Why I’m Closing Gotary.com and What This Taught Me About Running a Business

For years, I’ve believed deeply in raising the bar for professionalism in the notary industry.

Not just through training, and certifications. But through how we actually show up when someone needs us.

That belief is what led me to create Gotary.com and declare it the home of “The World’s Best Notaries.” 

And it’s also what’s led me to make one of the hardest business decisions I’ve had to make in a long time.

I’ve decided to begin a structured wind-down of Gotary. The platform will officially close on December 31, 2026.

This isn’t something I take lightly. In fact, I’m still in the feels about it. 

The Gotary Dream

Gotary wasn’t just another directory.

I built it because I was tired of the nameless, faceless directories that rely almost entirely on SEO to do the heavy lifting, while offering little in the way of accountability, customer support, or real participation in the profession.

I wanted something different.

I put my own name, my face, and my phone number on the platform so hiring parties could see that there was a real person standing behind the professionals being showcased.

And I stood behind the notaries we featured.

We actively marketed this directory to the estate planning professional community, lenders, signing companies, escrow officers, real estate agents, and other hiring parties. 

We love bragging on our notaries! 

A Painful Decision

That’s exactly why this decision hurts so much.

But it’s also exactly why it had to be made.

Gotary was created for one simple purpose:

To help hiring parties quickly and confidently reach professional notaries.

But something went awry. 

Over time, I began hearing the same message from estate planning attorneys and other hiring parties. Remember…I listed my personal phone number on the website. 

They were having trouble reaching notaries listed on the platform.

Not every now and again. Consistently. So I did something I believe every operator should be willing to do. I tested the experience myself.

I started with random calls to our top tier paid subscribers. 

Then I went on a two-day blitz calling a combination of Platinum, Gold, Bronze, and Certified Notary Trust Delivery Agents. 

Over fifty notaries called. 

Did I mention this was for paid jobs? $350 estate signings. 

The pattern was the same.

Not a single notary answered. And frankly, that’s understandable. A busy notary can’t answer every call. 

But I sent texts and left voicemails too. 

Guess how many responded…

Two. Well, three, if you count the one who texted back two weeks later. 

So you see, at scale, the experience was not reliable. People are counting on us. 

And when your entire promise to the market is trust and accessibility, reliability is not a “nice to have.”

It is the product.

Common Sense is NOT Common Practice

Because I attached my own name and reputation to Gotary, I can’t continue to operate a platform if I can’t confidently stand behind the experience hiring parties are having.

Sure, continuing to run it anyway would be easier. Less heartbreak. Less drama. Continued revenue stream. 

But it would also be wrong.

This is the part I think matters far beyond Gotary.

If your business model depends on behavior you cannot enforce, you do not truly control your customer experience.

That isn’t a character judgment. It’s just an operational reality.

• We trained professionalism

• We taught notaries how to answer the phone

• We taught how to set up professional voicemail greetings

• We taught quick response and follow-up systems

• We taught relationship-based outreach

But training does not equal execution.

And a marketplace built on assumed behavior will always be fragile. What did my dad say about what happens when you assume? 

There’s another important distinction I want to make.

Gotary was never meant to replace real business development.

Alongside the directory, we built full outreach systems for notaries to connect with hiring parties, especially estate planning attorneys, but also trust companies, law firms, lenders, title companies, and boutique agencies across the country.

Our Certified Notary Trust Delivery Agents were not trained to wait for listings to work.

They were trained to initiate relationships, follow up professionally, and operate as true partners to the firms they served.

Even with those systems in place, reliability at the point of contact remained the limiting factor. Hiring parties must be able to count on us to pick up the phone and/or return an inquiry. 

No amount of marketing can compensate for that.

Here is the leadership decision I had to make.

When you put your name on something, you don’t get to lower the standard just to keep it alive. That’s a race to the bottom. 

You either protect the promise you made to the market, or you stop making it. I can’t tell hiring parties to trust a platform if I wouldn’t trust it myself.

That’s why Gotary is being closed.

Special Thanks to the Amazing

Now, I want to be very clear about something.

This decision is not a reflection of the many professionals who run excellent notary businesses and do this work the right way every day (Thank YOU!!).

There are notaries who answer their phones, who return messages, who follow up, who communicate clearly, who take pride in being reliable. They exist, and they deserve to be recognized.

But a platform like Gotary depends on consistent execution across the entire ecosystem. And that standard is not something I can ethically claim today.

If you are a notary reading this, I hope you take one practical lesson away from this story. Most notary businesses don’t actually have a visibility problem. They have a response problem.

You can invest in websites, Google Business Profiles, certifications, networking, social media, referrals, and advertising, but if you don’t respond timely to inquiries, your conversion rate is zero. Zero conversion equals the revenue scraps of whatever appointments happen to fall on your plate. 

There’s a better way: 

• Answering the phone (Even if it says “Spam”)

• Having a professional voicemail greeting

• Responding quickly to missed calls and texts

• Following up when someone reaches out

Those are not just administrative tasks, these are revenue protection systems. They are trust systems. And they are the difference between “being listed” and being chosen.

What to Expect as we Close Gotary

For Gotary members, the platform will remain accessible through December 31, 2026.

Between now and that date, members should download and save any information they would like to keep, including profile content, reviews, articles, and other assets.

Subscriptions can be canceled at any time, and any remaining active subscriptions will be closed manually on December 31, 2026.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email my team at [email protected]. 

I’m deeply grateful to everyone who supported Gotary and believed in what we were trying to build.

This chapter may be closing, but the work of raising the bar for professionalism in this industry is not.

Stay tuned. 

Want to learn more about how to make the phone ring & ding for you, AND how to treat those customers in such a way that they turn into repeat clients with 10X lifetime value? Join me in my free Skool community HERE.