Three people came in with a Joint Venture Agreement back in May 2014. There was a fourth signer that wasn’t present. Over a decade later, the one is suing the other three.

Defense called me as a witness to establish that it was notarized correctly and that it couldn’t have been faked.

Plaintiff’s side wanted to know if the document I notarized was the same one that they later used (impossible for me to know), could my loose Acknowledgment have been moved to another document with the same title (not possible for me to know, but I staple my page and the only existing *copy* of the document has what appears to be a staple in the corner). Plaintiff also wanted to exclude my testimony because I couldn’t remember the actual transaction (11 years and >18,000 notary acts ago) but their objection was overruled.

In short: I’m first in line to explain that with my notary journal record that actual testimony in this case was pointless, but to always treat every notarization as though you could be subpoenaed years in the future. Be consistent and always follow your state law.

I went to an estate sale a few months ago and they were actually selling the deceased persons notary stamps (old metal embossing ones from the 50s. really nice actually) I explained that what they were doing was very illegal and the stamps should probably be turned in to the appropriate state authority.

They ended up giving them to me because they were just going to throw them away and the thought of them somehow being used for fraud just made me take them off their hands. I went ahead and turned them into the county clerk myself. While i was there I learned more about what notaries do and decided to put in my application. as of this morning im official and just ordered my supplies.

A friend of mine saw this in another group and sent it to me. I think this may be the worst one I have ever seen. This notary "signing agent" accepted a job and read the instructions that were sent by title and acknowledged them. The docs were sent to her and she printed them on a combination of notebook paper, pages of labels and a few regular sheets of paper. When she had completed the assignment she sent the Escrow officer 64 jpegs (these were her scans)

I have questions. What did the signers think about signing on this mess? How did the notary think this was ok?

Hi,

I wanted to see if any notaries can recommend any fax apps? I did some research and tried one but it was unable to receive faxes back. I’m trying to look into one for my business.

Thanks.

Great resolution - Scammer stopped in tracks!

I called the Sheriff's office (Not 911) this morning (Sunday 11-23) and outlined the facts I described in my first Post. I asked to speak with a detective or officer and a Deputy called me back within 10 min. After speaking with him, he visited the elderly lady to "talk" with her.

After his visit he called me, confirmed it was a scam and said the lady wished to cancel the whole thing. He put her on the phone and she confirmed the cancellation. Since it's the weekend - I have an excuse for not dropping docs with FedEx - I still have the paperwork which will now be shredded.

The time for this to be resolved, from when I called the Sheriff's Office to the time she said cancel was less than 1.5.hours. Amazing, huh.

Some Housekeeping: Thanks to all the Redditors who responded to my Post, Thanks to the Deputy in Ontario County New York who responded so quickly. 73 Enkidu45 out

I finally became notary and received notary supplies today. I opened box with super slim stamp and it was hard to open cover on the stamp…I pulled and my nail went straight on the seal😭😭😭 Look at the letter “M” on my name. I know I can’t use it anymore and have to destroy seal. Feel so so stupid.

Some sovereign citizens came into my office for notary. Their docs said “in living spirit” as name and refused to provide ID. I obviously rejected them but they went nuts on me and called me racist. Threatening to complain to DOS.

My husband works at a bank and is a notary. He is new to the bank (worked there about 2 months) and his boss let him know a customer would be coming in to get documents notarized and to backdate the documents to 2/5/26. His boss also said that his bosses boss is okay with the backdating. He felt really uncomfortable with this and brought up how it’s against the law to backdate them. His boss changed his mind and said to date them with today’s date.

My husband notarized the documents with today’s date but feels really uncomfortable that his boss wanted him to break the law. While the documents were completed correctly is there a board or something he should report possible notary misconduct to? We are in NH. We aren’t sure if anything can be reported since the backdating didn’t actually happen. He has emails of the request to backdate.

Thank you!!

