T H E N O T A R Y N E W S Published by Victoria Ring, CNSA http://www.50statenotary.com http://www.bankruptcybook.net ________________________________________________ ������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������ Missed an issue? Read all past issues at http://www.50statenotary.com/ezine/ You can also read this issue online at http://www.50statenotary.com/ezine/issue59.html ________________________________________________ ������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������ ISSUE 59 � November 5, 2004
IN THIS ISSUE: ** Guidelines in Setting Prices for Your Business ** Emails and Questions from Notaries ** Update on My Homemade Business Book ** Rate this Ezine ** Bible Verse of the Week ** Resource Links for Notary Signing Agents ________________________________________________ ������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������ GUIDELINES IN SETTING PRICES FOR YOUR BUSINESS If you wanted to hire a company to put a roof on your house, what is the first thing you would do? You would probably call around to different roofing companies and get estimates on the price. Let�s say ABC Roofers quotes you a price of $2,500 but Joe Brown Roofing quotes you a price of $150. Would you immediately hire Joe Brown? Of course not. You would want to compare the services and the quality of the job before you hired Joe Brown since his price is so much lower than ABC Roofers. Roofing companies (among millions of other types of businesses) are examples of service businesses. An independent notary signing agent is also a service business. Since all service businesses are similar in price structuring, we can learn from them. How then does the roofing company determine their prices? They start by adding up the cost for supplies and the time it takes to complete the job. Notaries should therefore do the same. In order to set prices for your notary service business, you need to calculate the overhead costs involved in completing a document signing. Here are a few costs to consider: Automobile and Travel Costs -- If your vehicle gets 30 miles per gallon it will cost you about $2 for one gallon of gas to drive to a signing 15 miles one way and back. As a notary, you know what counties you cover and the approximate mileage it would take to travel to the average signing appointment and back. In addition to the cost for gasoline, you will also have wear and tear on your car. I always add a minimum of $5 to allow for this expense to every job, but you will have to determine this cost for your vehicle. Office Supplies � If you are printing e-docs and performing other functions you will need to purchase legal and letter size paper, buy toner cartridges for your laser printer and pay for the cost to have your laser printer and fax machine cleaned and maintained. Additionally, if you use other office supplies such as �Sign Here� stickers or street maps, etc. these costs should all be factored into your overhead costs. Time � How long does it take to complete the average signing? This time should include receiving the documents, printing them out, traveling to and from the signing appointment, the time spent faxing back confirmation documents and the time it takes to drive to the Fed-X overnight drop box. For example sake, let�s say that it takes you 2 hours to complete an entire signing from start to finish. Now you need to determine your hourly wage to pay yourself for this time. Most service businesses in the Midwest charge from $30 to $150 per hour depending on the level of expertise. So if you pay yourself $30 per hour, a two-hour signing appointment should never pay less than $60. If you accept anything less than that � you are paying people to do business with you. Or, if you wish to pay yourself $50 per hour, you would not accept a signing assignment for less than $100. Your Profit -- You also need to factor in a profit for your business that is reinvested back into the business for advertising, marketing and operational costs. If you fail to do this, your business will fail because it has no operating capital to keep it functioning. The point of this article is to make you think for yourself. Be independent. Do not ask other people to set prices for your business. Everyone lives and operates under a different set of circumstances. Every notary has different overhead expenses and every one pays themselves on a different hourly rate scale. You should not ask others to make these important business decisions for you. Instead � think for yourself. Sit down and figure up your own overhead expenses and set your prices accordingly. But what should you do if you set your prices at $150 per signing and the companies refuse to pay that? This is the subject I will cover in next week�s issue of The Notary News. Be sure to look for it in Issue 60. ________________________________________________ ������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������ EMAILS AND QUESTIONS FROM NOTARIES Dear Victoria. I am faxing a copy of my insurance license because I do not qualify for the NSA Certification in my state. Does this allow me to use the NSA logo on my notary web page in the 50 State Nationwide Notary Directory? