When starting a parallel economy business or community, you have to decide between courting attention, or flying below the radar.

Obviously a typical business needs attention to attract customers. But sometimes that attention can bring unwanted scrutiny from the government.

To be clear, you shouldn't be doing anything illegal. But there is plenty of gray area. Who is the government to demand you receive licenses and permission for mutual trade between consenting adults? I'd argue those laws themselves are unconstitutional.

But that won't save you from the authorities. It's not morally wrong to break these laws, but it is not a good strategy to remain free and build prosperity either.

Under such a scenario, you have to structure your offerings carefully to keep from being hassled.

For example, raising, slaughtering, and selling meat is highly regulated. But selling livestock is not. You can sell a living animal (or a share in the animal), agree to continue raising it on your land, and when ready, slaughter the customer's animal, and deliver them their meat.

This is perfectly legal if you follow a few basic rules-- you have to deliver the actual meat from the specific animal owned by the customer, and it has to be labeled property, not for sale.

It is also perfectly legal to share the meat with guests and even employees, though it is not legal to charge for it under those circumstances. (This raises some interesting strategies such as "paying" employees in meat... but that's a subject for another time.)

Again, this "cow share" business is perfectly legal, but that doesn't mean you won't be hassled over it.

If you go out and advertise to the world how you are using a loophole to sell your meat, you put a target on your back. Authorities will look for an excuse to get you on a violation and make an example of you, or at least waste your time in the process of investigating you for nothing.

Running such a business therefore is an example of when you would want to fly below the radar, and be careful about how you drum up new business-- word of mouth, new customers introduced by old customers, likeminded friends, neighbors, and family, etc.

Clearly, I am taking the opposite approach, and courting attention. And for the right types of businesses, this can also give you protection.

There are largely no regulations that would hamper the parallel economy business I want to create (the community I've talked about). Sure, some of the bureaucratic steps to remain compliant will be annoying, but worth it in my estimation to be left alone by the authorities.

As I've mentioned, the plan in the beginning stages is to actually make money and expand by creating media content showing people what we are doing-- building a self sufficient property, offering young folks an alternative learning experience to college, etc.

By showcasing exactly the type of wonderful world we are trying to create, we get ahead on the messaging. The government can't smear us as a dangerous cult, because people have been watching us grow on their own screen for years before we really even register on the government's radar.

People can see we are living clean, healthy, and offering people products, services, and a lifestyle they crave. And a groundswell of public support in the face of unjust persecution from the government can offer protection.

For example, look at the Bundy Ranch folks-- they won an armed standoff with the government, in part because so many people were watching.

I certainly never plan to be in that position, especially doing everything perfectly legally. But the point is even when they were accused of crimes, public attention gave them protection.

Those are my main points about choosing between courting attention, and flying below the radar, but feel free to continue the discussion in the comments!