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June 14, 2020

123notary’s emergency server migration

Filed under: Social Media — admin @ 8:46 am

On Friday at about 2am on June 5th I got a call from our server people in Missouri. I recognized the number and decided to answer. They told me that they tried to update a patch on our operating system, but couldn’t get the site up and running again. I asked what to do. They told me that their technical expert recommended getting on a new server. Unfortunately, that is not so easy.

We were already working with programming on migrating to a new server. We needed more disk space, more memory, and especially a more modern operating system. Our Microsoft 2008 system no longer had maintenance, and the danger from hacking was growing stronger. But, I had no idea that our server would crash.

I normally sleep during the day and work in the afternoon and evening. But, I went without sleep on Friday for the most part. I had to get in touch with a critical person at hosting and go over a quote for a new server. I had tried to communicate and get a quote by email, but the critical contact person was impossible to get information from. How frustrating. In any case, I got my quote for the server set up I wanted. It has the right amount of extra storage, memory, and a 2016 operating system which is what the company was best set up to maintain.

They said they needed up to 24 hours to create the server environment. Programming needed 25 hours to do their end of the bargain. But, how many days would this take? That is 49 hours of labor plus coordinating from one company to the other. People need to sleep, and what if there were delays.

We were down until Friday the 12th at around noon. So, it was about 7.5 days. Carmen and I were getting very anxious. I didn’t know if my current data was safe or whether I would have to revert to older data from a few days ago. I didn’t know if things would take forever. What if there was a problem once the site was online.

To my happy surprise, there were only a few small programming issues. Notaries would not be able to login until that got fixed which I assume will be anywhere from 24 to 72 hours, but you never know.

In any case, that Friday the 5th when the site crashed — I couldn’t sleep and was a wreck when I got up around noon. I had to walk to acupuncture, get to the health food store for some green juice and then go home. I was juice fasting. I was weak. I was afraid. I tried to be patient and do other things I needed to do. I did laundry that I had been procrastinating. I did my tax deductions which is a huge endeavor for me as I love to put it off. The good news is that once my taxes were 90% done, the site came back on and there were very few problems. What a relief.

The panic was about — what if I lose my business? That couldn’t happen… or could it? What would my life be like? On Sunday the 7th I went to the beach in Malibu at night — just like freshly unemployed people do in the movies. I went to ask what is life all about as I watched the waves endlessly come in. What would I do? What would Carmen do? Would she lose her house? God! What a horrible thought. I was more worried about her than me. Would I start another business in this Covid19 world? No. I would first lose as much weight as possible and get my health in good shape.

So, no data was lost. The site is fine. Carmen is fine. I am fine. And our customers are fine, but a bit annoyed with all the downtime. This problem was completely beyond any of our control. It was a server crash. In 20 years operating 6 sites, I have never seen anything like this. But, it happened, we had backup, and we survived. And I am not sure how long I will feel traumatized by what happened. I had a bad car breakdown in 2018. It took almost a year and a half to get over it. Every time I drove down Sunset in Palisades I would get nervous. I am over it now. No more anxiety driving down that road. I just hope my server crash anxiety will go away soon. Those seven days of downtime were hard. I wanted to cry during much of it. Just wanted to share my thoughts.

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June 13, 2020

Inspecting Journals

Filed under: Journals — admin @ 10:14 pm

Many Notaries do not bother to learn how to correctly fill in their journal. This is important because you could be investigated by the FBI (it happens to our notaries from time to time) and you could end up in court before a judge. You might be treated more leniently should anything go wrong if you keep very prudent and correct looking records. If you have omissions, sloppiness and don’t follow sensible procedure, you increase the chance that you could end up in trouble.

The most important rules to remember in journal entries are:

1. Fill out all fields in the journal. The additional notes section can be used for anything noteworthy about the building or signer that might jog your memory years after the fact in court.

