document will often take a minimum of a few months with a small well-aligned group and more than a year for larger more diverse groups. You probably want your visioning group to be 3-5 people and preferably less than 10.

A clear vision document also feeds into supporting how you will initiate people into the community, which is also a process not to be rushed. Investing time in the beginning supports growth and expansion later on.

#2 Find a place to live

Creating a conscious co-living space begins with the fundamental step of finding the right place. This involves ensuring it meets earlier considerations you may have had such as accessibility, environment, number of rooms and the layout of the space.

The ideal space should align with the envisioned community’s values and lifestyle. Conducting thorough research to really understand how connected or remote you could be in this place, what is available at the local shops, how accessible (emergency) services, schools, and conveniences are is vitally important. This can be aided by engaging with local real estate agents and leveraging online platforms to discover suitable properties. Additionally, involving the core group in visiting potential locations helps in collectively assessing compatibility with the community's vision and needs.

Equally important is ensuring that you understand the local culture and the types of people who already live in the neighborhood. Wild Wild Country, the Netflix documentary is an example of how Osho’s commune went from hopeful in its new home to destructive because the local community and culture had not been researched when they were sourcing potential locations.

#3 Financing a place

Securing the financial aspect of acquiring the space for a conscious co-living community may involve a multifaceted approach beyond traditional funding sources. While avenues like crowdfunding, cooperative loans, and impact investors remain pivotal, exploring alternative income streams within the community itself can significantly contribute to financial stability. Whatever you decide, make sure you have gained suitable financial advice from appropriate sources for you.

One obvious avenue involves leveraging rent from co-livers who join the community in the trial phase, although experience has often shown that it is important for people to be able to become owners eventually. Further, having a business model not reliant on people staying generates a safer way to receive income that doesn’t get entangled with the community itself.

Having different income streams strengthens your financial footing. Consider sharing existing resources, like event-worthy spaces, workshops, or even filming locations, as one such additional source. But be mindful, the retreat center model is a difficult business model which can add further strain and stress.

The main goal is to foster a self-sustaining ecosystem where contributions from colivers can play a pivotal role in sustaining the community's growth and development but shouldn’t be the only avenue considered.

Distinguishing between co-op living and social impact investing is critical. Social impact investing is an approach that channels money towards businesses, organizations, or funds aiming to solve specific social challenges like poverty, education access, or healthcare inequality. While seeking financial returns, these investments prioritize achieving measurable positive impacts on communities and individuals, aiming for a win-win outcome for both people and profit.

While traditional co-ops bind individuals to a space despite changing preferences (i.e. people will continue to live there even if they no longer like it, which can be very disruptive), a conscious coliving community must navigate this by establishing transparent exit strategies, which we recommend having clearly outlined and highlighted in your agreements. Clear agreements that respect individuals' evolving needs while upholding the community's integrity need to be developed. This separation allows for a sustainable model where investors support the community's mission without compromising personal autonomy.

🌋 Establishing requirements that mean it is not too easy to leave, means that those who do ‘buy in’ are really in it because they feel aligned to the community. If it is too easy to leave, it can create a real or implied disruption to its members which results in a fragile foundation. Equally important is ensuring that the time period to leave is realistic to ensure that a rush doesn’t impact one party financially i.e. helping to ensure that market rates are honored when selling their share.

#5 Adding new members and how to enroll people after the core group

🔮 Beware magical thinking - the community needs to be grounded in logic, research, experience and reality because as Diane Leafe-Christian notes “the community process tends to trigger faster-than-normal spiritual and emotional growth."

As your space evolves, old members may leave or you may want to expand, and therefore, integrating new members into the established community requires a thoughtful approach to ensure a smooth transition for all parties.

Ways to help assess compatibility or really allow individuals to experience the community and take an integrated approach with initial lower levels of investment is through utilizing retreats or structured programs. Learning from examples like Plum Village, where staged entry programs help gauge alignment of values and lifestyles and also allow time for mutual evaluation, can help to ensure a smoother assimilation process and ultimately longer term retention and engagement.

Be mindful that even admitting one bad apple can destroy a community or simply take a lot of energy both individually and collectively 🍏. If in doubt about introducing a new member, ensure this is raised with the community, and from our experience, airing on the side of caution and saying no is usually best, as our instincts can often sense things our brains can’t register.

#6 Get them invested

People show up differently when they are invested in the cause, the movement, the vision. To get this investment, highlighting to people that it’s not that easy, i.e. you can’t just show up and pay, can offer huge benefits towards creating and aligning with truly dedicated members of the community. As we have stated multiple times, we recommend a trial period for all new members. This trial period works best when it is framed as an immersive initial experience which is designed around a structured timeframe. Initially there should be no expectation set that they will be able to continue after the defined time period, which we recommend as at least 6 months, although ideally a year. We also recommend staging the membership process, having stages that each member must fulfill before they can move on to the next. As Irwin Wolfe Zucker, a psychiatric social worker and former member of Findhorn and other communities says, “If your community front door is difficult to enter, healthy people will strive to get in”.

#7 People need to feel ownership and have a say to take responsibility

Empowering individuals to have a voice, responsibilities, and a stake in decision-making ultimately fosters a sense of ownership and accountability. This cyclical relationship between responsibility and ownership cultivates a cohesive community where members are all invested in its collective well-being.

Action time

As you can see from the past two days, crafting a new conscious coliving space takes time, energy and investment, and it isn’t for the faint of heart. It can be a truly rewarding experience with the right community and preparation, but you have to be willing to be fully dedicated and in it for the long run.

The creation phase also takes a lot of time and dedication to ensure it is set up on a strong foundation. Setting up a space is not for the faint hearted and requires a willingness to invest long-term. Being realistic with yourself and getting to grips with the true reality of setting up a space will help you to understand if this is really a calling, or just a utopian dream.

✍️ Take some time to reflect on each of the points today and jot down anything that arose for you? ✍️ Call together your co-founders and start an initial vision mapping session. ✍️ Consider some of the ways can you ensure people feel onwership within the community?

In the final lesson we pull together everything from the course in our final wrap up 🎁!

Lauren & the Life Itself CoCo 🥥 team

If you have any feedback on the course, we’d love to hear it: [email protected]

P.S. This course is brought to you by Life Itself - https://lifeitself.org

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