Industry sign banking colorado moving checklist mobile
you on the road hi everybody welcome to the Tuesday notary titan's call for June 4th 2019 Carol ray with notary to pro welcome thank you for being here Laura buer for coat from coach me Laura dot-com thank you for being here and my name is bill syrup I'm the founder of no hurry coach comm so guys were so excited to do these Tuesday morning calls with you Carol what are you excited about this week you always ask me that there's a lot of things that pop up like every day that I'm excited about I'm excited I think had more graduates over the weekend then we have ever had in a two day period so now we've got all the little brand new notaries running around ready to go to work and make money awesome awesome so that was exciting and then bill and I are going away I mentioned it before I think on Friday to celebrate our 56 wedding anniversary Wow Wow congratulations that's huge yeah big deal or if you go past six months Laura welcome you're with Coach me Laura comm what are you excited about this week oh my gosh some weeks you just have a lot more going on than others so I am in the middle of purchasing a house so I am on the other side of the table I'm helping my son get his first home here in Modesto and so we're you know 50/50 on the house and the note all of that so from choosing the lender and the title and the going through the disclosure process doing all of that electronically just watching each staff from the other side of the chamber is very educational to be the buyer side of things and finding out what oh my god they're bombarded with disclosures and since there's three of us there's sets of everything and we're trying to manage it but sometimes I look at an email and think well then now if you sign that you start to get confused so I really have a renewed appreciation for borrowers and buyers this week and we will close hopefully June 25th we're using Chicago titles locally and one of the things I requested was I want my own notary I don't want to go through I have plenty of colleagues why not give them the job directly and of course the first thing you hear is well you know you have to be on their list I said you know what the law says I'm entitled to my own mm-hmm they're not on your list you know what I can do I could do it outside of this room and just pay them direct so in any case it's interesting that buyers or consumers are not aware of what their rights are when they're purchasing a home so I'm all into that I love that you brought that up because I think there's a there's a huge opportunity for educating consumers for this exact purpose that they do have the right to do it real estate agents can even make the recommendation ever not we're not subject to their their rules and requirements oh I love that so we'll have to dive deeper into that I think later anything else that you're excited about well it's not this week that coming up I just want to announce that they'll be another skill builder this one's on powers of attorney documents which are the most common documents requested if you do general you know mobile notary work in lots of different environments but they come down to about the same four types of powers of attorney and I will be doing that at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday June 22nd live so please if you're able to squeeze an hour there you will learn a lot about those documents yeah absolutely and I'll I'll send out the link to sign up for that later on as well yeah III totally free I love those little skillbuilders so thank you for sharing your our expertise with us no can I throw something in there anything you want experiences an escrow officer and an escrow man I drove those years one of my favorite things to do was I captured brand-new buyers I mean literally that come into my office and I always spent a good deal of time with them because they're terrified and there's so much going on and it's worse now than it ever was but what was one of my greatest joys was to spend time with a new homebuyer especially these young couples that were just you know for the first time buying the home and they were scared and didn't know if they were doing the right thing and it was such a joy to be able to do that and I find that death there's a correlation between that and some of the people that we sign documents for and I just want to remind people how important it is that when you have people and you can tell you can tell that they're nervous and they're a little bit you know wary of of the process to spend that extra time with them you may not get paid extra but just to help it'll make a lifetime of difference for those people yeah it really does and it's it's really cool too I love doing first-time homebuyers is they are so excited they still have the the AH about the experience so they're still excited you get some of these people are it's just old hat and they're like you can save the jokes for the next people you know they're just not enjoying the moment like a new homebuyer is why they look at their stuff I'm gonna statement they go all right all right well I'm gonna share a little bit about what I'm excited about - I I just got the keys to my new place yesterday so I'm gonna be moving again for the second time in two months or three months whatever it's been way too long way too soon to move again but I'm so excited about the new place to get me through the summer here in Phoenix and the on Thursdays we do a building authentic relationships call special training call and this week we have Katherine McGraw Patterson I'm real excited about to really be working with her to bring some some value out to everybody she's really skilled in networking for the networking adverse she's big into authenticity and bringing your authentic self into networking situations but also finding networking situations that allow you to be your authentic self and I think that kind of reverses the thinking that a lot of us have about networking and the book was fantastic I'm excited to have her as a guest this week all right let's move on then - are you moving into an igloo Phoenix I don't know how you're gonna keep cool I've lived here my entire life and I am still not adapted to the heat I'm 43 years old I'm like when does it happen like I'm already it's 97 degrees we have a great May but now I'm like ready to go so I do have a pool in the new place so I think I'll just be the next next week's call might be from a swimming pool so let's so today's call we have some amazing questions Carol Laura the people that sent questions are really interesting we've got some different topics this time so I'm excited to bring those and then Laura is doing a brief presentation on witnessing and the different acts that are involved with that for a notary Laura are you feeling like you'd like to go first you want to dive into some questions first well I'm happy to go either way would you like to flip it around and I'll start and then we go into questions how about this we actually have our first question about witnessing perfect does that work out that just works out the timing was really good on this one let me make sure I have it in the right order here no guarantees nope oh