Sitting on a one legged stool?
It’s kinda rough to sit on a stool that has only one leg. No doubt about it. If you are a “Signing Agent Only!”, and that is your sole revenue source – you sit on a one legged stool. There is no telling which way you will fall; forward, backward, left or right. At best you wobble. With no diversification whatsoever, you are at the mercy of signing services, title, and escrow. You are probably the notary who takes the 65$ edoc, with handholding and massive fax backs.
Adding a second leg to the stool is a great improvement; you now do general notary work for individuals. Now you are called by individuals who need POAs, non-present parent permission to obtain passports, take children out of the country; and a wide variety of profitable work. Instead of falling in any direction; you fall either (forward, backward) or (left, right). Your service offering is still very limited – but getting better.
Stability! You add a third leg to that stool; you have started to process Apostilles. It’s a bit hard to learn the “ropes” – that is why there is a demand for you to process them. If you are lucky enough to live near the location that issues them you can offer same day service. Each state has a different procedure; generally issued by the Dept of State of your state. Dig a little deeper and learn how to obtain an Apostille at the Federal level. Now you are “sitting pretty” and have a third revenue stream!
A chair – you added a fourth leg! Now you do fingerprinting. There is a learning curve – and some supplies are needed; also lots of practice. Clients want those cards to be accepted the first time and this one might require an additional license – check with your state authorities. You are getting lots of calls from brokers, persons wishing to immigrate to Canada, needing a background check to obtain a liquor license and many more. Some parents even want junior fingerprinted.
The more legs you add the more stable you will be, revenue wise. Some do inspections; some are process servers and some notaries process “notary protests”. Diversification is everywhere. McDonalds, in addition to burgers; sell salads and fish sandwiches. Dunkin also sells both breakfast and lunch foods – in addition to coffee and sweets. The local “Chowder House” probable has menu items for those not wanting a fish based dinner. Long, long ago there were single product based shops – soon eclipsed by the “Department Store” offering a wide variety. I get calls to perform multiple types of service – Notary, Fingerprint and Apostille – at a single location. One stop shopping for all your notary, and several other needs.
Research the cost/benefit of obtaining additional licenses. I lost a lot of time and money to become an EPA licensed “Lead Paint Inspector”. That did NOT work out at all. The liability, legal exposure to lawsuits was horrible. So do your homework. While sitting at home waiting for a “Signing Agent” assignment – consider other revenue streams. The keys to being the one to call are License and Knowledge. You might need a license to fingerprint, but you only need knowledge of the procedures to obtain Birth, Death, Marriage and Divorce records; or to transverse the maze to obtain an Apostille.
Don’t be a “One Trick Pony” with a single “product offering” – Diversify and Prosper!
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