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June 6, 2021

Widening your net — an advertising strategy

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 11:26 am

Are you a mobile notary? If you are reading this, the answer is most likely yes. Most people want more business, but can’t figure out how to get it. I have written many articles on this topic. But, let’s look at it from a new point of view.

COUNTIES
Most Notaries advertise in a handful of counties. From time to time we get someone who only does their home county, and might begrudgingly go to a close neighboring county, but only if you pay enough. This is not the attitude of growth and success. Then there are those who go everywhere.

Number crunching has proven to me that those who have lots of counties get far more clicks. If you have one county, you might get half a click per day. But, each extra county you have your clicks go up by (.1) or more clicks per day. If you have twenty counties, you will get a lot of clicks.

You might be thinking that you will have to drive too far and it is not worth it. But, by driving far, you get new clients, more work, and more experience under your belt (assuming you wear a belt, some wear suspenders.)

If you agree to go farther, you need to charge more. But, if you are new, you can work for cheap in order to widen your net. I got many new clients by going where others refused to go. Or if Star Trek wrote this — those Notaries went where no Notary had gone before…

ASK FOR MORE REVIEWS
If you ask everyone who likes your work for a review, you get more reviews. Normally you have to ask ten people for a review, and email each of them a link, and then get an average of one review. By widening the net of who you ask, you can get more reviews. It is a similar concept as my strategy about counties.

WIDEN YOUR NOTES
Most Notaries don’t write enough in their notes. Those who do write don’t always strike a chord with what they write. Writing fluffy content that doesn’t grab your attention, or using baseless adjectives about how great you are will alienate readers. Cold hard facts organized well with a warm fuzzy description about what you are like is my winning philosophy. But, the attitude of writing more notes and then having me review it (free as a courtesy of course) you are widening your net. This costs nothing, but few really put in the effort. It’s a lot easier than driving three more hours per day.

BE ON MORE DIRECTORIES
More directories = more calls. Some are worth paying, most are not. But, if you never try them you will never know. We recommend particular directories. Read our other blogs in the advertising section and find out.

GET MORE CERTIFICATIONS
Why only get LSS or NNA certifications. Get more. If you advertise with 123notary, get ours too. If you want more knowledge, try the Notary2Pro certification — that is what we recommend the most although it is not that popular these days. More certifications = more 3rd party credibility from reliable sources. If you say how great you are you come across as cheesy, but if your reviews from title companies say you are great and you have four or five certifications, then nobody will argue whether you are great or not.

EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Some people will only study if it is “assigned.” These are what I call sheeple or beta-people. They never think for themselves but only follow others. Knowledge is power. If you are rock solid on your notary knowledge and industry knowledge and practice communicating well without rambling or giving indirect answers, this is a marketing strategy. It is not widening your net per se, but strengthening your chance of turning a call into a job. People are impressed by solid knowledge, not snow jobs! So, keep getting knowledge. A little every day adds up, especially if you master what you know.

HIGHER PLACEMENT
Many people like higher placement on 123notary and it is a potent advertising strategy, but that is different from widening your net. That is more like deepening your net, or heightening it… or something.

SUMMARY
There are many ways to widen or expand your advertising net, and this strategy pays off big time. I used it myself and I became full-time as a mobile notary which most Notaries cannot do. There are other ways to expand your reach as well like social media and networking. I strongly suggest the widening strategy! It works!

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April 15, 2021

Notarizing at an insurrection!

Filed under: General Stories — admin @ 6:36 am

Paul the Notary navigated his way around a huge crowd on his way up the steps to the Capitol. He had never seen so many MAGA hats in his life. He had been hired to notarize Mark who called from within the Capitol building for a last minute emergency signing.

NOTARY: Hello, I’m here. Who needed a Notary?

RANDOM PERSON: Buddy, you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.

NOTARY: It’s not like I’m committing a capitol offense… well actually, bad choice of words, perhaps I am. I am on restricted Federal property — but, I didn’t see a sign, so that makes it okay.

