I made a Youtube video on lucrative and legit mystery shopper platforms to act as a cushion between pay. I’ve seen other notaries talking about this on facebook and even charging people $100 just for the names of these very platforms I found through my own research/mishap. This is great for those who have part time jobs or notary work is your full time source of income, but sometimes things get scary slow. I currently am still at my full time and just got into notary/loan signings and waiting for it to boom for me so I can eventually leave my full time govt job.
No offense, but if your full time job is a Federal government job, IMO you’d be crazy to even consider giving that up - with all the benefits that come with it - for this business. You’ll be giving up all your seniority and all your benefits and in return you’d have to replace your health insurance, life insurance and retirement contributions. Remember, as a self-employed business woman, you’re on your own to pay for all of those perks.
Also, as for the “boom” - it may or may not happen; but what you do need to do is market yourself like crazy to get your business up and off the ground so you get it to a point where your business income sustains not only the business, but your personal expenses. That can take a good 2 years or more of constant marketing - and hard hard work And in the meantime, again, you’re on your own for all business expenses.
The hype and videos about the various training platforms that “guarantee” a 6-figure income get people to drink the kool aid and separate folks from their wallet when, in reality, that 6-figure income doesn’t come until after several years of hard marketing and cultivating good, direct work from good clients and companies. And the is so over-saturated with people coming into the business now, willing to work for peanuts to “get their foot in the door” - well, you have a long road to hoe.
IOW - do yourself a favor and don’t give up your day job…
Do not rebuke her. She’s is telling the truth and just trying to help you. I’ve been a notary since 5/2020. And I’ve only done 12 signings and those came from title companies within the 6 months I’ve been doing this. It’s is very slow. The title company that gave me work in July has not called me since. I did 2 signings in December with a new TC and after that NOTHING.
This forum is to help people not hurt anyone. It’s has helped me a lot. Especially LindaH and Aritcher who gives valuable insight.
Because I really don’t like working with a lot of SS (I only have 2 good ones and get notifications but not fast enough to get any) it will take me about another year or two to build my business. I almost gave up in November 2020. I just marketed myself today to the same Title Companies again for the 4th time in 6 months. It’s very depressing but I’m gonna keep going. One thing I DID find out a after doing this business is it is saturated with notaries just like LindaH stated. Be Blessed.
I don’t want to burst your bubble but what @LindaH-FL says is absolutely right 100%… I work for the municipal government in my area and I would NEVER EVER would think about in giving up my job for doing notarial as a side job. I won’t give up my pension, health insurance and all the other perks that I’ve been getting in the last 28 years, especially the stability that comes with it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being a loan signing agent, but I’m building a business based on knowledge and expertise while making good customers that I can rely on for future assignments, in the next 2 years or so… meaning RETIREMENT TIME WITH ALL MY BENEFITS.
Don’t take it personal, we’re all here to help each other, and that means to ask for advice
I work for the federal government full-time and I thought about resigning. However, I decided to continue to work my day job while growing and operate my business part-time until retirement. I have grossed over 36K in less than a year as a part-time notary signing agent. It will probably take me another year or two to make as much as I do as a federal employee. My goal is to set this business up so I can retire early - in like 10 years, God willing.
I do this on a part-time basis. My husband works, so I don’t need the income. But I truly LOVE being a notary. I love the people(most of the time) that I meet. I’ve been doing this since August 2019 and have done over 100 closings so far. I could have done many more and made a lot more money. I can easy see how someone doing this full-time could make 6 figures. I did the secret shopper before I was a notary. Didn’t make much at that. Ate out a lot, which wasn’t healthy, either.
I am in San Antonio as well. What everyone is saying is so very true. San Antonio is a very saturated market. Don’t you dare quit that government job to become a fulltime notary. You will likely regret it pretty quickly. I have been a signing notary for about 3 years and I do ok but I would not advise ANYONE to leave a job that is a steady good paying job to become a signing notary.
