How a Former Realtor Made $107,000 as a Notary Signing Agent (Small Town in Michigan)

How much money did you make last year as a notary public loan signing agent?

Last year I did $107,000. I thought it would never happen. I'm excited. It's something that I always wanted to achieve. In the beginning, it just never seemed something that I'd be able to reach, but you know, it didn't take that long.

If you want to learn how a notary built a $100,000 business from scratch, You're going to want to watch this video. Hi there. My name is Mark Wills, America's largest notary coach, with one of my students, Jeremy, in the great state of Michigan. How are you doing today, man?

I'm doing great. Excellent.

Awesome. Let's just inspire some people right out of the gate. How much money did you make last year as a notary public loan signing agent?

Last year I did $107,000.

When you say that out loud, that you have a 6-figure business as a notary, What feelings and thoughts go through you?

I thought it would never happen. You know, I'm excited. It's something that I always wanted to achieve. And, uh, you know, in the beginning, it just never seemed something that I'd be able to reach. But, you know, it didn't take that long.

Here you are.

It happened faster than what I thought.

Well, let me just stop you real quick because, uh, you know, as a student, I know how long it took you, right? And you said it happened faster than I thought. And looking at your timeline, it took you about 2 and a half years.

Right. And

so, right out of the gate, you know, I share this because some people think, you know, if I don't make $100,000 in my first year, it's a failure. You don't make money in my second year, it's a failure. How come you think 3 years, 2.5 to 3 years was fast? Give me the mindset.

I was thinking that in my head, 5 years, kind of, that's what I thought. 5 years would be about the point where I'd finally reach $100,000. You know, kind of $20 grand a year, you know, step up. But why?

So let's teach people here, because I think it's beautiful, because I think a lot of people come into this business thinking, oh my gosh, if I'm not making $100 grand my second year, I've failed. It took you 3 years, basically.

Sure.

Where did you get that mindset that 5 years was an appropriate runway? Because I wish every student would have a 5-year runway, you know, of like realistic, uh, expectations. Where did that come from?

I guess just the thought of, I mean, everything takes work, you know, and I've learned that back in real estate, just that it's a process, you know, you get, you have to build. And, and, um, so I kind of didn't want to disappoint myself and say, hey, I'm going to make $100,000 in 2 years.

Yeah.

Um, so I, I think I kind of set it just so I wouldn't feel like a failure right away, you know. Yeah.

Well, you're setting what I think are realistic expectations. And so, I mean, 5 years is a great timeline. You beat it by 2 years. Congratulations.

Thank you.

To make the story even more inspiring, how many people live in your town?

About 30,000.

30,000 people. So, you don't even live in Detroit. We're talking Michigan. You live in a small town, 30,000 people. And I love how even with 30,000 people, you still had this vision Of $100 for your business. How come?

Because, you know, the business— I have a mindset that business is unlimited, you know. So if you find it, it's out there. You just got to find it, you know. So it's there for anybody. So if you get out there, you put yourself out there, you talk to more people, you're going to find that business and Next thing you know, you're gonna find yourself at $100,000.

Oh, I love the slogan, business is unlimited. That's an abundance mindset. You realize it's up to— meant to be, it's up to me. And the reason I asked that question of how many people in your town is 'cause we have a lot of students who have a limiting mindset of like, I only have 100,000 people in my town. Like, you have 30,000, let alone 100,000. And so—

That was my fear. That was a fear of mine because when I watched the videos before, I would see everybody, okay, you're in LA, you're down in Miami, You know, okay, of course you can do it down there. You know, you got millions of people. You know, how am I going to do it? 30,000 people, you know, it's going to take me forever. But, um, I just knew it could happen. I mean, the business is there. Transactions happen all the time. You know, you just got to get your— you got to reach and get yours.

So, yeah. You got to reach and get yours. And it's really all of a mindset. So everybody watching, we haven't even gotten the juicy stuff and you're already dropping fire, man. So I love this. Business is unlimited. And you just gotta go out and get yours. Uh, um, you know, I think another really inspirational part of your— maybe it's not inspirational, the right part, maybe interesting— is that you were basically a career realtor.

Yes.

And so I think everybody has this idea that like, oh my gosh, I need to be a realtor. I need to be a realtor to make all this money.

Yeah.

