After spending 16 years working in corporate sales and management, Dawnielle G. Pacheco needed a change. Instead of just jumping into a new job right away, she took a year off to consider what her next career move should be. After some deliberation, she decided to use the knowledge she gained when paying off her own debts to help others do the same — and eventually this path led to a career as a Notary Signing Agent.
"A friend and business associate of mine suggested that I start my own business once I shared how I had gotten myself out of debt. It was like a seed was planted and it started to bloom overnight," she said.
How notarizing changed from a free service to a full career
Pacheco started her original business to provide debt elimination, credit repair and tax services. Her father, Willie Gladden, also a tax preparer, suggested that she get a Notary commission to provide an additional free service to her clients. After she did, she searched for ways to make her Notary commission profitable and decided to become a Signing Agent.
Dawnielle Pacheco.
"I wasn't initially interested in being a Notary. I was interested in being a financial counselor, and that was the premise I started my business with," Pacheco explained. To her surprise, notarizing loan documents became the bread and butter of her business.
"I really enjoyed it," she said. "I really enjoyed dealing with the real estate documents, and I enjoyed what I was learning. The bulk of my business at this stage is Notary Signing Agent work, even though my business was not originally founded as a Notary service."
Using old skills to market her Notary business
Although she left her corporate life behind, Pacheco drew from her sales experience to attract customers to her Notary business, which serves Durham, Cumberland, Wake and Johnston Counties in North Carolina. To get the word out, she created online listings on sites like Notary Cafe as well as sending promotional packets to signing companies, law firms and title companies to let them know about her services. She also updates previous clients on what she's been doing to keep her business visible to customers, and she is active in the North Carolina Notary Association.
"You have to do extra to stand out. I’m always thinking of other advertising angles to use because my market has one of the highest concentrations of Notaries in the state," said Pacheco. "Anytime you're in a market where there’s lots of competition, and there’s a lot of people striving for the same thing you are, you're going to have to put in some effort."
Pacheco also puts in time and effort to drive her business in the direction she ultimately wants to go. She plans to continue building her Notary clientele and eventually opening her own signing agency.
Along the way, she has continued to use the sales techniques and business style she learned from the career she left behind. "It helped develop me into being self-motivated and self-sufficient," she said. "And I love owning my own business. I have no desire to go back and work for anybody else. I love working for myself."
Kenya McCullum is a freelance writer from San Francisco.
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Additional Resources:
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