How to Make 6 Figures a Year as a Notary Public with Mark Ryan Wills

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire brought Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Content is Profit. Today, we'll be breaking down how to make six figures a year as a notary public. To drop these value bombs, I brought Mark Ryan Wills into EO Fire Studios. Mark is the largest notary public coach in America. He has successfully taught over 75 ,000 notary publics how to create a large and profitable business in the notary public space. And we'll talk about exactly what a notary public is, Fire Nation, the steps to becoming one, the startup costs, what exactly the opportunity is, and so much more.

0:46And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Mark and our sponsors. Imperfect Action, hosted by Steph Taylor, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Imperfect Action is a bite-sized online marketing podcast for business owners who want to get straight to the point. Join Steph Taylor as she answers all your business marketing questions. Recent episodes include five must-knows to sell your online course, program, or membership, and four steps to grow your email list for your next launch. Listen to Imperfect Action wherever you get your podcasts.

1:16Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Mark, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's going on, Fire Nation? So excited to be here. So if I may, John, I'd like to maybe speak to online course creators because I think that's something that kind of goes against the grain in our industry.

1:57Being that I'm an online course grader, I think what the biggest key to being successful is understanding that you don't need to be an expert to help humans and to have a successful online course. So what do I mean by that? I think there's a lot of course creators who have this limiting belief that they need to be an expert in order to launch their online course. And so my favorite analogy is you do not need to be a 12th grader to a third grader. So what I mean by that is it's remembering that a fourth grader is a rock star to a third grader. Your job isn't necessarily to be have exponentially more knowledge than the person trying to help you just need to have a little bit of more knowledge.

2:39For the person trying to help. And so I think a lot of online course graders or think about doing their course have a limiting belief that they need to be this expert, expert, expert, when they just need to be a little bit smarter than whoever they're trying to help because to that person that can change their life. And so my biggest thing on being accessible online course, creator, that most people would disagree with is you don't need to be an expert. You just got to be a little bit more knowledgeable than the person you're trying to help and then help that person with the knowledge that you have.

3:06Fire Nation, another way of looking at this is one chapter ahead. Guess what? Your teacher in high school wasn't this brilliant person. They were just one chapter ahead of you in the school book. And so they sounded smart because they knew what they were talking about, but they were just one chapter ahead. So that's why we're going to be talking today about how to make six figures a year as a notary public. And first off, what exactly, Mark, is a notary public and how lucrative can a notary public really be? Yeah, man, I think everyone knows the phrase notary public, but essentially what that is, is a commissioned officer of the state you live in.

3:44So our job as a notary public is just to make sure there's no fraud on identifying another party. So if someone's signing a piece of paper, A notary essentially identifies them through the training the state provided, and they throw their stamp on the piece of paper, and it is notarized. And so, you know, a lot of people think kind of old school, and they think a notary public, oh, they charge$2 per signature. Oh, they make$5 per signature. But a notary public, if you know how to garner business, I have students who make over seven figures a year every year with a notary placement, a notary business.

4:20But a little more ground level than that, man, is a lot of people don't understand or don't know is probably a better way of saying that, that every real estate piece of property in America, a notary has to be on that transaction in order for it to close. That's how they prevent fraud and real estate transactions. So every home in America, a notary has to be attached to that. And then if you're a notary public who understands loan documents, you're called a notary signing agent. And so notary signing agents that are attached to these mortgage closings. So every mortgage closing in America, notary is attached to, and they're making on average $150 for watching the borrower sign their loan documents.

5:01So if anybody in Fire Nation has ever had a home closing and had a mortgage, they sat across from that notary. And a lot of people don't see on the closing statement that that notary made$150. And so on a street level view, a notary is making$100 per mortgage closing appointment. And a good notary closer, which is called a notary signing agent, could do anywhere from like eight to 10 a week. And you can make an$80 ,000 with a part-time business pretty simply. Yeah. I remember needing a notary not too long ago and I was able to just go online and I found the right notary. And she was a very sweet woman, but guess what?

5:41she was literally holding her baby, rocking her baby to sleep, who was still kind of whining, you know, in, in eight minutes, we went through the necessary things and she was very nice and it was a good interaction. And then boom, I had the notary public loan signing and whatever the fee was, like it was not cheap. I mean, it was pretty high. And I'm like, I remember getting off the call and being like, wow, like she's able to be at home holding her, her newborn, make, making money literally like, like, and then she was jumping on another call right after that. I was like, wow, that's really interesting.