Walk me through kind of the, the why wasn't being a realtor your dream business? Because is it safe to say that being a notary is your dream business now?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, when I first got into real estate, I thought, okay, man, just like everyone thinks, I'm gonna be rich. You know, I'm a realtor. Everybody makes it look so easy. So, um, but it's, it's tough, man. I mean, you go 2, 3, 6 months without a paycheck. I mean, the business is tough. And, um, you know, when you're living, you're out there trying to hustle for that business and you don't have a paycheck. And you're running on fumes. You know, I was living on credit cards. And so the dream of, you know, being a rich real estate agent kind of fell to the wayside.

What are some, you know, just for some people who are like, oh, am I going to get to realty or be a notary? And I'm not here to say one's better than the other. I'm a little biased towards being a notary. But, you know, you were literally a career real estate agent before. What are some of the cons of being a realtor that a notary business is like the— is the pro of?

I think the kind of, uh, being a realtor is that you can, you can work. And I mean, I thought you can put hours and hours in and not make a dime, you know, the— and being a notary The hustle, you know, you're going to get paid. You know, that's a good feeling. I know I'm going to get paid, right? Yeah. Well, for my job, for my work I put in every week. Whereas the biggest con I think of being a realtor, that there was never a guarantee of a paycheck. You know, there was never a guarantee of a paycheck with anybody. So, um, I think that was the biggest con.

There must have been moments where you would show a would-be prospective buyer 40 homes only for that buyer to be like, you know what, just joking, Jeremy, I'm out of the market. Or even worse, I'm going to flip to another realtor. And all the gas money that you spent, time away from your family that you spent, time away from your wife that you spent, only to be like, oh, just joking, uh, I'm no longer moving or whatnot,

right? That— yeah, there's all kinds of scenarios. No longer moving, or hey, we found this awesome house, we, we got our offer approved, you know, accepted. I'm thinking, what? I didn't write the offer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally.

Yeah. There's no paycheck. Onto the next. So.

Well, you know, it's a perfect segue to take us back to 3 and a half years ago, right? You, you've been a Loan Signing System student 3 and a half years ago. You made the jump from being a realtor to being a notary, uh, entrepreneur. What, take me back to 3 and a half years ago. Like, why did you make the jump? What, what was so going so wrong before you're like, I'm leaving the ideal world of real estate. Walk us through that.

Well, the— well, what happened is, you know, we have children and I've got a wife, kids, and I wasn't making any money. You

know,

we're living on credit cards. And so, so, so you get to the point where you're living off credit cards. You got to make those payments on the credit cards. So your debts, you know, here goes your debt. And paychecks are nonexistent and just burying yourself further and further behind. So, I mean, shut-off notices for utilities.

Oh.

Worrying about how you're going to make the house payment just squeaking by. I mean, up late at night, what am I going to do next? How am I going to get the next paycheck? What's going to happen? What should I do? I can't keep going on like this. Something's got to give. And it just doesn't. It's a never-ending cycle of a pit in your stomach of trying to keep things going. And it, you know, wheels were spinning and, and I was rolling backwards.

That's a good analogy. And, you know, how did that make you feel as a father and a husband?

Like a failure. You know, you feel like you're not doing what you promised. You know,

you

know, you know, you promise Hey, this is what we're gonna do. I'm gonna have this, you know, all these big dreams, and then nothing's happening, you know. And it's— yeah, it's sad. It feels—

You know, I appreciate your vulnerability because the only reason I asked you that is because we have a lot of students who were where you used to be. Yeah. And what made you just keep going forward?

I, I had to. I had to do it for them. I had to do my— I mean, you know, I know it sounds sappy, but I had to do it for my family and I had to turn things around, you know. I, and I knew I could do it deep down, you know. And I knew that there was something that I could, uh, you know, if I figured it out, I could make it happen, you know. So I just kept, kept the, kept the gears grinding, trying to figure out what it was going to be, you know.

So, you know, again, you know, if, if someone is where you used to be, right, pit in that stomach, What would you tell them to keep doing, to keep going?

As far as—

To get through those dark moments.

Get through the dark moments. Just know that, I mean, it gets better. I mean, there is the flip side. I mean, it's not the end just because you failed or feel like a failure. Doesn't mean that okay, well that's that's all there's meant to be.

Yeah.

You know, everyone's got it in them to be more. Everyone's got it in them to to be successful. So just keep pushing through is all I can say, man. I mean, I thought that I could never make it. You know, I thought I could never make it just because it just felt so you know like a Failed so many times,

you

know, for so long. So it's like, yeah, it was running out.

