The Notary Experience

I have been a Notary Public in the city of Compton for the past 5 years and from what I have experienced; it is pretty hard work. In the beginning, it is very important to not rely solely on your Notary Commission as your primary income. For me, I continued to work full time, go to school full time and work as a Notary Public. Still, to this day, I have not made it to where I am comfortable with my position as a Compton Notary Public.

To ensure that you are making consistent income, you must be committed to building relationships; especially in the real estate market. Most Notaries who make a comfortable amount of money have built long lasting relationships with major mortgage companies within the industry. This is a very difficult task, for a couple of reasons. Most Notaries that make it on one of these lists are not willing to give up their slot; they are willing to go above and beyond to maintain their position. Secondly, once they are ready to retire or move on to something different, the company trusts them enough to request referrals.

Ideally, the best way to get into this inner circle is to attend networking events to get your foot in the door. Before you are actually able to make it in the Notary business, you have to sell yourself first. That is the most important part of what we do. People have to trust you and your work. They have to know that once they send you out for a job; you are going to do the job right. This is important because when a mortgage broker sends you out to work with a particular client, their name is attached to it; not yours. In the real estate market, the only way to make a sufficient amount of money is through referrals. Therefore, it is imperative that your client has a great experience.

I have noticed that recently, many Notary Publics are expanding their business into other markets. They are not only doing notaries, but they are finger printing, becoming Real Estate Agents or getting into appraisals. This is also a good thing to do; it gives you the ability to cross sell. That same client that is looking for an appraiser may one day need a Notary Public. What I find interesting is that most times people do not know where to find one. Therefore, if you have done a good job on one particular venture than chances are that they will remember you when the time comes up.

I am a firm believer that you have to be proactive in building relationships to build any business. The key to any successful business is to have many people in your pipeline. This becomes especially important when you are dealing with service. Most documents that need a Notary signature are extremely important documents and carry a heavy meaning for the person or persons involved. To progress in this market, I urge you to make connections on blogs and websites like linked in, attend conferences and luncheons for specialists in the market and be extremely patient because it will pay off eventually.