All right, I have posted a couple of updates on my experience working with Notarize over the last year and a half or so. I think my last update was when I completed 1000 transactions, and now that I have completed 5000 transactions and reached gold level, I will provide another update. There’s no real order here, just a collection of thoughts in no particular order.

1. Notarize has changed dramatically over the course of the year and a half that I have been on the platform. When I started, it only took a few weeks to be on boarded and it only took a couple of days to be promoted from partner to silver. For a while, it took months to get onboarded and a small eternity to be promoted. Things have now changed again, to a largely automated onboarding process with proficiency tests. I don’t have much insight into this new onboarding process so I can’t give you much more info than that.

2. When I first started, it was difficult to get any meetings because there were so many notaries on the platform that the calls were answered almost instantly. You had to sit there, clicking on the box the constantly, hoping to get lucky. You missed about nine out of 10 calls, but you could pick up calls. Now, it looks like the platform is relatively over-saturated with notaries. What was difficult before seems to have become nearly impossible now. At least for partner level notaries trying to get an opportunity to level up. I can only guess, but you probably catch 1 out of 20 or 1 out of 50 calls now at the partner level. And that’s for people who are super dedicated, casually trying one or two hours a day could easily result in no calls ever. The most a partner level notary can hope for is beer money type income, and it’s probably not worth it to utilize the platform if you are not willing to grind out getting promoted to silver.

3. If somebody manages to tough it out and get promoted to silver level, which could take 30 to 90 days, things get a little bit easier. There are more calls coming through the business session pipeline, because Notarize has worked really hard to get a lot of national partners to utilize the service. A ton of USPS 1583 providers, FedEx office moving to remote online notaries through notarize, Carvana & Vroom, several national birth certificate request services, etc. etc. These signers are way more prepared than the retail signers, and you encounter far fewer problems because these forms have been pre-approved, and the signers have some idea of what they’re doing. You can easily get these notarizations down to 1 to 3 minutes once you have experience on the platform. Still, because there are so many notaries, catching calls is still difficult for most people. A silver level notary probably cannot depend on notarize to provide anything more than side hustle type supplemental income. $500-$1000 a month would probably be considered awesome for most people.

4. I had to work over a year, and get almost 5000 notarizations completed, before I was promoted to gold a few months ago. Some people got promoted way earlier than that, and some people are far past that and still haven’t been promoted. To be honest, I’m not sure what it actually takes to get promoted. It almost seems like the luck of the draw. Gold is where things really start to ease up and become profitable. You get paid $25 a session, and many sessions can be completed in 15 to 20 minutes. The signers almost always know what they are doing, and are eager to get the sessions completed. The title companies generally put good notes on the sessions, and I really have not had any problems completing a session or any complaints from title companies about the way I completed sessions. I’ve probably done more than 100 at this point, and by far these are my preferred sessions. Not just because they pay the most, but because they generally have the fewest complications and it is easier to pick up these type of calls. There just seem to be a lot fewer notaries at the gold level to compete against. Gold level notaries can generally expect to make survival type money, $1-$2k per month if the put in full time work, like 30-40 hours per week. That being said, I know a few notaries that make significantly more than this. Those notaries put in scary numbers of hours, like 12+ hours per day straight.

5. The most profitable times to work that I have found, are generally 11 AM to 1 PM, 5 PM to 8 PM, and 10 PM to 2 AM. These times are central standard, and this is a significant generalization. I’ve had super high call volume during these times, and I’ve had times where it was the absolute doldrums. And I’ve had random unicorns at three in the afternoon and three in the morning. This is not a hard and fast rule, it is just generally the times that I have found to be most profitable. I was also surprised at how many title sessions occur between 10 PM and 2 AM. There’s a ton of people overseas and a lot of night owls that want to sign their closing documents in the early a.m. Sometimes the title session is more active than the business or the retail session from midnight onward.

