Notary Minutia: Glad I Did Not Know This Sooner!

Yesterday, I spent some time calling a few companies I have not heard from in awhile.

One call would have stopped me from starting the business if I had known about it before. Glad I did not know this sooner!

In one call with my usual contact at a company located in Texas:

Me: Haven't heard from you folks in a while and wondered if I had done anything wrong, been replaced in my area, or if if there is any reason you guys had not called me lately?

Contact: Let me pull up your profile. No problem with you. Working with notaries in Texas is hard.

Me: How so?

Contact: The problem is in Texas you cannot close so many of the loans with a notary in a home and they have to go a title company, lender branch or an attorney to close the loan. I have two friends who have considered doing what you do. I have told them not to quit their day job to do it because they will not be able to make a living at it.

Me: Man, I am glad I did not know that a year ago! I do ok. Yes, I understand about HELOCs.

Contact: In fact, many lenders are requiring HELOCs be closed in Houston at a title company or lender branch. The bwrs have to drive to Houston, but you are not affected because of where you are located.

Me: Well, there are scary times when things are quiet, but I just keep looking for work by marketing and making calls.

Contact: Yes, and you're serious about this and have a background in real estate and do this full time according to your profile. You did not quit your day job and expect to work all the time like my friends have with no background in the business. [Note: My background r.e. legal secretary/mortgage processor.]

Me: Yes, and like I said, I am pretty busy marketing myself all the time. Obviously! I am on the phone with you right now asking questions.

Contact: For some reason, my girlfriends think that they can quit their day job and start working full time as a notary right off the bat. I told them, from my experience, you cannot.

Me: Well, this is all interesting and I appreciate what you have told me. Thanks for letting me know much about the way you see things.

Contact: Be sure that we call you every time we can. You have a good rating with us.

Me: Please do and thank you!
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Epilogue: Especially for notaries starting the business:

(1) If you start the business, be ready to hang in there for 18-24 months to get enough clients built up to work for in order to make a go of it full time.

(2) Find a notary in your state to exchange good contacts with to help build your client base. Let the notary get to know you and your work product a little before you Refer one another.

(3) Develop a marketing plan and stick to it.

(4) Call your contacts and ask them what's going on in their world. Often they can tell you if there is something in the "pipeline" for you.

Thank you for indulging me in reading my articles. I enjoy writing very much. Even though I am not as talented as my published friends, Hugh Nations, or Laura Vestanen, I do enjoy being your humble correspondent!

Reporting in from the fringe of my Texas notary life,
Brenda Stone