Many of you who found, or are finding their way, into the Notary & Loan Signing Agent industry today in 2023 are far worse off than myself, or any of my training colleagues, were as we found our ways into our successes. The reason is because there is an informational overload going on today that is just never going to stop. Now, I started NotaryStars.com in 2019 as a passion project because I own a Nationwide Signing Agency and I wanted to correct a great deal of things I saw going wrong in our industry. And I needed to make sure in order to scale my own business that I had Notaries who could conduct any type of signing. The only way for me to do that was to ensure to provide them quality education on every loan product or document type they could encounter- which means I would also be helping them grown their own Notary Businesses as well.
Now, when I started in this industry over 13 years ago, as many of you may know, I got a part-time job at a Title and Escrow office so that I could learn how to conduct signings properly. My agreement with them is that I would learn the documents and after a certain amount of time I would handle any outside closings just for them. It was a great thing at first, however, as I wanted to branch out and actually grow my Notary Business, I realized there were more variances between Title documents and Lender Documents than I had anticipated. Which meant, in order to grow, I had to continue learning. This business just wasn't as turn-key as I'd hoped for. I literally dug through Internet forums (which were not as pleasant as one would hope) and I asked questions left and right to hiring agencies. Sometimes I feel like I clawed my way to the top.
Now here we are today, and despite the downturned market in late 2022, things are turning around, and we are still seeing new Notaries come into this industry left and right! And there seems to be a new kind of boom within our industry as well- THE NOTARY TRAINER BOOM. It does make me chuckle a bit as this boom is what is propelling our growth and sometimes hurting us more than helping us. Recently, on a Clubhouse chat, I was informed there is actually a course that is having Notaries come in, take their test, and then telling them to go out and become trainers themselves even before they have experience as a Notary themselves. I just can't help but chuckle at this because for someone who has had longevity as a Notary Loan Signing Agent, a Signing Agency Owner, and a Notary Trainer, this baffles me.
Here are three tips I would like to give every Notary Loan Signing Agent to help you with your career and fight the informational overload that is out there:
#1) You do need to take training and in the beginning of your career and you will need support. The cost of the programs you choose should be affordable and chosen in succession by pricing of needed. For instance, you must take the National Notary Assocation, Certified Signing Agent exam to become a Notary Signing Agent. But where you go after that is really important to your personal and business budget. The National Notary Associations certified Signing Agent Exam is a great start, but it will not prepare you for today's demand as a Notary Signing Agent. It is more a test of ethics if you ask me and less about what you'll actually be doing as a Notary Loan Signing Agent. If you are serious about becoming a Notary Loan Signing Agent, I would highly recommend the following:
These courses actually prepare you for Notary Work & Loan Signing Agent Work. And all of these course owners often provide free education even if you aren't a paying member of their courses or sites because they care about you whether they know you or not.
Please write this down:
QUALITY BRINGS SUCCESS AND LONGEVITY AS A NOTARY SIGNING AGENT!
#2) You should expand your knowledge beyond this list as you grow your business. There are more costly programs out there where you will still learn things, but you should be very careful in vetting additional trainers. There are also a few "trainers" coming about out there who take everyone's course, simply regurgitate the information they learn, and charge you more money for learning it with them. Often times, nowhere as much as you would learn in the original course. So, look for the original trainer's course. Ask your potential trainers where they trained, how long they've been doing it, and even why they train. This is currently happening in more in niche training courses, so we wanted to give you a few of the most trusted go-to's for training when it comes to expanding your business.
Apostilles - Judy Lawrence
Permit Running - Cynthia Alexander
#3) Last but not least Notaries today need to learn how to take back the term Notary on the Internet & social media as the Notary Trainer Boom is killing your potential to get clients. When someone Googles Notary or looks for something on social media, they should not always get a Training Course or a Notary Talking about how much money they make. Do you really think that anyone wants to see a Notary bragging about how much money they can charge? You should get very comfortable learning how to make YouTube, TikToc, and Instagram videos educating your local market about who you are, what you do, and directing your clients to call you! Notary on the Street is a great steppingstone to start this process. And Notary Stars + Marketing is now going to be adding a heavy influence within its course on doing this as well.
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