Posted by Missey on 7/8/04 8:29am
Msg #4062

Startup advice

I am a newbie and am trying to be as smart as I can about getting into the field. My question for you experienced signing agents is this: if you were starting your business again, what would you change and what would you do the same way?

Thanks in advance for sharing.

Reply by Katherine on 7/8/04 9:49am
Msg #4066

I would have done more intensive demographic and saturation research on my area to see if there would be enough work for me. I did around 50 signings before I started to catch on to how many hundreds of NSAs serve my coverage area.

I would have gotten materials from JustPointAndSign.com I would not have taken the signing agent seminar by the NNA. (Although I did get my money back from them - the course was so bad.)

I would have studied more and lurked on the boards more before taking my first signing appointment. Reading 4 boards every day is about right, especially the first year.

What I did do right:
*Signed up with over 250 companies.
*Knew my notary regulations COLD before my first signing.
*Took as many SS jobs as I could get to gain experience and learn.

Reply by Missey on 7/8/04 10:54am
Msg #4071

Uh oh...

I took the NNA Signing Agent Course last December (I haven't done any signings yet because I've been out of state on family business & can't get a non-resident notary commission where I am now). Katherine, when you say the course was bad, what do you mean? Am I going to be completely lost when I actually dive in?

Thanks for your feedback!

Reply by Stephanie on 7/8/04 2:52pm
Msg #4084

Re: Uh oh...

Missey:

I took the National Notary Association Signing Agent Certification course & exam; personally, I thought it was fantastic.
You see, I was on the "ground floor" when the NNA started educating Signing Agents.
I attended the 2002 NNA Annual Conference in San Diego. At that time they offered intense workshops at the conference and gave the big book to all delegates that decided to attend the workshops focusing on Signing Agents.
**I learned so much from the workshops, took the exam following the conference and have been successful in this industry.
Many Notaries do not like the NNA; however, I feel I have benefited greatly from them.
There are many resources for the Signing Agent, and we can pick and choose where we want to invest our time and money. Do not count any out.
Good luck and you won't be completely lost.

Stephanie

Reply by HisHughness on 7/8/04 11:15am
Msg #4072

1. Make sure you have the right equipment: fast computer, laser printer that handles legal size paper, copier, fax.

2. Read the boards.

3. Have cable or DSL access.

4. Read the boards.

5. Set up a web page. Through the signing company sites if necessary, but set one up.

6. Read the boards.

7. Sign up with every signing company available, even the shady shoddy ones -- schedulers sometimes shift companies, and you want them to know you.

8. Did I mention read the boards?

Reply by calipat on 7/8/04 1:55pm
Msg #4082

i am also new to this. What other boards are there to read?

Reply by Stephanie on 7/8/04 2:53pm
Msg #4085

Re: Startup advice gomobilenotary.com

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/8/04 3:16pm
Msg #4086

Dont forget to "Read the Boards" Hugh:)


I wish the Signing Regsitry had been around when I first started.
I recommend membership there. Best $50 you will ever spend in this business.

I would have had a HP laser printer right at the start instead of waiting a few months before getting one.

I would have signed up with Maxemail right away - and saved a lot of paper etc with incoming faxes.

I would have started out with Notary Rotary's journal - only it wasn't available then!

I would have been using Quickbooks right from the start!

Reply by Stephanie/CA on 7/8/04 3:53pm
Msg #4092

Re: Startup advice - Sylvia

I checked out the Maxemail website and plan on signing up; it looks like a good deal $$ w/many advantages.
Thank you so much for your previous suggestions on this service.

By the way, I am participating (as a presrenter) in a Northern California notary Luncheon on marketing at the end of July.

**My presentation will be on internet resources for the Signing Agent, and I have included Maxemail as one of the resources.
So again, thank you.

Stephanie

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/8/04 6:01pm
Msg #4098

Re: Startup advice - Sylvia

Don't forget to mention www.tonerkits.com for toner refills, and also www.tonerrefillkits.com for the empty cartridges.

Reply by Stephanie/CA on 7/9/04 12:38am
Msg #4116

Re: Startup advice - Sylvia

www.tonerkits.com is on my list.

Thank you
I am going to provide a spreadsheet with websites, the resources ofered and a couple pages from website.
I've got over 18 websites; I had to decide on only so many.

Stephanie

Reply by jjrundall on 7/9/04 2:19am
Msg #4119

Re: Startup advice/Maxemail

Hi, I am wondering if any of you have used efax.com instead of maxemail. What makes maxemail better than efax? What service plan do you use? Just wondering. I am currently using the 30 day free trial from efax..so far so good. But the only thing I dont like is I had to download special software to open email.
IF anyone can offer me any pointers of if to stay with efax and or go with maxemail instead?
THANK YOU!

