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October 24, 2021

The Notary and the N95: Putting Covid info in your notes section

Filed under: Your Notes Section — admin @ 8:02 am

Notaries often like to indicate that they are vaccinated in their notes section. Others note that they take all of the Covid precautions. It is good to put this in your notes section. This matters to some people and could be a hiring decision. Being conscientious is generally a good thing unless you are conscientious in a way that backfires which can happen if you don’t think things through.

People got vaccinated because it was the only way they could feel “safe.”
Then they realized that they still didn’t feel “safe” because other people weren’t vaccinated.
Later they decided that the only way they could feel safe is it everyone else got vaccinated.
After that they found out that vaccines have a shelf life and are only good for preventing Covid for a number of months. Then they realized they had to take a booster, and then find a way to coerce the rest of the world to do the same.
In 2022, the Alpha variant will come out and then there will be yet another booster.

By 2023, we will each have to take about 20 different shots per year, each infused with 100x your daily recommended allowance of aluminum, lead and mercury (not one of my jokes, read the ingredients and see for yourself.) There will be compounds that genetically modify how your body works for better or for worse.

Don’t forget that the genetic engineer who designed humans in such a way that we have survived 180,000 years is named God. Whatever he did seems to have worked. If you let a few mad scientists tinker with your genetics to make it how they think would be good without any long term knowledge, you are likely be the next Frankenstein.

Then in 2024, the Alpha-Omega-Phi variant will come out — a variant that makes people want to do hazing on a daily basis.

In 2025, the Beta3 variant will come out that will only attack children and kill them, that is assuming people are not sterilized by the original vaccine — and that remains to be seen. Bad news for teachers if I am right — the teachers union will be out of business if everybody is sterile.

NEWSFLASH
You don’t need a single one of these vaccines or facemasks. 5000 I.U. of vitamin D3 per day (ask your doctor first) will raise your D levels in your blood or liver, or wherever they are. Lots of veggies, fermented foods, and shitake or maitake mushrooms will keep your immunity bullet proof. Socializing and being happy helps immunity too. It is your immune system that will save you from Covid, not some BS mask or vaccine. If facemasks were so critical, God would have had you born with one attached to your body. God is not an idiot, he designed the entire cosmos piece by piece. Let’s see Fauci do that!

Facemasks delay the spread of Covid, they don’t end it. That just means you will catch Covid and die in March instead of February. What is the long term difference? Vitamin D has been proven to keep you out of the hospital and prevent death by a factor of 96% if you have high D levels vs. low. Vaccines and facemasks combined do not reduce your risk of covid death by 96%

So, why does the media not tell you this?
Because they are owned or controlled by companies who profit from selling facemasks and vaccines.

It is remarkable that more than half of Americans put their trust in complete criminals. The stupidity astounds me. And no matter how many percent of the community has one of those worthless degrees from some university, they still cannot think critically. So, what good is it. I’m siding with the Amish. They end school at 14, but they know how to think normally. Plus I just love those horses and buggies!

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October 22, 2021

How personal should the “about you” section of your notes be

Filed under: Your Notes Section — admin @ 8:01 am

I got an email from a Notary. I told her that she needed an “about you” section in her notes section.

First of all, where should an “about you” section go?
In my opinion, below your experience and below your designations, but above your geographical coverage areas and closing statements.

What should an “about you” section be about?
It should be about you!

How personal should it be?
It could include a little about your personal life, job history, and what is unique about how you handle your notary work.

How to come across in your about you section:
Many notaries sound cliche when describing themselves. They claim to be responsible, reliable, and take your clients’ confidentiality with the utmost of importance. Many claim a .00001% error rate, but in the unlikely case of an error, they will go back and fix it.

My advice is as follows:
Avoid adjectives that people have heard thousands of times. They don’t want to hear it. Avoid talking about your error rate, or lack of an error rate. Nobody believes this coming from you. Try to be more unique. Talk about something else that will not put the reader to sleep. The main thing to remember is that the reader has already read 500 profiles today and is bored. They want someone who is interesting, pleasant, knowledgeable, and stands out.

The notary who claims to be knowledgeable gets ignored. The Notary that lists 30 types of signings they know how to do, and in alphabetical order gets noticed. See the difference? Show them rather than telling them how great you are — if in fact you really are great.

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October 20, 2021

What is the favorite thing about my job?

Filed under: Social Media — admin @ 7:49 am

I was doing my work, doing some data entry on 123notary like I do daily. And I kept going through more and more lists and updating data. And then, I accidentally clicked on the wrong button and the page turned to my blog login. I didn’t even remember the password although I almost did. I have it encrypted in an email to myself in a particular file. And FURTHERMORE, I don’t even remember the URL to get to my blog login without having to look it up. It’s one of those long and complicated ones. How did I get to this page? Bizarre.