BUBBA: Are you the Notary? We’ve been waiting for you.

NOTARY: Yeah. Who am I notarizing? Is it Confederate Flag guy over there, the guy running around with zip ties, or the guy with the painted face and the horns. Oh, goodie, I hope it’s the guy with the horns.

BUBBA: No, it’s Ramsey over here. He’s been shot and needs a Power of Attorney to authorize his sister to take care of his property.

NOTARY: Ouch. Is he going to get arrested in the middle of the notarization?

RAMSEY: Here, I am weak, but I can sign that journal.

NOTARY: Sign it in blood. Oh, wrong time for that joke.

RAMSEY: It’s okay, I always wanted to die this way.

NOTARY: So, if you die, would you die fighting for your country, or against your country… I’m having trouble figuring out who is who over here.

RAMSEY: We’re fighting for what our country stands for.

NOTARY: And the opposition can’t STAND that, right?

RAMSEY: Another joke. Basically, they sit for justice, we stand for it.

NOTARY: And you can’t SIT injustice.

RAMSEY: Right now I’m lying, but I’m not telling any untruths.

BUBBA: He lies about everything, but only when he is dead tired. Now, I’m doing it.

NOTARY: So you lied beside a Notary, but not to a Notary. Good thing you are not under Oath. You’ll have to sit up for your Oath so you are not lying. Please raise your right gun… I mean your right hand.

RAMSEY: Okay… Uh oh, gunshots. (bang… bang)

BUBBA: Better put your hand down otherwise you might lose it.

ONLOOKER: He won’t be needing it… at least not the way he is going.

NOTARY: Was that friendly fire or un (bang…. bang.) I better get down too. Put your hand out horizontally. Or should I say, LAY your hand out. Do you solemnly swear that the contents of this document are true and correct.

RAMSEY: Yes, but this document is intended to get an Acknowledged signature which doesn’t require an Oath.

NOTARY: Hmmm. Maybe you should be a Notary in a future life. You are correct. Okay. Here is my stamp. You better give this document to your document custodian.

BUBBA: I know his sister so I’ll take care of it.

NOTARY: So, if I say I support the constitution and love the flag, does that make me a white supremicist?

ONLOOKER: Only if you mean it!

BUBBA: Which flag, the American or the Confederate flag? These days they are considered to have the same implications. I was asked to take the American flag off my textbook at school because it was too, “controversial.”

(Later that day on MSNBC)

REPORTER: A white supremacist sympathizer Notary arrived at the Capitol to notarize a man committing treason.

BUBBA: I thought we were protesting against treason — I should start my own news outlet. Why do they always twist facts.

REPORTER: But, the Notary was not wearing a MAGA hat or holding a flag. Looks like these supremacists are hiding under the radar these days. It’s hard to identify them without any distinguishing markings. They look just like regular people without the red hats and the flags.

NOTARY: I’m just doing my job. I am neither for these people or against them. I don’t even know what they were doing, what they thought they were doing, or what they planned (if they planned at all) to do. Do we have to distort every single fact that we talk about?

BUBBA: On their network that is an essential part of their business model.

NOTARY: Does anyone else need a Notary? I need to make a little more out of this trip to pay for my parking. I had to pay a mint for parking, walk over half a mile and risk my life to get here.

SALLY: Do you do Oaths?

NOTARY: Funny you should ask. Please raise your right hand, oh, and that will be $10 please, but hold the ten in your left hand. The other left hand… there you go…

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March 8, 2021

How does Jeremy rearrange Notes?

Filed under: Your Notes Section — admin @ 4:33 am

From time to time I will go through the entire site and go through people’s notes sections. A lot of people put their best information and hide it at the bottom of their notes and then repeat their name at the top. What they need to realize is that the top of your notes section shows up on our search results and can attract or repulse prospective clickers.

I scan the entire notes section and look for interesting, unique, or factual information about experience. That is what I like to put at top.

What I don’t like to see on the top is, “Hi, my name is Julie.” or “I am a Notary and Signing Agent.” This is tantamount to saying, “Hi, I am Julie and I have two legs and one nose… I use it to smell, and take that is justification that you should hire me for your next notary job.”