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/9/04 7:01am
Msg #4123

Re: Startup advice/Maxemail

I too used the free efax for a long time (although I hated the "pop ups"
Then I got an e-mail saying I was receiving more than 20 pages a month, and I would have to pay $9.95 a month if I wanted to continue with efax.
Someone had posted on a message board about Maxemail, and I checked it out. Prices start at (I think) $14.95 a year! I selected the $5 a month and paid by the year to get it cheaper. I love it. For the plan I am on I got to chose the area code, so I have my own area code. Maxemail comes with voice mail, some companies have left a voice mail on it! I selected t receive the faxes in pdf format, so they open up an Acrobat (you can have them sent asTiff files instead, I prefer pdf).
I did get some junk faxes, but I called the toll free number on the faxes to be removed from the junk fax list and haven't received any since.

I much prefer Maxemail over efax. Chck them out at www.maxemail.com

Reply by jjrundall on 7/9/04 3:26pm
Msg #4165

Re: Startup advice/Maxemail

Thank you for the advice. I currently use the 30 day free trial with efax..but after my 30 days I will switch to there "Plus Service" at $12.95 per month and that includes 300 pages (faxes) and anything over that is 10 cents per page. Which to me seems high. If I do 6 fax doc signings at 50 pgs each..I am over my limit and then pay 10 cents each page. That can be a lot of $.
Sooo..b4 my 30 day free trial is up I think I am going to check more into the maxemail. I am leaning more towards it anyway. THANKYOU!!

Reply by Lorraine_FL on 7/9/04 7:23pm
Msg #4187

Sylvia, thanks for all the advice...I appreciate all I can get. I am a veteran of about 10 signings, so every little bit helps. I was wondering what signing registry has done that warrants your # 1 recommendation; will you expand on it a little. I've been reading the board for several weeks and I value your opinion - as a matter of fact I made a proposal at my daytime job regarding the Maxemail based on your post. thanks lorraine

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/9/04 7:45pm
Msg #4188

Lorraine
I joined the Signing Registry when it was first formed 2 years ago.
They have a very good, professional message board, no-one posts anonymously, we all know who the poster is. (This is not to say I don't consider this a good message board, it does not have the unpleasantness that sometimes permeates the GMN message board)
They have an excellent training manual. An excellent newsletter. And they also have an excellent mentor program. Any "newbie" can request a mentor. I volunteered as a mentor. There is also an excellent company database, which like the one here, is rated by the members.

Check it out Paul/FL is the webmaster there.

Reply by Lorraine_FL on 7/9/04 8:25pm
Msg #4190

Thanks, I took a closer look at it right after reading your first post. I only do the signings on a part-time basis, but I am committed to making myself the best I can be. I have the NNA's SA Training Course Book, how do you compare the training manual at SR, is it a lot of the same sort of stuff? Will it (the manual) be worth the extra investment? Thanks again! lorraine

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/10/04 9:27am
Msg #4200

I haven't seen the NNA's Training Course book, so really can't compare the two. I do know that some signing agents have posted to another message board that they liked the SR manual better, but you need someone who has studied both manuals to give you a better answer.

Where in Florida are you???

Reply by Joan-OH on 7/10/04 3:39pm
Msg #4209

I have both....

the NNA book & the Signing Registry Book. The signing registry is much better packed with a lot more relavent information. At $75 vs $129, a steal too.

Joan-OH

Reply by Lorraine_FL on 7/10/04 6:26pm
Msg #4215

Re: I have both....

Thanks Joan. I don't mind spending the money (just ask my husband) if it's worthwhile. lorraine

Reply by Lorraine_FL on 7/10/04 6:24pm
Msg #4213

I'm in Jacksonville. I did join SR - thanks for the advice. I also read your prison story in their newsletter...how cool was that! Thanks again! lorraine

Reply by BrendaTX on 7/10/04 7:17pm
Msg #4220

The SR Manual large, but as you go along, I will almost guarantee you will come to appreciate each section in it.

I wish I had gotten it earlier, because it truly answers every question I have ever come up with.

Regards, Brenda

Reply by Sonya-MD on 8/11/04 8:25am
Msg #5913

Maxemail & Quickbooks

What is Maxemail & Quick books?

Reply by derf4me on 7/8/04 4:57pm
Msg #4094

Could you describe your experience with the NNA seminar? I attended the signing agent one a few months ago and found it very helpful.

I know a lot of people on these boards HATE the NNA. I understand the bitterness about them saturating the market, but other than that...I just don't get it. Could you elaborate?