You know, again, thank you for being so vulnerable. And I just, I ask, you know, you students to share these moments. So people, I think people feel like, you know, notaries that are successful always had it so good. They came from the best spot and it's like everyone kind of starts at the bottom and you build your way to the top. And so thank you. So let's kind of transition because I think this next part of your journey is just as inspiring. So looking at the income numbers, you, you You became a student in 2023. First year you finished at roughly $27,000. If I do the quick math, that's roughly $2,000 a month. How did you look at this business and say, 2 grand a month is gonna keep me motivated to keep going to year number 2 and ultimately year number 3? And the reason I said, before you ask, is we have— I have so many students who email me, Mark, I only made $2,000, I'm quitting the business. What was your mindset? You know, I have students who are like, Mark, I made $25,000 this year, this business just isn't for me. Could you imagine if you threw in the towel 2, 3 years ago?

Yeah.

So my question to you is mindset. Why did you not look at $27,000 your first year? Because you just shared with me the bills were piling up, so $27,000 isn't getting you out of debt per se. So my question to you, and it's a mindset to inspire other people Is why didn't you quit at this $2,000? Why didn't you look at it as a negative that you only made $2,000 a month in your first year?

Because $27,000 wasn't zero. I mean, $27,000 to me, $2,000 a month built off something that I had knew nothing— I knew nothing about it a year before. Now all of a sudden here I am, I'm making $2,000 a month, um, with my own notary business. So I knew that if I could make $2,000 a month, $27,000 a year, the next year I can double that. You know, I, I, it's gonna, it's gonna happen. I, I, I just didn't let myself get discouraged because $27,000 to me was better than the $0 I was making as a realtor. And I, I pulled, you know, I made that happen. I, I built that business from scratch, from zero. You know, I started out with zero and to build $27,000 in the first year was— I felt that it was success to me. You know, it wasn't, it wasn't going to the bank and paying debt.

Yeah. Let's unpack that because I think there's so many great nuggets in here is, you know, what you did was you compared you to you. And I think a lot of people don't. They compare them to someone else making $50,000, $75,000. So, I think the first mindset change I hope everybody makes if they're in the same situation that you are making $2,000 your first year is it was me versus me. Like, and me versus zero was freaking amazing. Like, $2,000 versus zero.

Right.

What else I heard, which I thought was really cool, is like, I took— I was present enough to realize that I started from scratch. Like, I knew nothing about being a notary. One year later, I made $27,000. What you did was you gave yourself credit. And I don't think enough students do that. It's like, I only made $800 this month. Well, 3 months ago you knew nothing about the business. And so it's not giving yourself credit for your accomplishments. Right. I agree. I think that's something else that you did that I hope other people glean from. So, and I think the third thing, you know, is your ability to keep your blinders on. Like, and let me, let me say it differently. What I heard also was really accountability. Like, I was able to build this in a year. Imagine if I gave myself another year. And so you knew that there'd be compounding effects to your effort, which I don't think a lot of students give themselves to. Like, well, I only made 10 grand in 6 months. Well, you now have 10 grand worth of experience, so you're now not starting at zero, you're starting at 10 grand of experience, and that starts compounding. It sure does.

Yeah, exactly. You know, that's exactly what it is, because figure if I start from zero and I get to $27,000 by the end of the year, now beginning of the next year I'm starting at a base of $27,000 and I'm working off of that, right? And, you know, and so on. So, and I did, I compare myself to everyone else thinking, man, how can they make, you know, $10,000 a month and I'm only making $2,000 a month? I think, well, If they can, I can. I can do this. You know, it's I'm no different than anybody else out there. You know, I'm I'm I have nothing special about me. It's just you know, I wanted it. I knew it was out there. I built it from scratch, and I wanted to keep doubling it. That was

the what I I want everyone to hear that too. It's like if They can, then why can't I? If they can do it, I can do it. I think too many times students see someone else's success as their failure, where you see someone else's success as your inspiration, as your barometer. Not a barometer on what I can't do, on a barometer of what I can do. I hope everybody heard that mindset. Yeah. It's a beautiful thing, man. Okay. Anything you want to add to that?

Um, it's just, you know, you said it perfectly. I mean, it's just that if, if I see that they can do it, I know I can do it. I mean, it, it's just, uh, um, gosh, I, I know, I, I know, I guess my mindset is I can always be more, you know. I can always be more.