Some people say something catchy, or have a language skill, or do Apostilles, weddings, or something else noteworthy. This is what I typically rise to the top. Then others put their coverage area at the top — I typically move that to the bottom. It is good information, but is not what the readers look for first.

Then, if I see “turn-off words” such as reliable and responsible, I inform the notaries that nobody wants to hear you claim to be responsible. They want to hear your clients write a review stating how responsible you are. You claiming it about yourself is not only worthless, it is cheesy, (and not the fancy imported kind) and a waste of the readers time. Stick to the facts, and make your descriptions of yourself have more flowing sentences and less cliche adjectives.

Sometimes I will see information that is hard to read and simply it. “I do refinances and often do conventional. I have also done many VA and modifications. My specialty is Reverse mortgages.” I simplify this to read: “I do Refinances, Conventional, VA, Modifications, and Reverse Mortgages which are my specialty.” It flows nicely because it is a pure list with no interruptions, and is a lot easier for the reader to process the information.

Then, I make bullet points out of quick pieces of information about your certifications, background screening, and insurance as a general rule.

I do other things too. But, the point of reorganizing your text is to make you more attractive to buyers so you get more work and so my site gets more regular users. 123notary has the best notaries in the business and is also a very organized site. We don’t have the gadgets of Snapdocs, but we specialize in quality in a way that nobody else does. That is why we attract more high paying jobs than any other directory.

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November 18, 2020

What do successful Notaries do that you don’t?

Filed under: Business Tips — admin @ 6:00 am

Originally published in 2019

We all want to be successful and we all think that we are experts at our job. But, are we really? Here are some things successful Notaries do that the others don’t do.

1. Keep your profile managed regularly.
What does this mean? You have to login, make sure your hours, counties, notes, and reviews are as current and thorough as they can be.

2. Keep your knowledge up and keep reading.
Serious Notaries read the various blogs and forums. They also take courses and get certified by more than one agency. Instead of claiming to be so great, they get a reputed third party such as the NNA, 123notary, Notary Rotary, etc., who has an impartial test, passes the test and then has credibility. Serious Notaries keep reading and have a never ending thirst for knowledge.

3. Knowing who to extend credit to
This is one of the hardest aspects of being a Notary. The tendency is to get as many jobs as possible. But, smart Notaries say no to bad jobs, jobs from companies that have payment issues, or jobs that pay too little. As a Notary it behooves you to have standards, but try to keep the standards reasonable as well, especially if you are new or if business is slow.. Don’t let companies rack up a huge bill. If they owe you more than $300, then ask them to pay up before you do more jobs, or Paypal you for future jobs.

4. Setting terms and having contracts
This is for the very advanced Notaries but some people do have a contract for others to sign. This is taking the upper hand and others might not be willing to sign your contract unless you are a top notch Notary — after all, why should they if you are a slouch?

5. Scheduling
Successful Notaries know how to schedule their day and get rid of packages fast so that they are not late.

6. Equipment
Good Notaries have top notch equipment and fix it fast if it breaks. They know how to download anything, anytime and anywhere and don’t make excuses. A good dual tray laser printer is a good place to start although you need good scanning and faxing equipment as well

7. Watching your email
Jobs can be dispatched through apps, email and by phone. So, a good Notary keeps a constant watch of all of these mediums.

8. Other sources of income.
Relying on Notary work when times are slow doesn’t make sense. Smart Notaries realize they need to diversify. We have a handful of full-timers who make a full living at this job. But, the majority cannot, so try to be realistic and have multiple streams of income.

You might also like:

How to become a successful mobile notary from scratch
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=13340

Beginner’s Notary 103 Reading List (Resources)
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21120

How to write a notes section if you are a beginner
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16698

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October 26, 2020

California Assembly Bill 5 (2019) and how it affects Notaries

Filed under: California_Notary — admin @ 9:10 am

Someone emailed me about Assembly Bill 5 which is a California law currently. This bill limits the use of classifying subcontractors as independent contractors rather than classifying them as employees.