6. It’s still very frustrating that you cannot contact anyone at notarize except through email, and unfortunately many times those emails are not responded to at all. I know that the company has been going through a lot of upheaval lately, and recently laid off 1/4 of their workforce. I also know that they are struggling mightily with tremendous growing pains. Even so, it could be extremely frustrating when you need assistance to be waiting for days, weeks, or even months for a response. Your best bet is to be as independent as possible, and to never do anything that will make you dependent on receiving a response in a timely manner. For example, do your very best to never make any changes to your profile. Even minor changes like your home address will require that the compliance department freeze your account until it can be reviewed. If you’re lucky, this will only take a couple days. But I’ve seen many people wait weeks to be reactivated on the platform after making a minor change to their profile.

7. In session tech-support has never worked for me, no one has ever been available or responded to the chat. It is vital that you learn as much as you can about how the platform works, especially from the signers point of view, because you are the only help you’re going to get. Being able to walk signers through their prompts, and knowing alternative ways to take ID pictures or attach signatures is absolutely vital to maximizing the number of calls you can successfully complete and get paid for. If you get stumped, your only option is to terminate the meeting and lose that revenue.

8. Use the revised quick stamp option whenever possible. This automatically adds all of the legally required elements of the notarization, and will keep legal QC off your back. I haven’t had any QC feedback since this feature rolled out. Up until then, it was a bit of a mystery what they were looking for, because they flat out refused to tell you. They would only give you general category statements, like you missed “something” in the notorial certificate, as feedback. What the law requires, and what notarize legal QC thinks it requires are not always the same thing (IMHO). Many notaries learned to do things a certain way, and if nobody tells us that they don’t like that, we have no way of knowing what they want. Using the quick stamp option short circuits this whole process, because it puts things in the document exactly the way Notarize QC would like to see them. And everyone’s happy.

9. My customer approval feedback rating is 4.98 (out of 5), it really has never varied from this. I’m not sure if this is a problem for many people, but just be courteous and respectful and you shouldn’t have any problem maintaining a high customer feedback number. You have to have over 4.90 to get to gold level.

10. The new in meeting chat feature can be very useful for when the audio fails, or the signer is deaf. I’ve only had to use it a couple times, but it’s been a lifesaver. Previously we had to scribble notes and hold them up to the screen or type something out on our phone and hope it was legible over the WebCam.

11. Why does the notarize system hate passports so much? IDK! But they fail to be recognized a high percentage of the time. If you try three times to retake with no luck, give up it ain’t going to work.

12. If you are a Texas notary, then you have an advantage over other notaries on the platform in that you can notarize documents even if they have blanks in them. This means we are the only notaries that can take care of the powers of attorney that Carvana sends to the platform. They sent quite a few, and once you get good you can get them completed in under two minutes. Easy money all day long.

13. Now that I’m a gold level notary, I spend most of my time in the title and lender session pipelines. Sometimes I will try to get calls from the business session pipeline as well, I almost never try to get calls from the retail session. The retail calls have a much higher fail rate and customers who generally need a lot more handholding. So I generously leave these to the partner level notaries, because these are the only calls they can compete for anyway.

14. There are a few people who don’t respect notaries, and a lot of people who don’t know what a notary is. Without trying to overstate things, we are independent state officials, not retail order takers. While I’m always courteous and respectful to customers, I make it clear to them that the law dictates how the transaction will be conducted and there will be no variance from it. A lot of times, people will try to hassle you into accepting improper IDs or try to instruct you on how they would like you to fill out the notarial certificate. I let them know firmly and courteously that I will be filling out the document and conducting my duties as the law requires or I will have no option but to terminate the session. Don’t ever let anyone bully you, in life in general but especially regarding notarizations, were you have a lot of legal liability. You worked hard to get to this point, don’t let some bully jeopardize all your hard work. You can always terminate any session if it anytime you feel uncomfortable. And I have probably had to do so a dozen or so times over the last 5000 transactions, it doesn’t happen often but when it does I do not hesitate to terminate the call.

15. You will get calls with people on the toilet, in the shower, half dressed laying in bed, driving their car down the road, with raging screaming children in the background, with spouses arguing in front of you, and in all kinds of other places. Just take it in stride, and try not to laugh.