come on seriously okay Lauren why don't you take it away take it away anyway as a notary coach when I happen to do my 101 or neurology class which is really for grand new notaries also as a hotline representative and some of you have spoken to me on the hotline it's so funny because I'll be talking and talking and pretty soon you'll say is this the Lora from the Tuesday mornings yes that's it recognize your voice it's I guess it's my voice I like your voice not so familiar I just couldn't quite place it but then once they connect it it's fabulous so for those of you who have called into the hotline and spoken to me it was a pleasure then I get a lot of calls on the hotline across all 50 states regarding notarial wording that does not look like acknowledgement order equity and it turns out to be witnessing warnings the other question I get a lot is credible witness and sometimes maybe an actual statement and notarization but in many states they don't and then the other one is document witnesses so we've got all these different kinds of witnesses going on it can be very confusing so I thought it would be helpful to just identify each one of these three and clarify their role and when you might seem that so I'm going to start with the witnessing act now there are maybe a dozen states or so that have that as an auteur element that means there's a lot of us including my own state California that does not have that notarial act however I deal with out of state documents frequently and what I will receive is a document that basically says they signed in front of me they burned their signature I witnessed their signature those typically are clues and you will not see the word acknowledgement anywhere in it and so many notaries go to the EZ of which it is easy the hey if it has an oath exaggerated if it doesn't its acknowledgment but there's this other notarial act out there that may not be in your state and you may not realize that that witnessing act cannot be replaced with an acknowledgement it requires you to witness the signature and that's what the receiving agency needs even though you may have witnessed it in an acknowledgement the wording does not certify you witnessed it in an acknowledgement so there's a real big difference there you will identify the signer and you will witness their signature those are the two big things that need to happen so when you get this and you don't have this notarial act in your state you need to let them know that's not one in your state number one number two is you need to let them know what the certification is requiring of of the notary and then number three you can offer up what you can do in your state so for instance in the gironde typically you're watching them sign and that's the certification now you're also giving an oath which isn't necessary not needed in their case but you're getting the witnessing part it doesn't mean that I just because I know that that I can say well this is the one we're gonna replace it with you always need to discuss it with your signer and and share with your signer with what each of those acts do and don't do and then let them decide or let them call the receiving agency to see what the right replacement is that would be acceptable so I see it particularly in southern and eastern states like Georgia when I handle long signings toward Georgia it is extremely important that I witness their signature early on I handled a deed for Georgia and I used the acknowledgement and it was kicked back and said that's not good enough and I said but I did watch and they said yes but your wording doesn't say that and I ended up having to do an affidavit separately to that document to add to it that said I did watch them sign so be very careful with that real estate recordable documents particularly so that's really the difference if you don't know if you have that in your home state so first thing I recommend is go look it up go to your handbook and verify it that's a no Terrell act for you and if it is look at your form examples certificate examples so you would recognize it if you don't have it in your state then it's just your information so that if it comes across in an out-of-state document you're more comfortable with what's in front of you so that's the notarial act called a witnessing act then of course we have notarial witnesses called credible identifying witnesses again most states have one or two and there are specific rules there are a few states where it's not identified at all and they don't have that option but if you are in a state where that is an option it involves having them show up at the same time and giving an oath or affirmation to the identity of the signer so they're vouching for that signer and that is ancillary to whatever the primary notarial act is for most states you just need to document it in your journal it doesn't go on the document however Florida for instance Colorado for instance and I think Pennsylvania for instance and there's a fourth one I can't think of they have an extra step where they have a credible witness affidavit that actually has to be signed and notarized and if you're maintaining a journal recorded so there's actually a secondary material act in those particular states again if you don't know the rules for your specific state highly recommend that you go look at your handbook and find out can I use credible witnesses is it limited to one remember one typically is you have to know that person besides them knowing the signer much more difficult to accomplish and of course unless you're in California 4980 states get to use personal knowledge but we don't think so we're always going to end up using some a simplified e so that's the credible witness again be familiar with that and what you're processing and if it were me I would photocopy that section of your handbook and tape it on the inside of your journal along with the recommended Reformation so that you have an available shoe that come up for you it comes up for me frequently in general work it doesn't happen as often in loan signing work but it has I just tell the title company I'm doing it this way it meets the laws of my state and they almost always say yes that's fine so it can happen in either arena and then you're gonna get documents that not only need to be notarized they need to be witnessed or at least they look like they do so let's just talk about those document witnesses for a moment document witnesses are not notarial witnesses they belong to the document it's the signers responsibility to provide them if they're necessary and they're going to print and sign their name to the document while they're watching you know the signer signs so it is not acceptable to notarize and have the signer say oh I'll get with this is later because they've already signed it is it could be okay for them to sign and have a witness if the notarial Act happens to be an acknowledgment because you don't have to watch you could just ask in any case that's what that's about for whatever reason the receiving agency of that form is wanting witnesses however when you see just witnesses and no notarial act and that's what they need they don't need you however sometimes I see witnesses and the notarial act