Employees are entitled to more labor protections such as sick leave, minimum wage, unemployment, workman’s comp, and more.

Companies such as Lyft, DoorDash, and Uber agreed to spend millions for a ballot initiative to oppose this bill.

As most bills that are socialist in nature, the premise is to “help” workers. But, the result is to make it very expensive and cumbersome to hire local workers. The advent of unions made it prohibitively expensive to hire domestic workers which resulted in lots of outsourcing. In the long run the unions did more harm than good for the workers. Assembly Bill 5 results in compromising American freedoms such as the right to form your own agreements and contracts with paid help. Many companies with particular business models will no longer have the freedom to decide whether to hire someone as a contractor or employee and face the risk of being penalized by the state.

So, how does this affect mobile notaries? Mobile notaries must now pass a strict level of qualifications to be considered independent contractors. They must meet all three conditions.

1. The worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring party in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of such work and in fact
2. The worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business
3. The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed for the hiring entity

COMMENTARY
Title companies that hire notaries often hire more experienced notaries who do not need any hand holding. However signing companies are famous for micromanaging notaries, telling them what to do and how to do it, and requiring lots of fax backs. Signing companies are violating stipulation #1 in the list of requirements of having independent contractors. Additionally, signing agents, do signing work which is not outside the usual course of what a signing company does. That is their main type of work and not something outsourced like accounting or computer repair. As far as condition #3, most Notaries do Notary related work for many different hiring parties, so although they may or may not pass condition #1, definitely don’t pass #2, the will pass condition #3.

SUMMARY
Will this mean that Notaries in California can no longer function as signing agents without being put on payroll? Would this be good or bad? I think it is a disaster and this bill is another milestone in the end of American freedom and the onset of socialism or communism in America (boo). But, what if signing companies outside of California hire signing agents within California? Can the state of California still sue them or penalize them for not following local rules? Maybe companies will have to hire full time and part time on-call employees to do their bidding. There is a company in Missouri that already does this on their own free will — notice that I said free will. Forcing this business model on companies is just not nice. It might also be disastrous for the directory business.

On a brighter note, maybe most signing agents and signing companies will ignore this rule and not get into trouble. After all, to enforce this rule requires attorneys and they do not work for cheap.

Personally I feel this bill is intrusive, a violation of our freedoms, and counterproductive. It will lead to a lot of unemployment, poverty and misery all under the guise of wanting to make downtrodden people’s lives better by having lots of artificial restrictions on employment.

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April 7, 2020

Lose the attitude…

Filed under: Carmen Towles — admin @ 8:46 am

Many notaries come to me for advise and assistance with notary and loan signing procedures. On occasion I get folks that have a chip on their shoulder for whatever reason. I know this ’notary signing agent business’ can be perplexing and just plain hard to break into. The main problem is that most folks that come into to this profession are not sufficiently trained in their states notarial procedures. So when notaries reach out with questions it is for some of the most basic notarial acts. Things truthfully, they should just know. This is the Secretary of States job which most have failed miserably. Many states don’t have any examples of where to place their stamp or even how to fill out an acknowledgment or jurat but many do and its worth it to look into their handbooks to check.

On this particular occasion, a notary texted me a copy of a jurat and had no clue as to where to place her seal despite the fact to me at least it was obvious that these was a ton of space to the left of her signature. She asked me if this is where she ws to affix her seal. I wrote back 2 word only; ‘Ummm, yes’. I mean where else would you put it. It was the most basic part of her job that she should know. She wrote back quite annoyed that how was she supposed to know this?, blah, blah, blah. Well, how about for starters, getting your notary handbook out and giving it a try, Most folks just focus on loan signing without preparing for what’s really important. THE NOTARIZATIONS!!!

