"Should I Start With General Notary Work or Loan Signings? "

I am asked that question all the time, and I have a different perspective than others in the industry.  Many believe that you should be a great notary before you become a loan signing agent.

On the surface, that's hard to argue with.

But how do you become a great notary?

Experience.

Period.

Sure, you can study state laws, guidelines, primers, and courses, which, of course, helps you learn, but if you don't get an opportunity to apply your knowledge repeatedly, you're just going to forget it.

To me, that's the challenge with starting out in general notary work (GNW).

First, it takes longer to build your business and get volume because you have to build relationships, advertise, and optimize your digital presence.

Second, literally any human being in the world can create a document that requires notarization all willy-nilly. So if you're just starting out, you run the risk of stepping into all kinds of unusual...

Nearly 500 notaries registered for The Abnormal Notary's (aka Tye Brown) Brunch and Learn event on Sunday, January 24. 

I was honored to be a part of it and share the screen with Sue Hope, a fellow notary and also founder of the incredible notary-specific bookkeeping software, Notary Assist, and with Suheily Figueroa, also a notary AND a tax preparer (and, gratefully, a member of our Sign & Thrive Community) with lots of experience with the IRS and tax filings. 

If you missed the two-hour live event, I have the replay HERE and at the bottom of this blog article for you. 

Grab some grub and a pen and paper because gems were dropped through the whole event! 

I LOVE geeking out about notary stuff with notaries that enjoy their business as much as I do. 

We kicked off the event with an in-depth presentation by Suheily on the importance of keeping your business funds separate from your personal funds. 

She also destroyed some misconceptions...

I was recently asked to be a guest on "Signed & Sealed" with Lashawn Jenkins of The Notary Institution and Samantha Smith of the Georgia Notary Network and She ListenS Mobile Notary, LLC. 

They were celebrating Mentorship month and wanted to share a conversation with mobile notaries and loan signing agents about the power of a good mentor. 

Naturally, I jumped right on this opportunity. I love mentoring others, and I have had profound experiences as a mentee myself. 

As the show date approached and I started gathering my thoughts and notes on what message I'd like to convey, I realized that while in my own head I had an idea of what mentorship was to me, verbally defining it wasn't as easy as I had thought. 

Wiki defines mentorship as, "a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger than the person being mentored, but they must have a...

 By Bill Soroka, Founder of NotaryCoach.com and Amazon Bestselling Author of Sign & Thrive: How to Make Six Figures as a Mobile Notary and Loan Signing Agent and Supercharge Your Notary Business With LinkedIn. 

No doubt about it, it's an incredible time to be a mobile notary and loan signing agent. Anything in the real estate arena seems to be booming right now, no matter how it may defy logic during a pandemic.

Loan signings abound, and our phones seem to ring & ding all day long with the prospect of new opportunities. The online notary forums are alight with success stories of people who seemingly rolling out of bed each day making a thousand dollars.

Yes, it is a good time to be in the business. But, somewhere in the back of your mind, you're probably wondering when the boom will end. When will our phones stop ringin' and dingin'?

If you're not asking the question, you should be. 

It's not "being negative" to forecast your industry. It's smart...

Last week I shared how I like to Reflect, Release, and/or Rejoice the prior year's energy before I make plans for the year ahead. 

This is an important step, and it took me awhile longer than I had hoped for, but the December 2020 end of month/year/quarter was epic, to say the least. 

It's a good time to be in this business! I love doing loan signings for first time homebuyers. And 80% of my appointments that last week of December were just that-brand new homebuyers!

I also had an opportunity to train a new loan signing agent/escrow assistant, and I think she's going to be fabulous at this work. 

Now that the year has ended, and I took the time I needed to release and rejoice, I've been able to look at 2021 and what I want to create for myself and others.

In this blog, I'll share my process with you. 

It's not the only way. Take what works for you, and ditch the rest. My own process is a conglomeration of many others I studied and read...

So here we are, at the end of an absolutely bizarre year. 

It's difficult to label it as anything else but 'bizarre." The definition seems to fit perfectly: "very strange or unusual."

As mobile notaries and loan signing agents, it's been especially strange AND unusual.

Who would have thought a global pandemic and economic crisis would have triggered an epic mortgage boom with two main tributaries- refinances and home purchases?

For many of us, this has led to a record breaking year of production and revenue. For others, it's been the annihilation of their business because of their need to stay at home. 

At the same time, those who have chosen to stay home for their health, may be enjoying other rewards, like deeper connections, finished books (whether written or read), a cleaner home, and more peace of mind.

Walking this line between triumph and defeat is exhausting. There's been a heavy emotional tax to pay for the roller coaster known as 2020, and it's a tax we may be...

When I finally decided to take my mobile notary and loan signing business seriously, I already had 26 business failures under my belt. 

These days, I've come to appreciate each and every one of those failures for the lessons that they were. I've learned that after each new failure, there isn't a period - it's not the end. There's actually an expectant comma, eager to experience what fails next.

The truth I've learned in this long, long, long, “becoming” process for me, is that if you aren't failing, you aren't trying enough. There is no shame in failure, but you have to learn that for yourself.

I’ve also learned that progress is better than perfect. If you wait until you know “everything” about something before you try it, or you wait for the “perfect” time to move forward, you end up stuck.

And, I’ve learned, there are no safe sidelines in the game of life. There is no such thing as a spectator here. You’re a player in the...

Available November 7, 2020 and authored by Bill Soroka and Sandra Long

There is a huge disconnect within the notary community on how to best utilize LinkedIn to grow their business. On the same note, LinkedIn played a critical role in my ability to connect with the clients that have provided for a multiple six-figure income in this business. We're in the most relationship-centric business I have ever experienced, and guess what- professional relationships start on LinkedIn!

For that reason, I partnered up with one of the leading LinkedIn trainers in the world, Sandra Long, to write a book on exactly how a Notary Public can use their LinkedIn profile to build their business and personal branding, share their wisdom, and get known as the notary expert in their area, and connect with the dream clients that will take their business to any level they desire. 

Thus, Supercharge Your Notary Business With LinkedIn: How Mobile Notaries and...

Nice to Meet You, Will You Marry Me?

One of the biggest ironies I’ve experienced as a notary coach is how many of my students and mentees absolutely despise selling, yet slip right into selling in their first email or message to a prospective client.

“Hi Mary,

LinkedIn suggested us as contacts and I think that would be great. I am a trained and certified Loan Signing Agent that prides myself on excellent customer service. I love what I do because I get to help people’s dreams come true. There’s really nothing I won’t do for a customer. I like to meet early in the morning, and I am also available late at night. You can see my profile on SigningAgent, and I have references that can back this up. I am your go-to mobile notary when you have a loan signing need.”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with the info that was provided. Passion, customer service, and personality, are cornerstones to a successful business. But the delivery, and timing, and...

Everyone Needs a Coach

There was a time in my life where I believed everything I needed to learn could be taught in a book, a seminar, or an online course. I avoided coaches for four main reasons:

• I thought I was pretty smart and I should have been able to figure this stuff out without any help. I let my ego get in the way!
• If this coach already wrote a book or had a course, why would I need to pay them for coaching?
• I spent most of my life financially broke, hopping from one start-up to another, so I couldn’t afford one anyway. 
• And, this is the big one, I felt like a fraud, and I harbored the crushing weight of multiple business failures, so I was afraid I would be “found out.”

I was blessed, in 2005, to be introduced to a business coach that allowed me to pay on a sliding scale, helping to make our sessions more affordable at $100 per hour. When you’re making next to nothing, a hundred bucks an hour might as well have been a thousand dollars...