Is Now a Good Time to Invest in NSA Classes?

“Should I become an NSA now?” “Is now a good time to start this business?” “Should I take this NSA class now?”

This is one of the questions that’s being asked in one form or another daily in the notary groups on Facebook. In order to answer that, you need to know a few things & then apply them to your own circumstances.

Have you done market research to get an estimate of how much competition you’d face? That’s the first level you need to cross in terms of knowledge. If there are very few competitors and your area has thousands of homes, you’re in a sweet spot. For those of us with many competitors and/or not many homes, the competition is going to be more fierce.

Second level is are you aware of the market conditions? As in, per Fannie Mae’s tracker, refinances are down nationwide about 70% from where they were a year ago. That means there’s a huge drop in the one NSA assignment type that is the bread and butter of NSA work.

As this drop in volume of refinances is due to rising interest rates and the baseline for that is the rate set by the Federal Reserve, your market very likely follows this nationwide trend.

Does that mean purchases, sales, applications, reverse mortgages, and other NSA types of assignments are also down? No, although some of them are.

What it does mean is you’re facing all these established competitors and all those other newbies who are going after a much smaller pool of available work. The established competitors will already have relationships that let them pick up many of the non-refi assignments. But fees are dropping in all lines.

It’s likely that work will be slow for the next 2-3 years. If enough of your competitors give up & go do something else, you might be able to start profitably then. But now?

Unless you have a relevant background that you can use to network for assignments, it’s not a good time to become an NSA.

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As with anything else on this site, please note that I’m not an attorney — nor a CPA or a financial planner. I’m basing what I’ve said here on several published sources that I’ve shared in the notary groups on Facebook when and as they seemed relevant to the NSA business, along with my experience as an NSA for over 20 years. Your circumstances may vary from the nationwide trends. Please consult a professional advisor for an analysis of your business plans.

Please see my articles on business basics for where you might find free or low cost help on your business plans.

On Setting Up Your Notary Business

You can use the free resources on score.org and sba.gov to get a pretty good idea of the steps to take to set up a new business. But nothing beats having your own expert give you professional advice in their area of expertise.

Please consult with your CPA or attorney about the best strategy for your business. They are best suited to help you pick between sole proprietorship, LLC, S-corp, or some other legal structure.

Mine told me years ago that I didn’t need a business license as I’m commissioned to do what I’m doing. On that basis, I’ve never had a license.

As my credit union does not offer business accounts and I don’t want to go back to a bank, I don’t have a business checking account.

Now that I have had time to think about all the stuff I’ve done under my business name, I think I probably did need a license and at least an S-corp and an EIN in that name.

I’ve come to think that my CPA and attorney likely did not understand what being an NSA involves, as it’s partly notary and partly signing agent (which is freelance clerical work). If you do any of the inspections or I-9 or fingerprint work that notaries get asked to do, that’s even further from the scope of just notary work.

So, it’s probably a good idea to set up a legal structure and get a license and EIN for your business before you get too far along. Just consult an attorney or a CPA on the best way to go there, as they are the experts. Random notaries on Facebook or other social media can offer opinions. They can not provide expert guidance — only an attorney or CPA can.

Business Ebook Bundle

One of the most important factors affecting the success or failure of any business is the information that the owner of the business can bring and put to use. So, if you’re running a business, any opportunity to educate yourself on business should be taken, especially if the value of the information is high and the cost is low.

Humble Bundle is offering just such an opportunity right now. It’s a group of ebooks at a great price from a very good publisher.

Follow the link for the details. I’m not making anything off this. Just sharing it because I know how hard it can be to start & run a successful business.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/professional-advice-nolo-books

Some Books for Notary Business

Most of the questions that notaries ask online can be answered by reference to any number of business books.

From getting started with a small business, finding and screening clients, marketing to those screened clients and/or the general public, determining what to charge and many other matters, all these topics have been researched by experts or analyzed by successful men and women. These books contain many different voices and varied focuses, so there should be something for everyone in your local library and/or online.