She went on to rant in a text that this is why folks are afraid to ask questions. Well guess what?, you better ask questions. Being a notary can be costly for you and the person you are notarizing signature on documents for. She stated that I sounded annoyed and she was sorry to bother me and that was that. Folks getting an attitude is not helping the situation at all. You had better get all your questions answered and know what you are doing BEFORE you touch anybody’s documents for your sake and theirs. If you don’t ,you will pay the price in more ways than one. And if a little “Ummm”, was enough to set you off then maybe you need to rethink this whole notary signing agent thing.

Why anybody wants to get into this profession without knowing everything about it is beyond me.

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December 2, 2019

Lies and deceit that Notaries engage in

Filed under: Business Tips — admin @ 6:01 am

Oh, such drama — lies, deceit, treachery, and more. Yikes! Here are some things that Notaries BS about. See if you see your own behavior anywhere here and then fix it!

1. Experience
When I ask Notaries how many loans they have signed, the answer normally comes in years. That is a bait and switch. I ask one question I get an answer that is completely unrelated to the question. 16 years of notary experience doing one signing per year is not much which is why I want number of loans. But, when I ask a Notary on Monday how much experience they have and then again three months later, often the number goes down, not up. Doesn’t # of loans signed mathematically have to go up with experience? It is kind of like age, most people I know don’t get younger.

2. Familiarity with the docs
If you are so familiar, then why can’t you pass our certification test? You say that you are a Realtor and therefore you are familiar with loan documents, yet you can’t explain more than 20% of them. This is a snow job once again.

3. Bragging
If I ask a question, most Notaries have to answer the question and then insert a lot of unasked for additional information which just sounds cheap and cheesy. If you are from Wisconsin, I can understand cheesy, if you are French, then perhaps a Brie, and if you are from Nebraska I can understand corny. But, the rest of you have no excuse. Just answer questions as they were asked.

4. Saying you dropped the package.
Some Notaries claim to have dropped the package at one time when they really did not. Hmm.

5. Drama
Sometimes a borrower will be rude to the Notary and then the Notary will be rude back. When the complaint comes in, sometimes the Notary will discuss mainly all of the terrible things that the borrower did and not be honest about what they themselves did.

6. Certifications
Many Notaries who are not or who are no longer 123notary certified will say that they are in their profiles. Hmm. It’s hard to prove your 123notary certification when you don’t have the green icon, isn’t it?

7. Error Rate
Bragging about your 0% error rate is stupid, because anyone can claim it and there is no way to prove it. We all make mistakes. The same people who brag about their perfect performance are the ones who make spelling mistakes in their profile.

8. Vagueness about their Mortgage experience.
It is sometimes a bad thing to be a Mortgage Broker as that can indicate that you are a competitor. So, many just claim to have been in the Mortgage Industry for ten or twenty years. This is really beating around the bush. It is better to state what position you had or leave it out.

Summary
Notaries are notorious for snow jobs, smoke screens and all out blatant dishonesty. In a profession that is based on integrity this is really outlandish, but reality. Trying to pass yourself off as an expert when you know very little or hiding information about yourself is just not honest or straightforward. Very few Notaries can just stick to the facts, but those are the ones that buyers like. So, try to think of how they feel on the other side of the table.

You might also like:

When a title company lies to you
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19349

Protecting yourself with a contract
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2593

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October 1, 2019

Getting paid – a comprehensive timeline

Filed under: Marketing Articles — admin @ 11:17 pm

Many Notaries have a problem getting paid. It’s not you — it’s the industry. But, by using good principles, you can avoid most of the drama. Here are some guidelines to help you through every step of the process.

BEFORE THE SIGNING
When you get that call from a particular company, you need to either have records on each company out there, or be able to look them up. That means you either need online records on a cloud, or accessible from your iPhone, or have a cheat sheet in your glove compartment with up to date records on all signing companies. You need to keep track of:

1. How many jobs have they given you
2. Payment record — average # of days to pay
3. How much outstanding
4. Are they pleasant to work for
5. Cancellation rate.
6. What is their track record on the forums and 123notary’s list of signing companies.

