Hi, this is Laura with At Your Service Mobile Notary and Coach Me Laura.

This week, I think it's obvious, we need to talk about COVID-19, and its impact on notaries. There are a lot of headlines out there. First of all, we've got a national bill that's been introduced for minimum Remote Online Notarization (RON) standards across the 50 States, whether or not you have that in your state. Over half of the States have an Emergency Order or Proclamation issued that impacts notaries regarding identification as well as remote online notarization.

Then we have a Federal Department of Homeland security order that defines who are essential services. So we know who's allowed to go out there and do work when we're in a 'shelter in place' environment. Here's the problem with these headlines. There's no details. We need to read the details so I know what's going on in my state, in my county, because it may not be the same as yours!

What I'm seeing is a lot of gaps in the information. I'm seein...

Hi, this is Laura with At Your Service Mobile Notary and www.CoachMeLaura.com

Today I want to start at the beginning, something that doesn't get explained in great detail when we go through our training to become a notary.

Typically, we recommend when you get your commission packet, just go on down to the County Clerk and get everything taken care of. But there are some things that you need to take care of a little differently considering how things are today.

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What's recommended now is that you mail in your Oath of Office and your bond for filing and the filing fees. Now that isn't gone into much detail because typically we like to just go on down there and take care of everything. But the County Clerk's offices are closed to the public. They may be inside processing mail and recording deeds electronically, but they're not allowing us to come in to take care of our business.

So let's talk about how we get that done and when to start with your S...

Hi, this is Laura, and I'm with CoachMeLaura and AtYourServiceMobileNotary.

Today, I just want to take a couple of minutes to remind you of who you can partner with, and who you can collaborate with that can grow your general mobile notary business!

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As I looked through my assignments last year in 2019, I saw that I got quite a few from two distinct areas.

One was private shipping centers.

Sometimes we think of them as our competition, but they're not! They're there in a store all day long, taking assignments, right? Notarizing documents, but they're not going to the hospital. They're not going to attorneys offices, they're not open at night. They're not open on Sunday or holidays.

So how do we help each other?

I'll tell you, because I teach, because I have other assignments to do, because I'm not always available for the work that I get, and most importantly, I get calls from people who are not appropriate to be clients for me. Maybe they do...

Hi, this is Laura with CoachmeLaura.com.

You know, every day, I have this big long 'must do' list. I have so many things to get done - for my health, for my family, for my business.

And some days I'm not feeling it, and I'm kind of stuck. My mind's telling me, "I don't want to!".  "I don't want to do the dishes", "I don't want to answer the phone", or "I don't want to take that next appointment."

I just don't want to make any decisions.

Has that ever happened to you? Well, here's the deal. I bet we can all relate.

But what's more important is how do I get "unstuck".

Here's my secret sauce. I give! I give of my time, I give of my energy, I give of my stuff, I give of my talent. It just changes the energy a little bit and puts me more in sync with the world. Something seems to shift! And then when I have to come back to whatever it is I didn't want to do, it seems easy and I'm able to move forward.

So the next time that you're stuck, think about getting into that 'giving' mode a...

Hi, this is Laura!

Today, I've been giving a lot of thought to how time is money, and that I need to budget my time - just like I budget the money I spend, and all the tangible things I need for my business. So there are really two things that make up cost for my business and one is all of the tangible things it takes for me to run that business and execute that business.

And the other is my time.

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So let's start with - Wow, it's tax time! I just had a chance to review 2019 and it was easy for me to see where I spent my money. I had capital equipment costs on a new phone, printer - it could have been for somebody else a new car. Also, all consumable supplies we all use, right? That would be toner and paper, and gas for the car and new tires!

Then there were lots of services that I use. So I've got a phone plan and an internet plan. I have car maintenance going on. I've got advertising on directories, I've got insurances - for notary insurance, car ...

Hi everyone! This is Laura with CoachMeLaura.com.

I have been putting out blogs mostly about general notary work and you know, that is really the bulk of my business today. However, I want to mention that I am a loan signing agent and I've been doing that for 16 years, and even now, I still take assignments in that area. So I thought today I'd talk a little bit about 10 key steps to managing that loan signing - from acceptance to invoicing.

This is very high level and very basic. So if you're brand new or you're just thinking about doing this, this will give you an idea of what's expected. If you're just getting your training going, it' should fit right in with that. if you are a very experienced assigning agent, I hope I uncover something you hadn't thought about today!

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I want to start with expectations - there are a lot of expectations for us. For example, timely communication between myself and the contracting company, between myself and the titl...

Hi! This is Laura with coachmeLaura.com.

Once again, I'd like to share with you some responses for questions I have received about notarization work. And today I want to talk to you about some of the issues we face and when we should say no to a notarization.

As public servants we're commissioned to serve the public for all reasonable and legal requests that are made of us. So what would be the exception? Why would I need to refuse service?

There are some good reasons.

First of all, the request needs to be proper or legal, meaning they meet the requirements of the notarization that they're requesting, like personal appearance, satisfactory evidence of identity, or having a document to be notarized.

So what would cause me to say no? Well, either the signer, or the document, or the notary is being disqualified. Let's just take a look at each of these.

The Signer:

First of all, what if they don't have the ID to meet the identity requirements or personal knowledge in your state...

Hi, this is Laura with CoachMeLaura.com, and I have something I want to share with you.

I have gotten a lot of questions recently from notaries saying, 'Where do I start?' And that is such a loaded question because there are so many things to do to get a notary business up and running, starting from just getting commissioned to identifying customers to building expertise to developing relationships with your clients. So much going on, it's like, where do I even start with that? So I thought it might be helpful if I gave you an easy peasy business plan.

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People say you need a business plan, but you know what? That's a little overwhelming if you've never written one or do you start with that? So here's what I'm going to tell you. I have about seven steps and I've just broken them into small pieces to make it easy for you to answer some questions that will allow you to see your path.

Now I'm going to start with getting you started in the right direction. Al...

Hi, this is Laura with CoachMeLaura.com and At Your Service Mobile Notary.

Today I want to chat with you a little bit about general notary appointments. There are questions that you should be thinking of when you get that phone call to take an appointment! 

As you know, loan signings are different. You get the documents ahead of time so you know what you have before you get there. The fees are already arranged. You're told who the signer is. Pretty much, you usually get most of the information you need.

When you have a general appointment, meaning somebody from the public who's calling for your service, you may not get everything you need unless you ask. So I have about 10 questions that may apply in any given situation to ensure that one, you don't make a wasted trip, two, you've negotiated the appropriate fee and quoted the appropriate fee for that client. And three, if there's going to be any extra things necessary, like witnesses for signature by mark or credible witnesses for...

Hi, this is Laura with Coachmelaura.com.

I am frequently asked questions on different topics that really befuddle notaries! They're not sure how to take care of it! And today, I'd like to talk to you about one that's asked of me frequently and it's how do I handle a foreign language document.

Now, whether you're the public trying to get a document notarized or you're a notary and you're being presented with a document to be notarized, there are some simple rules to follow. Now I will identify Arizona. That state is a little different because their law for notaries explicitly allows them to use translators and it makes the whole thing easier. But for the other 49 States, it's not so clear what you do. So these are the three things I want you to remember.

One is to observe the document for completeness. Are there blank spaces where words belong or are there missing page numbers at the bottom? The signer? it's their job to take care of those blank spaces or missing pages.

The second...