I can always be more. I like— okay, in that statement alone This is the second time I've heard the word accountability without you saying it. I know I could be more. So what that, what I hear in that statement is if I keep putting in the work, I will have the outcome. And I think a lot of times students just kind of see this, these people making $10,000 a month and not understanding the work they put behind that.

Sure.

You see someone making $10,000 a month, you go, okay, I know they're busting their tail, talking to every signing service, talking to every title company. I'm not matching that effort. So if I just continue to match that effort, I'll get where they are. Again, I love, I love what you just said there. You know, I want to go to year number 2. So year number 2. So year 1, you did $27,000. Looking at my notes over here, year number 2, you did $60,000. So you basically doubled your income. What changed in 2023 to 2024?

My efforts changed. I mean, I put more work into Trying to promote my direct work, direct business.

Yeah.

So because majority of my business is signing service, so I'd like to go more direct. I push for more direct, but I tell you, I mean, you want to know what I did, how to get to that point, right? I mean, as far as the work that started it all, getting on the phones, I called signing services. I spoke to them. I said, hey, this is who I am. This is where I live. And I want to be your guy. You know?

So what I heard there, Jeremy, is, you know, year 2, year 1 almost proved to you that this was a real business.

Yes.

Year 2 was like, ah, I got to double out my effort. I got to do more promotion. I got to call more people.

Yeah.

Year 3, you do $106,000, $107,000 year ending 2025. What clicked in 2025 for you? What clicked in that 3rd year?

Um, what clicked in that 3rd year? I guess,

um— Or let me ask you differently, you know, is it— was it also just maybe a compounding effect? Of all the efforts you put previous, like walk people through that.

Yes, I believe, you know, it's compound effect. You know what you just said, it's— that was a result of the work that I put in in year 1 and year 2, uh, the time on the phones, getting my name out. If they don't know it, if they don't know you're there, they don't know to give the business to you. You know, you have, you have to be known. You have to have your name out there. They've got to know who you are and where you are to give you the business. So that my efforts, I believe, were all starting to come together. The relationships I built with the signing services, a lot of them, they know my name. And so, you know, I got to know some of them, quite a few of them personally. You know, I've been on the phone with them and, you know, and I proved myself. I work hard. I make sure the job's done good. Double, triple check all my work, um, and I want them to, to look at me and be like, man, that's the one I want closing my file,

right?

You know, so I, I, I believe it's all a compound effect, and the more that happens, the more I want to get out there and get my name out there more, the more people I want to call.

Well, I think you said something that I, that I think is too often overlooked. I want to make sure my work is great. Even in year 3, you're still double, triple checking your work. What I hear is someone who takes a lot of pride in their business. Yeah, I hear somebody who who cares about their business. Am I off base on that? Talk about that more.

That's for sure. I mean, I still, I still feel that, you know, sick to my stomach if I, if all of a sudden something pops in my head and I think, oh my God, I think I forgot to do this. Or I get an email and it error in the subject line. I'm thinking, oh my God, it makes me feel sick. You know, what did I do wrong? You know? And so, and I bust my tail just to make sure I fix it quick. You know, I make sure that, hey, I messed up. Everyone messes up. I know I'm going to mess up again. I just make sure that I fix it right away. You know, I want to be—

This customer service, I don't know if even that's the right word, the pride. Because again, you know, do you see yourself as a partner of the signing service, of the title company? I'm trying to figure out the mindset behind this perfectionism because it has to be more than just Earning another signing fee is my guess. Walk people through that.

Yeah. I mean, I want the repeat business from them. I want to, I'm not only representing my own business, I'm representing their business, the signing service. So I'm an extension of them when I'm out there in the field and I'm doing the work. So yeah, I want to make myself look good. I want to make them look good. The more I make them look good, the more they're going to come back to me. So I want them to believe in my work. Um, and, and, and I wanna, you know, I wanna help my business grow. I wanna help their business grow. The more, you know, it's all a compound effect. The more their business grows, the more my business is gonna grow.

Right.

You know?

