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Members of Marketing4Notaries (M4N) or Notary Business Builder (NBB) only!

I've been a busy girl lately and unfortunately, blogging has taken a back seat to some other incredible and innovative projects I'm working to complete. But I had to get on here today to tell you about the coolest new product I've purchased in a long time. I saw it for the first time at the 2023 NNA Conference a few weeks ago and it BLEW. MY. MIND. In that moment I knew I had to have it, and share it with other notaries in my circle of influence. What am I talking about? The Notary eJournal from Jurat, Inc! Holy moly this thing is cool! I was filming a training video for Notary Business Builder's new Notary Trust Delivery Agent Certification (more on that in another blog post coming soon), and when it came time to log the transaction, Laura Biewer pulled out her phone instead of her notary journal. At first, I was confused, but then I saw her talk through the process of using the Notary eJournal during our mock estate plan/living trust signing, and I instantly kicked myself for not looking into this amazing product before. It was quick. It was easy. It was efficient. It was super cool, and made Laura look like a top tier, tech-savvy notary! And the time it saved was incredible! Here's the nitty gritty: It can scan state ID's and auto fill the entry. It has pretty much every document you've ever heard of pre-installed so you can easily search and click to notate which documents you notarized (plus, it's easy to add other documents as needed). It auto-generates the signing location address when you type in the first few letters of the street address. It allows your customer to sign with their finger on your phone screen (and takes digital finger prints, as well). It produces monthly reports for accounting purposes. It's cloud based, and will work for up to 12 hours if you're not on wifi. But best of all, it's SECURE and provides a detailed, minute-by-minute record of each transaction if it's ever needed. So, whether you specialize in trust and estate plans, care facilities or hospitals, international adoptions, jail signings, loan signings or any other specialty under the notary umbrella the Notary eJournal will save you time, help you keep more accurate records and store them securely. It's available in 46 states (yes, California, Texas and Florida are included), and I HIGHLY recommend this journal! Oh! Did I mention it's FREE to try out the first 2 weeks (with no credit card required for the free trial) then it's only $90 a year? At that price, it's a no-brainer!! Full disclosure: I loved the Notary eJournal so much, I became an affiliate! P.S. If you currently use the Notary eJournal, I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments section below!

The Notary Business Builder Healthy Challenge got me thinking about how everything I do (good and bad) is contributing to my business. The truth is, we are a community and community is good medicine. As a solopreneur it can be difficult to find support for the more personal things in life we struggle with like health and wellness. We are our businesses, guys....and I know that sounds strange. Part of moving away from the W2 mindset is realizing that EVERYTHING we do feeds into our business. Did you stay up too late eating pizza, drinking wine and watching Netflix? That'll make you sleeping and sluggish the next day for your appointments. Maybe you decided to stay in bed sipping coffee and watching the Today show instead of getting ready to say YES for the day if an appointment pops up at the last minute. Everything you do as an individual feeds your business. I mean that literally and figuratively. If you eat healthy food and stay hydrated you're going to feel better than if you eat fast food 3 times a day and drink soda. And if you allow your body to sleep an appropriate amount of time and exercise at least 3 times a week, you will have more energy and be less likely to feed yourself the b.s. excuses we're so good at conjuring up to get out of doing the hard things. Being a solopreneur has never been easy. Ever. It's difficult. It's always a balancing act, and it's always up to you to make it happen or not. However, having the support of a community like Notary Business Builder and the #NBBHealthyChallenge can help you make the little changes in your life necessary to build a stronger you and a stronger business. So, I encourage you to find a community to support you. Need to lose weight? Find an accountability partner or join a weight management support group. Need to learn more about being a notary business owner? Join the largest notary collaboration in history with a weekly accountability call and over 20 live teaching calls every month (all recorded and replays posted on your dashboard). We will be diving deep into the idea that everything we do feeds our businesses on the next Building Authentic Relationships call on Wednesday, May 17th at 10am central/8am pacific/11am eastern.

Y'all know Bill and Laura were in town last week for the Evolve Summit, but we did a whole lot more than just speak on new topics. When we're together, we have a lot of fun, but we also work hard creating new learning opportunities for Notary Business Builders. And if you've been around for a while, you know we're also working very hard at building up our NBB membership so we can continue our mission to help notaries make their dreams of a successful, thriving business come true. A few weeks ago, we realized we have no professional pictures of the three of us together, so we decided to use our time together in Dallas to change that. So, after a great day of learning at the Evolve summit (my mind is still blown from Laura's "Show Me The Money," presentation which you can catch inside the Notary Business Builder replay library), we woke up early and drove to Penny Whistle Photography for a photo session. I'd met Tracy Allard, the owner of Penny Whistle a few years back when I took my pooch Piper to obedient classes at a local pet camp. You see, Tracy is also a fantastic dog trainer who helped me learn how to teach my old dog new tricks. She stuck in my mind as someone who had the same entrepreneurial spirit as me, so when it came time to trust our mugs to someone in Dallas, I instantly thought of Tracy. Tracy's backstory is one you might find familiar. She was very high up in the corporate technology world and decided she wanted a more manageable life so she "retired," and took her two passions, photography and animals and combined them. She now owns Penny Whistle Photography in Carrollton, TX and specializes in people, pet and equine photography. It's difficult to be "smiley" so early on a Sunday morning, but Tracy made it very easy. In fact, within a few minutes of being in her studio, Bill said that he felt like she was a kindred spirit. We started out doing individual headshots, which for the record are really difficult to nail. You have to stick your neck out, lean forward and "push your forehead to Oklahoma", as Tracy said. It felt so unnatural, but wait until we unveil our new headshots! Let me tell you, Tracy is a miracle worker! She made us look like movie stars. After our individual headshots, we posed for 5 different branding poses with the three of us in each shot. It was very hard to keep a straight face, but we did manage (barely). Laura had the idea to do a "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" photo with the 3 of us and it's one of my favorite because it visually captures our belief in leading with integrity. At the end of the session, we wanted some candid shots where it's just the 3 of us talking and at first it felt really awkward, but I remembered something I saw on a TV show a long time ago about extras in the background of a TV set. They appear to be having conversations, but really they're just saying "watermelon, cantaloupe" over and over again. So we did that....and hilarity ensured, but we got some great shots for branding Notary Business Builder that reflect the genuine bond that Laura, Bill and I share. If you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and you need headshots or branding photos (or you want to capture your adorable pet in a photo session), I encourage you to reach out to Penny Whistle Photography. I'm not an affiliate. I just love recommending local businesses that deliver amazing service! P.S. I can't wait to share our new pictures with you next week! P.S.S. That's Tracy in the photo at the top of this page.