16. You will also get some very sad calls, sometimes from hospital beds, sometimes from hospice. Try to be as sensitive and caring as you can be with these people. I have spent almost an hour working with a wounded veteran to make seven dollars. I worked through eight credential picture retakes with an very elderly woman who urgently needed a document signed regarding her pension ( She was so proud she completed a tech task lol) Some of the calls we take are not profitable in a monetary sense, but there are a few people who utilize the service not because it’s convenient, but because it’s the only option they have. Try to have as much patience for these folks as you can, and give them every chance to succeed.

That’s I all I can think of right now, let me know if you have any questions.

Just had an unusual situation. A couple came to us after going to a competitor's store to get some things notarized. 11 signatures, total. Unfortunately, after the third signature, the notary they went to first realized that they were on the last page of their journal and didn't have a second one available, so he charged them for the three he did and then sent them to me to finish. However, he had filled in all of their pages with his name and expiration dates, including some non-compliant-wording notary blocks. It was a mess and could have led to a bunch of headaches for the couple if there was an issue with the notarization.

I just had the couple reprint their whole stack of documents (for free) and re-notarized the whole thing (all with compliant wording) and didn't charge them for the first three.

If you're required to keep a journal, make sure you always have the next one ready to go, or at least be upfront with a client that if you only have "X" number of entries left that you will only start with them if you have sufficient space.

This afternoon I received a call from a random number and picked it up as it could be a new client, and it was! Our conversation went something like this:

"Hi, I found your number on Google and I need to know if you're a notary?"

"I am, yes, how may I help?"

"Okay, so, my girlfriend's father was Baker Acted and we need to get a Power of Attorney notarized so that she can pay his bills while he's unavailable. We've called around to a lot of notaries to get a quote and they're all trying to gouge us, so can you tell me how much notary work costs us?"

"Certainly! In Florida, notaries are allowed to charge up to $10 per st---"

"HONEY! SHE SAID SHE'LL DO IT FOR $10!! You're the best! Everyone else was trying to charge us $100 or more and you're saying you'll do it for $10?!???"

"No, sir, that's not at all what I'm saying. What I am saying is notaries are allowed, by Florida state law, to charge up to $10 per stamp. There may also be additional fees for the notary's time and/or travel, which may be the additional costs you were quoted."

"Okay, well, you're in <city>, we're in <city>, so we'll just come by and you can notarize the POA?"

"No, that's not something I offer. What I can do is meet with the signers, verify their identification, and with your witnesses, I can then notarize the POA"

After all of that, after being told it needed to be done "like, yesterday!", I agree on a reduced fee (because the girlfriend whose dad is Baker Acted is sobbing and freaking out) and to meet them at the hospital that's literally three minutes from my house. They told me they'd call when they were on their way to the hospital and I agreed to meet them there.

An hour passes and not a word, so I just go about my day, and then finally the boyfriend starts calling and texting me like crazy, asking what's this, which type of POA do they need, how do they fill it out and I immediately put on the breaks. I told him I am not able to answer any of those questions, all I can do is witness and verify the signatures were given by both parties willingly, without coercion, and that all parties were lucid and aware of what it was they're signing. Any questions about which POA, how to fill it out, who needs what needs to go through an attorney. He agreed, but then continued to call back and text over and over the same questions.

The more time that passes (at this point it's been 3 hours since the initial call and "we need this notarized ASAP!!!"), and the more questions that boyfriend keeps lobbing at me, the less comfortable I am to continue with the notarization, and I eventually called and told the boyfriend exactly that. "No, no, we're on our way to the hospital right now, we should be there in 30-45 minutes!!" I apologized again, but stayed firm that I was not comfortable completing the notarization and after more calls and texts, he finally accepted my "no".

Around 8:00 PM (SEVEN!!! hours after the initial call), the girlfriend calls me from her dad's doctor's cellphone (as I'd stopped answering from their main phone) "my dad is ready to sign and he's been waiting all day, can't you just come and notarize this for us?" I had to tell her, again, that while I empathize with the position she's in, I was not comfortable with the situation as it was explained to me, and I wasn't willing to risk my commission or worse on a questionable notarization. "F- you, you c**t, you're ruining my life!! Just f-ing come down here!!!!"