that may be an annus statement or it may be an or statement it may be for instance in the events health care directive it's an or statement two witnesses or one notary we don't need both and so I always talk with my signers when I know it's that kind of document to say okay did you know you can have two witnesses instead of me or did you want me instead you don't need both if you use me don't worry about getting any witnesses they're not needed if it's an and statement meaning it's going to be witnessed and notarized and when everybody has to be in the room at the same time to make sure that it's happening correctly again signers job to provide witnesses unless they can't and they ask you you can you provide the witness I can but I pay for that with this and they get paid for that witnessing service when it comes to the notary if if the document is NaN statement and they're saying can't you be the notary and the witness in some states that's acceptable Florida that's acceptable as long as you're not part of the document but in the recommendation the best practices don't be the witness and the notary in the same documents have other people the more the better more people that can testify that says yes that was the person who signed the document so I don't recommend you being both but when it comes to the law many states don't prohibit it as long as you're not now there are some states there's three or four that absolutely prohibit it you just can't do it so for you if you're in that state be aware of that so what does that mean for you it means you need to check your law to see does it prohibit you from being both if you want to know what the two or three states are there's only six states that are quote over witnessing States and it's those six where some I can and some I cannot so if you want to know what the three are I'll give it to Bill and he can post it
n the email that goes out after so that you can know the three states that are absolutely connect a now if you have questions about any one of those kinds of witnesses I talked about I'm happy to address them yeah let's I think there's a couple in here Diana just sent one over Laura how much do you pay the witnesses that you obtain it depends on how far they have to drive so if the longer it goes the longer they have to be on the road to get it to the place to spend the ten minutes with me then the more I'm gonna pay I usually pay them about $25.00 and that just goes to them I don't take any of their money right and usually they're just friends of mine sometimes their notary colleagues but if I say I'm going to do it that's how I find somebody and the law in California does not address document leases at all because it's not a notarial Act so it's not regulated right and for me for me in Arizona I do I charge 50 bucks I know it's on the high end but if I'm going to handle the logistics I'm gonna pull somebody out of whatever they're doing and bring them I charge a flat fifty bucks and that goes to the witness as well what that does is that either inspires the signer to find their own witness or they just say yeah that's okay that's worth the computer Laura can you talk about subscribing witnesses this is causes a lot of confusion sure I purposely can't let that out because it's so confusing for people but let's talk about it separately so in many states a workaround to the acknowledgement is called a proof of execution which means somebody other than the notary will prove that the signer signed the document and we call them a subscribing witness think of subscribing as substitute they're a substitute signer and so you're gonna have them in front of you instead of the real signer and they're gonna come to you with their story that says here's the document my signer sign and they asked me to come to you and get it notarized and there are a few rules involved and I'm gonna give you examples for California however it doesn't mean these are your specific rules in your specific state in California the subscribing witness will sign their name to the document as a witness to the signature they will swear or thumb to the notary that the signer indeed did sign the document and they know them to be the fat person all right so they've got personal knowledge with that signer and they have face to face contact themselves then I have face-to-face contact with the substitute signer and the notarial Act is proof of execution by subscribing witness that those in my journal and whatever notarial Act which is going to be the acknowledgment that's on their document I'm not going to use I'm going to write see attached and I'm going to replace that and in my state a credible what I'm in a subscribing witness may not be identified based on identification they have to be identified based on a credible witness so you and I have to know the credible witness so you can see how difficult it is to even make that happen so Carol is that thank you I just know that's very confusing and I have a hard time trying to explain it and it rarely comes up so hard so the first clue is you don't have a real signer in front of you you've got somebody else is holding a signer document if that's the scenario call the hotline we may have this scenario but if you have the signer in front of you that's never gonna be this scenario it's a good rule of thumb they bet that Beth is asking is that the same thing as a self-proving affidavit you know a self-proving affidavit is a document that typically goes with a will and it is signed typically by the witnesses and the will maker that says everybody was in the room together and they all watched each other signed the document so that self-proving affidavit is a document we're subscribing witness is a person who's part of a new t realize you the whole anymore quick questions on witnessing laura real quick if you were gonna chart a path of homework like a starting point if somebody was really interested in gaining expert status very similar to you where would you point them with Jeremy yeah in each individual state so there are several resources that I would recommend of course I would go first to see is there a handbook and almost every state has some form of handbook or need for a notary guide from their administering office which could be the Secretary of State the governor's office depends on who's managing notaries in addition DNA has law primers they look like this for I think most of the states there are few that there isn't one and most because there's not much information on them there's there's setup per state so it's very specific and it's a handy book to have in your bag so that it not only covers your state law but it also covers some of the things that your state law doesn't cover and it gives you recommended practices another document or publication would be a case such a long name I can hardly remember it the I want to say best practices let me look it up and I will tell you the third one there are two actually two other documents that are published out there that are recognized as best practice for notaries and it's a lot of it is real ona if you're familiar with that with those regulations and they are recognized these documents in all 50 states and what they do is they give