2. One journal entry per person per document. Three people each signing four documents = 12 journal entries, not three and not one using the squeeze it all in method. Those signatures and thumbprints that you could keep in your journal are evidence that might be used in court – treat it as such!

3. Make sure your journal is locked up and stored properly after it is filled up. There are 512 entries per journal, so make sure you have extra blank journals for when you need them.

California actually inspects Notary journals regularly. If you live in California you need to know this. They can have you copy and mail your journal entries from a particular date range. If you are not following proper procedure based on what they currently want (ask them not me what they want) then they can suspend you. California suspends or revokes many notary commissions due to exactly this reason. Additionally, the rules keep changing so keep up with the times, man.

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June 10, 2020

Georgia Notary Acknowledgment Information

Filed under: (5) State specific — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 6:24 am

Here is some sample Georgia Notary Acknowledgment Wording.

State of Georgia
County of _________________
This record was acknowledged before me on ______________________ Date by ________________________________________________________,
Printed name of individual signing document

who is ____ personally known or ____ proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the person who appeared before me.

_______________________________
(signature of notary public) Notary Public, State of Georgia Stamp/Seal

My commission expires: ________

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June 9, 2020

How often do you not get paid on Snapdocs?

Filed under: Signing Company Gossip — Tags: — admin @ 10:13 pm

I am hearing all different stories from Notaries who use Snapdocs. Of course, it is not Snapdocs themselves who pay you but the companies who work through them. On the other hand, they are a portal and they have the power to have standards for payment terms if they want to.

One Notary said they got paid on average in 40 days.

Another says 30-45 days

Another says 50-60 days

Another says 14 days or less

One Notary got 700 jobs and then all of a sudden the phone stopped ringing, or beeping… whatever noise it makes when you get a text.

Snapdocs reportedly does not get involved in payment unless all parties involved want to use Vendorpay. Interesting.

But, how often do you just not get paid on Snapdocs? Is this regular? Is it a bad problem or just a once in a while phenomenon?

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June 7, 2020

How do you market to title companies?

Filed under: Marketing Articles — admin @ 10:12 pm

Over the years we have heard many approaches to marketing to title companies. Obviously having a good online presence is the most time efficient because using that method they would come to you. But, what if you took a more aggressive approach?

1. Calling title companies
If you make a list of title companies and call them, that is a great way to get business. Keep in mind that there are different reps. They all say that they will share your info with the others, but they hang up so fast that how do you know that they will. It is good to talk to as many reps as possible, potentially on multiple phone calls to each companies.

2. Mailing title companies
If you want to do a nationwide campaign, focus more on companies within 90 minutes of you. But, you can contact title companies throughout the nation by mail. A few Notaries have done this. The response rate is low, but you contact so many companies, that you will get clients. You could mail them a card with basic information, rates, areas covered, etc.

3. Online presence
You are already doing this. But, there are more effective ways to do online advertising than just being online. Ask me how. More listings in more areas, higher placement, more certifications, better notes sections, more reviews, etc., all help.

4. Lots of E&O.
Some title companies require lots of E&O and the amount can vary. 500K E&O will help make you stand out from the other Notaries and might help attract title companies.

5. If you work for a particular title company, pass out cards to the various reps. If you have to go to a particular branch, get to know them as individuals. Title company people are not the most friendly in the world, so try to keep it quick.

6. Visiting title companies in person is time consuming. But, you can see how it works and let us know.

7. Be willing to take those out of the way jobs. Getting in with title is hard. But, once you are in, they might give you regular work. So, be willing to go wherever or whenever for that first job so they can sample your work.

Let us know if you have any other tips in the comments.

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June 4, 2020

Notary shuts down biz because he cares more about lives than money

Filed under: General Stories — Tags: , , — admin @ 6:22 am

A Notary on Twitter claims that he shut down his notary business due to the Covid-19 virus. He claims that he did this because he cares more about saving lives than about making money.