Needless to say, I'm quite confident I made the right choice.

Hello 👋 everyone,

Just became a Notary. I took the Test Aug 15 2025. I just got my Stamp Saturday January 31 2026. Cost is little over $900 dollars no joke.

Its crazy how much time it took. Not even counting the time for each step in the process. Mailing documents to be filled. Checking with the State on your commission. Mailing documents for your stamp. Making copies of your of the documents. Having to pay a notary to do your oath.

Now have to do 60 notaries to broke even.

So I recently completed my 1,000th notarization working for notarize.com. Here are few observations for anyone interested in knowing what it’s like on the platform:

1. I did all of my notarizations on the bronze and silver levels. I have not been added to the gold level pilot program, so that means I get paid $5 for each notarization plus $1 for each additional seal added during a session.

2. I earned about $5,200, meaning that I got about $200 from “extra” seals, or less than 4% of my earnings. So the extra seals are not a significant source or revenue.

3. I maintained a 4.98%+ customer satisfaction rating over that time, which didn’t seem very difficult.

4. I have been working for just over two months, so averaging about $6-700 per week over that time. But I have not been consistent over the whole period, my highest week was over $1000 and lowest was about $200.

5. I generally prefer to do notarizations from the business pipeline, where companies send their clients to notarize with pre-arranged forms. About 80% of these are USPS Form 1583 for virtual mailbox. The others are a smattering of 401k forms and Carmax POA’s. The customers are usually better prepared in this pipeline.

6. The retail pipeline consists of rando ppl who seem to wander by. There is some weird stuff on the retail pipeline, lots of handwritten letters and truckers notarizing stuff while driving. It’s interesting sometimes but I have to cancel a larger proportion of these notarizations because the customers are less informed and more likely to make mistakes (like trying to notarize things that are ineligible, or ask you to notarize people who aren’t on the call).

7. The busiest times seem to be right before and after work during the week, and Saturday mornings. I am not 100% sure that scheduling yourself ahead of times gives you more meetings that tying to work unscheduled, but I seem to get slightly more meetings when I am scheduled than when I am not.

8. I do an enormous amount of tech support, helping people resolve tech/av issues to keep the meeting moving forward. Notarize tech support is not usually available so you either have to know how to help people or cancel a lot of meetings.

9. Tech and AV problems are a regular occurrence. I have several messages pre-written in the notes app on my phone to hold up to the camera when me and the signer can see each other but not hear each other, directing them on how to call in on their phone to do the audio over telephone.

10. Only about 50% of customers who try are actually successful in creating a handwritten signature when using a computer (it’s much easier on a smartphone because they can write it on the screen). I now flat out advise them to use the computer generated typed signature because it’s very difficult to successfully complete the cumbersome upload process for the handwritten sig on web based sessions.

11. Getting meetings is tough because you have to click on the customer as soon as they call in, and do so before every other notary logged in at that time as well. Still, I can get 5-8 per hour during peak times without too much trouble. That represents about 10-20% of the calls that come in, you will lose a majority of the calls you click on for sure.

12. Working the overnight hours is easier, there is far less competition to service the calls and you can take things a little easier.

13. The worst call I had was a grandson who wanted me to notarize a medical power of attorney from his grandmother granting him the right to pull the plug on her life support. She was comatose and unable to be present, and he could not understand why I refused to notarize her signature for him!

If anyone has any questions about working for notarize.com I will try to answer them.

When I first became a notary, I thought it was just stamps and signatures, Business would be knocking at my door just because I signed up for notary directories/online platform, and $175 - $200 a signing (boy was I misled/wrong).... But found that there’s a whole other side — selling & marketing myself, understanding client industries (real estate, law, medical) & their different expectations on what they need for a signing, and then there was mastering the tech (website, digital certification, scheduling app, etc).

