My Notary Journey

I've been in the notary side-hustle market for a while. My journey started at the end of 2010 when the job market was horrible. Being a recent graduate, I went to work full-time for my part-time retail job because I couldn't get a corporate gig.

Andre taught me the game. I remember meeting up with old colleagues after work and one of my good friends, Andre Hatchett, kept stepping out to answer his phone. At the time, he had booked two notary appointments while chilling with us but I didn't really know. 

After he came back inside, I asked him what he was up to and he shared his business with me. The rest was history. He helped me get my first notary commission, buy my first printer, and get a car. He loaned me the money, but after following him to jobs and learning the game, I paid him back within two months.

My first successful business. I'll always be grateful for the notary knowledge because being successful in business helped me understand the value of work without having to navigate toxic corporate culture to get ahead.

Got bored of notary work. I didn't stay with the notary business. After a few years, I wanted to try my hand at a few jobs (AKA I got bored of notary work). I worked in sales and learned the value of leads and lead generation. Then, I moonlighted as a contracted digital marketer to learn how to generate my own leads. However, after a six year hiatus, I jumped back into doing notary work in 2020.

A few accomplishments. I diversified my notary business with apostille processing. This helped me hit my first $10k month. My biggest job to date is when a client needed 42 apostille documents processed. That was a $5k+ job. I have been running my business and helping Andre teach a few notary classes since.

What I have Experienced

Since I've been helping Andre Hatchett with The Notary Business School, I started to pay attention to others in the notary space. For the record, I like most of the notary educators on social media. Their messages are simple and straightforward. Can't beat that.

This business is simple but, it is a business. Not everyone can take to entrepreneurship easily and become successful. With that said, here are a few things I want to point out. 

Some educators focus on teaching you how to maximize a niche like only loan closings.

What I like: I love this and did it for two years. I think its the most popular way to keep your notary business simple and you don't have to do much to grow a decent business. A lot of people hit their first $10k months on this alone.

What I don't like: It's way too dependent on the few clients that help you get to $10k months. They may not be consistent enough to depend on all year round.

Some notary educators focus on teaching diversification. Loan Signings, Officiating Weddings, Fingerprinting, Apostilles, Legal Process Serving, etc.

What I like: I currently do a form of this in my business ever since the pandemic. I feel more in control of my schedule and when one service revenue dips, another picks up the slack, making my business versatile.

What I don't like: It literally feels like I'm running many businesses sometimes. 

Some teach a few elements of digital marketing. Just enough to get you making money so they can fulfill their promises as your notary educator.

What's typically covered:

• Google Business Profile - Set up your GBP and get good reviews to rank for local search keywords like "notary near me" so you can get calls.
• Google Ads - Spend a couple hundred a month for Google ads to boost how many calls you get for your service area.
• Googling Prospects - Search local companies on Google that need mobile notary services all the time, visit these companies, introduce yourself and try to score commercial clients that will call you frequently.
• Yelp & Thumbtack - Create profiles on these business directories. Yelp has a free plan and ads. Thumbtack is free to join and a pay per lead service.

What I like: I use all of these strategies. They just work. Being on all these directories help generate leads in their own way.

What I don't like: Since I have successfully generated leads in the past for clients in different industries, I know all of this is very surface level. It isn't comprehensive enough. Corporate sales teams have comprehensive lead generation systems.

Thats what I want. A lead generation system that is scalable, trackable, and profitable. I don't want to waste time door knocking firms, I don't want to lose money on ads and I love Google Business Profiles but, they don't yield enough leads.

Introducing MY Notary lead generation system

The Solution