Each year I reflect on how well I did the year before, and what modifications I should make going forward to assure a continued thriving business. I would like to hear from others on experiences that provided lessons learned. And, how did those experiences affect your bottom line? This is how 2018 shook out for me.
I am a retiree so I work part-time and I tried to keep my signings within my number of signings and money earned goals. I managed to hit both. (Money earned goals has to be below the $45,000 threshold to not affect my social security benefit. Uncle Sam will deduct from your benefit $1 for every $3 earned over that threshold!)
315 signings (over 10 months - took 2 months off)
Loss to Bad Debts $30 (compared to $200 in 2017)
Decided to add e-signings to my menu of services - this looks like a viable revenue stream going forward.
Lessons learned: Don’t accept any signings from Mortgage Docs (Bad Debt)
Make certain to let companies know AHEAD OF TIME, that the signing location may require additional charges for parking.
Bad experience: Had a signing at a downtown location. The building location required premium parking in the building, which usually would have been no problem if $5 or less. But the signer had not received the documents as scheduled and I was not contracted to print. Title wanted to close that day so we negotiated having them send a second set to the signer via email at their work location. First printing was duplexed by their clerical, so we could not use the documents. Second set was shrank to fit all documents on letter sized paper as their office did no legal paper printing. After much wrangling, Title accepted the documents as printed. But, by the time signing was completed, it was over an hour (normally would have been under 30 minutes) and parking was over $20. I contacted Title to request that this amount be included in my fee, and they acquiesced. But, the parking was not included in my payment and their accounting department would not honor the verbal agreement. So, I did not get the additional $20, after several attempts. This experience informed my decision to always include a caveat about parking possibly being included as an additional cost in areas that I know close down on-street parking during rush hour or where only building parking is available.
During 2018, several companies that I had personal contracts with disappeared and were merged with other larger companies, or decided to contract their business through signing services. That means, I am going to have to be smarter this coming year, and develop other relationships if I am going to continue to appreciate the level of business I had in the past year. Considering what changes to make. So far, I’ve decided to include Apostille services as a possible revenue stream beginning in 2019.
How about you?