Thanks in advance.

Reply by Katherine on 7/8/04 8:52pm
Msg #4104

Why I hate the NNA and their course

*The NNA is in the business of making money. It is not a non-profit organization for educating and promoting notaries.

*The NSA hotline often has wrong info - esp if you are outside Calif.

*The NNA did NOTHING to help GA notaries when they lost their careers to attorneys. The NNA even published photos of their directors watching the new regulations prohibiting notaries from doing signing agent work. They were smilingly In At The Kill!

*The NNA's book is not terrible but it is incomplete. For example: no pay-off letter. The NSA one-day seminar is terrible. The lady who posted about attending multiple workshops probably got a much better education. The seminar I attended spent the morning on basic notarial procedures and the afternoon with a brief skim through the documents and a lot of talk about how to handle phone calls from signing services. No mock signing. No presentation of each doc. Terrible. I got my money back and they added years to my NNA and NSA membership. (I didn't ask for the latter.) They weren't going to refund my fee for their "satisfaction guaranteed" seminar until I said: "Fine. But realize that you have just lost a notarial supplies customer for life." Things changed fast right after I heard the gasp.

*The NNA lists its lender/title database as current. When I did a statewide postal mailing using their database info last January, over 1/3 of the addresses came back as "forwarding order expired". Postal forwarding orders last 6 months.

*The NNA says companies "who call have only one question. Are you certified?" Phooey. Companies want to know the NUMBER of signings you have completed. Most SSs consider the NSA certification a joke if they think about it at all.

There's lots more. I am tired of typing.

Get training from JustPointAndSign.com or SigningRegistry.com
Skip Victoria Ring and the NNA.

Reply by BrendaTX on 7/8/04 9:28pm
Msg #4108

Re: Why I hate the NNA and their course

The one time I have contacted them with a question, they ignored me. ASN (notaries.org) on the other hand answered, and then, two weeks later, Don Verbocy (at ASN) thought of something else he could give me to help me out and wrote me again, and put some info in the snail mail for me.

I will keep my membership with ASN. Not so sure about NNA. Referrals are sparse from NNA, so not much good in hanging in there.

Does anyone know how their budget is structurered? I mean, exactly "who" is making the money? If they are a non-profit, there are a lot of different questions I can think of to question why they want to "make" money, but it is so obvious they do.

Regards, Brenda

Reply by HisHughness on 7/8/04 9:56pm
Msg #4109

Re: Why I hate the NNA and their course

I really don't know how important certification is to either signing companies; frankly, I suspect it is more important than some of the posts dissing it would suggest, and far less important than the certification agencies would have you believe. What I do know is that it will give a notary public more stature in the eyes of the borrower, which makes a closing go easier.

I have posed only one notarial question to NNA since I became a member. The question was clearly something they should have been able to answer if they are honestly describing their services. They punted.

If you go to the NNA home page, you will find no link to their signing agent site, which is separate. Now, mind you, these are the people who promote to their site on signing agent sites, yet you can't get to the NNA signing agent section from the NNA site. I suggested such a link months ago. It has yet to appear. So, if you are a lender/title company/signing service looking for a signing agent, and go to the obvious spot -- the National Notary Association web site -- you are SOL; they don't even acknowledge that there is a signing agent section web site.

This is not a member-friendly organization. As a former executive director of two non-profit associations, I can tell you that service is not the NNA's first aim; feathering the nest for the executive director and staff is. Ask what the compensation plan is for the ED; almost surely you will find a revenue incentive plus salary, plus probably a membership bonus. I will remain a member, but only, as I have said before, because next year's convention is in Vegas, and my wife and I have never been to Vegas together. If we go for the convention, it's tax deductible.

Reply by BrendaTX on 7/8/04 10:47pm
Msg #4111

Re: Why I hate the NNA and their course

Exactly what my thoughts are, Hugh.

"...I can tell you that service is not the NNA's first aim; feathering the nest for the executive director and staff is. Ask what the compensation plan is for the ED; almost surely you will find a revenue incentive plus salary, plus probably a membership bonus..."

I have been deeply involved in economic development non-profits both as an employee, and, then as a volunteer in two small communities.

Making money is not the membership supported non-profit's aim (ideally) - service to them, or a common goal is.

Revenue gained should be put back into the membership in the form of services, programs, or other benefits to the members; or, the revenue should be poured significantly into implementing the mission of the organization.

I would like to look at the budget structure one of these days for this organization. My bet: Loosely, 60% to feathering and staffing, and 25% new membership marketing, and 15% to actual services and programs to benefit the mission or membership's program/services.

