New podcast episode released: If you're a mobile notary and loan signing agent feeling the pinch as mortgage signings slow down after the pandemic surge, you're not alone. Still, even as the market normalizes, more opportunities have been revealed for notary entrepreneurs.

Laura Biewer and I (and Jen Neitzel in spirit) were guests on the Peak Signing Agent podcast with Derek Van Otten and shared about the new adventures in the estate planning field delivering living trust presentations.

Appointments like this have the potential to replace even your most lucrative loan signing months (with no printing expenses!).

You can watch/listen on YouTube, or anywhere you like to listen to podcasts. 

Making a list of your potential attorney prospects is one of the simplest steps you can take on your journey to work with estate planning professionals.

I call this my Fab 100 list, but you may find with attorney work it’s more of a “Fab 600” list, especially if you’re in a large metropolitan area. Why is this?

Contrary to the loan signing industry where there are only 55,000 or so escrow officers across the country, there are over 216,000 estate planning attorneys in the US, with an estimated 5,000 more graduating every year. That gives you a lot of prospects! If you're in a smaller community, expand your radius out to the surrounding areas. 

Right now, your list doesn’t have to be 100% accurate. Use the internet and online directories to search for estate planning attorneys in your area. Keep in mind that the attorney doesn't necessarily have to have an office in your area in order to have a client in your area.

To make this even easier for you, just put everyone you find on t...

How to Make Memorable Introductions Within Your Professional Network

As you elevate your network, the necessity for more effective introductions will rise in priority. High performers in any industry, including estate planning professionals, hospital administrators, university staff, or essentially anyone you may consider your ideal client as a credentialed professional, will protect their time more than anything. 

So tactics like telling your client referral, "Call Bob and tell him I sent you," or "Here's Bob's number, just give him a call," are ineffective at best, and damaging to your reputation and relationships at worst. 

If your goal is to help more people, which I am sure it is if you're reading this and in my orbit, then take a few extra minutes to refer the right away. And if you don't have time to do it right, wait until you do. A great introduction sets the new relationship upon a solid foundation that can get off to the right start faster & easier, and everybody walks aw...

I love to read. Until this year, I've focused mainly on personal and business development books, almost entirely non-fiction. I don't read one book at a time, and I don't read to adopt 100% of the author's opinions, strategies, or ideas. 

Just one. 

If I can extract just one thing from a book I read, it's worth it. 

Sometimes it really is just one thing. And other times, I end up underlining or highlighting an entire book. That's the real treasure hunt: finding the right author, the right idea, at the right time. Some of these books have been sitting on my shelf for years, and then one day they seem to call out, "it's time to read me now." 

And just as there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come, there's nothing that can silence a book whose ready to be read. 

The following is a list of those books that were ready to be read this year. 

Don't be overhwelmed. You don't have to read like me. Read like you. But read. These books are filled with perspective, and j...

Did you know you can make money as a notary public? 

Chances are if you're following my blogs and email, you probably already know that. But if you're brand new to the notary world, or even if you've had a commission for years, but never knew what to do with it outside your 9-5 job, I've got some good news for you. 

You can build a thriving business as a mobile notary through, what we call, Specialty Notary Work (SNW). 

There are hundreds of millions of documents that get notarized every year, and most states allow notaries to charge travel fees in exchange for the access to your services in the convenience economy. People value their time more than anything right now, and if you're willing to travel to them, you can build a business as a notary public on wheels. 

Depending on the type of appointment, and the state your commissioned in, you could generate anywhere from $60-$150 (or more) per appointment. 

How to Monetize Your Notary Commission Through Specialty Work

Earlier this ...

The Top Five Reasons to Become a Certified Notary Trust Delivery Agent

I collaborated with two of my favorite friends and colleagues, Laura Biewer and Jennifer Neitzel, to create the Certified Notary Trust Delivery Agent program (CNTDA) for three main reasons: 

1. With the slow down in refinance/mortgage transactions, notaries needed another source of revenue.
2. Even though we've been advocating for the shift to estate planning and living trust presentations for two years, most notaries didn't make a move because they didn't know how to do it. 
3. And, after talking to hundreds of estate planning professionals and attorneys, it was clear there was a major gap in three arenas that had to be addressed: Awareness, Skill, and Communication. 

The Certified Notary Trust Delivery Agent program bridges all three of those gaps with the industry's most comprehensive training and certification program designed just for notaries. 

The notaries that take the course and pass the test will gain the...

Unlock Your Potential at the Philly Notary Social 2023

A Unique Gathering of Mobile Notaries and Loan Signing Agents

Mobile notaries, trust delivery agents, wedding officiants, and loan signing agents, imagine an event that offers transformative experiences, that cultivates relationships, and catapults your career to new heights. That event exists, and it's called Philly Notary Social 2023.

Philly Notary Social: More than Just an Event

Philly Notary Social is more than just a scial gathering of fellow nerdaries – it’s an annual phenomenon that transcends ordinary professional meetings. For three days, from September 29th to October 1st, notaries from across the country convene to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and chart a new course for success. All while having fun together! 

Learning from the Industry Titans

There are two full days of learning, guided by some of the industry’s most seasoned professionals. These titans of the trade come from the East Coast to the West Coast...

The word 'client' and 'customer' gets used interchangeably in our notary industry, and there's nothing wrong with that. 

But it's confusing at times.

If one word works, why use two, right? 

But I find myself doing it too. Customers...clients...semantics, right? Well, words do matter, so I looked at how I operate in my own business, and here's what I found:

As it turns out, I don't use client/customer interchangeably. A client is a client and a customer is, well, a signer. 

Define the difference between a client and a customer

In my business, as both a mobile notary, loan signing agent, trust delivery agent, and signing company owner, I created my own definitions for client and customer. Maybe these will help you too.

A client is a person or company that hires me on a regular basis, with expectations of a certain standard of care, an understanding of processes, and some sort of financial agreement in place, to provide my services to their customers/clients. An example of a client...

I avoided using traditional sales language like, "leads," "pipelines," and "prospecting" when first started coaching notaries through my courses and books, and I think I've done you a great disservice. 

Sales are a major part of any business, including a service-based one as a mobile notary and loan signing agent. No revenue, no business. 

I knew how turned off I got when people used "salesy" terminology that sounded like work-uncomfortable work at that- and I tried to shield you from that experience. 

But it's not real. 

We have to get over it and move past the semantic aversion to all things salesy. 

If you want your business to thrive, you have to sell. Everything is sales. 

Your smile.

Your style.

Your skills. 

And it's a numbers game (don't let anyone, including yourself, tell you otherwise). You must put yourself in front of more prospects to get more business. 

Your results this month are directly proportional to your efforts 30-90 days ago. 

So yes, you can predict t...

Have you ever needed a notary "buddy" you could rely on for referrals, but were concerned about the quality and professionalism you might encounter? 

I know I did! 

That's why I am so proud of the new notary directory we built and released in early 2023, Gotary.com.

This is an exclusive resource that we use to promote the best notaries in the world: our members of the Notary Business Builder program (NBB) and the all new Certified Notary Trust Delivery Agents (CNTDA). 

I literally talk to estate planning attorneys and other professionals everyday, advocating the strength and professionalism of our notaries. 

Already, signing companies and law offices are choosing Gotary as their first stop when looking for  credentialed professionals as an extension of their brand in the servicing of their clients. 

Who are credentialed professionals?

First and foremost, they are notaries!

But they could also be fingerprint technicians, wedding officiants, field inspectors, trust delivery agent...