- How a Mobile Notary Business runs on Virtual Office Services
- Setting up Your Own Mobile Notary Business
- How COVID-19 Accelerated the Mobile Notary Industry
Q: Is a notary business profitable?
A: Yes! With recent shifts toward remote services, demand for mobile notary businesses have surged. Mobile notaries can expect to earn on average $60,000 per year. Below we detail how Jamar has grown his mobile notary business during a global pandemic into a stable, profitable business.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to remote and mobile businesses. Even the most traditional of industries—like the banking and legal industries—were forced to adopt new work models in order to keep business going through lockdown measures.
While need for office space stopped, need for legal and notary services did not. This gave rise a new trend in the legal industry:
Mobile and remote notary services.
With notaries unable to meet clients in their offices due to government measures, they began to rid themselves of their office space and started to travel to their clients’ homes.
The Switch to Remote: New Opportunities in Mobile Notary Services
While, undoubtedly, most professionals struggled—and continue struggling—as a result of the pandemic, many professionals found new opportunities to keep their businesses afloat. In the case of notaries, they saw an immediate need to move their services to the road in order to continue meeting the needs of existing and potential clients.
In fact, mobile notaries have reported an approximate 30% increase in business since government shutdowns went into effect.
Not only did notaries see an uptick by offering a more personalized notary service, but they also experienced another significant benefit:
Charging a higher fee for traveling to their clients’ homes.
Fun fact: mobile notaries can expect to earn as much as $60K per year.
Charging a higher fee for services delivered at home is not uncommon, and during the pandemic, this enabled many notaries to continue running a successful business—this is especially true of professionals that canceled their leases and instead decided to operate remotely.
Mobile Notaries Are The Way of the Future
Authorities quickly took note of the move towards more remote and mobile practices. Shortly after lockdown measures went into effect, many states signed executive orders that allowed documents to be notarized virtually.
It’s worth noting that even prior to the pandemic, some states already allowed for remote notarization services.
The National Notary Association reported in March, 2020:
Due to the stay-at-home orders issued in many states and the Centers of Disease Control social distancing guideline of keeping 6 feet apart from another person, additional states have issued temporary authorizations for Notaries to perform RONs, remote ink-signed notarization (RIN) or other remote communication options for notarizations.”
While some states made the authorization temporary, some states have implemented permanent remote online notarization, including:
| Virginia | Ohio |
| Texas | Tennessee |
| Nebraska | Florida |
| Nevada | Idaho |
| Michigan | Kentucky |
| Minnesota | Oklahoma |
| Montana | North Dakota |
As states facilitated the move towards remote notarization, independent notaries and major law firms were better positioned to adapt and evolve their business to meet the needs of their clientele despite social distancing guidelines.
Technology companies, for their part, also took note and identified a new market opportunity:
- DocuSign, a digital signature platform, announced in July of last year that it planned to integrate remote online notary services into its suite of products by acquiring Liveoak Technologies, a video conferencing tool for remote identity verification. About a month ago (March 2021), DocuSign announced its new remote online notarization solution, DocuSign Notary.
- Electronic notary startup, Notarize, reported a 600% growth in 2020. Most recently, the company announced $130 million in Series D funding, which has valued the company at $760 million—triple the valuation the company had in March of 2020.
As in many other industries, technology is a key driver of the shift to remote and mobile businesses. Without technology notaries would be unable to do their carry out their responsibilities remotely.
Nows the Time to Embrace Mobility
With social distancing guidelines still in place, the need for mobile notary services is far from over. In fact, with many states implementing permanent remote online notarizations, it’s unlikely that notary services will fully go “back to normal”.
With business solutions like virtual offices readily available, many independent notaries are making the move towards mobile services permanent.
Such is the case of Jamar Ra.
How Jamar Runs a Mobile Notary Business on Virtual Office Services
Jamar has operated a mobile notary business since shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He started his company Mobile Ra LLC, which operates mainly in Chicago, back in 2019.
Prior to Mobile Ra LLC, Jamar worked as an Uber and Lyft driver for about 5 years. Eventually, he grew tired of the long hours, the OK pay, and having little autonomy; he became disheartened by the constant changes, the cuts, and the increasing pressure on his earnings.
He needed a change.
And so, he began to take courses on how to become a mobile notary, inspired by Mark Wills—a highly successful notary.
Once he finished his courses, he officially became his own boss and started his notary business. Soon after, the pandemic hit.
While his business was initially impacted, that impact did not last long, and Jamar now says business is booming, taking between 4 to 8 appointments per day.
How Jamar Ra Has Leveraged a Virtual Office
To help get the business going, Jamar made the business decision of leveraging a virtual office.
Virtual offices helped Mobile Ra LLC by:
- Providing access to a renowned business address, even while he worked from home.
- Establishing a more legitimate, professional image for existing and potential clients.
- Allowing Jamar to maintain more privacy.
- Listing his business address online without worrying people will know where he lives.
- Avoiding the possibility of a client showing up on his door.
- Satisfying banking requirements to set up a business account.
- Satisfying requirements to set up his business as an LLC.
- Providing a place, that’s not his home, to receive business mail.
- Jamar typically collects his mail after meeting with clients. However, Alliance Virtual Offices also offers a mail forwarding service.
- Providing access to a business number through a VoIP system.
- This makes it easier for him to disconnect from work during the weekend—he’s not worried about missing a business call on his personal number.
- Providing top-quality customer service through a live receptionist that takes calls on behalf on him and his business.