I am also a federal government employee. I am eligible for retirement now but I do not have the age. I will not give up my day job until my notary business income matches what I bring from my day job. Do not rebuke good advice because it does not align with your dreams. In most cases, people are only trying to help. Someone may have more experience and knowledge.
I just got into signing to hopefully one day leave my GOV job as well! It’s a part time thing for now but it’s going well and I’m not happy working for the GOV sitting at a desk all day, benefits or not, I want to be happy and being mobile and making my own schedule sounds good. Also, I’m looking into transaction coordination, that might be a good supplemental to your signing gigs.
Hello Jstnotary. I do have experience. But my reason for not using signing services is:
I don’t like them requiring the notary to sign their agreements. It’s a violation of my 1099 rights. The notary should be giving them their terms and agreements of payments etc.
Don’t like negotiating with them against their low fees.
Don’t like trying to rush to click on a signing to beat out other notaries for a signing and then it’s gone. Tired of the games.
Not going to let a SS have control of paying me in 30 days or more.
Not going to chase down a SS for my money because if I have to it won’t look good for them or me. When you mess with my money you mess with my emotions.
To many crooked SS lying and breeches of agreement. Stealing money from notaries with hidden and unknown excess fees. Don’t have time and money to take a SS to small claims court.
They have too much control over the loan signing agent/notary.
Late documents, too many errors on their part, the Lender, TC.
Requesting notary to do illegal activity such as back dating documents, etc,
Mortgage fraud from the Lenders, TC and signing services and they used notary to do their dirty work.
They rip off notary by only paying lowball fees for excessive work and demands and have unrealistic expectations.
They think the notary is their employees by how they dictate and tell notaries how to to their job.
These are MY reasons and my opinions. I tried it and it’s not for me based on those reasons stated above.
Be Blessed.
You could have stopped at #1. Spot on. I’ve decided to stop the SA thing as well. We are running a business. As a 1099, we set and make the rules on payment Otherwise, we’re only waiting for another paycheck from an employer using loopholes.
I am recently retired from my local government job of 30 years. While working there (night shift) I was able to work at a local small law firm during the day as the lone Paralegal to 5 attorneys practicing different areas of law. One of the partners of the firm specialized in Real Estate Law, where I was able to do a few loan closings. Back then (about 20 years ago), they paid about $250 per closing to the Notary. The firm got a lot more though. I had considered leaving my government job to do it full time, but I got this same advice from that partner who told me to stay put at my government job and retire from there. So I did. Now I can do this job without worrying about the 30 day wait for payment, because I don’t need the money to live on. I’m doing it because I do really like the work. Always wanted to do it and understand that building it to a point to sustain a lifestyle for someone will take a lot of time, money, and headaches along the way. However, I’m in it for the long haul to get my business there but would never tell anyone to leave a job with benefits of a guaranteed paycheck to take one without it.
And I concord with you @rmjnotaryservices, as a matter of fact I’m in a similar situation, don’t really need the money to pay the bills because husband and I support ourselves and the family with our regular jobs. I can wait for decent offers and wait whatever time needed to get paid, as long they are fair fees.
So far, I’ve only done about 100 signings and 87% of my work comes from signing services. While I’m grateful for their ability to market to TCs, and do a fair amount of ‘hand holding’ to teach, I’m starting to see what you’re talking about when it comes to the control issues, errors from the Lenders, TCs, and Late Documents! Additionally, I don’t like the unrealistic expectations like contracting to only get the documents no more than 12 hours before the signing but not less than 2 hours for a 188 page packet and expecting you to go through the documents to ‘find’ any of their errors, package it in a certain sequence that they didn’t send it to you in, and then drive an hour away but be there 15 minutes early to check in via their phone app. That whole format breeds mistakes to be made, or to be late arriving to a signing. However, how can a newer person get in directly with TCs, and how many signings must a person have to no longer be considered as a ‘newbie’?
It’s a part time thing for now but it’s going well and I’m not happy working for the GOV sitting at a desk all day, benefits or not, I want to be happy and being mobile and making my own schedule sounds good. Also, I’m looking into transaction coordination, that might be a good supplemental to your signing gigs.