So you wanna— Oh, I love that. And then I'm gonna stop you right there. Again, I want people to hear that. I mean, it was such a good nugget. The more their business grows, the more my business grows. You understand that if you execute the perfect closing, you're actually in turn helping them get more business from their customers. You're a small cog in that wheel of a flawless, right? Closing as a flawless loan, flawless home purchase. And you realize if you're just a little cog in what they do to get repeat business, that in turn gives you repeat business. And I don't think enough notary public loan signing agents think of you, themselves, as a reason their current client could get more business. Right. It's almost a real myopic POV. I'm just the notary. I didn't hear that at all. I'm more than just a notary. I'm an important piece to their earning more business. And if they earn more business, I earn more business.

Sure.

Yeah, absolutely incredible. I mean, I'm so proud of the business you've built, man. I mean, to do this in a town of 30,000 people, to do this in Michigan— again, you're not in Texas, California, Nevada, Arizona, California. You're in Michigan, right? And like, you're kind of in like the middle of the state Michigan. You're not in Detroit.

Yeah, I'm right up against the, you know, I'm right up against Lake Michigan here. So, I've only got north, east, and south of me. I have nowhere to go west.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're an inspiration, man. You know, let's, let's move to what I think is probably the best piece of this conversation. That's like, look, you've built a very good business for yourself, right? In 2026, you're going to do even more than $107,000 according to the projections that I see here.

Sure. Yep.

So, what is the best piece of advice? Like, let's just say your best friend is in Tennessee. Like, oh my gosh, Jeremy, I just saw you're on the road with Mark. What is the number one piece of advice you can give another notary? There's a million, but I want you to boil down your success to one piece of advice to help another notary grow theirs. What would it be?

Definitely. And I've done this. I've talked to other students that, uh, that I've become friends with. And my biggest piece of advice when you're starting out as a notary, there's a list of 300+ signing services on the website here, uh, on the group. Print that out. I want you to sit down at your desk. I want you to call every single number on that list. Talk to— if you can get through, talk to them. Introduce yourself. Tell them, you know, hey, this is who I am. Um, this is the area I'm in. I want to be your person. Um, you know, I'm part of the LSS system. Um, and hey, give me a shot. Go through there. Leave a voicemail if they don't answer. Mark it down. Follow up. Um, send an email, follow-up email. Go through that whole list. I took 2 and a half weeks when I first started and I didn't stop until I went through that whole list. And that's the first thing. First thing first, just get your name out there.

Let me just stop you there. What a great piece of advice. So, you know, in the LSS course, we give you a list that community creates, not me. Everybody writes in signing services that give notaries business. He took that list and he literally called every single one. What I love what you just said too, and I hope everybody heard this. Is not everyone's gonna answer the phone. So you leave them a voicemail. Uh, not everyone's gonna return your voicemail. So you email them. And it kind of goes back to what you said in the beginning of the conversation, which was like, no one's gonna know. I think I, I, I wanna paraphrase. No one's gonna hire if they don't know where you live and who you are. And so,

yeah,

you're in a little town in Michigan, right? 30,000 people. I would call that small. You literally called the signing services in California and in Washington and in Florida and in New York.

Yep.

Again, some people are going to look at you like, well, why would I call those signing services in Texas when I live in Michigan? And the answer is it doesn't matter where they are. They could be doing business in Michigan.

Exactly. Yeah.

Let me ask you this too. Right. And so you made the phone calls, like you said, 2 and a half weeks. I mean, that's dedication. Hope everyone heard that. Is it also kind of my, my guess that you used, because you did this right when you started. Is it my guess that you also used the phone calls as an opportunity to kind of perfect your script? So you, when you went direct, you're like, I've said this exact thing 300 times. So it gives you— so it was a kind of a stair step to the rest of your business as far as walking back.

Right. Yep. And basically, like you said, it's practice, you know, getting, uh, getting the, uh, I guess the script down.

Yeah.

And so that when I first started marketing myself to title companies, you know, it's a whole different set of nerves. You're walking in, you're face to face with them, and you got to remember what's going to come out of your mouth without making yourself look like a fool and feel silly. You know, I mean, you don't want to embarrass yourself. So yeah, it's practice to get you to help get out there and let it flow. You know, just kind of, you know what you're going to say, you know what you got to say, you know what they're looking for is what it is. You know, you find out what title companies, what signing services, but what, what they want out of a notary. And so you go in and that's what you offer. So,

and so, but I love the systematic way of getting to that point. I'm going to call every single signing service up. I'm going to offer my services, say the 4 or 5 same bullet points, see what lands, see what doesn't land. What else I heard in there is like mark down. Who didn't answer the phone and call them again. Like it was very systematic. And I think sometimes notaries go through that list without a system, without a follow-up process and without an ability to be like, they didn't answer. I'm calling them back. How many times, some signing services, how many times did you call them before they picked up the phone?

