First Year Notary Nails It, Featuring Jennifer Cooper

You'll love this episode featuring Jennifer Cooper from California. She launched her Notary business in March of 2021 amid the pandemic and now has 90% of her loan signing business through escrow-direct relationships. Plus, she receives about 250 calls for general notary work every single month. Listen to how she did it!

Guest Information:

Jennifer Cooper is a wife, mom, and a full time notary loan signing agent as owner of JKC Mobile Notary. She's been in business since March 2021 and loves what she does. She's also started a Central California Notary Network group on Facebook that has 85 very active members. She's currently taking Judi Lawrence’s course to learn how to become an apostille agent and working hard on building lists and contacts. Jennifer is proficient at marketing herself and has begun teaching her Facebook group newbies how to do the same in their area.

You can learn more about Jennifer Cooper, or reach her here: HTTPS://jkcmobilenotary.com or 559-212-4706

Episode Highlights:

12:13 As notaries, we often meet people on both their best days, and their worst days. Listen to Jennifer Cooper's experiences in compassion through her Notary journey on this week's episode of The Sign & Thrive Podcast

40:16 Jennifer Cooper's Notary business line rings on average of 250 times per month with potential general notary work. Hear how she does it on this week's Sign & Thrive Podcast episode.

49:21 Jennifer Cooper's advice for novice notaries is to trust yourself and keep stepping forward.

--- Full Raw Transcription Below ---

Bill Soroka (00:23):
Hello everyone. Welcome to the sign and thrive audiobook podcast. We're mixing things up a little bit here. The first several episodes have been the actual narration of the book Sign And Thrive, How To Make Six Figures As A Mobile Notary And Loan Signing Agent. And now it is, is my honor to have our first ever guest on the show. Jennifer Cooper, she's the owner of JKC Mobile, Notary out of California. Jennifer, thank you so much for having the courage to be my first guest on the sSign And Thrive podcast.

Jennifer Cooper (00:58):
Well, I'm honored Bill. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really, I'm looking forward to it.

Bill Soroka (01:04):
Me too. I I'm honored to have you on here as well. I love your story about how you get, got started. And what's unique about having you on as a guest is you're not a seasoned veteran mobile notary, right? How long have you been, as of right now, we're recording this in January. How long have you been a notary?

Jennifer Cooper (01:26):
10 months?

Bill Soroka (01:28):
10 months.

New Speaker (01:29):
Yeah. A working notary for 10 months.

Bill Soroka (01:32):
A working notary out of California for 10 months. And it's been quite a journey. Yes.

New Speaker (01:37):
Oh yeah, it really has.

Bill Soroka (01:41):
But you didn't just come into my orbit 10 months ago, right?

Jennifer Cooper (01:46):
No.

Bill Soroka (01:46):
I, it's funny, I was, when I was looking for your email address to send you an email this morning with the link I saw the first email you ever sent me. And I think you had been receiving my emails well before that, but you've, you've sent me an email and you said I'm not even a notary public yet. I don't even have my commission, but you're, you wanted to get in, or get in the know start learning. And that was in 2018.

Jennifer Cooper (02:12):
Yeah.

Bill Soroka (02:12):
Three years ago.

Jennifer Cooper (02:14):
Geez. I'll tell you that my journey actually started a year before that.

Bill Soroka (02:20):
Wow. So, okay. So in 2017,

Jennifer Cooper (02:22):
Yeah.

Bill Soroka (02:22):
What happened

Jennifer Cooper (02:23):
In 2017 I was working for a group of doctors here in the central valley of California and I was running their investment firm. So they just like to invest in properties. Properties that they would then rent out. So I was property manager. I did a little bit of everything by, by myself, but one of the doctors needed something notarized and I've never bought a house, I've never, I'm sure I've had something notarized in my lifetime, but never paid attention to it. So I asked him, where do I get a notary? And he goes, well, go to the bank. And one of my friends that worked at the bank that we bank with told me to go with her and said, I said, I don't even know what a notary is. She goes, we'll come with me and watch and see what happens.

Jennifer Cooper (03:04):
So I sat through the whole thing and it was like, okay, you stamped something I, I was like, what's the big thing here. And so that just peaked my curiosity. And I started to Google it and YouTube it, and I found you. You were the first person I found and I spent years Bill, just going through every video that you ever posted, but you led me to Laura. And then through that, I also found Mark Wills on YouTube. And it just, this rabbit hole that, and I just started getting as much information as I could possibly pull together.