6:11Now, knowing the market size, Mark, I mean, this is critical when you're going into a specific field. So let's get specific. How large is the market size for a notary public? Yeah, man, that's a good question. So, you know, the cool thing about being a notary, and I call them notary entrepreneurs, you know, and so the notary entrepreneurs understand that there's many different ways to take advantage of your notary commission to make money with. And so I tell people the broadest way of understanding that this is there is 1.2 billion notarizations a year in America. That is with a B, not an M. To even fathom how many notarizations that is, it's really hard to really grasp your head around.

6:53And that every single one of those opportunities for a notary to make money and impact their family. And so from a notarization standpoint, it's insane. I really specialize in teaching notaries how to make money in the lucrative real estate industry. Because again, that's where the real money is as a notary. And there's, you know, last year alone, there was 4.3 million homes that sold in America. There was millions of refinances that occurred. And on all those mortgage transactions, notaries are literally making$150,$200 a pop for every one of those transactions. So whether you're a notary who specializes in the mortgage industry, and that's what I specialize in coaching.

7:29or you're a notary out there trying to figure out how to do work with nursing homes or estate planners or field inspections or being a wedding official. There's so many different ways that the notary can monetize that the average person doesn't know about. And that's what I love about you, John, is you're trying to get all these different ways that, you know, that the entrepreneurs can be out there to help their families. And being a notary entrepreneur is just so low on the radar. And I don't know why I have so many students who make six figures a year. I have so many stay at home moms who are making an extra thousand dollars a month to help the family with some bills.

8:01And this notary niche does not need to be looked over anymore. So I'm super excited about sharing this with your community. Well, I think there's some people in Fire Nation who are super excited to learn more, and I don't even know if they would know where to start. So what are those next steps to actually becoming a notary? What does that look like? Yeah. So on a very basic level, to become a notary, you just got to apply with your state. And so like I stated in the beginning, You're a commission officer of the state you live in. Every state in America has a notary public secretary of state is your controlling officer.

8:33But literally in 42 of the 50 states, it's nothing more than an application. Literally like you're applying for a gym membership, you become a notary in your state and only eight states require a test. So it is the barrier to entry is extremely low. It's just literally Googling notary commission, my state, your secretary of state will pop up and then boom, your notary. Now, like anything in life, it's once you have your notary commissioned, you know how to go out and farm the business. And that is either through YouTube, university or a course like mine where I've helped thousands and thousands of notaries.

9:04But on that side, it's just kind of taking the time and investing time to learn how a notary gets attached to mortgage closings, how a notary is used by nursing homes, how notaries are used by estate planning attorneys, how a notary is hired by real estate attorneys. But just to become a notary is as easy as applying for a credit card. Same concept. You just apply it to your state. They do a background check. And then boom, you're notary public commission in your state. Fire Nation, almost anybody can relatively quickly become a notary. But guess what? That's where most people stop. And they sit back and they're like, well, why aren't I making any money?

9:40It's because they don't know what to do next. They don't know how to actually go out and farm business, create relationships, build networks, get a pipeline going. They don't understand the basics. You can become a top one percenter in this field so quickly by learning from people who know how to do these things, by standing upon the shoulders of giants. Mark is one of those giants. He knows how to do this. He has students that are making six, seven figures a year. Think about it. And we have a lot more to talk about around this topic when we get back from thanking our sponsors. If you're a startup up with big goals, then it's important to find a CRM that can keep up.

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11:28Thought Leader is not affiliated with TED or TEDx, but they're able to get these results because their founder, Taylor Conroy, is a four-time TEDx speaker himself and past EO Fire guest. You might be thinking a TEDx talk sounds great, but where do you start? Taylor has put together a free training that's going to teach you how to land a TEDx talk in as little as 90 days. Join Taylor to learn exactly what TEDx organizers are looking for in their speakers, how to write a talk that goes viral once it goes online, and more. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire. Join Taylor for this free training and get your message out of your head, out of your heart, and out into the world where it belongs.

12:07That's thought-leader.com slash fire. Mark, we're back. And it sounds like a lot of people could be a fit for this opportunity. But let's get really specific about who is the ideal person to start this type of business. Well, let me just say it like this. I'll kind of go macro and I'll drill a little more micro. The perfect person to start this business is any entrepreneur who is looking for another way to make some income. You know, whether you're trying to truly scale the six or seven figures, So if you're trying to make an extra three or 400 bucks to ease up what your, your income for the month, but on a real micro level, dude, this is perfect for the entrepreneur.

12:45Why a lot of my students make a ton of money is you got to realize notaries are usually the secretaries of, you know, a construction office or a real estate office or a, um, attorney's office. So my point is, there's not a lot of real entrepreneurs in our industry. I don't know if that made sense, John, but it's like, it's not really flooded with people who really understand marketing, who really understand business plans, who really understand, like you said, relationship building. And so if you're an entrepreneur, like, look, I've been going in all these different industries, but I have the skills of being an entrepreneur.

