What the heck is "Gotary," you ask? I'll get there in a moment, but first let's talk about the birth of Notary Business Builder. I know you've heard of this group of elite notaries committed to building a sustainable business in any economy. The first thing that tends to come up is the $127 a month price to be a member. That's crazy, right? * Who has that kind of money right now since loan signings are all but dried up?** How can a notary spend $127 each month on a coaching platform when they're already signed up for Notary Coach, Coach Me Laura, Signing Agent Marketing, The Marketing Notary's Google Business Profile Course, Lawrence Institute for Notaries, Notary Assist and any of the dozens of other systems out there focused on the notary industry?***
For that matter, why would you want to sign up when you can join Facebook groups or subscribe to different notary-themed YouTube channels and get the information you need for free?**** I mean, you know how to be a notary public in your state, right? The rules are right there on the Secretary of State's website. Why bother with all the other "trainings" when you've got the tools you need with your notary stamp to make money?*****
Well, if you've set out to earn a living with your notary stamp you have to get really comfortable with this idea first: you're a business owner. Yes you're a notary, but if you want to make any real money with your stamp you must accept the fact that you are running a business. We start out our notary journey thinking it's going to be easy, but nothing good every comes easy my friends. As a business owner, you need to be involved in all aspects of your business including sales, accounting, marketing, social media management, training and development, operations, scheduling, IT, Human Resources...it's a lot.
That was just the discussion Bill Soroka and I were having 2 years ago this month when he asked me this very important question, "what if there was a place for notaries to go to have specialized training and coaching for all aspects of their business; not just training how to be a good notary?" Lightbulbs went off everywhere over my head after hearing him ask that. Think about it....there are tons of platforms notaries can join to learn how to be great at notarizing documents, but who is teaching them to build a business to last that isn't dependent on one type of job like loan signings?
We leaned into this idea of one place for every aspect of your business. An umbrella, if you will that covers the important parts of running a business, sustaining a business and growing a business. Then, the bottom fell out of the mortgage industry. Interest rates went up, refinances bottomed out and notaries all over the country said, "screw this....I'm moving on to something easier." And that was right about the time we decided to launch Notary Business Builder. An idea some thought was insane given the fact that notaries were dropping like flies as the refinance market dried up. Never ones to shy away from something difficult, Bill, Laura Biewer and I knew that the notaries left standing after the economy "shook out the tree" would be the notaries to thrive. "The ones left standing after the dust settles will be the ones to benefit," is word-for-word what Laura said to me well over a year ago, and I can confirm that I am seeing that happen every day now. The shift is over, and it's time to move on from the narrative that the notary industry can't survive without refinance loans. NBB members are proving every day that there is much more to our businesses than mortgage loans.
OK, now back to www.Gotary.com! It's been over a year in the making... Gotary is the Notary Business Builder directory. We knew we wanted to create this from the very beginning...a place where business professionals could find elite notary business entrepreneurs, and notaries can find each other to refer jobs in other cities or states (because Notary Business Builders understand that other notaries aren't competition).
But here's where we are making Gotary different than other directories out there:
Gotary is ACTIVELY marketed as a source for highly qualified credentialed professionals like notaries public to legal professionals and hiring companies.The owner of the site is Bill Soroka. His contact information is published on the site and businesses and notaries can reach him any time there is a problem.
We create and share content that is "consumer-facing" designed to drive traffic from hiring parties to the notaries listed on the directory.
We feature transparency and accountability with site ownership and contact information directly on the site.
In short, gotary.com works to help our premium members get hired by their ideal customer. We just launched it last week and profiles are being added daily. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, so feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you think.
Answer key:
*No, it's not crazy to spend money every month to have a huge professional support system behind you that includes all of the programs listed in this post, and also has it's own prospecting app with built-in content and a Digital business card, teaches content creation (what to write about on your blog, social media, etc), a certified reverse mortgage training program, LinkedIn training and optimization, search engine optimization (SEO) instruction and support, accountability calls weekly, a private (& very supportive) Facebook group, and so much more!
**Notaries who have spent time working on the tenants we teach like building authentic relationships and building your business on multiple streams like trust and estate planning, specialty notary work, Apostille, fingerprinting, wedding officiant, etc. because they know putting all their eggs into one basket is never a good idea in any industry.
***If you added up all the programs included in NBB individually it would cost over $3,000 a month (yes, you read that right). We removed the subscription fatigue AND gave you the best value we can offer (it launched at $197 month and we recently reduced the monthly membership fee to the lowest price we could to help as many notaries as we can). Every program listed is included in Notary Business Builder membership: Coach Me Laura, Notary Coach, Signing Agent Marketing, Notary Assist, Google Business Profile training, Apostille certification, reverse mortgage certification, Tomm app (for on-the-go prospecting), specialty events, etc.
****Free information on social media and YouTube is not regulated. You don't know the background of the instructors, their history in business, their morals and ethics or if they have your best interest at heart. Let's face it....there are a lot of people out there that just want your money, but our mission is to help you help 1,000 people this year. The founders of Notary Business Builder (Bill Soroka, Laura Biewer and Jen Neitzel) are accessible to each member and lead with integrity as our guiding light.
*****A business owner needs more than the rules their state publishes to run a successful business. They need support, coaching, community (let's face it....working alone can be tough) and access to the tools and people needed to answer their questions.
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