you some general things that if your law doesn't state what to do and this document does give a a best practice then that's probably going to be recognized in court so if you did something and you're in court and you said well I did it because I read in this document that this would be the best way to handle it you're gonna they're they're going to accept that and that's why it's important to be knowledgeable about that and I promise to give that to you bill along with the states that witness these dates yeah that sounds great thank you you know I think this conversation about the importance of gaining at least charting the course for expertise expert status in your state it's going to be very important there's there is nobody that's gonna step in and be that for you in your particular state there's this is a huge responsibility for notaries and I encourage you that you know Laura started in the beginning too and wasn't an expert in studied in gained experience and got there same thing with Carol you know we y'all figure figure it out but we have to set that bar to reach the expert level all of us are responsible for doing that that helps the entire industry as well you know I just want to add that if you are a member of the NA or you bought a package from them and you have hotline service use it I had a really difficult question yesterday about something that is not a regular notarial act and it's about witnessing the destruction of safe-deposit boxes and there was there very specific conditions that had to be met in order for this notary to do the job and you know what you're just not going to find that in your handbook that's when you need experts who know how to go to look at the law and find it because some of the law is buried and you just don't see it in the handbook so use that hotline resource and then of course you've got Bill Carol myself there's other people out there more knowledgeable who can also answer questions as things come up then you'll know for the next time absolutely after we move myself from that list well for NSA care right I can't oh yes but not as far as the states it's one of the things that I absolutely you know enforce in my students that you've got to know the rules and regulations of your own state I can't teach you know nationwide and and know that so that's really important and I've got a couple of questions on my exam that point that out the answer is simple look at the regulations of your own state don't try to answer this in other words and most people miss it because they they don't realize how things vary from state to state they're so different absolutely all right awesome is there in oh let's see from mark about in California at the document ask for witnesses meaning there's a place for witness signatures but the signer doesn't have them can he still notarize there are lots of cases where it's or not and but we don't know that as notaries and this designer probably doesn't know that so the signer would need to find out is it okay to skip the witnesses if the answer is yes we don't need the witnesses if you've got a notary my recommendation is is that they have the site or put in /a or none or something in the witness area so they don't try to go with witnesses late and there are some states you absolutely have to check I think Florida for one they they can't record the documents without the witnesses so right you need to find out yeah yeah looking at and then on when it comes to loan signings to a lot of these document packages are just boilerplate templates so you'll be in a state that does not require witnesses but still have lines for witnesses and that can throw you through a loop - alright Judith has a question too though for the subscribing witness does the credible witness need to know the subscribing witness as well absolutely in my state that's the only way it's gonna happen which is why it never happens because people call me the public calls me for the service and says hey my friend needs a document notarized can I bring it in and get it notarized I said I say okay but you have to bring a friend of yours when you come to identify you and they say okay and then I say but make sure your friend is a friend of mine and they're like oh okay I said so I can't help you now I think many states are similar to that requirement I would have to look up every single state to tell you how yours is but if you want to know your specific state you reach out to me via email I'll respond to you excellent Thank You Laura all right so let's jump into some of these questions because we got some good ones this time well we have good ones every time but these were some of these were interesting all right I have a question for you or Laura regard regarding general notary work when performing an authorization for a POA shouldn't your journal entry under the document type include the name of the person who is giving the authority I have a workbook from the NA where this info isn't included in the specimen example it seems to me that if there were ever a court challenge the notary should be able to look at his or her journal and say who the authority was given from maybe I'm overthinking this but they just like pretty important information to me okay cheese so one the person's signature being notarized is the principle who's giving the power so that's who's name is going to be in my journal and who's signing it the appointee which would be the person you know the agent that health care proxy the attorney in fact I'm not notarizing their signature and so in my additional information or notes column that's where I write AI F it's so-and-so so that I have it in my journal and when you use the word should that tells me that we're talking not about the law we're talking about what helps a notary and I agree in my journal which is my BFF I use that additional information or notes column for these kinds of things so I can look back and know exactly who was with me and what happened excellent great suggestion great question premise is that I saw video on YouTube from someone in California I live in the Sacramento area and she said she stopped doing loan signings here because the pay was so low her video was posted about three years ago I believe do you have any experience on what California pays for a loan signing well I think Carol and Laura can both speak to this you're right there Carol you're right there not too far right you know it depends on so many factors and of course I'm going to say it depends on the certification that you have how well they've been trained if people respect the certification I can only speak for my graduates I have graduates who even though they've been really well trained and they know what they're doing they spend no time marketing themselves they'll take what's easy they take they'll be happy to take a $50 signing from snap dogs doesn't happen often but it's just the mentality of people we watch the difference between our graduates if people really put themselves into marketing themselves and holding a certain standard for themselves as far as the fees that they require to do the jobs we watch them succeed and and make a lot of money and they're doing really really well and then there's other