Bill Soroka (03:41):
When did you decide that this was going to be the business you were going to get into?

Jennifer Cooper (03:47):
I think I decided this was the business I was going to get into, I had a near death experience three years ago and it was in September and labor day. And the weeks after that, where I was kind of trying to ponder, you know, why I'm, how I possibly survive that and what I'm supposed to do with my life now, it must mean something. That's when I decided enough is enough, this is what I'm going to do. I don't want to work for anybody. I want to be my own boss and I want to make my own schedule. My son had decided he didn't want to go to high school the traditional high school, that he wanted to do a charter school, which is part homeschool and part on campus. How am I going to work that as an, in somebody else's schedule? I can't, it's going to have to be my schedule.

Jennifer Cooper (04:36):
And one of the things that happened after this experience of my life where I nearly died really, really nearly died. Fear was gone. Like the fear we have of trying something new, the fear we have of stepping outside of what we know and what we're comfortable with that was gone. It just didn't exist anymore. So it was a much easier transition for me at that point all the years leading up to it, thousands of notebooks I have with notes, everybody's videos and T and T conversations and all of that, that was what made me say, nope, nope. Here's what I'm going to do. And I took my test, the following January. No, I didn't. I, I started doing my training before I, before I took my test. And then, yeah, that's how I, that's how I, that's what pulled the trigger for me.

Bill Soroka (05:26):
I love that and I'm sorry that it it, it took such a huge event. But that's sometimes how life works, right? Yeah. Sometimes we, we kind of get in our, our groove, our comfort zone and it takes something to shake us out of that. If, if you have one piece of advice for people to make that decision before something traumatic happens, what would it be?

Jennifer Cooper (05:52):
Oh, that's a good question. I think my piece of advice would be is if you have invested in, in getting your education and your training for this, whatever this topic is or whatever this job is, I think trusting yourself. Trusting yourself to kind of step outside, you know, we're, we, mistakes are going to happen. We're going to fail a little bit here and there, but success doesn't happen without it. So you might as well get it over with and kind of go through the process, you know?

Bill Soroka (06:27):
Yeah. Take the leap. And I love that you said that because I think one of the biggest struggles and now being a coach in this business for four years, shoot, you probably came right into my orbit right as I was getting started on YouTube in 2017 with notary coach and The sign And Thrive course. But one of the biggest obstacles to overcome is reminding people that are new notaries, reminding new notaries, that they were awesome at something before they became a notary.

Jennifer Cooper (06:54):
You're absolutely right.

Bill Soroka (06:56):
Their personality, all their career choices. We were all really good at something somewhere. Right?

Jennifer Cooper (07:04):
Yeah.

Bill Soroka (07:04):
We worked in an office for like, how long were you with those doctors?

Jennifer Cooper (07:08):
Eight years,

Bill Soroka (07:09):
Eight years. And you were probably pretty awesome working by yourself.

Jennifer Cooper (07:13):
I was pretty awesome. Yeah.

Bill Soroka (07:16):
And then we start something new and we get all discombobulated because we're like, oh, I don't know what this is, all their state rules. And you take the California notary class and they scare the crap out of you. Cause they go over all the fines and the jail time for the mistakes that could possibly happen. Right. Yep. So you get all nervous and then you forget that you've got this whole tool shed or yeah, belt of awesomeness that got you through life up into that, to that point. Right. And you can bring with you into this business. So let's talk about that for just one second. Sure. I want to get into your actual notary business, but I want to know what skills you brought with you from your previous career that serves you really well in this business now.

Jennifer Cooper (08:01):
Well my husband tells me, and I don't know that I would've ever said this if he hadn't said it, is that I have a tenacity to get things done. Okay. I, I just I'm fierce about it. And I'm tenacious about getting things done and getting them done right. I think my hyper organizational skills also play favorably into this business. And although I wouldn't have said this before this year my people skills, which I didn't think I had, but I do, have played a major part in the success of my business. I would've told you before I started this business, I don't like people. I'll still tell you that I don't like people. Right? And I would prefer to be in my house with my husband and my son. That's, never leave if I had that opportunity. But I love meeting new people in this business. And it's something I feel like I've gotten really good at. You know, the nervousness goes away.

Bill Soroka (09:15):
Is something about that. And I think I had a similar experience. I'm, I'm an introvert. I would much rather be, I'm fine by myself. I'm fine alone. I don't like crowds. I don't like any of that. However this business brought something else out in me and maybe it's because when we show up, we've got a reason and a purpose to be there. Right? They, they need us, we can solve a problem for them. I think that really helps in our level. And I think people just being awesome.