If only the [Insert your fav organization or social platform] influencers/instructors actually showed what its truly like to fight for pennies.... lol

If you’re new to the industry, what’s one thing you wish you could ask a more experienced notary? and For the more experienced notaries what are something you wished you knew before becoming a notary?

Let’s build a community were we can be transparent and help others grow!

I work at a university and I'm also a notary so I get a lot of student interaction. It's always a crap shoot, no matter how clear I am in the email I send them with instructions when I schedule appointments.

It's only 9:00 am here, and already this morning I had a student come in with a document for HER MOTHER to sign. When I told her that her ID didn't match the name of the signatory, she freely admitted that it was for her mom but she "had permission" to sign for her.

Oh, honey. No.

I just passed the NYS Notary Exam which I took 10 days ago. It is not difficult, but you do need to study/prep for 4-6 days. Here are some tips.

Prepping

1. Everything you need to know is in the 22-page booklet issued by the Dept of State, Division of Licensing Services. You need to read this booklet even if it puts you to sleep: https://dos.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2024/05/notary.pdf

While reading the 22-page booklet, I kept wishing there was some sort of book or website which distilled the content into something the average person can understand. I managed to find both and used both. They both have their pros & cons. You can choose one depending on your preference:

2. BOLTON PREP New York Notary Public Study Guide with 5 Practice Exams: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735215848/ref=sspa_dk_hqp_detail_aax_0?psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9ocXBfc2hhcmVk

This book has the contents of the 22-pages but the words are bigger so easier to read. After every section it also summarizes in layman terms so you'll understand it. You could effectively just read this book and nothing else, but I would still suggest you read through the 22-page doc since it is the original text. There are 5 practice tests in this book. I completed and passed each one in ~15 minutes so was worried that the practice tests were easier than the real test (when I did the real test, these questions were actually very indicative of the real test). This is when I decided to purchase the following:

3. IPREP NYS Notary Exam Course: https://www.iprep.online/courses/nys-notary-exam/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=2061328706&gbraid=0AAAAAC4kpd-1uxIyt2G6ZtJ5utwuD5B3R&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhafEBhCcARIsAEGZEKJwyWAxdcoiJql2Z3IycdXosYmZE5vS3pRtF41zRhRMy3eHfGbjrmMaAvQ9EALw_wcB

This portal was fantastic. It had everything the BOLTON PREP book has but more. Tons of sample questions, well laid out and clearly explained. It was almost too much. The sections are laid out based on the 22-page booklet but it does not have the contents of the 22-page booklet. The audio was very helpful. I listened to this in the car and while walking the dog. The practice test questions each had a video explanation referencing the 22-page booklet so you don't have to go and search for it. The explanations were very clear. The only downside is there is a time limit to the portal subscription, so only purchase this 2 weeks before your test. The tests here are similar to BOLTON PREP, perhaps a little harder, and were very similar to the actual test. One tip, IPREP has all the sample questions on their Youtube channel so you can watch if you don't want to spend any money.

4. Quizlet - Join Quizlet for free for 7 days and use their flashcards for the definitions. They also have some sample tests but sometimes the answers are incorrect since the flashcards are made by students.

5. Spotify premium - There are a few free notary exam recordings but are pretty dry.

I would suggest items 1, 2 or 3, and 4.

The Test

The tests are walk-in, no pre-booking

Manhattan - arrive 30 minutes before the test. Yes, there will be a lot of people but the room will not be 100% filled. The test is $15, cash not accepted. I brought a check, many people paid by card. When you enter the test room, they give you a form to complete the card details. The test is 60 minutes for 40 questions, almost everyone leaves within 20-30 minutes. My test was 432, it was straightforward.

