2011, 2012 and 2013 were phenomenal years. The IRS audited me...they could not believe I put 65K miles on my vehicle every year, sometimes more. I was signing 12-20 loans a day at title, then in the evenings. I worked myself to the bone.
Then Snapdocs appeared on the horizon. Many of my five-star SS clients began uploading their files to Snapdocs. It was a tsunami of low, low, lower, lowest fees. I only have a couple of clients on SD, they aren't that busy.
I have lost a lot of good clients to SD, and others have gone out business. I did a lot wth TL signings before they stopped paying notaries, thankfully I got paid every cent Tiffany owed me. When she lowered her fee from $125 to $100 I stopped taking her calls.
This month started out very slow here, but it does seem to be turning out better than I expected.
It costs a lot to live in Santa Barbara county. Gas, groceries, paper and toner and I really shop for the best prices. I eat out of my garden a great deal. RE taxes go up every year. DMV registration doubled this year, and every time I turn around it costs more to fix things around the ranch.
Now, Signature Closers, whom I've had 9 signings with since 2015 is not a huge client for me as they probably don't have much in my area, so if I no longer work for Signature Closers, it is not a huge loss. Most of my work is now purchase and sales, few refi's, and GNW. The thing is, I hear about his company's test that everyone is failing, and I'm thinking, AHA! The only way his current go-to notaries can work for SCs is they have to pass the test, and no one is passing as the test seems to be designed for failure, so they have to pay for the Loan Signing System to be able to work for Mark Fleming...well, I'll pass. After all the years I've spent in the trenches, I certainly don't need to be spending my hard earned money on a bogus test! How many times do notaries have to be tested any way.
It's very sad for me, and I'm sure for a lot of NSAs out there who've been in this business for over a decade to watch how drastically our business environment has deteriorated. There are so many crooks in this business who shouldn't be in it. I think we're going to see a lot of changes in the coming months and in 2019. Hold onto your socks. It could get a lot worse, and that is why I'm looking into doing some virtual assistant work with a real estate investor who owns a lot of commercial and industrial parks all over the country (except CA). Diversify your income. Don't let this be your only side hustle, because the turf has changed, and we all need to change with it.
I had a beautiful and relaxing lunch with my Six-Figure-Income notary pals today in Pasadena, and we all agreed the main problem today is that many notaries/NSAs don't value ear themselves enough. Working for deadbeats is not getting folks any where, except in the hole, no pay, low pay, slow pay.
Notaries/NSAs, please put more value on your services by negotiating higher fees. And, GNW if allowed in your state is the way to go...one of our group made enough money this month to travel to NY for a week, stay in a first class hotel, airfare is low this time of the year and enough spending money to really enjoy the Big Apple. We should all be doing this!
Forget spending you money on these bogus tests!
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