It sounds like it's time to sit down with your calculator (and maybe a spreadsheet) and do the math. Come up with an idea of what ALL your costs of doing business are.
Include fixed costs like equipment, e.g do you have a monthly payment for your cell phone itself? What is the replacement cost for printer/scanner or other equipment that is used heavily in your business. What about your car? How many fewer miles would you drive if you didn't have this business? So you're doing routine maintenance on your vehicle more frequently, not to mention monthly payments. (What percent of total miles are driven for business?) Don't forget services you have to pay for (internet access, cell plan, anti-virus, etc.) with whatever percentage of your usage is business related. What about insurance? Advertising? Memberships? Supplies like pens, business cards, etc.
Most of us are more aware of our variable expenses, such as paper, toner, gas, that can be calculated per assignment. These are directly subtracted from our per-assignment fee. Then figure out how much total time a signing takes, including administrative time, like printing & prepping docs, answering emails, confirming appointments, invoicing, other bookkeeping, dealing with changes, etc., etc.
Finally, the item that I'd bet most don't factor in is income taxes - including whatever portion of self-employment taxes you pay. Now you pretty much have all the information you need (plus whatever I'm forgetting) to figure out what you're really making an hour. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that people who are accepting $50 fees are not only making less than minimum wage, some of them may even be working at a loss. At least that would mean not having to pay taxes on that income - but I don't think that's why folks get into business.  If they do, their business is in danger of being ruled a hobby by the IRS, in which case none of your business expenses are deductible any more and your loss is even greater.
(Take a look at Msg #606198 for a comparison of the impact of different fee levels.)
Once you've done the math, you'll have a good idea as to whether or not it's even worth putting more time and effort into your notary business. You might be better off pursuing something else or even getting a full time job... I agree with the others, though, that some of these outfits will tell notaries anything to get them to work for as little as possible. It's up to each us to stick up for ourselves and not get taken.
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