- Alliance Virtual Offices’ live receptionists are trained to answer calls with a customized greeting, and they take messages so that clients can follow up on leads.
- Keeping overhead costs lows. Virtual offices are an affordable workplace solution when compared to a traditional office.
- A full office doesn’t make sense for a mobile business. Jamar is constantly on the road visiting clients at their homes. The cost of operating a full office—utilities, a lease, office equipment, facilities management—is not warranted.
- Providing access to office and meeting space.
- So far, Jamar reports he has not needed to take advantage of the office and meeting space provided through his virtual office plan.
How to Set up Your Own Mobile Notary Business with a Virtual Office
If you wish to start your own remote or mobile notary service business, then you may want to consider hiring a virtual office plan to help set up your business.
Below are some steps you can take to start your own mobile or remote business:
| Create a business plan | Register your business |
| Define a budget | Get a virtual office |
| Enroll in notary training or courses | Ensure you have access to the necessary software and mobile technology |
| Take the notary exam if your state requires it | Get a surety bond |
| Pick a name | Get an insurance policy |
1. Create a business plan
A business plan is the roadmap you will follow to structure and set up your business. Business plans typically include the following:
Keep in mind that your business plan should be flexible and you should revisit it often to make sure that your plans continue to be relevant and viable as your business grows.
2. Define your budget
This is one of the most important steps before starting a business of any kind. A realistic budget will help ensure that you start a business that is more likely to thrive. Bear in mind that most new businesses fail within two years for lack of capital or funding.
Before you start spending money, you need to have a clear idea of where it will be spent and prioritize financial commitments.
Here are some costs you should keep in mind when setting your budget:
- Business or entity formation, including costs associated with registering a new company.
- Web Design and Hosting
- Transportation, this is especially important if you plan to regularly travel to your clients’ homes. You need to include vehicle cost, fuel, parking, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation.
- Cost of notary courses, training, and exam.
- Notary supplies like certificates, a seal for stamping certificates, journal, and other supplies for record keeping.
- Technology associated costs—platforms that enable remote notary services like DocuSign, Notary Cam, etc.
- Marketing; this is an important expense for new businesses, as the right marketing campaigns can help drive more leads. Some marketing costs you should keep in mind:
- Online Advertising
- Flyers
- Social media.
- Taxes; your tax obligations will depend on how you register your business.
- Surety bond
- Insurance.
3. Enroll in notary training or courses
Some states require notary training; however, most states encourage voluntary educational courses. You can also find a mentor that is willing to share his or her knowledge with you.
States that require notary training:
When signing up for a training or course, make sure that it is approved by your state.
4. Take the notary exam
If your state requires an exam, you need to make sure that you enroll to take it before officially starting your business.
The following states require notaries to take an exam:
The notary exams typically last about an hour.
5. Pick a business name
Once you’ve passed your exam and you are officially cleared to start offering notary services, you are ready to start thinking about a business name.
Below are some best practices when picking a notary business name:
6. Register Your Business
Related: Using a Virtual Business Address to Set Up Your LLC
7. Get a Virtual Office
If you plan to register your notary business as an LLC, then you will need to have a registered agent. A virtual office can help you with that.
- Access to a renowned business address
- Mail handling and forwarding, to prevent your home from being flooded with spam mail and to keep some level of privacy.
- Live receptionist services, which improve customer service by:
- Answering calls in a professional and personalized manner specific to your business.
- Answering common questions.
- Identifying potential leads.
- Gathering information from vendors, partners, clients.
- Access to a VoIP number:
- Provides access to a toll-free number to make it easy for people to reach you.
- Provides a local phone number, which can help with business credibility.
- Access to flexible, on-demand office and meeting space.
- It can be booked by the hour, half-day, or full day.
- Great business tool for meeting with clients and vendors.
To find a virtual office, you can start by finding a dependable virtual office company, like Alliance Virtual Offices that offers a variety of virtual office solutions and plans.
Once you find a virtual office address that suits you, you can pick a plan based on your current business needs. If your needs change, you can change your plan down the road.
8. Get access to the necessary software and mobile technology
If you plan to operate as a remote or mobile notary, then you need to make sure that you apply to get the necessary commission or authorization dictated by your state. You can find more information about this process at nationalnotary.org.
9. Get a surety bond
The cost of a surety bond depends on the bond amount you purchase. On average, however, the cost falls between 1% to 15% of the bond amount.
10. Get an insurance policy
A Notary Erros and Omissions (E&O) insurance policy protects notaries should they make a mistake or omission while performing their duties. They also protect notaries if anyone file a false claim against them.
The National Notary Organization lists the following benefits of having an insurance policy:
- Protection against financial damages from a notarization mistake or omission filed against your NNA Notary bond.
- Protection against unintentionally violating a law while notarizing.
- Protection against being named in a lawsuit even if you did nothing wrong.
- Protection against an imposter counterfeiting your seal containing your commission information and forging your signature on a document without your knowledge.
Conclusion
Regardless of your industry, one priority for businesses is to cut costs, especially during challenging times like one we are living in today as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
If you want to start a mobile or remote notary business, now is the right time to do it. The industry is booming and demand for a more personalized notary experience is not likely to wane post-COVID. Relying on tech platforms and business resources—like a virtual office—make it not only affordable, but also enjoyable to work remotely.
Take, for example, Jamar Ra.
The savings he has experienced from hiring a virtual office plan vs leasing a traditional office have enabled him to launch a second business as a financial consultant. As a result, he is not only generating more income for himself and his family, but also eliminating many of the downsides of working remotely.
