RON for a newbie

Hello Everyone,

So just starting out to become a notary. I am looking for flexible work from home assignments as I have fulltime school that I am attending and I am not looking into this for the long haul. I am not looking to build my client base. I would like clients to be sent to me. My earning expectations are not high at all. You can say its some side money but can work only few hours every day because of school.

I heard about the Notarize model where you sign up as an independent agent clock in and out according to your needs. Is Notarize a good choice still? I know they don’t pay much but could you compensate that with volume? Are you still getting volume with Notarize

It may sound counter intuitive but i don’t want loan signing work, just general notary work except for weddings… Can I pick and choose the assignments?

What other platforms would you recommend as I heard Notarize.com is not like what it used to be a year ago.

Please consider the above criteria of flexibility to work your own hours, choosing your own assignments, and having clients sent to you. And as I said, I am not looking to earn a high income with this.

Thank you for the info!

There is a plethora of data already on the threads within Notary Cafe. :sparkles::tulip:

If you type ‘RON’ in the Search field, you’ll find loads of very informative & bountiful resources there.

Always check the Search field initially for any query, then (IF you come up empty-handed) create a thread with your question.

Here is a sampling of some of the available threads for you: Search results for 'ron' - Notary Cafe Forums

It will also serve you well to review the following thread:

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IF you discover that a completely new thread DOES need to be created for your question, then include within your original post that a thorough Search of the Notary Cafe forum threads has already been completed & include the links of the threads (at least 1 or 2) with the most helpful info. This will assist us in providing guidance as well as provide helpful info to others who will be viewing your recently created thread. :pray::angel::gem:

You may also want to consider calculating the following overhead expenses even if you’re only choosing RON work. Here are a few to get you started:
• telephone expenses
• office equipment and furniture
• rent and utilities
• paper
• toner
• binder clips
• pens
• stationery and supplies
• business insurance
• business-related meals and entertainment
• professional association memberships
• annual background checks
• annual certification expenses
• legal and accounting fees
• advertising and marketing costs; i.e., Google ads, yellow pages ad, website, business cards, or brochure

Your individual overhead would also include the cost of fringe benefits; i.e., medical insurance, disability insurance, retirement benefits. Also, remember to include income taxes and self-employment taxes.

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If calculating all this accurately seems to be a bit overwhelming, reach out to your tax advisor and ask for guidance in this regard, Ivan. :sparkles::yellow_heart:

Thanks for the quick post but my question was not getting rich quick as you had posted link about expectation. I have different specific needs that I please request for suggestions. As notary business is changing rapidly or has changed recently, I would like upto date info so I don’t go by expired info.
Thanks again for the reply.

2 Likes

It would help if we knew where you’re from so we can direct you properly.

That said, if your focus is on RON, you’ll need to consider the cost of your RON commission, E&O and other state requirements along with the cost of maintaining the RON technology required for this (initial setup, monthly fees, per notarization fee, etc).

Yes, I’ve heard Notarize pays the notary $5/notarization - that’s what I have heard only, no personal experience.

I am situated in South Florida, yes I have taken RON fees into account, as far as technology fees Notarize provides their own system at no cost to the independent contractor. I do know that they give you $5 per transaction.
Need to know if the volume is there so I can get some transactions done quickly due to time constraints. Also the need to be selective in choosing assignments. I am not in this to grab only lucrative assignments, I want general notary work instead but no weddings.

Unfortunately, Ivan, appears that you may have overlooked the INITIAL url link referenced for your query:

Is Notarize system acceptable to the state of Florida? I’m in Florida and I don’t really know because I am not interested in doing this work. Are you willing to fulfill what’s required as far as video and journal storage for 10 years? $25,000 E&O required?? Remember, you have to have your digital technology in place BEFORE your RON commission is issued; in addition, keep in mind that although these companies take care of the technology for you, along with the record retention (for a fee) YOU are still ultimately responsible for all of it - and the liability for any errors is all on you.

I think you need to re-think this, IMO. Sounds like you just want to “dabble” and, personally, I think you need to leave this work for those who take it seriously (I don’t get the feeling you do and if I’m wrong, I apologize). I would respectfully suggest you contact an employment agency local to you - we have several up here in my area who constantly post on FB that they are looking for work-from-home customer service reps - something that would fit you nicely - clock in and work from home around your schoolwork.

And good luck in that schoolwork.

