Posted by Curious George on 7/1/04 2:22pm
Msg #3813

Which signing company's to work for?

Hi All,
Thought I would look to the wisdom within this place for guidance...

Could I get some opinions on what the best signing companies are to register with PLEASE ?

and also are there any opinions on what memberships are a benefit for more work ?? Am already a member of NNA (very little work from there) thinking about premier membership with Notary Rotary, & possibly 123notary.com ,or USNA or American Society of Notaries..etc.
Thank You for your time and opinions in advance am looking forward to reading your responses..
~Anthony
Oregon

Reply by Gladys on 7/1/04 2:51pm
Msg #3814

hi Anthony

I sign up with companies that doesn't cost for the membership because there is work out there and no need to pay for that service right now. this is only part time for me. the companies are 24/7 (be careful) Service link (very good plenty of work) Final Step (ok)Fox signing (Very good)Notary Pro (ok) this is just to get you started hope this info helps.

Gladys

Reply by CA_Notary on 7/1/04 3:34pm
Msg #3823

I have a company that uses me a LOT. They account for over 50% of my business in any given month, pay well and consistently and I love em to death.

Am I going to tell you who they are? Heck no. Remember, we're each other's competition as well as peers. Telling you who this company is could result in 500 other people signing up with them as well, which could cost me work.

The premier membership in Notary Rotary is only $39. I made that back within days of registering on this site. You'll get access to their signing company list (not sure if that's available to non members). There are a bunch of them on there. Sign up with as many as you can.

You may also want to read through the old messages on this board to see which companies to avoid. There are quite a few of them out there.

Reply by CarolynCO on 7/2/04 3:00pm
Msg #3856

First of all don't let anyone dominate 50% of your time ...

being self-employed, independent contractor -- however you want to classify yourself, the number one cardinal sin is to let ONE client take up more than 50% of your time. Why? The well can't and won't stay full forever, and when it dries up, you are stuck with a big NOTHING.

As for your first two paragraphs of going on and on about this wonderful company -- what was the purpose, other than to pat yourself on the back? You could have very well began your message with the Notary Rotary premier membership and the company list.

Reply by Brenda on 7/2/04 5:35pm
Msg #3874

CA Notary is right

CA Notary's point is that veteran signing agents are not going to give away terrific companies' contact information on these boards. We don't know who is reading the boards.

Joan posted an excellent example a few weeks ago about how nuts it would be for a bakery owner to give a rival bakery all her information on marketing, wholesale vendors, etc, just to have the rival cut her out of business.

We vets are not necessarily selfish people. I do lots of charity work. But there is not enough work to go around in my area and I am not giving away info on my favorite clients.

That said, I can recommend three companies. I no longer work for them because they only pay $50 for a first mortgage refi, no eDocs. All pay reliably within 45 days.

Nationwide Document Service
First American Signature Service
MortgageDocs.com

No contact info handy. You'll have to check the company list or do a google.

Reply by Hugh Nations Signing Agents of Austin on 7/2/04 5:54pm
Msg #3875

Re: CA notary is right

Add to Brenda's list BancServ. Good people to work for, regular pay, no quarrels if there is a problem closing that deserves a higher fee, lots of business. I did many closings for both them and First American, then I told both I was going up $15 on my standard fee; I actually went up $25-50 for everybody else, but I cut BS & FASS a special rate because they had been such good, reliable, accomodating customers. Haven't heard from either since, special rate or no special rate. Nevertheless, they're good people; even skinflints can be charming.

Reply by Perette_CA on 7/3/04 9:24am
Msg #3897

Re: CA notary is right

I'm one of those thousands (or more) of new notaries lurking around the message board silently, but this message prompted me to reply. Wanted to express my thanks to the experienced notaries, especially Brenda, Sylvia_FL, CA Notary, and even HisHughness (just kidding) for their prompt, detailed and sometimes stern responses to newbie questions. I've learned a lot going thru the messages (by clicking the PREV button at the bottom of the page!!). I look forward to being able to help other new notaries one day, too.
Thanks again and have a great holiday weekend.