So, then I logged in and the first thing I did was read through the comments. My post about Carmen Towles got lots of comments. People really miss her — me too. The people liked my articles on Notary chips, notary vaccines. I’m not sure if this was commentary, jokes, or insights.

But, I was shocked because there was only one rude comment in months. Usually we are flooded with rudeness. Not sure what happened there. What happened? Where did all the rude jerks go? Actually my blood pressure will be better off without them and I can’t publish their comments in any case.

So, now I am publishing articles after a long hiatus where I was too busy to post. Glad to be back in the blog scene. But, how did I get to this page? Angels visit me regularly for healing work, so perhaps they wanted me to finally take care of my blog work. That would add up in my case. But, if you said that happened to you — I wouldn’t believe you!!!

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October 18, 2021

Something freaky happened today regarding my blog

Filed under: Social Media — admin @ 7:40 am

I was doing my work, doing some data entry on 123notary like I do daily. And I kept going through more and more lists and updating data. And then, I accidentally clicked on the wrong button and the page turned to my blog login. I didn’t even remember the password although I almost did. I have it encrypted in an email to myself in a particular file. And FURTHERMORE, I don’t even remember the URL to get to my blog login without having to look it up. It’s one of those long and complicated ones. How did I get to this page? Bizarre.

So, then I logged in and the first thing I did was read through the comments. My post about Carmen Towles got lots of comments. People really miss her — me too. The people liked my articles on Notary chips, notary vaccines. I’m not sure if this was commentary, jokes, or insights.

But, I was shocked because there was only one rude comment in months. Usually we are flooded with rudeness. Not sure what happened there. What happened? Where did all the rude jerks go? Actually my blood pressure will be better off without them and I can’t publish their comments in any case.

So, now I am publishing articles after a long hiatus where I was too busy to post. Glad to be back in the blog scene. But, how did I get to this page? Angels visit me regularly for healing work, so perhaps they wanted me to finally take care of my blog work. That would add up in my case. But, if you said that happened to you — I wouldn’t believe you!!!

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October 17, 2021

My response to NNA’s article: Is the Notary industry overcrowded?

Filed under: Marketing Articles — admin @ 7:39 am

My opinion on this matter is that there is a lot more notary work than there used to be. The crazy ups and downs in the economy, people losing their jobs due to covid related causes and getting new jobs. People escaping from certain areas and moving to other areas. All of this transitioning necessitates a lot more Notary work and Notaries. And yes, there are more Notaries out there than before. When people lose their job, the first thing that goes through their head is whether or not to become a Notary — or so it seems.

However, for the last eight or so years, new notaries and old alike lack the willingness to master their trade and become experts. Many take classes and pass tests. But, when I test them on actual notary or situational knowledge, few can get more than 80%.

So having lots of poor quality notaries who can’t even administer an Oath properly is not overcrowded. The quantity of what I consider to be qualified Notaries is as sparse as the population in Northern Alaska in between sled dog races. Actually, I think those races are in central Alaska along the biggest river when it freezes over. And the Northern lights are good in both places. But, I digress. What was I writing about again? Ah yes — Notaries.

POINTS IN THE NNA ARTICLE DISCUSSED

The author of the NNA article says that many Notaries claim that there is not enough work to go around. Qualified Notaries are not making this claim. They claim that there is not enough work that pays what they want to go around. Notaries with no name recognition, no skills to speak of and no experience would not get much work even if there were enough work to go around. I understand the author’s point, but when you look at the situation a little below the surface it looks very different.

The author states that RON or Remote Online Notary work creates new opportunities. This is a very true point. However, RON work is feast or famine. The 80:20 rule of Real Estate where 20% of the agents get 80% of the work applies to RON, if you change it to the 99:1 rule. It seems that the applications and sites catering to RON work favor the very solid Notaries who have seniority and know what they are doing. A handful of Notaries are cleaning up where the majority are lucky to get even one job. So, understanding RON from a business perspective is complicated and it does not provide work for the masses.

The author recommends: use the support of your fellow Notaries. Yes, this is a great idea. However, any successful notary who teams up with others will be very picky who they choose or their reputation will go down the drain. If a new Notary thinks they can partner up with an experienced Notary with a good customer base, this is very unlikely unless you developed a stellar reputation or are very socially close to the experienced Notary. But, in the long run, networking is a good idea. I did it for years, and many Notaries on 123notary do it too. Networking — it’s a good idea, but there are catches and many considerations.

