I think the original idea was that they'd use the money generated from alpaca wool products to then run a pro-bono transgender safe haven, and the GoFundMes were to help them get equipment to get into the black. Then there were various other attempted projects (the recycling project, the Navajo charity programme, general handyman/renovation work) which went nowhere due to incompetence, and by then they'd gotten addicted to the income off the GoFundMes. But Penny's original aspiration was they'd make loads of money off of being a profitable ranch, he just did no research on the fact that alpacas are not profitable and then kept accepting free alpacas (and one vicuña).
I do like to think they were dumb enough to believe this, for several months even, until the fact that people were glad to offload alpaca to them must have eventually started a nagging doubt that just perhaps they weren’t all that profitable…
As far as it seemed at first, they (Mostly Penny, but Bonnie too, Kevvie and Jen are fucking idiots so just took Penny at his word) really seemed to believe in their pipedream of reliable and ethically sourced wealth from Alpaca wool, with arriving Troons keen to work as hard as Penny after a week or two of being dysphoric, getting over their issues rapidly and becoming earth mothers with a natural way and attunement to the land and animals.
If one is naïve, which most people are, to the realities of woolen garments and the supply chain, then the fact that clothing labeled as alpaca wool being expensive to buy, it would look like a profitable venture.
A lot like how loads of people assume that because they like eating in restaurants they will open a successful restaurant, or because people tend to say they like their music taste, they will make a good DJ.
Or even seeing those TV shows about buying abandoned storage units or house clearance sales thinking they will find vast fortunes in forgotten jewelry and collectors items.
They don't fully grasp the training, business acumen and supporting industries, legal and licensing concerns, health and safety and all other issues of making a business profitable, let alone a very niche area.
Or the fact that to make money from this venture they must have exactly the right contacts, an extensive network of them, and they will be competing with more experienced and better-connected rivals.
Plus, the reason few people are doing it is because it is a small market. While there can be money in such things, there is not automatically money to go around.
Then running a communal home and dealing with drifters and freeloaders who show up, with even the ones willing to work being inexperienced and unused to the labors of farm life, not only does that eat into costs, it creates a further concern as they found themselves being expected to be responsible for the mental and physical health of these fuckers.
Even if Penny is kind of a psycho, I do believe that out of all of them his heart is somewhat in the right place, and he just got more paranoid and crazy dealing with all of this stress compounded with the fact that it was nothing like how he pictured it.
The rest are just shitty people. Jen and Kev are selfish childmen and Bonnie wee Boner is just a stupid narcissist who chases crazy but genuine vagina.