Linda, I think you take me for a school kid which I am not. I am a CPA candidate with 5 yrs of Accounting Experience behind me. I have passed all my CPA Exams and am in school just to complete some educational requirements before i get my CPA license. As for keeping recordings I know and have maintained confidential and critical data worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on me before, so nothing new here.

People are so presumptuous sometimes. I already know you can do RON work in Florida.

If someone has better answers to the specific questions I asked please do let me know from their own PRIOR experience.

Thank you.

1 Like

Ivan, Based on this that’s exactly what I thought, and for that I apologize. We can only respond to your words alone. And my question about storage was a legitimate one - but if you already know about Florida RON then you know this - so you should also know that Notarize is keeping 80% of the fee you are entitle to for this. But if that’s okay with you, then so be it.

Again, my apologies for misunderstanding you

By the way - you didn’t answer my questions. Is Notarize approved by the State of Florida for your RON needs.

Notarize is approved in Florida. I am only going with them as they send you clients instead of you trying to build your client base.

1 Like

Thank you - I appreciate your response

I still didn’t get how you “deciphered” your presumptions from my original post. But now this has become a wasted thread…

Need to start a new one.

Not necessarily; let this one stand; someone may see it and answer your questions.

I know there’s a notary in South Florida who posted here that she is making a very nice living doing RON work - her name escapes me - you can search here for that or, hopefully, she’ll see this thread and respond or contact you to help.

Best of Luck

Truly, Ivan, there is some very valuable & helpful data to be found within the Search result thread I referenced. Hope you’ll take a few minutes to locate answers to your query. Here is the direct url link for quick reference:

https://forum.notarycafe.com/search?q=ron

P.S. You may be unaware, but we are all business owners (your competition) who visit the Notary CafĂŠ forum to offer assistance/insight to others in this business sector.

Our contributions/answers are all performed on a voluntary basis and offered to aid others in their efforts.

1 Like

I understood your question. I am in FL. I am starting my training with Notarize today. I will give you feedback regarding my experience with the platform at a later date.
You were open with the intention and information you shared. I think the presumptions were too much. I am my own competition. I seek advice for assistance not do battle because someone overthinks words due to lack of facial expression and inflections in voice. This is where writing comments suck and people get emotional without cause.
Be encouraged and do what works for you. Everyone has an opinion and should have a choice about their circumstances. If you utilize the search engine, great. If not, so what🤷🏾‍♀️. If everyone would check themselves with judging others, there would be no need for apologies.

1 Like

Hmmm . . .

So what? Our time is valuable!

As business owners, we value our time when we quote prices for our services.

We also value our time when answering queries on the Notary CafĂŠ Forum.

Since those who answer queries are usually very busy, expert business owners who are donating their time, knowledge, experience, & insights for no compensation, the person with a query (at a minimum) needs to perform a Search to determine IF that query has already been posed and addressed previously on the Notary Café Forum. Just good manners. :angel::yellow_heart: It also reflects you’re attempting to be a good business owner.

Truly, it’s disrespectful of the time & expertise of those who graciously volunteer to answer the queries if the poser chooses to just throw a question out there on the forum to see who’ll bite, instead of attempting to do a little research on their own First, before asking someone else to do the work FOR them.

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“If you don’t value and respect yourself, nobody else will.” Nagma

5 Likes

Here you go, Ivan.

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1 Like

Ivan…I’m fairly certain that Notarize pays $5 only for the 1st notarization & $1/add’l. From others comments on this co., I think you need to do a lot more research on the co., the concept, the expenses and the liability.

3 Likes

Hi,
I’m working on getting started with Notarize as well. But, I wanted to let you know that Notarize does require you to be certified as a Notary Signing Agent by the NNA. This is an additional cost to getting started. This is so that they can offer you loan signings. You can accept or turn down jobs as they offer them, but they don’t tell you what kind of job it is (as far as I can tell). I am in the practice phase of education on the Notarize platform. If you don’t take the job fast enough, another notary will take it. So, it’s a race to be the first to accept a call when it comes in. You go up through the levels depending on how many notarizations you have done on their platform. When you get to a certain level, they give you loan signings. You get paid more than $5 for those (in my state it is $25). But, you still have to be certified to do them in order to sign up as a notary on their website, even if you don’t plan on doing loan signings.

3 Likes

Thank you so much for being pertinent to the topic and being insightful as well. Compared to others.

Really appreciate it!!!