The author recommends: Network with local businesses that need notary services. Once again, another good idea. But, this is an idea you should be using anyway regardless of how the notary market is doing. Call up local businesses. Or drop by and give them your card. A certain percentage will use you, so go to lots, and have lots of cards.

Then the author recommends: Find opportunities outside of your local area. This is what I recommend too. It is called widening your net. You should do that in any case whether business is fast or slow if the price is right or if it is for a client you like enough to drive. This point is a good one, but has nothing to do with overcrowding.

SUMMARY
I feel this particular NNA article is helpful, but is a general marketing article with a title that is specific to a particular type of market condition that the article does not address. The fact is that for years, the NNA has been outstanding at marketing to new Notaries, getting them on board and turning them into signing agents. Many of these Notaries are Realtors, Insurance workers, Mortgage and Escrow people, etc. NNA tends to attract a good crowd and a big crowd and floods the industry with signing agents. However, how many of these signing agents can pass a tough notary or signing agent exam? The answer is very few. And the reason is that people since about 2013 (yes I noticed this), have become lazy and don’t want to study hard. Even people with four different certifications don’t like to study hard. This is hard to believe but it is my experience.

Here is the original article
https://www.nationalnotary.org/notary-bulletin/blog/2021/09/is-the-notary-industry-overcrowded

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July 8, 2021

Business name ideas for a Notary in Vegas

Filed under: Marketing Articles — admin @ 3:10 am

I had this client who has been with me for years. He dropped out and then reappeared out of nowhere kind of like an Ace of Spades that got buried in the deck only to reappear just when you need it. I looked at his profile. There were two business names in use — one on his email, and another on his site which he said was outdated. I told him that both of the names were average. Not terrible, but neither had a ring. So, I sat down with him (by phone) and looked at some ideas that had some pizazz. Here is what we came up with and my commentary.

Wild Card Notary Services
Wow — amazing, mysterious and powerful. Really catches your attention in a good way and has a very Vegas feel to it.

High Limits Signing Service
There is a sense of excitement, risk and danger in this name. I wonder if this name would attract clients with deep pockets.

Royal Flush Notary
This name has a very elegant and opulent ring to it. I bet James Bond would like it.

Deuces Wild Signing Service
This name has Vegas written all over it, but also has intrigue due to that word, “wild” which adds such an interesting dimension to the name.

Stardust Notary Service
Named after an antiquated casino.

Silver Mine Notary Service
Very historical Nevada type of a theme.

Silver State Notary Service
A synonym for Nevada once again and a little bit more classy than saying, “Nevada Notary Service.”

Jackpot Notary Service
Sounds like a winner to me

High Wager Notary Service
Sounds like a gamble

Blackjack Notary Service
Classy, and has an Old West flavor to it.

Buy In Notary Service
A classy gambling term integrated into a Notary name.

Casino Notary Service
Sounds great, but sounds like you do mostly smoke filled casinos and get tired of having buffet seven days a week.

Good Odds Notary Service
A fun name, and the customer will probably have good luck with that service too.

Anti-Up Notary Service
I bet Kenny Rogers would approve of this name.

SUMMARY
I liked all of these names. I don’t know if my customer will register any of these with his county, but I think the top name really has a wow factor and an appeal to it. It sounds like an older guy who’s done it all, seen it all, and been in all types of hair raising situations. And in reality, he was in a few scary situations.

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June 18, 2021

12 ways to negatively advertise yourself and fail as a mobile notary

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 8:51 am

Notaries hire us to advertise them and promote them by virtue of listing them. But, many notaries do counterproductive things with their advertising. Let’s take a closer look.

YOUR BUSINESS NAME
1. Have a generic sounding business name like “Nationwide Notary Service” , “Statewide Signing Service”, or “Illinois Notary Service.” You will get confused with a lot of others and not stand out. Or just don’t have a business name at all.

REVIEWS
2. Don’t ask for reviews — ever… And make sure your work isn’t that great, which will alleviate the risk of getting a positive review. Or you could try to get negative reviews.

PHONE ETIQUETTE
3. Never answer your phone, and if you do, make sure to have screaming kids in the background, try to sound muffled, don’t speak into the phone, and don’t be polite. Never announce who you are when you answer your phone — make them guess.

4. Give roundabout answers to questions via phone and insert lots of unasked for information which you think makes you look knowledgeable, but to them makes you look like an annoying novice who won’t stop talking.

YOUR NOTES SECTION
5. Use baseless cliche adjectives to describe yourself like “responsible” and “reliable”

6. Leave your notes section blank on your 123notary listing profile.

7. Ramble on and on in your notes section without letting people know your credentials or what you know how to do.

YOUR PROFILE
8. Don’t fill in your # of loans signed on your profile. Let people guess and when they ask, say, “lots” rather than giving them actual tangible information such as an actual number.