people who don't they just don't get it how it impacts them when they don't do their marketing and they don't extend themselves and require more so I'm gonna say you know there's people that are not making hardly any money in in this area but there's others that are just going just really making me very very really yeah I love it I think we have some mutual students up in that area that they're doing really yeah Laura what about you what's your experience you know so I think that what Carol shared is true across the United States you know it's all about how you market what you accept where you set your own boundaries but in California specifically and I've been doing this for almost 16 years and I started out doing blown signings specifically I will tell you it's very Geographic so what they might pay in San Francisco it's gonna be different than what you might get in Modesto California which is Central Valley however even that being said I see a range just what's anywhere from about on average just taking out lowball stuff probably 85 to 125 anywhere in that range I see all the time and you know how they determine that and what you would step this up to you can there be stuff less than 85 absolutely and can people get jobs that are paid more absolutely on either side of that range I know that I changed my model and I mostly do general work now but I just didn't see any last night I probably still handle about 10 loan signings a month one to keep my finger in it and I do not the offers coming my way are not low I think there are very appropriate excellent I think the people that are watching TNT every week have a huge advantage because they care and they're trying to be the best that they can and gobble up all the knowledge that they can from people who know a little bit more so all of you out there you just keep plugging away and take what you feel you're worth and you're gonna be just fine yeah and you know this applies not only to this industry but just business in general anytime you're starting a business or some sort of endeavor you can see the I have it I actually have a story for this one Carol beat you to it and I and I want to share it because it really does apply and you really have to be discerning when you hear other people talk about their experience in the business especially the ones that complain because there are a lot of negative nancies or complainers you know they come in they don't follow the exact plan and or that you know it gets too hard or they just don't want to do it and then they those are the most vocal the people who are killing it in the business are usually not the ones who are online talking about how great business is you know it's usually only the naysayers so you have to be aware of that but there's this I went to an event in Santa Clara California last year and I had an uber ride two different uber rides the first one was a Prius and the guy came in who's super friendly we're talking he lived in San Diego he would fly up every Monday where he had his Prius part where he paid for rent he paid for a room he worked because the business was so good in Santa Clara that he would just leave his family for the week and then fly back on Friday night or Saturday morning that's how good business wasn't Santa Clara immediately after that like I got off for lunch got another uber and it was a guy in the Prius and the first thing that he said when we walked in I was with a mother you mind that kind of looks like me he said oh it's like I had twins but you're the fat one well I gotta be the fat one so the conversation naturally I had to probe a little bit into this and he complained the whole time about how t
rrible businesses he lived their business is awful it's just terrible to go out and get another job that's we got one guy flying up to his city because business is so good but he's having a different experience because of his attitude and it's I would imagine his work ethic and definitely his conversation skills but there is all these different perspectives on things so we have a lot of control over our experience and I'm not we can't trust that everybody is putting in the same amount of efforts that you are so they are going to get different results well my my challenge the biggest challenge of my life was when I started notary to pro back in 2009 10 years ago and my family will tell you I wanted to quit so many times because my life for two years was calling every company I had worked for calling title companies sending out stuff working just working for two years trying to market because this was new nobody else was doing this and just banging my head on the wall and there was so many times and I said I can't do this anymore I wasn't making any money I wasn't making really any strides I think at 10 graduates my first two years which was amazing and the kid said you just you tell us all the time never quit keep it up Bill's always been a tremendous support to me and you know and I look now and yeah it took me ten years but I think we've accomplished something really good and with a lot of people it's just you just keep at it if you believe in it you believe in yourself don't take what's easy keep doing what's hard it's grueling to call all these companies it is grueling and I and I do understand that and why people give up but you've got to just keep on doing it it will pay off well and it's amazing how one person can change everything and that's why you know we all talk about how important it is to show up to every signing and be 100% present show up and treat every signing like it's you know your first one of the day you know you're fresh and you're ready to go because you don't know who you're going to meet I have so many stories about escrow managers I meant that led in $200,000 a year client just because I showed up I did what I did and I showed that I loved what I did that type of relationship it can change like that if you if you keep at it all right great question Suzette thank you for sparking that conversation let's see for non-experienced loan signing agents me applying with what is the best way to answer questions that have to do with experience and training Carol do you mind taking that one you know let me observe you know what I was doing I was if I was looking at Carolyn she's just adorable I'm just as cute as a bug cute bug okay now let's see in applying with agencies what's the bait with you experience a train it's the obvious I mean we want to talk about you know who trained you for one thing and and take advantage of their well known if you've trained people Laura's trained people hopefully they're well known in the business I'm well known in the business you just need to more than talking about it demonstrate it hope that hope that they give you a chance to show what you're made of and I don't know what else to say because it's it's just it's an individual thing but I think it's so important that when we do get that chance that we give it everything we have do the best that we can demonstrate all of our skills communication is key I believe in communication between everyone you know on the ladder if if you keep if you keep everybody informed as what's going on I think that it's a kind of a relief