I realize that the commercialization of the site can serve to draw traffic, which "could" benefit the members if the revenue was used for marketing our services. But...you already addressed that.

We are not being marketed effectively--the marketing plan they have implemented is "get more members" not "more services for the members."

Thanks for your insight.

Brenda

Reply by Stephanie/CA on 7/9/04 12:43am
Msg #4117

Re: Why I hate the NNA and their course

As I previously indicated, there are many resources for the Signing Agent, and it's up to each one of us to decide which resources wil be best suited for us.

Stephanie

P.S. I realize I am in the minority having good experiences with the National Notary Association; however, it is fair to get opinions from everyone.

Reply by HisHughness on 7/9/04 12:57am
Msg #4118

Re: Why I hate the NNA and their course

Stephanie, I am unyielding in my support of your right to hold an opinion different from mine, as long as you don't have the impudence to state it.

Reply by Unknown on 7/9/04 1:27pm
Msg #4157

Re: Why I hate the NNA and their course

Hate is a strong word... Why do we bash others. If you don't like them, why mar their reputation only to venerate others. Can't there be more unity in this industry? Okay!!! Understandable you have not had a great experience with the NNA, nothing wrong with expressing your dislikes.... complain to the source... TELL THE NNA where they could improve and/or your issues.. instead of venerating other companies that "other people have had problems with as well" as if they are the only company YOU endorse.

Reply by Hugh Nations Signing Agents of Austin on 7/9/04 1:56pm
Msg #4160

Re: Why I hate the NNA and their course

I have complained to the NNA about the issues I have with the organization. The issues remain unresolved. I do not plan to "unify" with anyone in this or any other industry that treats me shabbily. And I will let others know of my treatment. I don't "hate" the NNA, I just think it is a second-rate outfit that doesn't deliver on its promise.

Reply by CarolynCO on 7/9/04 9:51am
Msg #4131

I know a lot of people despise the NNA and their one day seminar. I found the seminar very helpful -- even though I have been a notary since 1993. The instructor reitterated over and over that this wasn't a get rich quick opportunity and never guaranteed signings, whether for $50 or $150. We paired up with partners and performed mock signings. I took the certification test in April and, again, unlike the many posts that they haven't received a call from their NNA listing, about 50% of my calls are from that listing. As for their misleading information, I've never called them for advice or questions so I can't comment on that. I would advise calling your Secretary of State for state specific notary questions and to learn your own state notary laws forward and backward.

Reply by Maggie on 7/11/04 10:45am
Msg #4240

What are the boards you are referring to. I am trying to gain as much info about being a signing agent as well. I do not want to mess anything up. Thanks

Reply by Katherine on 7/8/04 8:59pm
Msg #4106

Docs to you for first 25 signings

When you take your first 25 jobs, request that the docs go to you, not the borrower. If the docs are to go to the borrower, say you have had problems with borrowers removing critical pages before your arrival and you just can't work that way. Decline the job if necessary.

When you get the docs, allow an hour to carefully go through each page and learn about their contents and what needs to be done (signature, initial, date, whatever). Flag pages with different colored post-it flags. Green for initial, red for notarize, etc, to help you be certain you catch every little detail. Especially the Note and the HUD.

Read the docs to understand what they mean to the borrower. You should be able to sum up the gist of each doc in a short sentence or two. Ex: "This means you live here and will continue to live here."

Reply by CarolynCO on 7/9/04 10:05am
Msg #4133

Re: Docs to you for first 25 signings

I have learned that with flags, it is best to remove the flags *before* handing the page to the borrower(s) -- the first few signings I did, borrowers signed right over the flags -- remove the flag and remove the signature.

Reply by Sonya, MD on 8/14/04 12:03pm
Msg #6070

Mentor wanted

Hi, I am seeking a mentor. I would like someone in Maryland, but anyone would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

Reply by PAW Notary Services on 8/14/04 2:04pm
Msg #6077

Re: Mentor wanted

Sonya, you may wish to consider joining the Signing Registry at http://www.signingregistry.info. Not only because of the abundance of professional information and resources, but as part of the membership, there is a mentor program.

Reply by Sonya Armfield on 8/16/04 11:22pm
Msg #6179

Re: Mentor wanted

Thanks, I have consulted the Message Boards regarding my next question, but wanted to ask this directly to a veteran which book should I buy, " How to Become a Wildly Successful Loan Signing Agent?" Or the Signing Registry's manual?

Thanks,

Sonya

Reply by Sally- RI on 8/17/04 7:32am
Msg #6181

Re: Mentor wanted

How many closings have you completed?