Community — Not Competition

Community…

There is so much more to being a notary public than filling out, signing, and stamping a notarial certificate. Going out into the wide world armed with just their pen and notary seal, Jayden has no idea what awaits them. Strange documents, weird certificates, clients who don’t really know what they need. And questions. Oh, so many questions. At the very least, Jayden is in for a lot of confusion, and if they don’t have anyone to turn to for support, they might end up having a very short notary public journey.

The notary public community is large and diverse, and it is made up of a wide variety of smaller communities. Not everyone is going to feel like they fit in everywhere, and many of our communities overlap, but there is something out there for everyone. Whether you are just starting out on your journey or are a seasoned notary, it is my hope that you will feel at home here at the Golden State Notary Blog, find the resources you are looking for, and take advantage of the opportunities to enrich the community further by sharing your experiences. Welcome home!

Yeah, we’ve all heard it. It’s pretty cliché by now. But what does it actually mean? To me, it means that there are things about being a notary public that Jayden simply doesn’t know, and they have no idea what those things are. The bad news is that a lot of times, they won't find out that they don’t know a thing until it comes right up to them and bites them on the nose. The good news is that they don’t have to wait for that to happen!

Naturally, notaries in different localities across the country are not competitors at all. Even locally, the competition amongst most notaries is limited by time slots, so Jayden is not in direct competition for every potential client. Even if they could get all potential clients to call them first in their locality, they would not be able to book every single one of them simply because of time limitations.

For example, when Jayden books an appointment for 5 pm on Friday, at least an hour is now taken up on their schedule, and they will be unavailable to book any other appointments from at least 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm on that Friday. After all, they can only be in one place at one time, so other notaries in their area now have a greater opportunity to book a potential client for that time slot.

Clearly, I am speaking from the by-appointment-only perspective, but even brick-and-mortar notaries who take walk-ins can only serve one client at a time. As we all know, many clients will take more than just a few minutes, so other walk-ins might not want to wait very long for their turn. So it still comes down to being able to serve just one client at any given time.

Communities get together and share their knowledge and experiences, as well as offer support to those who are struggling. This is how Jayden can find out what they don’t know before they are confronted with it and flee in terror because they don’t know what to do with it. By engaging with the notary community, Jayden will learn more faster, fill in knowledge gaps more fully, and have built-in support for when they are struggling. Jane will also have many opportunities to give back to the community when they are ready, and eventually, they will be ready!

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

…Not Competition

Forewarned is Forearmed

Welcome to Your Community