TO ALL MEMBERS: 
As I have shared on multiple occasions on the Notary Cafe forum within various threads, please do your own due diligence prior to investing your hard-earned funds into ANY business venture. 
Purely anecdotal experience can be insightful, but certainly isn’t representative of results across a region, state, nor the entire US. The statement “Your individual results may vary” is particularly germane in this instance.
It is WONDERFUL that some have an evolving/blossoming General Notary Work [GNW] event & certainly those are in no way being discounted, but they are RARE indeed.
Most members of the US population will take their GNW to their bank or friend/neighbor/church member who are notaries & have the service provided for NO FEE at all . . .
The overarching theme is that there is GNW available for those who are no longer mobile or who have time constraints or particular signatory demands. Yes, for those types of instances there is GNW, but it’s not a reliable source of income.
In addition, when the ever-evolving Remote Online Notarizations [RONs] are factored into the equation (increasingly being performed on a NATIONAL level) it realistically leaves very little GNW available.
Those who have been a business owner within this business sector for a decade or longer have seen the volume of signing agent & GNW continually diminish.
This is not to say that IF interest rates drop that signing agent orders won’t increase, because it WILL increase. Again, it’s not a reliable source of income.
With all the Signing Services [SSs] that are falling by the wayside, becoming defunct, and going Out-of-Business [OOB] there should be no question of the condition of the canary in the coal mine . . .
As we regularly witness on the Notary Cafe forum in various threads, some of those business entities that are OOB have left many Professional Signing Agents [PSAs] UNPAID for their professional services successfully provided.
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So, in essence . . .
- You owe it to yourself when investing (whether financially or in launching a business) to do your own Research
- When investing regardless of the sector/investment “vehicle,” do your own due diligence
- Check the saturation of EXISTING Notaries within your locale PRIOR to making a commitment into the venture you’re considering
- Investigate this data for a REALISTIC revenue generation stream potential from 2021: Finally..a reality check as to how much a notary earns
- Also, investigate this data for the REALISTIC revenue generation stream potential from 2023 - Just 2 years apart - eye-opening insights: https://www.nationalnotary.org/file%20library/nna/download/nna-2023-notary-survey-results.pdf
- Allow yourself at least between 2-5 years to establish stable revenue generation from your new venture
- Always DIVERSIFY the services you intend to provide as it will “smooth out” the peaks & valleys of the income stream
- If it ‘sounds too good to be true’ definitively applies in this instance
- Of course, consider your financial needs. If you have only nominal financial requirements to meet, this could be a good fit for you!