that they know you know that you're going to change the appointment is that okay I don't know what else to say it's just not good you're always the one that says you can't walk in and just start telling people how wonderful you are I think get a chance to demonstrate you're better off yeah you know what I when I tell people is that you are the own one that knows your experience level so right now when you're first starting out you just assume that everybody's like oh we're not gonna why would we hire you you don't have any experience but that's not necessarily how this goes signing companies number one are the only ones that really ask about experience there's some name string title companies that do but for the most part it's signing companies they trying to do an initial screening but what I encourage you to do is summon all of your experience everything that you've done before being a mobile notary loan signing agent is going to help you be a better mobile notary and loan signing agent so go back in paint the picture consider it almost like a resume I'm not a huge fan of submitting resumes unless it really works but you want to really paint a picture that just shows that you're the best person for the job and if you look at the pain point for signing companies and escrow officers what they need and what they want is somebody who's going to represent them professionally and well at the closing table if you truly believe that's you then paint that picture and kick the door down and let them know that you're the person that's how you're going to get the chance to perform and then perform well when you do that the other thing is I have never ever been asked by an escrow officer what my experience level is because I don't approach it like timid like oh please sir can I have a signing it's my first one you know you're not gonna do that you want to walk in with some confidence about what it is that you're there to do you know I when I first started this business I had no idea what I was doing but I knew I had to do it and I liked it you know I got my first taste of a signing I'm like holy cow 150 bucks an hour and I don't even have a degree I'm all about it so I just told people I'm a mobile notary loan signing agent they're like great come on in let's talk you know it was just a different and it's a different way of approaching it you're not begging for business you're presenting a service you're assisting them and when you find the right clients that's really how they approach it you know our escrow officer that really values you and your skill set and your time that's how they're gonna treat that's a great relationship Laura how about you know the two things that I think are really important bill you hit on one which is you know there was a life before you're an NSA many skills and experiences that can relate to it I think that speaking the language is a way to demonstrate your training your knowledge so when they're they're talking about anything that's specific to this industry or loan signings you need to understand what they're talking about and being able to mirror that and talk back to them in their own language so therefore they get that's that sense of of comfort that says oh this person whether or not you've done any signings knows what you're doing I think the other thing is you know you need to keep integrity which means don't lie because you lie about your experience and then they say okay let's give you a job and it's something you can't handle they've caught you so stick with your integrity and if you're directly asked you know no I haven't done one here's what I've been doing to be prepared for it and this is where you can highlight the experience and the training and obviously your knowledge and finally general communication skills one of the things that that I have noticed is that just general communication skills whether it's verbal or in writing meaning I spell things right I use good grammar I use buffer words front and back-end and I speak in a way that presents myself in the best light that I have education and I think that's really important and there are people out there who might get the training but they they don't really know how to present themselves and they might need a little Charm School to help you know pull that together I like one of the things that you said Laura that's so important didn't I really stress this because I get this question all the time a lot of my students they're seasoned notaries but a lot of them are brand new people don't ever try to fudge or say you've done more signings than what you have you're gonna get caught every time and you'll never get hired again by those people so it's just it's really important and and you both said it better than I did but it's true you you need to be honest but let them know the skills that you've acquired and what you've learned and and talk the language yeah you know there is if you really look at what this business is based on which is authentic relationships like being in a relationship if you start a relationship based on a lie it's really a shaky foundation and it usually doesn't go well there they're eventually gonna find out you're gonna say something later on this oh wait but you told me this you know six weeks ago you know it's just not worth it there are ways to present yourself to where you you're still gonna look good they're gonna trust you and you're gonna get to prove you're to prove yourself now Laura you brought up Charm School and I'm so glad that you did because that really ties into authentic relationships right if right there have you if we're gonna be interacting with other human beings there are things you want to know and understand how you're showing up to other human beings and how they're reacting to you so are you aware of what that is are you processing are you striving to be I hate using the word better but are you you know there's different skills there's this theory that we're all just born with everything that we need to function in this world and it's just not true so there are skills that we need to hone and develop and it's okay to do that we just have to have that on our radar so we are doing it emotional intelligence really ties in to that how do we process our own feelings and emotions and how do we throw that on to other people and a lot of the the downside to being in a relationship business is that other people are sensitive to and they may not be growing along with you so you have to be aware of what's going on not only with yourself but with other people and how you're interacting do we have a question on that okay great I can't hear it it sounds like some of these coming in okay so when re editing your website should you add a photo or is that a safety issue okay I'm happy to jump in yeah when I'm on my fourth or fifth reiteration of my website over the 16 years and I've always had photos of myself and I will tell you I don't feel it's a safety issue I take other precautions of course to maintain my safety but I will tell you I've had specific feedback over and over whether it's on Yelp or my website or other places where you'll find me they say and I say what made you choose me if you saw more than one notary