Basics
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Basics
Practice
Downloads
Contribute
To get started, you need a few people who will accept your Minuto vouchers. If you don't have a network of people using Minuto, the following tips and ideas might be of help.
The easiest way is if you can join people in your area already using Minuto. Here are a few ways to find them:
For Austria, Germany and Switzerland: Check this Minuto marketplace to look for people in your region who offer goods or services for Minuto and contact them. If you can't find anyone there, create a free user account on this marketplace, publish an ad with the name of the future Minuto group as its title, select the acceptance area and write in the description that anyone interested in a regional group can contact you.
Seach in online directories for Minuto. The Map of tomorrow for example provides information on offers and initiatives about a life and an economy for the common good. There you also find initiatives, groups or businesses that use Minuto, and sometimes details about Minuto events, too.
If you use the instant messenger service Telegram, you can ask in the group Minutochat (in English or German) if there are people in your area who use Minuto or are interested in starting a group.
Ask in communities where there are potentially people who use or are interested in Minuto, for example in Social threefolding groups (antroposophy), women's associations, Economies for the Common Good (ECG), trade associations, H.e.l.f.a., in church communities, eco-villages, permaculture groups, barter rings or Transition initiatives.
If you can't find a Minuto group near you, start one yourself! Find out here how to do it.
Initially, the concept of Minuto was created in and for Germany. If you live elsewhere you need to check the legal and tax situation for the respective jurisdiction. Please consult a lawyer and a tax advisor before you go public.
It should be clarified, inter alia, whether and in what extent Minuto may be issued and used as a complementary currency in the respective jurisdiction, who is allowed to issue/use it (age of life, viability) as well as which minimum validity and other contractual conditions are specified by the law.
In order to issue and circulate Minutos, you need two guarantors. To get started right away, simply meet with at least three interested close friends, - one of the same gender as you and two of the other. You agree on what amount per person you will issue Minutos, issue them and stamp and sign them for each other. The two guarantors must be of different genders, see rules.
At the end of the meeting, you will have Minutos that you can distribute to other people, advance to them (see minuto credit book) or give as a gift. If you need more Minutos, just meet with your friends again.
The Minuto Game is suitable both for introducing the use of Minuto to people in a wider circle of acquaintances in a practical way and for expanding an existing Minuto network. Especially people who master a craft or offer food are welcome in Minuto networks. Read more at The Minuto Game.
Here are a few ways you can raise awareness about Minuto.
*) see also Info material
A key advantage of Minuto is that it strengthens the region. The vouchers are only the means (of payment) to an end. Therefore, the information should primarily emphasize local cooperation and strengthening of the region, only secondarily the currency. For this reason, it can be useful to immediately refer to other alternatives such as other local, regional, community or digital currencies or the gift economy.
For more opportunities for existing Minuto groups, see below.
Besides the above mentioned Quick Start and the Minuto Game there are other possibilities:
Organize a minuto market where everything can be paid only in Minuto. You then need to offer a kind of exchange office where legal tender can be exchanged into Minuto.
Organize a Minuto talk for friends, acquaintances or selected customers (ideally those with whom you are on a first-name basis). The communities mentioned above could also be suitable audiences. See the Videos page for examples of talks. A talk can be combined with a Minuto Game.
To learn how to use Minuto in a business environment see the Business use page.
Do you have any other tips on how to get started with Minuto easily? Please let us know.