Sign up on more platforms - Signing Order and Notary Dash and Loan Closers at least. I’ve been doing this for a year, have a high rating on SNAPDOCS and still have not gotten an order from them.
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I think it really depends on where you are located. I made a lot of money during the pandemic but I never expected it to last. Now I do a lot of remote signings ( I am in NJ), I am signed up with Amorck and get about 5 remote signings per week. Since I work full time this is the most I can do with my schedule. I rarely take assignments from Snapdocs or drive to homes anymore.
I would advise you to get familiar with general notary work while this drought continues. I have seen a number of notaries move to settlement agents. ts time for notaries to get creative and discover the next opportunities. Best of luck to you.
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I have been doing this since 2004. Things are S-L-O-W right now. It reminds me when the housing bubble crashed in 2008. I was so busy before then and it came to a stop. Title Companies and signing services went out of business leaving notaries unpaid.
Unfortunately, the “seasoned” notaries will be chosen first. Our expenses (as well as the interest rates) are rising and gas just started “going back down” in Pennsylvania. Most of the offers I get are really low or too far away. Received an offer last week for an area that was at a minimum two hours away - one way!
I missed the RON boat with Amrock and they recently sent a message saying please do not contact us regarding volumn as it isn’t there.
I do a fair amount of GNW, but it comes in waves. There will be more debt consolidations, but some people have issues with that.
Market yourself on Facebook, next door, set up a FREE yelp listing, a google business page. Post business cards or fliers where ever there is a bulletin board.
Good luck!
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Nope. It is not dead, it is simply evolving. It’s like when the Kindle Reader came out in 2007 and people freaked out that it meant the end of printed books, newspapers, and magazines. Here we are in the third quarter of 2022 and printed books are still the most popular means of reading.
There will always be a need for people to buy/sell and refinance real estate. The mortgage rates were incredibly low last year and now we are seeing the rates increase and so (for now) we are seeing fewer refinances and more purchase/sales, HELOCs, and reverse mortgages. It’s cyclical.
Besides the economy, a large part of the notary public evolution can be attributed to the push for Remote Online Notarization – but RON is only viable option for those people who are tech savvy. Certainly not everyone is. (And I am especially referring to signers/borrowers! Just because a notary is comfortable and experienced with high tech doesn’t mean every signer will be.)
There will be a need for notaries who do traditional wet signings for a few more generations at the very least. To survive we must do our best to evolve and stay relevant or find other revenue streams.
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Yeah, we’re kinda like blacksmiths. 
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Getting to be like bank tellers too. Most banks only have 1 or 2 teller windows open. Most people do their banking online now…especially the younger generations.
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For those accustomed to using computers and smart phones, online banking is easy once you get the hang of it. Heck, even my 80 year old father could email, text, and pay bills online provided he had all day to do it. (He was a hunt-and-peck typist). But I know using the computer to get through RON’s Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA) process successfully to complete a loan signing, would have been a bridge wayyyy too far.
Remember RON signers must answer 5 security questions within 2 minutes before the session timed out. It sounds easier that it is. Especially the older you get the more obscure these security authentication questions seem to be. And if the signer fails, they have to wait 24 hours then go through the process again and have to answer different KBA security questions to prove his identity. On top of that, my father troubleshooting any internet connectivity, microphone, or webcam issues on his own (or even with help) would also have been a big fat no-go. On top of that, he had significant hearing and vision issues. And towards the very end of his life, mobility issues.
If someone was to tell my dad, “sir, you must go through this online because that’s the way we do things now”, I am sure my dad would tell them precisely where to go and that he doesn’t need to buy or sell or refinance ANYTHING THAT BADLY to suffer that kind of aggravation. (RIP daddo! 
)
Remote Online Notarization may be “the future” but it simply will not work for everyone. Seniors and many others will be counting on mobile notaries and signing agents for a long, long, LONG time.
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If you have a hard time diversifying and learning new things then yes it is dead. For the younger and crafty notaries not at all. making a website, running ads, digital marketing ect is not for everybody but that’s not the only way that works, just very efficient.
@gjackmanNSS - PROformance Signings?
So you’re a nationwide signing service. - totally different ballpark from independent mobile notaries
“PROformance Signings LLC is a nationwide notary signing service that understands our client’s need for fast, reliable, accurate, and professional services.”
You can search here for notaries in the area you need.
As to your “attitude” comment…wow … How very nice and professional of you.
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Hi Jawyand,
Sorry for the late reply but I was thinking about your post and wanted to tell you something great about these hard times.
It’s often difficult to build a meaningful relationship with Realtors, Escrow Officers, etc when they are so busy. They push you out the door, or you can’t get past the gate-keeper. But, see it like this; take the time now to build those relationships, drive to their offices, call them, learn more about them. They too are having hard times and can connect more quickly with us. Then when the good times return, as they always do, you will be first perhaps, for them to call when they need business.
This is what I’m doing and I have to say the people I’m meeting are fantastic! I look forward to better times with them along side me!
Best of luck. Keep going and stay positive. Nothing last forever. Put in today something you can stand on tomorrow…
Lynda Seymour
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No, this industry is not dying/dead! Economic down cycles changes the supply and demand for any business. It doesn’t matter if this is a person’s side hustle or full time business, you have to adapt to the changes in the marketplace. The only individual that may be struggling in Notary Public/Loan Signing business, is the individual who do not understand how to function, operate or market their business in a down market. A business is a living entity, it must grow and evolve. If you are not growing that business, then that business will die. You need to have a plan, such as plan A, plan B, plan C, etc… Now’s the time for creative thinking and willingness to make changes.
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Snapdocs and NotaryRotary aren’t signing services.
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I agree with Fletcher that the notary business is NOT dead. But, as is so often necessary on this forum, some simple math seems to be called for. If you figure that the refinance business IS dead for the long foreseeable future (rates go up another 3/4 point in a few weeks - YIKES, recession time) and real estate buys and sells will drop to nearly zero because of rates, then what’s left for notaries to do? GNW and apostilles, that’s about it. That’s a lot of wolves chasing only a few rabbits and unless the notary is very well established with a book of recurring business, the numbers just don’t pencil out.
For instance, how much can a notary net (pre-tax) on an average GNW job - what, maybe $25? Let’s go with that for now. The notary would have to do 10 of those a day to make a lousy $250 X 5 days = $1250 (net) X 4 weeks = $5,000 net a month. Now apply a combined 25% state and federal taxation and the notary is netting only $3750 a month if they’re doing 250 GNWs a month. Nobody is doing that.
Maybe I’m overlooking something or maybe my numbers are wrong - I don’t know. If the PLAN A, B, C, etc. means doing something other than routine notary work, OK, I understand that. Side hustles to the side hustle, as it were. But, as I see it, the only notaries that are making bank these days are the signing service owners who can cherry pick the jobs they get and boast about how much they’re making in the face of the worst economy of our lives, 2008 notwithstanding.
It was fun while it lasted.
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Amen to this post. Newbys pay attention, this is the truth.
Agree. Pretty much nailed it. NSA/LSA work has become a Unicorn.
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Notary Dash will spend months paying you $30.
Define “younger” notaries. Anyone under the age of 60? It’s not like being a signing agent is a career that kids in their 20s strive for.
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“It’s not like being a signing agent is a career that kids on their 20’s strive for”
Apparently it is…read through this forum and you will see.
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