and they say it's my photos that I looked approachable that they knew that they could probably work with me and of course that means I didn't have one of those selfies you know it's a professional headshot that and it was one that I was trying to exude a certain type of personality or persona which is one of being friendly and helpful and approachable and it has made a difference for me in getting jobs over other notaries just because I did that also having come from a background where security I work for the gambling industry when I was in Illinois and having a face to know who showing up is that extra security feature that a lot of people want and need right for the customer side right great great that great thinking yeah I think you could probably find an argument for either one on this do faces work absolutely I think that's proven every day in advertising you know look at real estate agents their faces on their card almost every time it's on buses lawyers attorneys everywhere so there is an advantage to it I think a very clear advantage and there might be some risk to because it might help you become a target so but Laura as we've talked about in previous ones you have to take additional precautions to keep it hey Berra Williams I noticed that your hands up do you have a question no can you hear me I sure can oh yes the warned everybody no sir that was an accident no problem but enjoying everything that I'm learning thank you so much you got I'm gonna lower your hand you're good to go thank you okay when your budget is limited how should you choose your community marketing besides volunteering so if you if you are on the shoestring budget how can you advertise and this one I think is specifically for general notary work so Laura if you don't mind and you give us your real-life strategies hi my strategy started with what's free low-hanging fruits wherever I could get that visibility so that's where I start whether it's on the internet or even just what the people I do business with already where I Bank where I do my manicures where I get my haircut where I take my dogs to be groomed where I buy the dog food I mean wherever I go I'm about loyalty to the places that I shop and so they know me and so that is where again that's a freebie that's relationship building and so they know who I am that I'm a notary and that has presented me work when I start painting for it I should say a few more things that were free for instance the Yelp profile is free some people said it didn't help them for me I get a lot of business from the free profile don't have to pay for the advertising and it's great then of course when I went to pay I invested money in my website and you might have to you may not have enough to have a custom design build one but there are other opportunities out there to get a less expensive one that will get you on the screen because if you're not even on the radar that's gonna be a problem yeah that's huge imp yeah another thing that I did is I wrote articles to the NA I wrote articles to the newspaper I speak at churches and other houses of worship about notarization in general and what it is I'm educating the public about the world of notaries and what we do for them I expanded that and I spoke at nonprofit organizations like Kiwanis and sir two missed and and those are all business people and of course I'm not talking about my specific company I'm again talking about the world of notaries and to helping educate the public but of course to get my business hard when I leave and so that's another way that didn't cost me anything and actually they buy me lunch so that's pretty pretty cool so I'm really big into how can I whether it's one on one or one to group live meeting people I've had a booth at a health fair for advanced healthcare directives for a senior health fair I've done that so and that they since I was giving away actually the motorisation I didn't charge me for the booths so I was there trying to help their population but you could charge it to charge a discount that was just something that I did so these are all things that really take your time rather than your money to do that also when you do stuff like that if it's for a not-for-profit get a letter from them and it's a tax write-off right and and I volunteer for Hospice in my County however and that's for their clients however when their clients later need me again after that person passes that's paint work and hospice themselves the corporation when they use my service they pay so even though I'm volunteering some of my services I'm getting paid from other sources related to them excellent and then pour in the digital perspective I already see some people chatting that up in the in the comments as well but Google actually has a pretty robust free suite of services it's called Google my business if you haven't tapped into that if you're intimidated by technology or search engine optimization I still encourage you to check it out it's really it's kind of fill in the blank you're not taking advantage of that on the general notary work side you are really missing out because that's that's where customers are going to find a notary and you want to be on the top of that list it's all free no great questions oh and nextdoor.com yeah next com is a favorite as well yeah that really works cuz it's your own neighbors and that's a great jumping-off point for people you went otherwise meet yep absolutely and another way my neighbors and
other people find me is I have those inexpensive magnets on my doors of my car so wherever my car is sitting in the bank parking lot at McDonald's wherever people might my car is the billboard moving around town I've heard so many great things about business that comes in unusual connections that lead to more things too which again is the the real power of this business guys is to think bigger it's not just about the transaction that's who you might meet and where you might go with this Patricia says whether the best tracking apps for your business not sure exactly what's meant by tracking I'm thinking maybe for like maybe mileage tracking or invoicing and bookkeeping mileage IQ is great if you only have 40 trips a month or less it's free then you can pay I think it's $5.99 a month if you want unlimited yes I and I'm a big fan of them as well as far as bookkeeping let's throw a few out there whether the some of the favorites I think we have notary assist notary gadget for sure ones out there and they both do a great job although my personal favorite is notary assist I just feel like it's designed by a notary she really hits my sweet spot for what I need excellent great thank you guys from Nick I'm a new California notary my live and online training classes did not make any mention about cases of identifying gender-neutral and transgendered individuals what best practice tips can you provide for handling and idea in paperwork Laura you want to kick us off on that one what's your experience on that well I've had a couple and one I just personally knew the other one was a stranger if whatever the ID says and now they have IDs that don't say okay that's what I'm gonna go with if they have paperwork that indicates a gender then I'm going to look at the