If company cancels too much, you should up their rate or make them pay a cancellation fee or nonrefundable deposit up front, otherwise you will be left holding the bag (and the freshly printed documents.) If a company owes you more than a few hundred, you should deny service until they pay up. If a company has no track record with you, please consider asking them to pay up front via Paypal. If you are a newer signing agent and desperate to get experience, you should be more flexible and take more risks so you get experience. People who use 123notary reward Notaries for having a lot of experience.

You can check new companies on your iPhone while on the road to see how they do on the various forums and 123notary’s list of signing companies with reviews. If a company has a bad track record of payment, you should charge up front or you will likely get stiffed. Some of these companies have no remorse.

CONFIRMING THE SIGNING
Confirming the signing using our tips in the real life scenarios section of Notary Public 101 will not help you get paid, but will help you reduce the amount of signings that end in mid-air. If the signer doesn’t have ID with matching names, or if the other signers aren’t going to be there, or if they don’t have that cashier’s check they need — you are better off not going to their house as it will be a waste of time. Signings that end in “no signs” often do not get paid, so by avoiding this type of scenario, you will have less unpaid jobs as a total percentage.

AT THE SIGNING — MISTAKES
Most Notaries brag about how they have a 99.9% accuracy rate. The truth is that most Notaries make mistakes from time to time, and sometimes FedEx or the Lender screws up too resulting in a second trip. In my experience it is very hard to get paid for a second trip. Companies will often offer to pay, and then not pay you. So, triple checking your work and getting packages to FedEx fast will help reduce your rate of non-paying jobs and also help you from getting fired as much.

AFTER THE SIGNING — FAX
After you are done with your signing, fax a bill and include all pertinent information such as the borrower’s name, property address, loan number, and whatever else the signing or title company wants. Send a bill every week by fax or email or whatever medium your company wants. Also, keep records of every signing company you work for, and all of the jobs they assigned to you. When they pay you, you can indicate the date when they paid you to the right of the job description, borrower name, property address on your records. Your records can be paper or online. It is very fast to do this by paper by the way and less chance of data loss unless you keep the paper in your car.

EVERY MONTH — RECORDS
Every month or so, update your records that you keep in your car. Keep records on each signing company. Track how many jobs they gave you, how fast they pay, what they still owe you, how much you like them. You can assign them a grade too. You can have a customized pricing strategy for each company depending on their track record. You can give lower prices for companies you like. I would base prices on estimated time spent and NOT a fixed price. You could have a — near, medium and far price, or a price that is more intricate depending on number of pages, number of signers, distance, time of day, etc. That is up to you. But, having an intricate pricing strategy will make your life a little more complicated, but will weed out the more difficult companies, or at least make them pay for grief they cause you. Otherwise, those companies will think they can get away with causing Notaries endless headaches. You could keep two sets of these records and update them monthly. One at home and one in the car. If someone offers you a job, don’t quote a price until you look at your records and see if they are on the “A” list.

30 DAYS
If a company is past 30 days, time to consider sending them a demand letter. Or you could wait until the 45 day mark depending on how tough you are. We have a demand letter (from hell) template on our resources page. People have had consistently excellent luck with it, and it was given to us by our very most seasoned Notaries on the site.

45-60 DAYS
If anyone gets to this point, definitely send them a demand letter, but consider hiring an Attorney to write a letter threatening them. There are Attorneys who will write a letter for about $30 using their legal assistants. If a company owe you $300 or more, it might be worth it to write a letter. You can also charge for damages which include your time lost and legal fees.

CONTRACTS
We wrote another article on contracts. Signing companies have contracts to protect their interests. Their contract defends what is convenient and good for the signing company but not what is good for the Notary. You can have your own contract too and make people sign it if they want your services. If you are inexperienced, many companies might not sign it. But, if they need you and you have experience, they just might. You can state terms about partial signings, no shows, cancelled jobs, printing fees, resigns, and whatever else you want. Try to be reasonable in your terms if you expect anyone to sign it and continue using your services.

