Hi Linda,
Yes, I have my TPL for the state of Maryland.
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I have a Google Page (less than 2 weeks old), Yelp Page, and a personal website. I have also visited Nursing Homes / Health Care and Rehab Facilities and Hospitals in my area. In addition, I have given out flyers that they hold at the reception area and allow me to post on their community bulletin board. Here is a sample of one that works well for me so far.
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That was my first sample… lol… I caught the e-mail spelling mistake after my first print. I have only gotten phone calls ( 3 this week alone)
I will email you some info and recommendations for RON. Take care
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I will email you some info and recommendations for RON:) Take care
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This time of the year is slow, my first year as a notary in Jan 2017 I had two signings, one from a company that has gone out of business (not my fault I think). By February I had two a week and by October two a day. Nothing will compare to the Gold Rush days of 2020 (I sat out six months) and 2021. During those years you only had to be listed on various forums and scheduling platforms and pick and choose. I recall up to twenty offers a day and I was able to negotiate enhanced fees.
Rising mortgage rates will impact the volume of business but not kill it off completely. There are still going to be sales and purchases, loan mods, helocs, general notary work. About 9 months back, some scheduling companies started to drop their fees. I think part of it was in anticipation of the eventual slow down and part of it was the flood of new notaries willing to work for low fees. Many companies have a business model of quantity over quality and will accept the higher error rate that comes with using inexperienced notaries. They are however keeping track of error rate, turn around time and also how you are rated by the signers. In a crunch time first tier notaries will get offered the jobs and then it will be recast for second tier notaries. If you don’t have a lot of signings to your name, expect that you won’t even hear of a job unless it has already run the gauntlet or was sent back by a notary who realized what a lot of work is involved and sent back an assignment.
I have to thank this website for a lot of business that has come my way. Being on Notary Cafe has given me a chance to work for companies I would never have reached on my own.
This slow down is a great opportunity to work on bookkeeping, marketing and catching up on all the projects that had to wait. I would like to share that my side line work of insurance photography was a bust, I did 10 assignments and was paid for none. I was also approached to serve papers, I didn’t take that up, seems a little dangerous, I-9 (too much work for low pay) and also bank drill assignments. I was disappointed that the schedule went from 6 assignments to one but I was paid $250 to go to two banks and notarize certificates describing the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes. It took about 5 hours.
J
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I’m in PA also and although ok’d to do RON by the state, I’ve only had 1 request back in 2020 for it. I’ve no idea which platform to invest in. So I’m not in the game yet.
How to decide which platform to buy and if it will pay for itself much less be profitable?
@keaton4notary Excellent & many accurate insights. 
Accurate. 
This is accurate, sort of . . . they truly are NOT accepting of a higher error rate, because there are very HIGH risks when a mistake is made. Normally, they’ll implement withholding Signing Orders or completely REMOVE the certified notary signing agent [CNSA] name from the Approved Listing when mistake(s) are made based on the severity of the Defect/Error.
It’s like a short-term gamble by taking a chance that they’ll find a highly skilled CNSA for a low fee; albeit not too likely . . . 
@signwithmichele Hmmm . . . I answered this above yesterday. See this post:
Plus, there are several comprehensive & detailed videos on YouTube that could prove helpful when making your decision about the various RON providers:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=RON+platforms
Best Wishes
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Yes, thanks for the correction. No company wants to have an error-ridden set of documents sent in. If they didn’t give new notaries a chance, none of us would be here. A notary that I work with recently switched tactic to take anything and everything from one company within 50 miles even though the fees are usually below $100. This is volume over profitability but because he has an extremely low error rate (harder to maintain with volume) he is now getting auto-assigned to jobs that previously were offered generally to the signing agents in the area. What will happen to the less-experience notaries who used to get those jobs remains to be seen.
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Thank you @keaton4notary Interesting tactic for him; however, most of us are quite aware the onus is upon each business owner to keep an eagle eye on their bottom line to remain profitable. After all, as @LindaH-FL has often reminded us, avoiding re-categorization of our business into the “hobby” category important.
While he’s driving 50 miles for cheap, a newb is getting the higher fees ones he’s missed.
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nice or not you would not share that information Let’s be honest here AMcKoy-Harris you are very nice
Your comment is duly noted. Thanks
Duly noted. Thanks for your wonderful words.
Check your inbox. I hope that helps!
Check your inbox. I hope that helps!!
You will always find people that are jealous of other people’s success instead of using it to inspire them. When they go low… remember you go high!
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