Jennifer Cooper (09:46):
Yeah.

Bill Soroka (09:46):
Awesome. Like I would say 90, probably 95, maybe it's dropping the more appointments I've taken, but it used to be like 98%

Jennifer Cooper (09:53):
I would say 92%. Awesome. Yeah.

Bill Soroka (09:58):
Most people are super cool in this business, which blew me away. How appreciative and grateful people are whenever you show up to these appointments. And I think that has really helped as well. Is that been your experience?

Jennifer Cooper (10:11):
Oh yeah. Bill, one of the things how this switched in my brain was I would do a signing. I would thank them for their service. And when I was walking away, I'd say, if you're comfortable, I would love to send you a link to leave me review on Google. Right? My reviews were five star and pouring in and people were saying the most beautiful things about this 30 minutes we spend together. And it really changed me into trusting people a little bit more in those situations, right? Mm. I don't think in general, but in my notary business, you're going to call me, you need me to come do a notarization for something I'm going to trust that you're a going to be a good person to me in that situation. And so it's just, yeah, kind of mind blowing for me, quite frankly.

Bill Soroka (10:58):
I love that. And I love that you're learning that so early in your business, you know, just 10 months, you know, one of the the, I guess the wake up realizations that I had is, you know, when I first started in this business, I was a loan signing agent. So I was working with lots of home builders and the energy around closing a new purchase was always, usually really exciting. People love to see me. I was the last person before they got the keys to their house. They were super excited. And then, you know, I started incorporating specialty or general notary work. And that's when I realized that not every call is a celebratory moment. You know, when you get called to the death bed of somebody in a hospital or in their living room, then the mood is different. And I realized the real impact of the work that we do here. People call us on their best days and they call us on their worst too. And there's, I, that taught me a new reverence for this business. And it changed my life and so many other lives too, cause we make such a huge impact. And I wonder in your first 10 months of business, have you experienced that already?

Jennifer Cooper (12:07):
Oh yeah, very early. Not in general notary work, at a refinance signing I did for a gentleman whose, who he let me know when I confirmed this appointment that his wife had just died of COVID and I don't think I was prepared to walk into this appointment with a grieving man who cried the entire appointment. Every time he'd look around, he'd talk about something that she had done or built or, and it was a very difficult appointment to get through. Not because it was just going to take forever. I was new. I didn't have five signings that day. I had one signing. He had all my day if he wanted it. But getting through that without getting emotional with him, but also not seeming cold. It was a very big struggle for me. And it highly affected me for the rest of the day.

Jennifer Cooper (13:03):
And I, I, I actually reached out to, I think you and Laura, I, I didn't know how to process that, but what it, it did change me Bill, in that I automatically came with more compassion, no matter where I was going. I'm a little bit of a hard person, generally speaking, you and I had coffee and I told you about this a little bit, but I, I don't have a lot of room for people's crap, but it gave me this, this understanding that everything we are walking into has the potential to be yes, joyful and exciting and terrible and sad. It just, it completely changed how I deal with people. And since then I have been in the quarantine unit with people that have COVID, who are dying of COVID to do power of attorneys and their family's outside crying. And I have to go into a hospital fully garbed up because I'm going to do it because these people need to be, have this done. And however difficult that's going to be. I've gotten, I feel like I've gotten really good at compartmentalizing my sadness for them and, and giving them compassion. It was a massive lesson for me early on in my business. Mm. And, and since then I've done maybe 80 different notarizations in hospitals and nursing facilities where peoples are at the end of their lives.

Bill Soroka (14:32):
It's it's a powerful and extreme, like so uncomfortable. But when I hear you tell that's story, I almost get the chills because it, because of what you just said earlier, when we first started this conversation, when you had your own near death experience or when you came and you reevaluated your life and you asked yourself, why am I here? And then here you are just 10 months into your business, helping 80 other people so far and counting come to terms and navigate or that transition for themselves as well. And I think that's a pretty, be powerful gift.

Jennifer Cooper (15:12):
I agree. I think it, and I, I would call it a gift. I absolutely would call it a gift.

Bill Soroka (15:19):
Now, this really highlights an important point that I like to make for notaries that come into this business. They get so, and rightfully so, get so engaged in how the signed and stamp a piece of paper correctly, which is obviously super important. Right? We got to know how to do that, but what you're touching on here is that human element that sometimes gets left out. And that's the, the, the part that whether we like it or not tends to matter more. Yeah. Have you found that to be true?