CREDIT
Try to determine before hand how much credit to offer to particular companies. This needs to be customized. Companies with a bad track record should not get any credit and must pay up front. Companies that have been solid towards you for years might get $400. But, don’t offer more than that because good companies turn bad all the time the minute they run into credit problems. Each company you work for should have a credit rating with you and an individual amount of credit you will offer them. When they offer you a job, see how much they are in debt to you already before saying yes, otherwise — it’s Paypal — or no job!

Trouble getting paid?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15339

Tips for getting paid
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19794

Scary results when someone uses our demand letter from hell
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2006

Template for our famous demand letter
http://www.123notary.com/howto-get-paid-signing-agent.htm

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September 17, 2019

How a video game reminded me what a noble profession we have

Filed under: Other Guest Bloggers — admin @ 9:57 pm

So, you’re probably wondering why I’m even talking about a video game. After all, working as a notary is serious business and you wouldn’t be wrong in saying that it is a profession where errors are seriously frowned upon. Our experience in the profession varies, but the one thing that’s constant among all notaries is that there are professional standards that need to be met.

Some tasks are straightforward and simple, while others are more complex. Yet, no matter how simple the task may be, the smallest error can put others at risk. The game I’m referring to, called Papers, Please, offers is a similar — albeit virtual — experience.

First Off, What Exactly Is Papers, Please?

A recently released point and click game game, Papers, Please places the player in the shoes of a border inspector of a country called Arstotska. The player’s task is to screen each person who wants to enter the country and to try to adhere to standards set by the government. There are many other aspects of the game, but this is the aspect that I want to put a heavy emphasis on. In the game, making an error gets you a citation, and in the later stages an error means letting dangerous people through the border, which puts lives at risk. You essentially handle sensitive data, check it for accuracy and truthfulness, and decide whether you’d allow the person into the country or not.

It’s quite similar to how we check statements and decide if the facts hold up. In fact, most, if not all court proceedings rely heavily on notarized documents, especially during personal injury cases, according to the lawyers at tariolaw.com.

Why Should We Care About This Game?

Well, that’s where the error is. You assume that this is about the game. It’s not. What really struck me was how the tasks got more and more complicated as the game progressed. You have to assess various pieces of information and decide whether to stamp a traveller’s passport, allowing them access through the border.

This puts an air of risk in the game, even when all the player does is to look through papers and counter-check facts presented by a traveller. And the way that the travelers interact with the player in an attempt to appeal to the player’s kinder nature forces you to make hard decisions.

How Is It Related To The Profession?

It reminded me a lot of how we, as public notaries, are the front line of defense against any attempts to commit fraud. In the same way that the inspector in Papers, Please is the first line of defense against people who would do the country harm, we are the first line of defense against people who want to put falsehoods onto paper or when they try to twist the truth in their favor.

And it’s rather funny that I was unexpectedly reminded of this duty by a video game that I happened to stumble across whilst browsing my YouTube feed in my free time!

I mean, whether you’ve had 30 years of experience in the profession or you’re a rookie who’s learning the ropes, it can be draining to do the same thing over and over if you forget your purpose. I’ll say it again, ours is a profession that can’t have any mistakes, whether they’re big mistakes or common mistakes — we are all about accuracy and precision. And sometimes it can be quite draining, but always remember that the seal that we stamp has power and authority. People are depending on us to verify facts and to educate them on what they’re getting into by signing a document.

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August 23, 2019

More on bad boy Notaries

Filed under: Humorous Posts — admin @ 10:49 pm

I wrote a blog article about the difference between bad boy Notaries and “nice” Notaries. It seems that “nice” Notaries are basically not nice at all, but a bunch of losers who want to attain other’s positive opinion and never assert themselves. The intrinsic meaning of “nice” means that you care for others which is very different from caring about how others think of you which is selfish in a lame sort of a way.

Here are some more things a bad boy Notary could do.

1. The “nice” guy Notary arrives in his Toyota Corolla or Honda, parks on the street even if he has to walk three blocks.
The bad boy Notary arrives at the signing driving a Harley. Of course, if the Harley was really noisy that would add to the bad boy appeal.