Oh gosh. Um, I would say I could probably have called them 10 times before, at least. Before they pick up the phone, you know, they're gonna get a voicemail. They might just not need me yet, or, you know, they might be too busy to take the phone call. So at some point, they're not going to be too busy to pick up my phone call and say, hey, you know, hey, I've got your message. Let me hear what you're about. Who are you and what do you have to offer?

The reason I have these conversations is to get inside the mindset of a successful student. 10 times, same phone number. I will get students like, Mark, I've called 2 times, no one answered. I'm like, call them again. Like, that's the between a $100,000 a year notary and the notary who goes on the chat boards and say the business is slow. You live in a small town, middle of Michigan, up against Lake Michigan, and you're making $100,000 a year. But the point I say that in redundancy is because it's not on accident. There was a lot of effort. It's intentional. Good word. And what I love too is, and I'm trying to remember, is like there's multiple signing services you called 10 times, you said.

Right.

People see you and go, oh, it's luck. It has nothing to do with luck. Zero.

No, no.

And what I love is they— I wrote this down looking at my notes here— is they may not need me yet.

Yep.

Yet is the word. And that is, that is that mentality of someone who just realizes I'm going to keep leaning on them because there'll be a moment they're gonna have a signing in Michigan. It may not be today, may not be tomorrow, but maybe 3 months from now. And so if you're watching this in Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, saying it's slow, it's not slow. You're just not putting in the work. You're just not putting in the work.

Exactly.

If you're in a small town, I mean, let Jeremy be inspiration. It's like they might not need a signing in Norton, Virginia. I mean, Norton, Michigan, but there will be a time they may need me.

Yes.

My bet too is let's give some small town advice here. My bet is when you're calling these signing services up, it's like, look, I live in Norton. That's where my address is, but I'll travel 60 miles to Grand Rapids. I'll travel whatever. So part of the conversation is allowing them to know how far your radius is. And if you just let them catch you on a digital profile, they'll never know you'll go to Grand Rapids or whatever. Right. And so part of the phone call, and I want to talk to small town notaries. Is you're letting them know verbally, like, if you need something in Grand Rapids, I got you, or wherever the towns are that you'll want to travel to.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm in North Shore, North Shore, Michigan here, Muskegon. Um, this— I, I'll travel up to, you know, hour and a half, 2 hours. You know, you let me know what you have and hey, I'm here. You know, what else do I have to do when I'm starting a business? What else do I have to do? Take what you can get, start building your business, getting the experience in, right? It's about building from the ground.

Yeah. If there's a small town notary, we have a lot of them, right? Yeah. What would your advice be to them to keep pushing, to keep building, to not have limiting beliefs that— I mean, because truth be told, the biggest city next to you, I think, is Grand Rapids within a vicinity of driving. And Grand Rapids, truth be told, is not that big, right? It's not Detroit. It's not Dallas, it's not Los Angeles. So my question to you to help other small town notaries is what would be some advice, mindset to these notaries who go, oh, I only have 30,000 people in me. I only live by a town that has 250,000 people. What would be your advice to build a business or mindset to have them keep going? Take the floor.

Well, just don't be afraid to, uh, You know, go out. Don't be afraid to work outside of, uh, I guess most people set boundaries for themselves, you know. Don't be afraid to push yourself, um, to travel a couple hours. Um,

why? So, so you said something that people are going to cringe at. I know, I know why, but I want to hear from you is why would you take those signings that are 2 hours away? What does that build?

That it's going to, what it's going to build is a relationship with that signing service. That's the main thing. You're going to build that relationship with the signing service. So down the road, they're going to pick you for that, that signing that's down the road, a mile down the road. Right.

Watch, rewind this right here. A lot of students, that's what's missing from their business plan is when they start, it's like, why would I take a 2-hour signing? It's not about the 2-hour signing. It's about building a bridge.

Right.

Towards a relationship because you bailed them out because you went 2 hours for $90, but they're gonna call you for the signing that's 5 minutes away, 10 minutes away. And they're gonna start calling you for all the signings within your region. And again, this is what successful notary public loan signing agents do. What you do is you think long-term, not short-term.

