A mobile notary public business is a great way to earn extra money without much training time or start-up investment. Anyone with a phone and reliable transportation can do it. You do not need to have a degree or go back to school. However there are some things you do need to know to make a notary loan signing business successful. Here are some of the seven largest keys to success:
1. Start with a good business plan
Set specific goals about things like how much you want to earn, how many hours a week you will have to work at what price to earn that much, and how many clients you will need to attract to work that many hours.
Plan how you will manage your day-to-day operations to reach your goals. How will you fit your mobile notary business into the rest of your schedule? What days of the week will you work? How many hours per day? How many hours per week will you spend for promotion? Will you work alone or will you need help with things like appointments, transportation, promotion, or bookkeeping?
Plan your marketing strategy. What services will you offer? What will you charge? Where will you find clients? How will you promote your services to them?
Plan your budget. What will you need to budget for travel expenses, equipment, and promotion? How much business will you have to do to turn a profit?
If you need help writing a business plan, you can find a free guide on the website of the US Small Business Administration.
2. Research your market
Who will pay for your mobile notary public services? Major markets include loan signing companies and other markets related to mortgage loans, like financial institutions, real estate agencies, title companies, and escrow companies; law firms and other legal-related markets, like jails and bail bonds offices; hospitals and other health care markets like convalescent homes and nursing homes; and marriage licensing services.
3. Focus your sales message
Your mobile notary business will stand out from other services in notary directories if you focus your sales message on what is unique about what you offer. You can create a unique selling point by specializing in a specific market, such as mortgage loans companies, law firms, nursing homes, or marriage licensing services. You can also offer extra services, like loan signing or reverse mortgage signing. Other things you can emphasize are your geographic range; rush services; or services at odd hours.
4. Budget regular time for promotion
To build your business to a point where you have a steady steam of clients, you will first need to lay a foundation by attracting new clients. After you get enough new clients, if you do a good job, you should start to get enough repeat business and referrals that you will not need to do as much promotion, but you should still continue to do some to prevent inevitable business lulls. So when planning your weekly schedule, be sure to set aside at least a couple hours a week for promotion, especially when you're first starting off.
5. Promote through multiple media
You stand the best chance of attracting new clients if you make use of the multiple promotional media available to you. The foundation of your promotional efforts will be word-of-mouth marketing through family and friends and networking with businesses related to your target market. You can build on this foundation by passing out promotional literature like business cards and flyers; setting up a website and listing in online notary directories; making phone calls to businesses in your target market; and sending direct mail.
6. Cultivate repeat business and referrals
Your best promotional tool is good customer service, which will bring you repeat business from your existing clients and referrals from your existing clients to new clients. The more repeat business and referrals you get, the less time you will have to spend on promotion, and the more time you can spend earning money. Cultivate repeat business and referrals by delivering excellent customer service, seeking clients who have regular notary needs, asking your clients to refer you to others, and offering incentives like discounts for repeat business and decisions for referrals.
7. Automate scheduling, billing, and payment collection
Simple but costly mistakes can hold your notary business back. Things like missed phone calls, forgotten appointments, and failing to collect unpaid bills can eat into your profits. You can help avoid these mistakes by using automated tools to help you manage phone calls, schedule appointments, send out bills, and follow up on unpaid bills. Mobile notary software can help you perform all these tasks right from your phone.
If you put each of these points into practice, you'll have a solid foundation for a successful mobile notary public business.