13:17It is really good to be in the notary industry because your competition isn't necessarily people who are striving to make six figures. It's usually, like I said, somebody who was forced to get through notary commission as a job duty for their boss. And then at nighttime, they're just kind of Googling, how do I make extra money to my notary commission? They're not a real entrepreneur from the sense of, look, I know if I talk to 10 real estate agents, four are going to use me. I know if I go to two networking events, I'm going to find someone there who can help get me to a real estate agent who's crushing it in my town.

13:48And so this is for anybody who's just looking, but speaking to your community who are real entrepreneurs, who have a skillset that is very transferable, The notary industry is wide open for someone who is hungry because again, the majority of notaries are notaries by accident, not with intention. Does that make sense, John? Makes a ton of sense. And so, you know, in our industry, you know, you ask who's this right for? It's right for anyone who is a real entrepreneur who understands like, Hey, teach me what I got to do and I'm going to go execute versus, you know, the majority of our notaries is going to trip into the business.

14:22Like, Like, oh, I heard a notary can make money in the real estate closing industry. Oh, I heard notaries can make money in the estate planning industry. Versus, okay, teach me how, tell me how to jump, tell me how high I got to jump and I'll say hi-ha. And if I can get someone into this community who has that background, it's game over. Because there's not a lot of true entrepreneurs in this industry. Fire Nation, I hope your spidey senses are tingling right now. of the opportunity that is there, because like Mark's talking about, the people that are currently doing these type of things are in this current industry, not all of them, but a lot of them, they don't have any understanding of marketing, of entrepreneurship, of running an actual business, of doing the things that are pretty basic for most marketers, for most online entrepreneurs.

15:10But I do want to talk about startup costs, Mark, because I think a lot of people in Fire Nation like, okay, this could be really interesting to at least try to start and to see if I can make, you know, a couple thousand a month and maybe grow that to, you know, significantly more over time. But is there a big upfront cost? What is that? Yeah, good question. And what makes this business amazing is the barrier to entry is super low because literally the only true startup cost is getting a notary commission and your notary stamp and your notary journal. And then the next step is getting knowledge, whether you take a course like mine or you try to YouTube university, which is free, but it's literally a notary commission, notary journal, notary stamp, a notary bond.

15:53You're literally looking at less than a hundred bucks out the door. And then it's just knowledge. I mean, what's cool about this industry is you're kind of like a physical trainer, right? What's the startup cost of being a physical trainer? You got to know how to make people lose weight or you have to know how to help people gain weight. So the same concept is here it is literally notary commission notary journal notary stamp notary bond and then you're up and running and now it's just a matter of is your knowledge gap there where is your skill level of what you were saying marketing creating relationships you know who to target and again you know you can shorten your learning curve by taking a course like loan signing system or you can go to youtube university either or but it's crazy that you know most people don't understand that these notaries every day are getting hired in these mortgage transactions where they get paid $150 per appointment and you don't need a college education.

16:45You don't need any background in real estate. Everything can be taught. So literally, I don't want to oversimplify, but the true truth is a notary commissionary state, which is minimal cost. And then it's a notary journal, which anywhere from 10 to 25 bucks, a notary stamp, which is about 25 bucks. And then a notary bond, which is usually anywhere in the$35 range. And you're ready to rock once you have knowledge base. And Fire Nation, in a lot of situations, you'll hear me talk about how the higher the barrier, the lower the competition. And this is a situation where it's actually, there's a low barrier, which is not great because just like Mark said, a lot of people can do it for very cheap.

17:24So you can have a massive market saturation when that happens. You can have a lot of people all hustling for the same thing because it's really a low barrier of entry, no college education, under a hundred bucks to start up. But guess what? This is where so many people screw up. they stop after that first step of that startup and they don't ever learn the process. And that's what Mark has. Mark has the process, the knowledge. So, so few people invest that little additional investment to get the skills, the strategies, the tactics, the tips, the tools to actually build a successful business, an actual pipeline of leads, of revenue coming in the door.

18:03So that's where the barrier is actually high is for people learning the right skills. And that's why the competition for the top 1%, those six-figure, and even in a couple of cases, Mark's talking about seven-figure earners, those people are creme de la creme. Yeah, if I can just add to that real quick, John, because I think you nailed it. Where that barrier to entry is low, but where the opportunity is, is there's real no, and I'm speaking specifically to your community, is there's really no true entrepreneurs really until I started teaching notaries how to scale this business. And so even to this day, you know, it's a lot of just, you know, again, secretaries as people are forced to get it.

