Every self-employed Notary looks for new service offerings to increase their business. And opportunities can come from just about anywhere.
The Notary Bulletin recently spoke with two successful Notaries who shared their strategies for finding new lines of work — and income.
DNA Witness
Frank Metayer of San Diego, California, started his career as a Notary Signing Agent, but he has never forgotten a mentor’s wise words: “You cannot survive in this business if you’re putting all your eggs into one basket.”
As he built Mobile Notary Express into a nationwide company, he found a new revenue stream providing DNA-collection services. The opportunity came out of the blue when he was contacted by an employee of Viaguard Accu-Metrics, a Canadian company that verifies that American residents are biologically related to family members who want to emigrate to the U.S.
Metayer sends a Notary to the home of the petitioner. The Notary takes along a kit containing a cotton swab, and then witnesses the client swabbing their mouth. Matayer charges the company a fee of around $80 per DNA witness, and gives the Notary half of that amount.
Fingerprinting
Kelly Charpenet, of Santa Monica, California, built her business out of a downtown storefront by getting to know her neighborhood and becoming a whiz at networking with other local businesses, such as banks, hospitals and law firms.
By regularly talking to people in her community, Charpenet found there was a demand for what has become one of her main income streams: offering Live Scan services. The Live Scan is an inkless, electronic means of capturing fingerprints, which can be sent to the FBI and other agencies seeking identity verification services.
She charges on average $20 per Live Scan. She notes, however, that the up-front investment is steep — around $15,000 for the equipment, plus a secure, private internet connection.
“Navigating the justice system’s electronic (network) can be financially perilous if submissions are done incorrectly,” she said.
While these two Notaries have found different ways to thrive, both found success by being open to the opportunities that came through their hard work.