Sure. That's what you gotta do. It's all, yeah, it's all, it's all building blocks. It's compounding, you know, everything's building off what you did last. You know, so the impression you make now is going to build your business down the road. So make those relationships, prove yourself, show what you can do, and they're going to come back after you and they're going to say, hey, you did a great job 2 hours away. I got one down the road for you. You know, let's do it. Let's work together.

Are you communicating to especially the small town notaries? And even if you're in a big town notary in LA or something, or Seattle, or, you know, Denver, they remember those moments you bailed them out. Is that what you're telling students? I mean, fellow community members. You know, after 3 and a half years of being in the business, like, that can't be a more true statement that they remember.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Oh yeah, there's been plenty of times I've bailed out a signing service title company, and it's like last minute they call and say, hey, you know, we need this to get done, can you help us? And hey, let me know what I can do. You know, it might be an hour and a half away and it might be 8 o'clock at night, but you know what, you got to do it and get it done and help them out. And you might not make anything off it, but You're not making anything off it right now.

That's right.

It's down the road.

That's right. And that's what people don't understand. It's like when you go to a restaurant, you're like, you don't like the food and you throw the food away. It costs the restaurant $10, but you know what? You're probably going to come back. And that's where the long-term thinking is that too many notaries have this short-term thinking of like, oh my gosh, you know, I'm not going to take that order for $40 when you're bailing out the signing service because the previous notary messed up on the quitclaim deed. They only have $40 left in the file. You take it. They're appreciative. And now they're giving you a call when they had the next $125 signing.

Exactly. That's, that's the way it goes. That's the name of the game. I mean, it's, it's a good feeling, you know, but yeah, I feel I'm helping them out and I know they're going to turn around and pat my back, you know.

You know, let's wrap up this conversation with one of my favorite questions I ask all you successful students. And that is like, you know, I don't want to use, I don't like the word regret because I feel like we learn from every moment. But if you could build this business over again from day one, knowing what you know today, Is there anything you would have done different in the beginning of your business to maybe help you escalate faster? What would that be to help somebody else?

I, what I would have done differently is out of the gates, probably walking into title companies, spend 3 weeks walking into 300 title companies and introducing myself saying, hey, this is who I am. I want to work with you guys. So go direct.

Okay, let me stop you there. I love that. But, but let's, let's talk about the mindset. So,

oh,

so your biggest regret is basically you didn't go direct sooner, right? But, but there had to be something that held you back that ended up not becoming true. This is why you wish you would've went direct sooner. What were some limiting beliefs that you had? Now looking back, you're like, that was just me just being limiting beliefs. What were, what were holding you back early? Oh yeah.

I guess fear was holding me back early. Fear of getting myself out there and embarrassing myself. Fear of failure. You know, I didn't want to let— I didn't want to fail myself. I didn't want to fail my family. So, you know, I— that kind of held me back a little bit from jumping into it and really going, you know, gung-ho, is that I just— the fear of failure.

So let me hear this straight. Let me make sure I understand. This is like The fear of failure of like, you know, let me rephrase that. Cause I think it was probably the fear of being new and being new meant you would fail. It's kind of like, right, knock some dominoes down. You're like, you called up the signing services and you, you wish you would've went direct because you're like in your mind, well, I'm brand new. Brand new equals I'll probably mess up. Mess up means failure. So if we just kind of broke that fear down to really the fear of being new.

Yeah.

Are you communicating that like it wasn't— you made the business of being a notary public loan signing agent bigger than it really was? Walk through that.

Um, I guess like you said, the fear of being new. Um, you know, I felt like, you know, no one's gonna give me work just because I'm new, you know. Uh, you know, um, I'm just a green notary. Who's gonna want me? Who's gonna, who's gonna give me the job? So that did hold me back quite a bit just because I thought most signing services, they're going to want the experience. So I had to prove myself. So I guess I had to work harder at proving myself to these title companies, to these signing services. And in the beginning, I guess I didn't get that, I suppose. I mean—

And that's what you're helping people with right now. It's like,

yeah.

So what I guess I'm hearing is you wish You would have realized being new was just a limiting belief and that— keep going.

Yeah, it's just limiting belief. I mean, there are so many signing services out there that will give a notary— if you've never done one, they are willing to help you. They will walk you through it. They're on the phone, they'll tell you. They're so helpful. People think that these signing services are gonna just Turn them away or the

title companies. Because again, your regret is you wish you would have went direct sooner. The limiting belief is that you had to have all this experience,

right?

