An old Carnival ābarkerā slogan goes like this: āYou pays your money and youse takes your chancesā. This line applies to not only the notary profession, but to construction work, automobile assembly, field workers, real estate agents and a host of others who are subject to the economy and what we all like to call āthe marketā. In other words, sometimes thereās lotsa work and sometimes thereās not so much work. If one decides to make the investment to get into a business that is subject to which way the wind blows (like those Iāve listed), well, they takes their chances.
Certainly I feel bad for folks who cannot weather business headwinds and may suffer for it. But, I suspect too many people got into this business when they heard it paid a lot for easy work. Most quickly found out otherwise and are, or soon will be, paying a price. Every line of work has its ups and downs and notary work is not exempt. So, what to do???
This forum is full of great ideas for developing business if you are willing to use the āsearchā feature and dig 'em out. There are a number of notaries on here that have been notaries for years, decades even, and they survived all the economic downturns that came their way. How do they do it? Well, like any good job worth keeping, they 1) showed initiative; 2) got creative; 3) studied their craft; 4) prayed (it works for believers and I am one); and, 5) persevered.
Blah, blah, blah, some might say. No truly useful tips there. Well, let me put it this way. When the 2008/2009 financial collapse came along, I was CEO of a company that provided outsourced services to BANKS! What industry was in bigger trouble than banks?!? They were failing 10 at a time, do you remember? Using the 1-5 tools I outlined above, my company not only survived, it began to thrive again by 2011. So, āGood for youā, you might say. Do you have a better solution to offer, I would counter? Iām sure there are some and Iād appreciate it muchly if someone lists a few in a reply to this missive. We could all use them 
The point is, everyone is subject to the changing environment. Look, even people in the military are being discharged against their will simply because they didnāt get the vax jab. They are losing their planned-on-and-worked-incredibly-hard-for careers. Whoād-a-thunk-it? Truckers in Canada, restaurant workers all over, healthcare personnel across the nation, they all are suffering and it is totally unfair, but, thatās how it is [today]. None of them have the options and opportunities that many self-employed notaries do. We are largely left alone to do our work, when we can get it. So, letās dig deep in our bags of trix and find ways to persevere through the lean times.
Just my two cents worth on a slow day. 
I feel really sad because I made it look so easy and busy and thus gave the wrong impression that they can do very well in this business too:( 
Percent Accurate 