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RESPONSE FROM VICTORIA RING The Certified Notary Signing Agent logo can only be placed on notary web pages when the notary has passed the certification test from the National Notary Association. If the certification is not available in your state you cannot use the logo. Doing so would be fraudulent since you have not been issued a certification by the NNA � which is why we require a copy of the certification certificate before adding it to the directory. Within the next few weeks I plan to re-design the directory so that Certified NSA�s listed in the Nationwide Notary Directory have better recognition. I also will be adding the option for a �Sponsored� Listing which places your name at the top of the list for maximum exposure to the mortgage, title and signing companies. As most of you know, California and Florida are large states and the list of notaries for these states is growing rather large. Notaries from these states have called and emailed me concerning how they can possibly have a chance of getting work from this large pool of names. The steps I plan to implement as I previously discussed will help to eliminate that problem. If you are not listed in the Nationwide Notary Directory, you are missing an opportunity for fantastic exposure to companies. 50 State Notary had web traffic of 267,000 visitors in the month of October so your notary services can be exposed on a daily basis to this traffic. Go to http://www.50statenotary.com/directory/order_getlisted.html Note � A price increase will go into effect on January 1, 2005. Be sure to get listed in the Nationwide Notary Directory now and lock in the lower price. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Victoria: I am currently an LO doing primarily refinances. I feel at some point in the near future, refi's may decline. I am getting my notary commission and will go into the signing business. The thought I have is this. I am used to going into considerable detail with my clients. As a signer, it is my understanding that you don't go into much detail. How much detail is not much? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RESPONSE FROM VICTORIA RING There are day-long seminars taught on this very subject so it is impossible for me to cover the entire answer to this question in a newsletter. However, the best protection is to direct all questions the borrower(s) have to the mortgage company. You may also want to contact the National Notary Association. They have several excellent articles concerning unauthorized practice of law and notary ethics. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Victoria. I purchased the How to Start a Bankruptcy Forms Processing Service book from you about 2 months ago. I have now had a chance to study the book and I want to thank you from the bottom or my heart for the information. Before I purchased your book I had never worked in the legal field. But the easy, step-by-step way you walked me through the drafting of a bankruptcy petition made it so easy for me to understand. I also used one of your marketing tips and prepared a brochure (based on the one you provided in the book.) I have two meetings scheduled with bankruptcy attorneys next week and both of them commented on how professional my brochure was. (I didn�t tell them I got it from you.) Thanks again for opening up a whole new world for me. I am so excited that the possibility of working from home full-time is becoming a reality. I recommend your bankruptcy book to everyone! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RESPONSE FROM VICTORIA RING That is fantastic news! Congratulations! Please keep in touch and let me know how your business is progressing. For others who have not ordered How to Start a Bankruptcy Forms Processing Service, go to http://www.bankruptcybook.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Victoria. I have three questions: (1) How do you suggest handling borrowers who do not wish to be fingerprinted? (2) Have you ever encountered any kind of "bad" situation when conducting signings in a borrower's home? (3) Please suggest signing companies to contact that will work with a "new" NSA. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RESPONSE FROM VICTORIA RING (1) I have never encountered a situation where a borrower refused to be fingerprinted. I would suggest if this situation occurs for you to contact the company you are doing the signing for and ask them what procedure they require you to follow. If this doesn�t help, the National Notary Association provides a toll-free number for notarial questions. (2) You did not clarify what you mean by the word �bad.� What may appear to be a �bad� situation for one person may not be a �bad� situation for another. Personally, I have never encountered any life-threatening situations if that is what you are referring to. (3) I am unable to suggest signing companies for you to sign up with. 50 State Notary�s focus is to help notaries build their companies. To keep up to date on good and bad signing companies go to Notary Beware at http://www.notarybeware.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Victoria. I teach a notary ethics class in Oregon. Is it possible to purchase quantities of your notary book, How to Start, Operate and Market a Freelance Notary Signing Agent on a consignment basis? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RESPONSE FROM VICTORIA RING Yes Millie, we provide excellent discounts to notary training instructors like you. Please call me at 614-801-9977 and I will customize special pricing to fit your needs. Note: If training instructors are requesting copies of the notary book for their students, you can be assured the book is filled with excellent information to help you. Make sure you have a copy by going to http://www.50statenotary.com/book/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Victoria. I love your website I think it is great you help so many people. God bless you. I have a question for you. Last night I did a signing for a senior insurance company attorney. After the signing the attorney was so pleased with my work that he tried to hand me a $200 dollar tip. He justified it by saying that at all his closings they always gave a tip to the closing agent. Of course I refused the gesture reminding him that I was a public official and it was not necessary to do that. Would it have been wrong to accept that tip? Awaiting your reply. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RESPONSE FROM VICTORIA RING If a licensed attorney told me it was common practice to accept a $200 tip, I would have accepted it. An attorney is trusted to uphold the law so I would assume he was not attempting any fraudulent gesture by offering you the money However, I can see your viewpoint and understand why you became confused. You are right! The first responsibility of a notary public is to serve the public. However, real estate transactions are not the same as notarizing a car title for Joe and Maxine who live next door. Joe and Maxine are considered the general public and real estate transactions conducted between companies and independent notary contractors are business and legal matters. The bottom line is that you will need to make the determination whether you want to accept a �tip� or not. But if you want my opinion -- I would have taken the money and made sure I sent the attorney a personal thank you card when I got back to the office, enclosed my business card and been very eager to work with him again. Who knows? By not accepting the money, the attorney may have been insulted and may never call you again. Or he may decide to �use� you and pocket the additional $200 on future signings for himself. ________________________________________________ ������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������ UPDATE ON �MY HOMEMADE BUSINESS� BOOK My Homemade Business is a new book scheduled to be released in early January 2005. This book will be the �icing on the cake� for the bankruptcy as well as the notary book and will help you to learn all the insider tricks and tips to building and marketing your company from the ground up. One section of the book walks you through all the failures as well as successes of the nine different businesses I have started since 1988 (16 years) while passing on some very important life-lessons. You will find that any successful business person never achieved that success without making a lot of mistakes. Most people won�t tell you about them � but I believe this information is essential to share with others who are just beginning their first business so they can avoid the same pitfalls. My Homemade Business also exposes a wide variety of frauds so you can save yourself a great deal of money. From fraudulent infomercials to mail order fraud to telemarketing and internet fraud � one entire section is dedicated to explaining exactly how these frauds work which will help you to recognize others in the future and protect yourself. Another popular section will be how to design a basic web page for your company and put it on the internet. The book includes a variety of actual computer screen shots and comes with FREE web page design software so you can immediately put your new skills to use. Of course there is much, much more in the book. A complete list of the table of contents and more information will be provided about My Homemade Business in future issues of The Notary News. And as always, subscribers will be the first to hear about it. ________________________________________________ ������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������ Please rate this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/vote.html?pub_code=thenot ________________________________________________ ������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������ BIBLE VERSE OF THE WEEK Hebrews, Chapter 4, Verse 2 �For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. � Read online at http://www.servantofjesuschrist.com/kjv1611/hebrews/chapter_04.html ________________________________________________ ������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������ OF INTEREST TO NOTARIES: Get listed in the Nationwide Notary Directory http://www.50statenotary.com/directory/order_getlisted.html BOOK: �How to Start, Operate and Market a Freelance Notary Signing Agent Business� ISBN: 1-9761591-0-4 http://www.50statenotary.com/book/index.html BOOK: �How to Start a Bankruptcy Forms Processing Service� ISBN: 1-9761591-1-2 http://www.50statenotary.com/bankruptcybook/index.html FREE: 50 State Notary Desktop Guard Dog http://www.50statenotary.com/freegift/index.html Join the National Notary Association http://www.nationalnotary.org/supplies/index.cfm?referID=A23039 Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Signing Companies http://www.notarybeware.com http://www.mynotarybusiness.com Locate a Notary: View the Nationwide Notary Directory http://www.50statenotary.com/directory/index.html View previous issues of this ezine: The Notary News http://www.50statenotary.com/ezine/index.html Jobs for Notary Signing Agents (updated weekly) http://www.50statenotary.com/directory/company_listing.html Free Introductory Signing Agent Training Course http://www.50statenotary.com/training/index.html My Notary Story � Tips from Experienced NSAs http://www.50statenotary.com/mystory/index.html Free Download of the King James Bible http://www.servantofjesuschrist.com/kjv1611/download.html Visit Victoria Ring�s other websites http://www.victoriaringconsulting.com/ http://www.graphicopublishing.com/ -------------------------------------- Victoria Ring Certified Notary and Paralegal http://www.50statenotary.com Phone: 614-491-9831, Fax: 614-491-9832 _____________________________ Unsubscribe: http://www.ymlp.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] Hosting by http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com