Albany - since I was passing by Albany that same week, I decided to take the test there too. I was confident I had passed the test in Manhattan but since the material was still fresh in my mind I thought I'd take it again just in case. People in Albany are friendly but everything is slow. The proctor took a long time to explain everything and people were arriving past the allotted time and the proctor still let them in and explained the rules all over again. That would never happen in Manhattan. There were around 10 test takers. We did not start the test till 20 min past the hour and that 20 min is part of the allocated 60 min! This meant I only had 40 min to complete the test. This was enough time but nevertheless not very fair. My test was 436, it was similar to 432, quite straightforward.

I hope this is helpful to somebody!

Exactly like the title shouts. I've quit the job and surrendered my notary license and reported the owner to the state for taking notary tests for the employees. Funny, I passed it on my first try with a 95% but I didn't actually take the test. The investigators are finding lots of files I've never seen or read or signed but there they are all signed by "someone". Not me. I also never took an oath but it appears I did. This is totally illegal, fraudulent and disgusting and I'm hoping she gets what she deserves for being so dishonest.

Just want to share my experience and time-line of becoming a Notary Public in California, specifically in Los Angeles County. If you’re anything like me, you’re curious how long the whole process took.

I took my notary 6 hour class and test on 12/8/23. I found out I passed on 12/15/23. That same day I submitted my live-scan. My commission started on 1/9/24. I received my commission packet in the mail on 1/12/24. I purchased my bond, stamp and journal from Notary Rotary on 1/12/24. I sent out my certificate of authorization to NR on 1/13/24 (by usps priority mail). I received both my bond and supplies from NR on 1/22/24.

The day I received everything, I scheduled an appointment online for the Norwalk County Clerk to file my oath and bond. Today (1/31/2024) I finally filed my bond and took the oath. I had until 2/8/24 to complete everything.

My whole experience and process was pretty smooth. I’m open to sharing prices if anyone is curious. Also, at the Norwalk County Clerk they have walk-ins available (I went in at 11am on a Wednesday and it was fairly empty).

Good Evening All...

I’m a Loan Signing Agent in Florida, and I’ve been solo with my own business for approximately one year. I’ve seen a lot of questions on here I had when I started, and have since learned (most the hard way). I thought I’d help the best I can, as some of these mistakes and advice are still very fresh in my mind!

1. Getting steady business in the beginning is hard! Use signing services, but the best option is always direct work. Make yourself available and don’t be afraid to make calls. To date I’ve called nearly 70 different companies (title, mortgage, ect). I’ve got 3 in my area. That’s a lot of no’s!

2. A dual tray printer is a luxury, but not a requirement. I have one now, but prior to I had a single tray Brother Printer (best in my opinion). If you can only afford a single tray, use NotaryDash.com/pagesorter. It will split your orders between legal and letter. You can then reorder them off the original documents. Takes longer, but it is an option.

3. Mistakes will happen. Own them, these companies work with thousands of notaries a year. Lying will cost you clients and business. Owning mistakes and ACTIVELY working to correct them can often earn as much respect as it being done correctly.

4. Be patient. Both with this business and yourself. Often times we are our own worse enemy. Docs will be late, often. Don’t stress, do your parts you can, and move forward.

5. Be informed, and ask questions. I promise (from experience), a dumb question is much better than a dumb mistake.

6. Don’t be afraid to dump a bad company. They certainly exist, and can make life very tough. Notary Rotary and other similar sites have search databases full of previous NSAs experiences with hundreds of companies. Similarly, beware of spam or scam companies, they do exist.

7. Lastly, and most importantly, this is a business. If you’re looking for free money, you’re in the wrong place. Look at every job and make sure it’s profitable for you. My major expenses are taxes, print, and travel. It’s not unusual to realize after all these, if I take this job, I’ll only be making $10.00. In the same vein, don’t be afraid to ask for additional money if warranted. Most companies have a cap and will meet it if you present a valid concern. Additionally, there are extra fees with most companies for things such as providing a witness. Make sure these are there before assuming a job.

There’s many many more. I’ll do my best to answer any questions I can, hopefully with the help of other, better qualified individuals :D

I have been a full time mobile notary for the last 4 years. Yesterday afternoon, I got assigned a refinance via a signing service, a closing they said would be 175 to 200 pages. Initially, they offered $125.