ID to see if there's an issue and I'm going to say okay I need some assistance to help resolve the disparity between ID and who you are in front of me right now so let's have a conversation I mean there's nothing wrong with just asking the questions to help me help them get it taken care of the one I knew was already presenting herself in female although the ID still had mail on it because she had not quite gotten down to the DMV to change that and now I knew her so I didn't really have an issue but when it's a stranger then that would have presented a little bit more for me and I would have said no I just need to talk through this with you so we can figure out how do we get your document accepted and how do I identify you you know to support that you can't just have a cut-and-dried if it says this do this if it says that do that I think every case is going to be specific and you need to work with that signer excellent Stephanie says there are a couple issues I've been experiencing it seems there aren't too many people in my area that are familiar with a mobile notary they always seem to be hesitant and once I've explained the service to them which I can understand so I usually get the okay I'll call you back and hang up right away needless to say though they never call back oh and this one that happens to be in Northeast Pennsylvania I don't know if that gives you any context but I also know that this isn't just in Pennsylvania there's a lot of people that don't know that mobile no theories exist in California two minutes everywhere that they're not familiar with the service and I think one of the things that I do up front is I screen what their need is and I ask do you need to come into an office of a notary you have a way to get there or are you needing me to come to your location and if they're not familiar with the second option they'll say you mean you come to my location and now I have an opportunity to talk about how I can assist them without them having to you know go into an office stand in line whatever and I do get quite a few calls from people that didn't realize that I could go to their location so it's not always an opportunity for me to help educate them on the spot yeah you know what this is actually kind of almost a two-part question because she also says the second issue is other potential clients they just don't want to pay the travel fee then they're not your client mm-hmm I mean they don't want that they don't need that service that's the service you're selling is that convenience to go to them and if they don't need that convenience you know what I do I say hey there's an office it's at 13 20 standard Ford Avenue it's called my mailbox she's there till 6 o'clock you don't need an appointment tell Cheryl I said mine I refer people out to the shipping centers and you know what the opportunity is there the shipping centers refer back to me the mobile appointments because they can't close their store so now I have relationships with people that send me work so it comes back and forth number one number two I help the clients get the service they needed nothing wrong with that because next time they might need mobile service that's exactly right just being a resource really keeps you on their radar the other thing is and there's always there's so much you know kind of behind the scenes that might be happening to you know it's the type of the way the conversations flowing what how it's being presented all of that's going to play a role and you know my big thing is I'm not big into sales calls so I'm you know I'm always saying stop selling stop selling don't call and sell this is a relationship business so there might be ways to more authentically connect with people that is not so quote-unquote sales II know it might be more relationship I see Melissa posted in there too maybe follow up with a card maybe start out with a card you know that just says hey heard you were here or who heard you're doing this or whatever it might be I'm big into doing some research on the front end so it warms up the connection rather than just cold calling a bunch of people saying the same thing script and over and over again it comes across real salesy and inauthentic and people do not respond to it in fact we had Sanderlin from LinkedIn for personal branding she quoted the percentage at 91% of people who receive cold calls never buy based on a cold call it's just ineffective if you're going to spend your time marketing get warmer build on them go with the relationship component put a little time on the front end and it pays off in the backend right bill what I was reading from Stephanie's question was she's receiving cost that I that she's get she's on the receiving end of the cause it's either no well thank you presented yes this so the first one that she's presenting what the opportunity is the second one is that even when gee it looks like G&W they don't want to pay a travel fee okay so yeah so Stephanie says I'm receiving the calls so I would tell you that probably a third of the calls I get are not for mobile service they think I'm a sitting in an office somewhere even though the name of my business is at your service Mobile Notary under the in the phone book it's under Mobile Notary I mean everything says mobile and they still call and say I want to come to your office where is it so sometimes the public is just there you know a little blind they're not paying attention where they're calling so you can help them that is an opportunity to help them get to the right place yep absolutely and also if you know if you are only talking about two or three calls that's not enough data when you start getting to hundreds or thousands of calls and start seeing the trend in in the information then that's data that you can start making some decisions on but just the first few calls it may not be enough to adjust or change or new commuters so wait for someone for me but one of the are you know the fact that I would 80% of people don't even know that we do what we do isn't as a great opportunity but it's also a huge challenge it's an obstacle we have to find it that we have to tie the educational piece and the relationship piece into this because a lot of times when people don't know we exist and then they hear about us right there on the phone their brain goes right to price well how much is it and if all you do is throw numbers at them then you're playing the numbers game with them and they're like no I'm not interested in that but if you take a little time to probe and ask some questions and build some rapport that's the foundations for the relationship and then when you've proven that you know what you're doing and that you want to be of service and you're empathizing with their situation whatever it might be then the price becomes less important whenever you quote that towards the end of the call guys I think that's what are we yeah we're oh my gosh we 10 minutes passed guys sorry about that Carol thank you so much for joining us Laura thank you for joining us and giving us a printed presentation on witnessing and guys who are watching thank you so much for growing yourself and your business on the Tuesday morning you guys enjoy the rest of your week