2. The ‘nice” guy Notary read copious reviews on buying the most sensible laser printer on the market, yet ends up with one that is broken half the time and works at the speed of a snail because his budget was too small. The bad boy Notary invests in a mega printer that spits out 40 pages per minute (on a bad minute) and never breaks, and also has a three year guarantee. When the bad boy Notary introduces his printer he says, and I quote, “check out this bad boy.”

3. The “nice” guy Notary neatly stacks the blank pages (if any) in the stack of loan documents. The bad boy Notary
makes spitballs out of the blank pages in the stack of loan documents, or makes paper airplanes. Japanese bad boys prefer to do origami with the blank pages and show off their Yakuza tattoos and explain the story of each tattoo. The bad boy notary could also play hang man with customers using blank pages (and even hang them if they lose.)

4. The “nice” guy Notary refuses to answer phone calls during the signing because he feels it might upset the client. The bad boy Notary realizes that he will miss his next job assignment as well as tomorrow’s job assignments if he misses phone calls, texts and emails, so he is watching them like a hawk. Moreover, he is concerned that his various lady friends might call while at the signing and he definitely doesn’t want to miss their calls.

5. The “nice” guy Notary explains to the borrower why page three on the 1003 is left blank and then gets funny looks. The bad boy Notary plays tic tac toe with the customer using page three of the 1003. Sounds kind of lame, but is a way to use the page that says, “this page intentionally left blank.”

6. The “nice” guy Notary invests big bucks going to all of the NNA conferences, learns some, and makes a handful of connections that he could have made by making a few phone calls. The bad boy Notary reads Jeremy’s blog and masters the materials in the free courses, gets a few mentors by networking with Jeremy, Carmen and the other more experienced people in the industry, AND, writes sarcastic and mildly inappropriate responses to Jeremy’s blogs… (hmmm, sounds like Ken.)

7. The “nice” guy Notary let’s his customers rack up a huge bill without complaining. After all, he is afraid that they will stop sending business his way. The bad boy Notary has a credit limit with customers which he expects them to honor. If the don’t he will cancel a job at the last minute and send a text saying, “Paypal what you owe me or find another Notary, punk!” Ouch! Once again, sounds a little like Ken, except Ken asks to be paid up front as a standard business practice. I wonder if Ken wears a leather jacket? Ken also doesn’t call people punks… he calls them turkeys instead. (gobble gobble.)

8. The “nice” guy Notary wants to attracts any client he can and is afraid to lose any client. The bad boy Notary realizes that there are some people with more time than money, and others with more money and less time — he prefers the latter and charges them appropriately. If the client is not in a position to pay big and pay fast, bad boy Notary doesn’t have a use for them.

9. The “nice” guy Notary carries pepper spray in the car just in case. Better safe than sorry. The bad boy Notary carries pepper spray in the car, on his person, a gun, has a knife collection and a club. After all, you never know what is coming. Additionally, bad boy Notary always sits closest to the door not because he is afraid — he is just thinking ahead of the game just in case something happens. You always have to have an escape plan.

10. The “nice” guy Notary always brags that he knows what he is doing and talks endlessly about his “experience.” The bad boy Notary is certified five times over and keeps his cool when talking to clients. He answers questions the way they were ask, and doesn’t try to insert little self-promoting statements into the conversation when unnecessary. He figures if someone wants to know about his background in Escrow or the 10,000 loans he signed (or claims to have signed) they will ask. He plays it cool and gets the job, because he is very professional and not at all annoying contrary to the “nice” Notary who falls on his face trying to do a snow job or smoke screen.

So, there you have it. Nice guys finish last not because they are nice, but because they are lame and unprepared, not to mention stupid. Stay ahead of the game and be a bad boy Notary. But, perhaps without the Harley as that pointer is not that critical. However the Harley jacket has been scientifically proven to attract babes.

You might also like:

Are you a bad boy Notary?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=22380

Ken’s take on how to be a bad boy-girl, person, Notary
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=22374

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