18:42And they're just kind of like, oh, well, let me do this. But you said it so correctly. And I love it's about leads and lead gen. And so if you understand that bringing that skillset to this industry, it's, it's really an amazing part. And that's why agents who sometimes flip to this side of the business, they do exponentially better than the kind of the normal startup notaries because they're bringing a skill set of building a business, a skill set of learning how to farm leads and then nurturing those leads. And so for the fire community, the fire nation, it's like, if you have that skill set, even though the barrier to entry is very low to get in, that skill set is exponentially more exemplified because you're not really competing against a true entrepreneur from that sense.

19:24So I'm just kind of doubling down on what you said, man. So obviously the people that have taken your course and are now in the six figures and then the truly exceptional ones that have made it to seven figures, they've learned how to scale. What does that look like? Yeah. There's a couple of ways you can look at it. So I'll start with a more micro sense because I have more six-figure notary students than I know. And it's literally, if you want to try to make six figures, you got to do 13 real estate closings a week. Each real estate closing takes about an hour. So you can do the math. It really isn't that difficult to scale to that.

19:56What's difficult. And I don't want to make this sound like a get rich quick skin because it's not. What's difficult is understanding how to build out a business plan. What's difficult and is understanding how to farm leads and then nurture leads. What's difficult is having a good follow-up process. What's difficult is having, you know, actually using a CRM to make sure all of this is organized. And so the fire nation, my guests are like, well, Mark, that's not that difficult because that's kind of what you do with every business. And so it's really a fairly easy business to scale if you understand how to scale a business.

20:30And so, yeah, 10 to 13 closings a week, you're making 80 to 100 grand working literally part time. And for the fire nation who really is like, okay, Mark, I'm not really a guy who wants to be in the trenches. You know, I tell them is you kind of want to start in the trenches so you know how to do it, but you can easily scale this to a no replacement business to where you're just farming the leads and then you're hiring other notaries to fill the work order and then you're splitting the cost with them. So you're paying, you know, let's say notary charges$200 on a real estate transaction or$250 on an estate planning transaction.

21:03You know, you pay the notary a hundred bucks and you're keeping that rest. And so you can scale this up to where you are literally farming out tens of thousands of closings a month and your skillset is bringing in clients. And so that is really the best part about this business. Unlike a real estate agent or mortgage officer, or even other businesses out there. It's tough to scale. Cause we're really, it's, it's a lot of overhead. Our overhead is your boots on the ground. Our overhead is you going to real estate agents. You figuring out how to run maybe some Google ads to garner some traffic of notary near me.

21:37Your skillset is just the overhead. It's just your skillset of getting the loan closings or the notary transactions and then farming those out. And so I actually own a note replacement business. That's what kind of makes me an expert is I just taught people how to scale it. And so now I'm an online course instructor, but it really started with the business that I know very, very well. And I still own actually. So I'm telling you it's scalable because I own a note replacement company. I've been in the trenches, but it's a really cool business because you're where there's really not a ton of overhead.

22:08The transactions are paper based or like you said, online based. And so it's really just kind of taking a loan closing, pushing that email forward to the notary. The notary prints those. They do the closing. They FedEx it back to the title company. It's all out of our hands. So all we're doing is just pushing emails forward, organizing notaries to close transactions. Once a closed transaction happens, we get paid. So whether you're trying to do five closings a week or 5 ,000 closings a week, it's a really scalable business. Fire Nation, you've heard it from Mark. And Mark, if Fire Nation wants to take the next step and they want to learn more, what is your call to action for our listeners today?

22:47Yeah, go to LoanSigningSystem.com. That is LoanSigningSystem.com. I have a YouTube channel if you want more information. Same thing, Loan Signing System. Instagram, Loan Signing System. What I would tell your community, John, is if you're an entrepreneur, this industry on the notary side is ripe for real disruption. and it's ready for entrepreneurs. You want to come in and really understand how to create relationships, farm leads, nurture leads, have a follow-up process. So I'm excited to help anyone in your community because it's one of the best kept secrets in America for income opportunities is nobody thinks about the notary industry.

23:24And so as an online course creator, I was one of the first people in the industry because I'm like, all these notaries need help building businesses because that's not their background. So if you love building businesses, you love farming leads, building relationships, this industry is right for it. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with M, R, W, and J, L, D today. So keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Mark in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. And Mark, one more time, the URL for Fire Nation to learn more.

24:04Loansigningsystem.com. Excited to have everybody help. Anybody, if you have any questions, please, you want to hit me up on Instagram. I'm very, very active. You know, my goal every morning I wake up is to impact another human, whether they take my course or not. It's just all about helping. So please feel free to reach out, DM me, LinkedIn me, whatever. I want to help you understand that this is an industry that most people haven't heard of, but is extremely lucrative for the right person. Mark, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.