9. Only work two days a week, and only three hours on each day.

10. Only serve your home county and refuse to go anywhere else for any price.

KNOWLEDGE & CERTIFICATIONS

11. Don’t get any. Or at a minimum, don’t get certified by any agency with tough testing standards. Why bother?

12. Make sure you don’t know your notary knowledge at all. That way you can ensure that you will make Notary mistakes, get in lots of trouble and lose clients.

SUMMARY
If you follow all of my tips, I guarantee that you will do really poorly in your business unless you have a very loyal following already. On the other hand, do the opposite, and you might do well. In addition to these tips, if you send back packages late, or in incomplete form, and speak in a rude way to clients, that will enhance your ability to fail in business. Once again, do the opposite and you might succeed.

I wrote this article in jest, but the reality is that most Notaries are not doing everything, or even half of everything they need to do to succeed. Making it as a mobile notary is not a matter of luck. There is a checklist of things you need to do: Notes, Reviews, Certifications, Notes, Business Name, Phone Etiquette, Notary Skills, etc.

The good news is that we have many articles and even free courses on our blog for ALL of these points. And you can become an expert with n

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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 28, 2021

Tips for getting more assignments as a new Notary

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 9:50 am

Here are a few tips for the new folks to get more business.

1. Take jobs that others won’t.
Most Notaries are picky. They want the best jobs for the highest price from the nicest companies. If you are trying to develop a reputation and get signings under your belt, do the opposite! Take signings that are far away, pay little, involve a lot of fax backs, or sound difficult. You have to get your foot in the door.

2. Advertise on all the major portals and directories
Snapdocs, 123notary, Notary Rotary, Notary Cafe, and others

3. Advertise in more counties on 123notary
We don’t even charge for this. Once you are listed you can have up to 12 counties, and sometimes we can accommodate for more. If the database cannot accommodate them on one listing, we can create additional listings which generally is not free, but for an affordable cost if you want a larger net.

4. Call all signing companies in the nation that are doing a lot of business. Talk to all title companies within 90 minutes of you as well. If they need pick up and delivery, you might be their person.

5. Having mobile equipment helps
Mobile printing, scanning, faxing really helps. But, if your equipment is at home, make sure to have a dual tray printer, a reliable scanner, fax, and whatever else your clients say they need.

6. Network
Get listed with your local chamber of commerce, let local hospitals, Attorneys, nursing homes, airports, jails, bail bonds people and Real Estate brokers know you are in business. Often they have their own Notaries, but people get sick, quit, or won’t notarize due to conflict of interest.

7. 25K E&O Insurance
This is the minimum, but some people get up to a million to let people know they are serious. An absolute beginner should probably stick to 25 or 100K. But, you an upgrade if you start getting title work because the title companies want more.

8. Let everyone know you are a Notary
People often need a Notary and it is handy if one lives nearby who people know. Mention you are a Notary on your Facebook page, Twitter, at networking events, to your neighbors, the local stores, and anyone else you can think of.

9. One certification is good, but…
It is good to be “certified”, but having three or four certifications lets people know you are three or four times as serious as the others.

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April 6, 2021

What should we write about on our blog?

Filed under: Social Media — admin @ 5:40 am

Friends, Notaries, and Countrymen, lend me your ears, and stamps. Cancel the stamps – that would be illegal. I need ideas of what you guys want me to write about. I have been writing for this blog for twelve years with some significant help from Andy, Ken and Carmen who passed on in 2020. Perhaps she can help from the brighter world, I’ll ask.

Basically, I am having less things to say about the industry. Anything I wanted to talk about I either already discussed in detail, or don’t know enough about such as the whole RON phenomenon (which rhymes.)

I can try to judge what sparks your interest by virtue of what you comment on or what is talked about on Notary Rotary or Facebook. But, honestly things have changed.

Our forum and Facebook used to be full of commentary. Mostly polite, some rude, but people had lots of things to say. That was because in those days most Notaries in the business had been around the block for some time. Now, we have mostly new people on 123notary. The old people quit, died, or stopped their commentary because they slowed down. The newer people are more serious about getting multiple certifications which is excellent, but have less to say.

If you would like to comment on this post, please keep in mind that I read the comments based on when they were submitted and not which blog they are in reference to, so please format your comment as follows.

“I would like it if you would write about XYZ”
Then I will know what article it is in reference to and how to interpret the comment.

I read all of the blog comments. I put the spam ones in spam, the rude or irrelevant ones in the trash, and keep the good ones. I even write more blog articles based on interesting comments of which there are a few per month. Your comments are appreciated — please consider writing one to this post.

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