But, if everyone stopped going to work to save lives, the supermarkets would be closed. The hospitals would all shut down. And all over services would not be available. What if someone would die because they could not reach a notary in time. Would you still be saving lives?

And you need to still make a living even if there is a disease going around. You can’t just stop living unless you are definitely infected — and in that case stay home for 14 days or so.

This notary was virtue signalling himself and patting himself on the back in a self-righteous way. But, he criticized me for being an immoral person for suggesting that he stay open. Later on he revealed that he hardly does any notary work anyway.

The moral of this story is that stopping functioning will not make this disease go away. Staying away from places where people are densely populated with poor ventilation might help. And social distancing might help too.

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May 30, 2020

Are you in a good enough state of mind for Notary questions?

Filed under: Certification & Communication Skills — admin @ 10:10 pm

If you are a professional, you should be able to handle professional questions in your sleep. Particularly if they are routine questions.

I have stopped phone testing people partly because people hate it so much, partly because it is so disturbing to me, and partly because it is so time consuming. Last, the companies that use 123notary care about the knowledge level of the notary, but they don’t care enough for me to merit training and testing people who didn’t pay for a program.

During the days when I was testing, people got mad because I called when they were not in a good state of mind. They were sleepy, busy, with friends, going to the hospital, and this was somehow my fault. They are “professionals” and they answered their phone, yet they could not talk about intelligent topics with me.

Is the problem your state of mind or is the problem that you don’t know your stuff and don’t have the discipline to learn your stuff or act professional over the phone.

Notaries want to get paid more, but I can make a list of Notaries who merit getting paid more. Those are people who are elite certified by us. It takes discipline to master Notary knowledge the point that you can pass that test. Those who are faking it will fail miserably. Getting 95% on Notary questions under time pressure narrows the population down to a fraction of a percent. Why the others cannot function with that level of knowledge is beyond me — after all, that is their profession.

Take your profession seriously and professionally. Don’t just claim to be professional because that sounds phony and corny. Master Notary knowledge. There is not that much to know, and if you got through college, this is much easier than college.

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May 29, 2020

How do you increase your client base to all title and no signing companies?

Filed under: Marketing Articles — admin @ 10:09 pm

This is easier said than done. Different people have different experiences climbing to the top of the food chain in this business. As a general rule, you start out working mainly for low paying signing companies who micromanage. Some of those companies might not pay at all. Working for companies that don’t pay is a great way to rack up experience, but not a great way to pay your rent. As time goes on, you will gradually get a higher share of higher paying title companies.

Title companies like experience. They also like it if you in addition to claiming to have a zero percent error rate, actually have not made any errors, at least not on their work. A professional disposition also helps and that is hard to explain. The Notaries that get mostly title companies tend to have 5000-10000 loans under their belt. It takes time to get that much experience. At a rate of 1000 loans per year if you are a busy Notary, you need five to ten years of experience and then you are at the top of the pyramid.

Please keep in mind that most Notaries average about 200 loans per year, so they never accumulate this type of experience. Please also keep in mind that only about 5-10% of the Notaries listed on 123notary.com have 5000 loans signed and only 1-3% have 10,000+. Yes, it is lonely at the top.

Basically, the name of the game of Notary fame is to be a scarce commodity. If you have more experience, more knowledge, better professionalism, phone etiquette, etc., you will get paid more. People with 123notary Elite Certification are part of the top fraction of a percent and they get paid a lot more. Anything you can do to differentiate yourself from the others will help.

So, get more experience, more certifications, more reviews, maintain your listing better, and learn to be an expert at seeming professional over the phone. Then, you will get more title companies…. eventually.

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May 28, 2020

If you meet a signer at a cafe, who pays for the coffee?

Filed under: General Stories — admin @ 10:02 pm

It is common for Notaries to meet signers at cafes. But, what is the etiquette for who pays for the coffee? Or does only one party purchase a drink so the cafe can allow them to stay there? Does the drink go on a chair or the same table with the critical documents?