While you can learn a good deal from online content and in-person classes, there’s always a level of learning that only comes from reading a good book. And having a strong business book collection that you can refer to whenever you need it can keep you out of trouble, especially when your mentor or trainer is not available.

So, which books should be in your collection? Here are some that are on my library shelves. Please feel free to suggest your favorites in the comments.

Notary Best Practices by Michael Closen

Marketing books – including some
by Harry Beckwith

Books on Research and other topics

Small business and freelancing
and other topics

Starting a business, freelancing,
branding and marketing

Training for NSAs – 2020

I encourage people to look at YouTube videos before spending money for training. Not everyone learns the same way.

One person might understand Carol Ray at Notary2Pro better. Another might get more from Bill Soroka at Notary Coach (Sign and Thrive – SnT) or the professionals at the National Notary Association (NNA) or someone else. Some get the most from Mark Wills at the Loan Signing System (LSS). You won’t know which fits your learning style until you spend some time watching their teaching style.

I do recommend Notary2Pro and the NNA. This is based both on having taken their classes and on their acceptance and long standing history in the NSA community.

I do not currently recommend LSS or SnT, as I have not taken their classes.

It’s worth noting that LSS and SnT promote the myth that anyone can make six figures as an NSA and can do so “fast and easy.” They’re part of the wave of new trainers that have flooded the NSA business with so many new people who are driving down fees and causing other issues.

That said, I have to mention LSS and SnT because almost every time the topic of training is raised in notary groups on Facebook, various notaries sing their praises.

Also, I note that Bill Soroka has his Sign and Thrive ebook available for free in the Kindle Unlimited program, and Carol Ray wrote a forward for it. It’s over 200 pages, so that should give you a lot to think about.

Meanwhile, Mark Wills of LSS has a 56 page ebook on Amazon for $3. And LSS is the most expensive option of the trainers I’ve mentioned so far.

There are some notaries of long standing who are doing good work as educators. In this group, I would include Brenda Stone and Laura Biewer.

You can use the search function on Facebook and Google to research any person or firm that offers training for notaries. If their website lacks names and a relevant biographical background for the trainers, you would do well to keep your money and keep looking.

There’s even one person who is offering an online class for $5,000.00 !!!

If you have 5 large to drop on getting trained, send me an email and I will hook you up with all the best training and only charge you 1/2 of that. (LOL)

Seriously, I’m not offering a course. I’m saying you could take the NNA, N2P, Sign and Thrive, and LSS classes — all of them — and have over 1/2 that 5K left. So, some guy promoting a notary class for $5,000 — that’s just highway robbery. There’s no way anyone is offering notary training that’s worth 5K.

I won’t mention any of the other trainers, as they’re either worthless or you will hear about them from their marketing — or both.

For notary basics, I recommend the Notary Essentials class from the NNA. It’s state-specific.

For GNW marketing, I suggest Laura Vestanen’s ebook Notary Marketing 2019 which is available for less than $10 for the Kindle app.

For NSA training, the industry credential is taking the NSA class from the NNA and passing their exam and background check. So, you need that. And you will learn from it. Some folks don’t think much of the NNA classes because they used to be very weak. They’ve gotten better because of competition from N2P and others.

Once you’ve done those NNA classes, I recommend Notary2Pro. That includes mentoring and a vetted list of potential clients, some of whom will use new N2P grads.

Finally, you can learn a lot from the articles here on my website, starting with this page: Notary Tips .

Wherever you get your training, please understand that this business is not for everyone. It takes a certain mindset to make your living doing paperwork where you’re not an employee, but are an independent contractor expert boss of your own time.

Your local library should have books on the entrepreneur mindset and how to figure out if being self-employed fits in with who you are. See my Business Basics article for more help on that.

Good luck. Stay safe. Wash your hands. Carry a whistle and mace. Wear a mask.

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This is a companion piece to my article on Education for NSAs and a follow up to my previous series on NSA training. Please see those articles for more information.

Training in rainbow colors