A handful of Notaries responded to an old article about doing some job with fax backs and eDocuments for $75. The question was, is it worth it? I also mentioned that in India people would cut off their left arm to have such an offer, but I got only sarcastic responses stating that they didn’t live in India.
Many Notaries wrote back that when calculating your fee, you should consider:
1. Cost of commission, licenses & memberships
2. Study time
3. Cell phone cost per month
4. Equipment costs
5. Advertising costs & the time spent generating business
6. Auto expenses
7. Printing expenses
The fact is that expenses from 1-5 are fixed expenses and have nothing to do with a particular job. Expenses 1-5, if too much, should influence your decision to stay in the business or leave altogether as those expenses do not go up or down based on whether or not you take a particular job.
The real cost is whether you could do something else with your time such as a more profitable job, billing clients, sleep, spending time on errands or with family. If $75 is your best offer, then take it whether it is “fair” or not. There is no fair in business — only relativity.
Additionally, if you lived in India, you would be working all day long for a few dollars and would not get to eat in restaurants hardly ever unless you had a swanky job. You would have bare bones conditions and people nagging you all day long. Don’t take for granted that you live in an affluent society because that can be taken away from you in the long run. Yes, sarcasm is good, but try to see what is going on in other countries and realize how good you have it compared to the 3rd world folks.
LINKS
You might also like:
Is $75 enough to print 2 sets of docs, notarize and do fax backs?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=10369
$300 in 13 minutes — how Carmen cleans up in the Notary business
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19284
Relativity is indeed the word to consider. Let’s get off that comparison with a culture and economy half way around the world. I’m reminded of my grandmother who, when I felt I couldn’t eat another bite of the food still on my plate, would urge me to stuff more in by evoking a picture of the “poor starving children in Asia
In this culture, this economy, and this business, we sell our services for dollars, NOT rupees.
My time is worth a certain amount which is reflected in my fee schedules. My orders come not only from signing companies and bankks and title companies, but from the private sector and local attorneys, care centers,and hospitals. If my caller is “shopping” prices, I make sure they know the California fee per signature and what the additional charge is….time and travel. And I do recommend one or two “walk in” .”notaries where they can go and pay only $15 per signature.
My advice is to consider the message in the nest ton last paragraph above. Once you have seriously figured the value of your time, set your fees and stickkk to them. We are NOT working for the benefit of signing companies…or we shouldn’t be.
Comment by DONNA J.R. CONNE — November 12, 2019 @ 8:27 am