Posted by BrendaTX on 1/26/05 12:59pm
Msg #18219
On the Phone with a New Texas NSA
In another thread - In relevant part, a Notary named Paul in California said:
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and
you get to sell him bait!"
Paul - That's the way I see it also these days, but fortunately, I did not become and NSA because of an ad for NSAs.
It was a decision I made because it worked for me. I had the background and equipment which fit with the business and did not have to gear up with training or equipment purchases.
However, because I have a toll-free business number, notaries who are
perplexed now that they are in the business (and don't have an income) and they
have called me to ask me "What next??"
I have received calls from notaries at the rate of about 3 a month who
are not sure of what to do because they came in to the business perhaps
after seeing an advertisement through MonsterJobs.com which said "make
money as a notary."
I enjoy helping people and especially notaries in Texas who are looking
for guidance on how to do their jobs correctly so I welcome emails from people. But this is a typical call that I get from people who are stumped as what they should do to get started.
Week before last, I received a call from a woman near Houston who read
about the riches to be derived from being a notary signing agent--the
second I received that week alone. She wanted to know "HOW DO I GET
STARTED? Will you tell me some notaries in my area that do this??"
She had been a notary for years and she and her husband were in the R.E.
business.
First I told her that I knew of notaries in her area, but I did NOT know
of notaries who were going to hand over their secrets to local notaries -
not in Texas because the competition is TOUGH. I drive 50-85 miles for
assignments at times. That means since her area roughly covers 82 miles
away, I could even be her competition.
The first question I asked her was:
"Do you know the difference between a jurat and an acknowledgment?"
"No. What do you mean?"
Have you read your notary rules?
"What rules?"
The rules that came with your commission. It's in tiny gray type on the commission package you received. That's the first step. Figure out about the notary acts first! If you don't have the educational materials any more, I have them on my website. I'll send you a link to my
Texas Notary rules.
She asked me: "How can I get 90 loan signing assignments per month?"
I laughed and said, "I don't know!"
"What??!!"
"See, in Texas, you can do REFIs, HECMs (Rev Morts), and HIs, but you
cannot do HELOCs without a title company, attorney's office, or lender
branch, so it is not that easy to have a booming business without
spending LOTS of time marketing yourself and working your booty off to
find leads."
"What??!! That's the first I have heard of this! What's a HECM/HELOC??!!"
(And, friends this is why I publish a newsletter. Since I want to help
others be successful, I cannot do it if I am using my 877 number at 10
cents per minute to help people on an individual basis.)
"Let me shoot real straight with you." I told her.
You ARE NOT going to make money in this business without working your
fanny off to find leads.
"What??!!"
You have to develop a marketing plan and work it EVERY DAY!
"Isn't it enough that I am a member of the NNA? and I am going to be
CERTIFIED?"
"No. It's NOT enough. Over the past year I have ONLY been asked about
my NNA Certification twice."
"Oh. How do you get leads?"
"Best advice I can possibly give you is to place a call to those who will
hire you and figure out if they do work in Texas."
"Who do you work for? I won't be your competition - you can tell me can't
you?"
Yes, I can tell you who to contact. But, how do you know that I am
telling you the truth--you actually are kind of my competition and I get calls in your area - remember. We overlap. What if I am not an honest person and want to throw you off and discourage you???
"Oh."
Here's what I think you need to do:
-Figure out what to charge.
-Prepare yourself a marketing piece.
-Pick up the phone, and figure out who you can get work from.
-Ask if you can send your information to them, or if they have a notary
set up package.
"How will I know what to charge??"
Figure out how to search the forums. You need to search for a for your state, plus fees.
"Where are the forums?"
Do a search on Google.com for notary forums.
"Okay. What do you charge? How many do you do?"
I charge more than $50. I won't tell you exactly how many I do or how much I charge. I derived what I have scraped up by many, many hours of sitting in front of my computer. I have gained what I have from trial and error and the jobs I have gained, I got from a lot of effort and now from having experience. This is VERY competitive. And, as much as I like you at this moment, I feel it could possibly be a problem if I give you much more information than this. I have been working long enough to know who I can work for and who is willing to pay me more than $50.
"What do you mean? Why can't you tell me?"
Okay...let me explain...(again) you and I have overlapping areas, so... even though you are in Houston, I still get calls in areas that you could possibly cover and you and I could possibly be in competition in the future.
"Okay. But if I do MORE marketing than you to MORE companies, could I possibly do more than you?"
Maybe. It's possible. Your immediate area is different than mine. And, really, I am not trying to be vague, but you'll just have to see. I cannot tell you because I don't know. I market to companies I KNOW will use me, so I'd recommend, again for you to pick up the phone and start calling before shotgunning at a BUNCH of companies. Target your time. Find out if they have need of your services before sending your information out everywhere.
But, back to my first bit of advice. Learn ALL of the notary rules. Figure out the difference between a Jurat and an Acknowledgment.
"What's the difference?"
In this particular instance, I was really frustrated because I felt like I was clear, but I was not giving the answers they were seeking so they kept asking the questions.
What's the moral of the story? New NSAs
(1) go to SBA.gov and learn about writing a business plan - that will answer the business questions if you work at getting all the info that's required.
(2) Learn your notary rules cold. Be able to take an essay test on them.
(3) Pay for an ad here and on some of the other popular notary listing services.
(4) If you are not already a notary with a LOT of experience, consider starting out as a Mobile Notary until you are comfortable using your stamp and fulfilling the duties property as a notary.
(5) Once you have done these two things, you will have an idea of whether or not the business you are considering will profit you and you will be ready to start working as an NSA.
(6) Try to find another notary in your state who will not be in your service area and who you can talk to when you have concerns.
(7) If you have loan papers of your own, get them out and study them.
(8) Type up some jurats and acknowledgments that fit the bill for your state's rules and have them on hand.
(9) Learn how to use Google.com and search functions of all sites and forums.
(10) Read NotaryRotary.com for the purpose of training. Use the orange search button it to find info on keywords like:
Fees
Jurat
Acknowledgment
Your State
Security Documents
HUD 1 or Settlement Statement
Journal
Self-employment tax
Deed of Trust
RTC
Note
TIL (Truth in Lending)
APR (Annual percentage rate)
No No List
Good Companies
Bad Companies
Rates
HELOC
Reverse Mortgage
Refi
Refinance
Piggy back
Good luck. I hope this helps. If it was too long, you probably won't like this business. There are a lot of words to read and muddle through in order to do your job right. I am not being a smart aleck. I am just telling you the truth.
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Reply by Sue/AZ on 1/26/05 2:23pm
Msg #18240
Brenda, I understand exactly what your saying. I have had several calls regarding how do I get started and is it worth it in AZ. I do not know how NNA is advertising here but people are falling for it hook, line and sinker. They do not read the manual and think they can make a fortune over night. With 30,000. people moving here every month everyone wants to find a get rich scheme. People need to do the research, sure it may take some time but it would be less frustrating to know the facts then to find out later something may not work for you.
Try Google, it works!
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