This question sounds more like a Seinfeld dilemma than anything else. Since the signer is paying the notary for the notarization, it’s the least the notary can do to buy a piece of bundt cake for the client. On the other hand, if the Notary has to bill to get paid, and is billing a third party, then neither party should have to pay for the coffee. But, what if the signer wants a palpation but forgot his walled. But, then how will he have his ID for the notarization? Wow, this is really complicated stuff!

NOTARY: You should pay for the almond croissant because I’m the Notary. It’s like a courtesy for my hard work.

SIGNER: Yes, but I am the client, and it is customary to take your clients out to eat and pay.

NOTARY: You’re paying cash right?

SIGNER: Yes. Small unmarked bills to be precise.

NOTARY: Are you going to wash your hands for 20 seconds before you handle those bills? I don’t want the Coronavirus.

WOMAN: I think the man should pay.

NOTARY: Obviously not a feminist.

WOMAN: I am when it doesn’t involved someone paying for me. You see, I’m what you call an opportunistic feminist. Equal rights, but not so equal on the responsibilities.

SIGNER: Honesty is so sexy. I like you!

WOMAN: Thanks, I’m single

NOTARY: I think I see why.

WOMAN: Yeah, but at least I’m not paying alimony and child support and having my kids taken away from me by legal force. It could be worse. You know what. You guys are so much fun, I’ll pay for your frappachino.

CLERK: Sorry, we are all out of coffee.

NOTARY: But, this is a cafe. Your whole business revolves around coffee.

CLERK: Sorry. But, we have those dark chocolate covered graham crackers. They’re really good.

SIGNER: I’ll just get a soda. I don’t drink coffee after 2pm anyway.

WOMAN: Nice to meet you guys.

NOTARY: Here’s my card. I do notarizations, weddings and bar-mitzvahs.

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May 27, 2020

The Lonely Notary

Filed under: General Stories — admin @ 10:01 pm

Once upon a time there was a lonely Notary. He wanted to talk to everyone, but nobody wanted to talk to him. So, he resorted to talking to animals, stray cats, little chihuahuas, birds, squirrels, and bar tenders. He went to all the NNA conventions, but nobody there would talk to him longer than a few seconds to engage in pleasantries. His only acquaintances were bar tenders that humored him with a little conversation before they walked off in the middle of his sentences to get a drink or wash something.

He liked being a notary because at loan signings, the signers were forced to talk to him. Sometimes they actually liked talking to him. Other people were not so nice. Once some stuck up girls were ignoring the lonely Notary. So, the notary insulted them. They got offended and started arguing with him. The Notary said, “At least I got you to talk to me — I’m so lonely.”

The lonely Notary soon found out that people at old age homes like to talk a lot — a really lot. So, he spent an hour at an old age home. He liked the fact that people wanted to talk to him. But, the problem is that most of them didn’t listen. They just talked right over him. And then others were so hard of hearing that they couldn’t listen.

The Lonely Notary was so upset with modern American culture and how unfriendly it is, that he decided to move to Africa. Life was cheap over there and everyone wanted to talk to him because Africans are more of a talkative people. At first he went to the wrong country and they spoke French only. His French was mediocre, plus understanding their weird sounding accent in French was too much. So, then he moved to another area. But, too many tribal languages were being spoken, plus the tribal make up (the little dots on their faces) were a little odd for our American friend. Finally, he made it to an English speaking place.

Once he arrived, his new friends taught him how to do an African laugh. You need to inhale a lot, open your mouth wide, and do a “ha ha ha haaaaaaa” with an elongated last “ha” all in a very deep voice.

So, our American friend enjoyed his new life in Africa, made many friends and lived happily ever after until he got some rare tropical disease that no doctor had ever heard of and died. But, he died happy. And upon his death, his last words were, “Ha ha ha ha haaaaa.”

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