Reply by BrendaTX on 7/3/04 10:10am
Msg #3902

Re: CA notary is right

Not to disagree with anything that Brenda has said here, but to be clear, and not take credit in this thread for Brenda's postings, I try to make sure I have TX at the end of mine so my posts appear from BrendaTX.

I have only been signing for about 4.5 months now and I am still learning from the older posts and long-timers in the business. Brenda sounds as if she's had a good bit more experience than I have. Just wanted to clarify.

I did, however, make an earlier BrendaTX post that did seem to tick some folks off which was about Newbie Posting Tips.

The reason I did this was because a poster who had contacted me directly, had asked questions and had gotten the answers from me which I could provide, then, not reading the posts here or the answers I had sent her, contacted me directly again, thanking me for the help, but repeating the same questions I had answered and adding others that would have been answered if she had read what I had answered here with.

Later she posted more of the same types of questions here, and ultimately, when she got answers, she got angry and lost her objectivity.

One of her repeat questions in her emails to me was how to find companies to sign up with. Another was how to search for signing companies on the search engines.

There is a huge list of companies here on NotaryRotary.com, plus there is a long list on another site which I had earlier referred her to. Both of these lists are generally responsive to new notary inquiries or submissions of information. I knew she had not given my answers any real attention, but at the same time, I thought perhaps she had just gotten off on the wrong foot here. (And, certainly, I did not mean that my answers were all inclusive, or that she should not continue to post questions here! )

I was prompted to write the Newbie Posting post because of the repeat questions to me, then the later posting here wherein she inferred that one of our most helpful and insightful posters was rude for telling her to get a laser printer if she wanted to be perceived as a professional.

Anyhow, in the event that she did not want stroking and attention for attention’s sake, as it had first appeared she had (to me, anyhow), and had made a mistake and did not know how to get help rather than to stir up trouble, I posted what I did. I know some people thought it was rude for me to do so, and, so that no one blames the Brenda in this thread, I take responsibility for that one.

Regards, BrendaTX

Reply by CA_Notary on 7/3/04 12:55am
Msg #3887

Re: First of all don't let anyone dominate 50% of your time ...

I sort of agree with you. I definitely think it's a bad idea to have all of your eggs in one basket, and I am consistently marketing myself and trying to get more companies to use me. But I am certainly not going to pass up business that's offered to me if there's nothing to replace it with.

A year ago this company accounted for 80-90% of my business (although I was only doing signings part time back then) so I am making progress.

As for your second paragraph, thank you for proving my point from another thread about the way people can misinterpret posts in here. I wrote:

"I have a company that uses me a LOT. They account for over 50% of my business in any given month, pay well and consistently and I love em to death."

In what universe is that considered going "on and on"? It's a whopping 2 sentences, 31 words total. If I were trying to pat myself on the back, trust me, I'd at least let you know WHY they use me so much. I assume most of the agents in here have a favorite company or two who throw a lot of work their way; I hardly think I'm special in that respect.

But again, you proved my point from a previous thread. It would have NEVER occurred to me that my post would be considered ego stroking. Yet you interpreted it that way. I'd assume that it's just as possible for somebody from a signing service to interpret one of my posts in a way I never considered or intended, and that's why I prefer to post without using my name.

<snap>

Reply by CarolynCO on 7/5/04 4:37pm
Msg #3972

Re: First of all don't let anyone dominate 50% of your time ...

I have been operating my own secretarial service since 1992, and I can attest (unfortunately from experience) not to let any one take up more than 50% of your time, or as you say, not to put all your eggs in one basket. I agree that you shouldn't turn down this one companys work if you don'thave anything to replace it, but I encourage you to go after other company work, too.

You are right -- people interpret or misinterpret "words" differently than face-to-face conversation.

Reply by HisHughness on 7/5/04 7:48pm
Msg #3973

Re: First of all don't let anyone dominate 50% of your time ...

Putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good thing.

During the run-up to WWII, when the Nazis were helping Franco fight the Communists in the Spanish Civil War, the Germans were constantly harassing the Basques with their newly minted air force. One time, the Germans were heavily bombing a major industrial valley in the Basque region; the attacks were so bad, everybody was fleeing. Unfortunately, the only available exit was through one mountain pass.

The Germans waited until virtually the entire population of the valley was streaming through the pass, then they sealed both ends of it with artillery and brought every bit of their available air power against the fleeing Basques. They wiped out about 20,000 of them.

You really shouldn't put all your Basques in one exit.

Reply by Curious George on 7/1/04 4:02pm
Msg #3826

Thank You for the helpful info.

~Anthony
Oregon

Reply by Roger/OH on 7/1/04 6:21pm
Msg #3830

Anthony, I'm not sure how CA notary sees you as competition when you're in a different state; I certainly don't view you that way. There are free company lists available on this site, GoMobileNotary, and 50statenotary.com., and you should sign up with many of the companies listed. You will hear many and varied opinions about any given company, as we all have different (sometimes VERY different) experiences with the same companies. There's nothing set in stone about who to deal with. You can keep up with boards like this, GoMobileNotary, and the Signing Registry (membership required) to get various takes on the companies, but ultimately it's your choice who to work for. A lot of it is trial and error.

Reply by Curious George on 7/1/04 8:59pm
Msg #3837

Thanks Roger, I appreciate it. I can use all the help I can get.
Have a great day!

~Anthony
Oregon

Reply by CA_Notary on 7/1/04 9:21pm
Msg #3839

I don't see him as competition. I see the possible of hundreds or thousands of notaries who might read my post as competition. I'm sure there are a ton of people who read this board who never post.

Reply by Roger/OH on 7/1/04 10:27pm
Msg #3842

I'd submit that if you deliver quality service consistently, you won't have to worry about the competition. You'll have plenty of work.

Reply by CA_Notary on 7/1/04 11:12pm
Msg #3844

Which I do. But it's still foolish to voluntarily give myself more competition. I know I'm good at what I do. That doesn't mean that there isn't somebody better or equally as good but cheaper than I am out there. There are no guarantees in this business; all I can do is do my best to protect what I have for as long as I can. This is one way of doing that.

Reply by Brenda on 7/2/04 9:47am
Msg #3850

Roger: that is not true

Roger, you said
"if you deliver quality service consistently, you won't have to worry"

Not in my area! We are oversaturated with notaries here. And there's just not enough work to go around. To make matters worse, the SSs know it and keep their rates low because they can always get a cheap notary.

You bet I worry about the competition.

You are mostly right on the money with your posts. Just not this time.

Reply by Roger/OH on 7/2/04 10:58am
Msg #3851

Brenda...

While I can appreciate the saturation situation, I think that even in a competitive environment, the cream will rise to the top. The ss going the cheap route will get what they pay for, and those providing superior service will be the ones still standing. The other alternative is to stay away from cheap ss and cultivate title companies, particularly ones out of your area/state.

Reply by sue on 7/2/04 11:10am
Msg #3852

Anthony - it's trial and error for each individual. I saw Gladys' list to you and I basically disagree with her entire list.

24/7 has had a terrible reputation for years
ServiceLink is a title company that used to pay $125 and now is down to about $50
Final Step are complete and total losers in my opinion
Fox Signing is not a company I would ever work for again
Notary Pro - I've never heard of them

so, you'd get a negative report from me on Gladys' list but perhaps she'd give my list a negative report

a few that I would never, ever recommend to anyone - United Closings or anything and everything that has come within breathing room of Randy & Theresa Katz; e-mobile Notary; Allied/Alden

Reply by Ron on 7/6/04 1:59pm
Msg #3987

Why you said the final step are losers , i am working with this people , and i've never had problems with them ,

Please be more specific

thanks