Jennifer Cooper (15:51):
Absolutely. Absolutely. And it doesn't matter what table you're at or who you're dealing with or who you're talking to. We are not machines and they are not machines. And though the day is coming where this could all be done through machines, while it's not, and when it's not, we are all humans and we're all the, it, it's just a, it's a really important factor in having, I think in having a successful business is being a human being.

Bill Soroka (16:23):
Yeah.

Jennifer Cooper (16:23):
You know,

Bill Soroka (16:24):
And recognize that the, the person on the other end, even if there is a machine like you and I right now. Yeah. We're on the other side of a machine, but there's a human being over there too. Yeah. It's such a important factor. And I, that you realize that you do have people skills, so that helps us transition right into your business because what you've created in your business, the success you have just, you know, as a notary public, and as a loan signing agent, but also as an influencer with other notaries in your community with your Facebook group, and how you're building your business is a real testimony to cultivation, or taking yourself on and learning people skills. Yeah. Or just exposing them within yourself. Right. So let's talk a little bit more about how you've built your business now in 10 months, what was the first month look? What did it look like

Jennifer Cooper (17:13):
The first month look like madness? I, I mean, I, I could never have, I came in towards the end of the summer of this last summer. Right? While things were still going crazy with loan signings and refis. And the minute I opened my doors, snap docs and all those different places, my phone started ringing and did not stop. I think in my first I started, I started my first sign, June 14th. I think that first week I did six signings. My first week I did six signings and it just kept going and going and going and going. And it ebbs and flows. It's ebbed and flowed the whole year. But yeah, it, it, it was so busy. I couldn't believe how busy it was. It was really overwhelming how busy it was. But, but because I did all the things, all of the people who were teaching this, the leaders in the industry told me to do, you know, I did all of them and it worked like a charm. So……

Bill Soroka (18:14):
I mean, I'm hearing a couple of different things here first. Cause you obviously put a lot of research into it. I mean, years worth of studying and taking notes, but you implemented, so you executed on this and I think that's one of the biggest challenges people have. Right? We don't have a knowledge problem. We have an execution problem. Yes. Implementing that. So how did you implement what you learned from all of these different people, via YouTube courses and all of that? How did you, what's your organizational secret for implementing that

Jennifer Cooper (18:46):
Really, it's pretty simple is that I learn it. I study it, I learn it. I, I hear it. I learn it. I study it and then I put it into play. Cause if it's going to work, it's going to work. And if it's not, I'm going to know really quickly that it's not. And that's that. But you know, just like you said, I had this whole thing moving forward for years. I, when I started my business, I had a website. I had a, my Google, my business was up and running. I had a Facebook. I mean, I was everywhere before I opened my doors. That was a, I think that had a lot to do with my early success. Is that when I said, Hey, I'm a notary. And they looked me up. They can, there was no not finding me right in the first days of my business. And that's what I try to tell my notaries, my group too, is guys, get yourself out there. You just have to put yourself out there a little bit, you know? But yeah, it's just learning it, studying it and putting it into place. But it, works where it needs to be.

Bill Soroka (19:45):
You know, I, I love hearing that because I think, I think people are surprised and they don't realize that they're surrounded by people who will love and support with them. And sometimes it's not the immediate family, you know, we all have our own stuff with the families and stuff. But when you're standing in line at the grocery store and you mention you're a notary public, or you're a new entrepreneur, or you go to a networking event and you mention it, it will blow your mind how many people want to help you right away? Oh, I've got a cousin who's refinancing. Oh, I've got this person who works at the bank and they don't like doing notaries. Can I refer to you? Like it just starts happening. So when you start talking about your business, be ready for yes, yes. Be ready for somebody to say, yes. I'd like to work with you cause that's exactly how it happens.

Jennifer Cooper (20:31):
I want to tell you, you mentioned how sometimes our families, her, my mom still sends me job postings. Like she still emails me job openings. She doesn't get it. That I'm I hit all my finance goals last year, you know, two months before the year was out she's they still don't get it. But yes, you're very right. You talk about your business and people are going to come.

Bill Soroka (20:57):
Alright, so…

Jennifer Cooper (20:57):
And they keep coming.

