Hey Noble,
Cultivating notary assignments seems to have you (and a lot of others contributing to this site) a bit flummoxed. Look, I’m a newbie, too, having only been at this for exactly 4 months of ‘active duty’. I hardly claim to know it all, or even very much, truth be told. But, after having built and sold two small enterprises with millions in sales over 37 years, I’ve learned a thing or two about business. I’m gonna share some of that with you. So, pour yourself a nice beverage, find a comfortable chair and read on.
Noble, regarding notary work, I do believe that you are CLEAR, CAPABLE, and MOTIVATED. Success is not achievable if any one of these three elements is weak or missing. Let’s check that box saying you’ve got them all.
Forgive me a moment’s digression. Many years ago, I was in the Army (intending to make it a career) and I was a good soldier, a very good one, in fact. But, I had one flaw that unnecessarily held me back (for a time, anyway). I felt I had license to voice my opinion/observation/call it what you will, about a lot of things I disagreed with or simply did not understand. Occasionally I was even right! But nobody was listening and worse, nobody cared. I was pissin’ in the wind, as they say. One day, my platoon sergeant, tiring of my antics, pulled me out of ranks, looked me in the eye and said, “If the Army wanted you to have an opinion, they’d have issued you one! If you don’t like something around here, you’d better find a way to fix it, or keep your &*$#@# mouth closed.” (He used more ‘colorful’ words).
Right then and there, I quit complaining and stopped offering my [valuable] ‘opinions’. From that moment on and for the rest of my life, I sought and often discovered creative ways to solve problems instead of just voicing them to whoever would listen. Sarge was right, nobody cares what I think. But, they do care about what I DO.
So, today, as a new notary, I’ve run into the same obstacles as you have eloquently described in your last post. In fact, here’s how you characterized those obstacles: “fairly annoying”, “Inconsistent”, “just dumb”, “sporadic”, “guaranteeing nothing”, “ridiculous”, “only 1 had a job for me”. You go on to say, “This isn’t good enough for a full time job. It’s not good enough to be a nice, lucrative full time job.”
Did someone promise you that you’d have a nice, lucrative, full-time job as a notary? None of us received such a promise, right gang? We all face those obstacles, just like you, and some of us find ways around them. Just like I had to do in the Army. I quit complaining (because nobody cares) and got real creative and sought wisdom, something notary ‘newbies’ seldom do, even on this website.
At this point, I want to say two important things, because they’ll drive the focus in the rest of this memo. First, we must all be careful what we write in this space. Not only do our fellow notaries (aka, competitors) read our stuff, but so do the title companies, escrow companies, signing houses and all the rest who hold sway over our assignments, income and our very existence, in some ways. Constructive criticism in limited amounts is fine, but complaining about the firms that employ us? Not good when done on this site, especially. In other words, stop biting the hand that feeds you!
Second, get creative! Start with your business plan. Yeah, I know, I know, you don’t have one and don’t want to do one. OK with me. Mine’s done and it works. I’m making $$ and getting busier every week. How can you be in business in this crazy environment without a business plan?!?
Here’s the key elements in my business plan:
Executive Summary – Enables a quick understanding of your plan by all interested parties.
Elevator Pitch – A brief description of your business attributes and objectives.
Company Mission Statement – Clarifies who you are, what you do, and why you do it.
Team – Identifies the types of people you’ll need in the next year to achieve your goals.
Marketing Plan – How you will attract prospects and convert them to customers for a cycle.
Operations Plan – Identify each project that comprise your goals and map out initiatives.
Financial Projections – Use a financial model to assess the potential results for each opportunity you consider pursuing.
Target Customers – Focused marketing efforts to get a higher return on investment dollars.
Industry Analysis – Ascertain if your market is growing or if diversification is called for.
“SCOF” Analysis – Analysis of your Successes, Challenges, Opportunities and Failures.
Differentiation – Differentiating yourself amongst competitors and putting revenue as your top source of capital is the difference between living and dying – between scaling and failing.
Goals – Set 5-year goals and the 1-year goals that set your trajectory to achieve 5-year goals.
Key Performance Indicators – Understand your metrics so you can track your performance.
My plan forced me to become very creative and now I have a select clientele that is mine alone. I have no recognizable competitors in my area of specialty, just the way I like it. You can do the same thing, but you gotta get creative and think!
Remember in the 70’s and before, all soda cans and beer cans had to be opened using a church-key opener? Then, some enterprising person came up with the pop-top can. What a revolutionary idea! Can you do something like that in your field of endeavor? Why not? I did and I believe my notary practice is about to explode. I’m not special. I’m not all that smart. But I like to make money when I work hard, so I use my business plan and think, think, think. Ask questions, seek wisdom. Practice. Do not wait for the phone to ring and for signing houses to feel sorry for you and give you a $75 crumb. Get out and be persistent.
Noble, you asked about my 6-points. Here’s some quick responses:
Business card: mine is not boring like most are. Mine feels great, looks good, has color, no photo of me, uses both sides (critical contact info on front; complete resume on the back). My slogan is fun and I play off it all the time. People seem to like it just fine. They always comment on how it feels.
Brochure. Carefully laid out and critiqued by friends, family and my wife before I went to print. You’ve got to be able to take constructive criticism. Remember, the signing houses will need to refer to it, provided, of course, that you send it to them. Email it if you can’t find a street address. Get creative!
Give-aways. Always a dicey proposition. Mine tie in with being memorable. Every signer now gets a Peppermint Pattie (who doesn’t like those?) unless I sense it would not be welcome. After a 1-hour signing, everybody wants some relief. The foil wrapped candies make me memorable and contribute to the good ratings I get from the signing houses.
Personal appearance. I always look sharp when I make calls on escrow companies, title companies, and all the special places I’ve uncovered that use notaries. I’ve seen my competitors who often look like they’ve just come from the gym or grocery store. Not me, baby. Always razor sharp. Must be my military training.
Professional bearing. See immediately above.
Memorable. See all above.
OK, that’s it. I’ve got decisions I’ve got to make about a new printer (thanks for the feedback, everybody!) and this is the longest memo I’ve written in years. I hope it helps you Noble and all you newbies out there. It’s a good job, being a notary, you just have to make it so.
Blessings.
I finally received business from a Signing Service!