And so are you telling the audience that like that was just a limiting belief?

Right. Because it was just a limiting belief because they need me. And, and I know that now, you know? And so I, I guess going back, I would have pushed myself a little more, a little further, um, because I know that they need me, you know, they, they need me to help them. Um, and, and I thought being new to it, yeah, they're not going to want me, I don't know enough, you know, they've got, they've got their, they've got their people already, right? That's the main thing.

That's the limiting belief. That's right. And like, why would they hire a newbie? And You know, I can tell people till my face turns blue that there's a shortage of notaries. A bunch of notaries don't walk in all these title companies. Even if I say that as your, your notary coach, you still have this limiting belief that Mark is not telling the truth. And you realize when you went into title companies, wow, Mark was actually being honest. They do need us.

It's surprising. Yeah, you'll be surprised. They're like, you know, you think that, okay, I'm gonna go in, I'll be the backup to their backup to their backup. You know, when all of a sudden you turn around and you'll get a phone call, be like, "Hey, we need you to help us out here." Like, wow, that was quick. You know, it happens. It you know, it's surprising. So yeah, it's it's a limiting belief thinking that they don't want you, they don't need you. So go in there, talk, introduce yourself. They're going to call you. They need you. You know, they need you, and it's gonna happen. So yeah, you got. I know it's hard. It was hard for me to wipe that out of my mind, but. But looking back now, yeah, it's easy. It comes easy to me. But no, try to get it outta your head if you can. I love it.

Let's wrap up with this. Yeah, let's wrap up with this. There's gonna be some people who say, oh, he was a realtor, so of course it was easy for him. He was in sales, of course it was easy for him. You stated a few times earlier that you were at fear walking into title companies. Yeah. And so walk people through that. How did you get through that fear? And don't just say, I did it. I did try to help people like your mental mindset. But I mean, walk people through that because there's gonna be some people who shake their head at this video. Oh well, Jeremy was a, a career realtor, so he just must have been easy walking into these title companies. Even though you just said that I had limiting beliefs that they're not gonna need me. But is it necessarily true that you have no, no nerves walking into these?

No, I had 100% nerves, man. I mean, being a realtor, I don't think, you know, it maybe gave me a leg up on knowing some of the documents, but as far as everything else, as a realtor, I didn't even know that they needed a notary to close these files. Okay. I mean, I had no knowledge. So it gave me no leg up in that, in that sense, because I didn't even know they needed a notary to close these files. I just thought, hey, these title companies, They've got their escrow officers, they close the files. That's how it happens. And I had no idea until one day I thought, man, there's got to be more. And so I did some research, came across it, said, hey, there's got to be something here. So no, it didn't give me a leg up. So I had a bunch of nerves going into these title companies because, you know, I wasn't going in as a realtor, I was going in as a notary, and I knew nothing about it, you know. Mm-hmm. I tried, you know, try to have some confidence in yourself, but, you know, going in that I've never done this before. I'm telling them something that I'm going to do that I don't know if I can do it, you know. Yeah. It's scary, but, you know, you think, okay, what's the worst that can happen? You know, is the fear of not paying the next bill bigger than the fear of walking in and talking to this representative? And saying, "Hey, I'm here for you. This is what I have to offer you. Let me help you." You know, and they might not need you now. It might be down the road, but you have to plant the seeds. You have to talk. You have to get your name out there. If they don't know you're there, they don't know to give the work to you. It's just simple as that. I know it's tough, but you gotta you gotta get past. You know, like I said, there's a couple different kinds of fears. Fears of you know which one's worse? Not paying the bills. Or walking into the title office. That's the way I looked at it.

Yeah, no, I love it. Okay, do me a favor and read that quote to the— to your— to your right.

Oh, if you want what you've never had, you have to do what you've never done.

Yeah, that's a great way. You got a great way to end this episode. Go out, build your bid, Jeremy. I'm so proud of what you build out in Michigan, dog. Let's go.

Appreciate you, Mark.

Dude, you're so welcome. You're so welcome and proud of you, man. You probably don't hear that enough, but I'm just Proud of what you built. Thank you for being such a good representative of Loan Signing System in the community.

Yeah. Appreciate it. Thanks for being such a wonderful coach. Best in the business.

Well, I'm going to get you back on when you own a signing service. Until then, brother, let's go. Thank you, man. Bye.

All right. See you later.