RCO Handbook

How To Circulate the Liberty Dollar in your Community - ($10 Silver Base)

Preface

Phase 1: Education and Interest Generation
Phase 2: Introduction Into Circulation
Phase 3: Viability Enhancement
Phase 4: Self-Sustaining Circulation

Introduction

By Bernard von NotHaus - Monetary Architect

Hats off to Wayne Hicks! While most people never consider using a new currency and fewer ever take action even if it is vastly superior to the old money they have been using, it is a unique person, who actually devotes his own efforts to making a new currency work. When it comes to the Liberty Dollar, that unique person is Wayne Hicks.

Wayne not only discovered how to make the Liberty Dollar circulate, he invented the process. For you and your community’s advantage and for the betterment of our great country, he is willing to teach you "how to make money" with the Liberty Dollar. There is no need to re-invent the wheel or wonder "how" to make the Liberty Dollar work in your community when Wayne has a proven economic model that he is now willing to share you. Get past stale monetary theory, get real dollar and find out how to put more dollars in your pocket.

Again, I say "Hats off to Wayne Hicks!" Please consider getting involved by becoming a Liberty Associate or a Regional Currency Office (RCO) and really find out how to "Make money, do good and have fun". Lets all work together towards retuning America to value - one dollar at a time.

Congratulations and thank you, Wayne Hicks!

Phase 1: Education and Interest Generation

Introducing a new currency into an existing marketplace is not an easy task, as any proponent of the Liberty Dollar can tell you. It will require perseverance and many long hours of hard work to convince merchants and the public alike that the advent of this "new way to pay" has many benefits for the community until that first spark of interest begins to grow.

Developing that interest is the very first task the new RCO must accomplish. There are various methods, which may be employed. Here are the methods used by my own office:

The first thing we did was to contact the local authorities and make sure they understood the legality of the Liberty Dollar. Whether they liked the idea or not, it was of absolute importance that they understand that although the currency is based on real value, it was not "legal tender" or a "coin" as defined by the government and it was not represented as legal tender or a coin, but was an entirely voluntary currency intended only for the enhancement of the local economy. Once they understood this, and had a sample in their possession, they were ready for the inevitable calls from concerned citizens, asking if the Liberty Dollar were some new kind of counterfeit money.

Second, we contacted the advertising and news departments of the local radio station. And proposed to spend some money on a promotion package, and requested news coverage of both the Liberty Dollar and our own program. With radio stations, money talks...

I provided the station’s morning DJ with a large list of Money Trivia Questions, which he would ask during the early morning show. The first person to correctly answer the question won a Silver Liberty. This program ran for two months, and resulted in many people coming into my office to see and acquire a Silver Liberty for themselves. In addition, I was featured in several interviews, first when I introduced the program to the local merchants, second when I responded to many inquires about whether the Liberty Dollar was valid, and third when I announced a visit by Bernard von NotHaus and the drawing for a Gold Liberty via a live remote broadcast from one of our merchants.

Newspaper advertising and coverage could be beneficial, but are often just too expensive. If your newspaper is reasonably priced, I strongly recommend working with them, as well as the radio promotions.

As merchants began to sign on, I also ran radio commercials that announced who the new merchants were. These evolved into a three-times-weekly "callout". Where the DJ interviewed me on the telephone and we discussed the new merchants and what they offer to people using the Liberty Dollars in the new Liberty Economy. These callouts continue to this day, and will probably go on for a long time.

Since I was unable to use our local newspaper, I recently made a deal with a regional "Shopper" newspaper to insert a four-page section into their publication. I pay a small standard fee for the insertion, and they handle printing. The section, called "Liberty Times", carries articles relevant to the Liberty Dollar program and advertising for the Liberty Merchants. I give each merchant one small display ad for free and they could then purchase additional ads from me using Liberty Dollars at less-than-normal rates, giving the merchants another way to use their Liberty Dollars to grow their business.

2. Introduction Into Circulation

Introducing the currency into circulation is not the hardest part of the program, but it is hard work, since you may visit many merchants repeatedly before you get the first one to sign onto the program! I employed a dynamic salesman for the purpose, after I signed up the first few Merchants. He proved to be a terrific asset, signing up dozens of merchants each week. And since the Merchant Contract does not require the merchant to purchase anything, I pay the salesman a moderate fee for each new merchant he signs up.

Once we had a few merchants on the program, I began spending Silver Libertys at their establishments and encouraged others to do so too. The merchants were instructed in how to offer them as "change". As a result many more Libertys started circulating around.

Once this process was working well, I held a number of "Special Days", when I would exchange Libertys for only $9.00 each in USD. These would be promoted for a few days before the event and would result in many exchanges at that rate. In addition, the merchants are permitted to exchange for limited amounts of Liberty Dollars at $8.50, so that they can realize additional profits by giving them out as "change".

This also started the Libertys coming back in to be exchanged for USD by the merchants, which is what makes the program feasible. In our first month of operation, I exchanged out $2890.00 in LD, and received back in $860.00. The second month saw $5630 go out, almost all in Silver Libertys, while $3490 came back in. The third moth when we had our salesman, $9240.00 went out in Liberty Dollars and only $2340.00 came back. The fourth month, as more merchants were on the program, $7800.00 went out and we got back only $1600.00. The fifth moth $10900.00 went out and $1450.00 came back. And the sixth month $10200.00 went out and only $990.00 came back.

As you can see, the program grows in increments. I’m sure we’ll have occasional months when we’ll see an inordinate amount come in, but we’re now have ‘sustainability’ that is capable of making a tidy profit with the Liberty Dollar.

3. Viability Enhancement

During the fourth month of operation, we opened our own Liberty General store, which carries regularly purchased items such as everyday clothing, jeans, household items, cleaning supplies, etc. These stores not only accepts Liberty Dollars, but offers a ten percent discount to anyone who uses them to make a purchase...and an additional five percent when the customer tells us which of the merchants gave them their Liberty Dollars in change! This motivates the customers to ask for Liberty Dollars in change regularly and is a direct reason for the reduction in Liberty Dollars being returned to us by the merchants. My office buys back the Liberty Dollars received at the store at a rate of 75 cents on the dollar, allowing me to not only make a profit at the store, but also to return the LD back into the market again and make an additional profit too.

4. Self-sustaining Circulation

Once we had 60 merchants on the Liberty Dollar program, I launched Phase 4: Self-sustaining Circulation. This program consisted of issuing Liberty Merchant ID Cards to every merchant in sufficient quantifies to allow them to give one to each employee and I offered these employees a 25% discount at the Liberty General store.

With that lead, almost all of the merchants were willing to offer a special discount or deal of their own for their fellow Liberty Merchants and their employees. Plus I printed and distributed a weekly Liberty Merchant newsletter that listed all the merchants with a special section for new Merchants and the new offers that the merchants wished to make.

When I introduced this program, I sent a letter to each merchant explaining it and encouraging him or her to participate in the network. I also explained how this would give their employees a reason to willingly accept Liberty Dollars as part of their pay. It would also mean that most of their fellow merchants and employees would be spending Liberty Dollars with them as a "round-robin shopping club". Very quickly, a lot more people were enjoying spending Liberty Dollars! And since the LDs were the same ones they receive and disperse regularly, there are far fewer that need to be converted back to USD.

That's how I developed a thriving Liberty Dollar business in my RCO region.

Wayne Hicks
RCO for Berryville, Arkansas