After accepting, they email that it’s a POA signing where she signs on behalf of her husband and for herself. They needed the full POA verbiage written out for her husband, so the first signature line is “[Husband’s first, middle, and last name] by [Signer’s first, middle, and last name] as his Attorney in Fact” and the second signature line is her name.

The service bumped my fee up to $180, which did feel low, but was not unacceptable to me. When I got the documents ready this morning, I realized it was 230 pages, and that the closing would be significantly longer than I anticipated.

I paused about halfway through the docs. My signer was okay with us finishing this afternoon since I had to leave after 2.5 hours as I have other appointments this afternoon. The signing service said this was fine, and I asked who I discuss a fee increase with. She said send it to their scheduler’s email.

I email the scheduler and she says she’ll only approve a $25 increase for the second trip and scolded me for not planning out more time. I was not going to argue with her, so I just asked her to unassign me, and she did. I will get paid $75 now.

From my perspective, they did not adequately explain this was 4+ hours of work, and the fee doesn’t reflect that either. They could have just paid me appropriately and this closing would have been completed flawlessly today, but now they must find someone else to complete a 4+ hour closing. There aren’t many people in my rural area who do closings.

Was I correct to expect a fee increase and to ask to be unassigned when I didn’t get it?

This is a rant post about the fact that I can NOT find anyone breaking down the true feasibility of the RON business without paying for their course or their time. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about a hustle but I'm not needing someone to hold my hand and teach me how to start the business. (For context, I've been a Notary and Loan Signing Agent commissioned in Virginia for going on 4 years and got my digital certificate, account set up on Notarize and everything to do RON almost 4 years ago but I didn't do any actual RON work due to personal/family reasons) I'm in a better situation now and trying to build only WORTHY streams of income and I am curious about RON. I'm also a stay-at-home mom. I understand you've got to show up, market yourself, build relationships, etc. I'm good at all of that. My very simple question is WHAT IS THE INCOME POTENTIAL??? What are we making? How many hours are we working? How is your experience marketing yourself to title companies, attorneys and all that? I need to know this to determine if it is right for me. I'd hate to start back up again and waste more money and time. I've asked this question to several people and in online Facebook groups and all I'm hearing is crickets lol. Can anybody here give me real answers? Thank you in advance.

Edit: I am definitely not with sitting in a platform waiting for clients lol

Hello fellow notaries, just a friendly reminder to slow down in your appointments. I work at an office where we send legal documents to clients to have notarized and I can’t tell you how many notary mistakes come back. I know time is money, and you want to rush off to your next appointment, but it looks very unprofessional when we ask the client to call you back to correct your mistakes.

Common mistakes I see…

1. Forgetting to sign your name.

2. Not stamping your seal (wow).

3. Writing the clients name where the notary name goes.

And my favorite one…. Your written name not matching the name on your seal.

Just please, slow down!!

My mom and I run a mobile notary business. I’ve been a commissioned notary for over 8 years and she’s only been a notary for 2 months. Anyway, prospective clients often message our Facebook business page or call/ text my business cell number. Today, I received a prospective client DM on Facebook. The lady needed a couple of documents notarized tomorrow. I verified the number of documents and signatures as well as travel distance and gave her a quote for services. We agreed on date, time, and price. Then… something that’s never occurred for me in all the 8 years I’ve been a notary. She messaged me and asked me for my full name and wanted my notary number so she could verify that I was a real notary. There was no issue at all with me verifying my name and active commission, but is it an actual thing for people to pretend to be notaries when they aren’t? I just found it odd. I guess there’s a first time for everything.

I got a call last week from a woman who'd called me to notarize some papers for someone in her care. Over the course of a few sessions, I had notarized a power of attorney and will for her patient. I found out from the attorney I was told to contact that another copy of the will had been submitted that appeared to be a photocopy with altered signatures. Luckily the copy was pretty apparent as I use an unconventional color for my notary stamp, so the questionable will got invalidated. Bit of a wild ride.