Bill Soroka (20:58):
Yeah, they do. And so I want to talk about two things here. Yeah. So first let's and I guess there may be I guess negative isn't the right word I'd want to use here, but we've got some challenges in this business that you just, and you mentioned two, one very directly, one was not so direct. So let's talk about what you just mentioned.

Jennifer Cooper (21:25):
Okay.

Bill Soroka (21:25):
When you have friends, family who still, no matter what you tell them, believe that notaries can't make money or that you're just a notary, just stamp the piece of paper. So, and go about your business. How do you, how have you overcome those challenges either in your inner work or in a conversation with them?

Jennifer Cooper (21:48):
The only people that have been that version of my family honestly, are my parents because they've had experience with notaries. I think my, my dad was an insurance agent for 40 years and had one of his staff members as a notary. And he saw what she did. He also saw that she couldn't possibly make a living. Right? I have sat down and outlined my courses and all the things I'm going to do. And I don't know what to tell you, I haven't figured it out yet. So I bought a new car this year because of my business was doing so well and there wasn't a, oh my gosh, you must be doing really well with your business. There was, are you sure you should be doing that? And how is your payment? And you know, they're being my parents. Yeah. When it, when it comes to like other people, people who, who go, oh, you're going to be a notary. What does that mean? It's a three minute conversation about what that means. I'm yes, I'm a notary. Yes. I stamp a piece of paper, but I also do loan signings and I also can do I can get your birth certificate back from the hall of records and I can help their kid travel with your friends. And when I start talking about all the different things, you need me for the walls come down and people start believing me. It also helps that I get great. I gave great Christmas gifts this year,

Jennifer Cooper (23:10):
Last year, you know? Yeah. That shows a little bit of, of, but I also don't worry about it, Bill. Yeah. You know? I believe in what I'm doing. I, I believed in what I was doing before I stepped out the door. I absolutely believe in what I'm doing now. Having done it for 10 months and nay say away, it's not going to bother me. It doesn't, it doesn't affect my progress or my forward movement in any way, shape or form.

Bill Soroka (23:40):
I think you nailed it right there. That's the key. Right? So that's the inner work. Is it just, it rolls right off your back. You know, look, I know it's real. I know it's legit and already in this conversation, we've talked about two of the major tenants that I love about this business and that's the flexibility of the schedule. Oh yeah. Like you needed this to be there for your son as he did his hybrid schooling. Yeah. But any of things that come up after that and then the legitimacy of this business. I mean this business, this work matters. We make a difference. Yeah. in the global economy in people's lives, as we talked about. And then of course there's the income factor, which you've alluded to a little bit too. We get a chance to make unlimited income on this. Yes. And you're doing this you're making this happen in a state which is California, where I constantly hear, and you can see it in the Facebook forums as well, where people complain about oversaturation of mobile notaries and loan signing agents. And here you are brand new 10 months and you've been able to create a thriving business in that market.

Bill Soroka (24:51):
So let's talk about how that gets done. We, we know that you had a digital presence that was solid. As soon as you opened the opened your doors, how are you marketing your business beyond that?

Bill Soroka (25:02):
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Jennifer Cooper (25:54):
I'm walking into title offices and saying, hello, my name is Jennifer Cooper. I'm a notary, have some donuts, give me a call. That's what I'm doing. Nice. And in my area specifically, I'm not in LA, I'm not in San Diego. I literally have 14 title office, no 17 title offices in my area, half of which are fidelity. So I'm working with the other that as are not fidelity because I I'm not fidelity approved yet. And that's all it was now. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that was easy. The first time I did it, I was sitting outside a title office. I called one of the girls from my notary network who's been doing this a while. I said, I'm sitting outside. I, I don't want to get out of my car. And she said, I don't know how much, how much language I can use on this podcast, but she said, get your, get ass your out of the car and go inside. That's all she said, but it was enough to go. Okay. Yeah, I know I'm, I'm getting out of the car. And it was the beginning of the end for me when it came to building relationships with direct. So I went direct two months into my business because I was ready. I was working with lots of signing companies. I was busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, and I really wanted all of the money for that signing. So yeah. It, it, yeah.

Bill Soroka (27:14):
So did it get easier after the first one?

Jennifer Cooper (27:17):
Oh yeah.

Bill Soroka (27:17):
For your rest direct?

Jennifer Cooper (27:18):
Yeah. The one, the, the, the one that yes, the smaller title companies with like four people in the office. Super easy. When I got to the ones with 500 title escrow officers and I brought four giant boxes of the craziest donuts you've ever seen right when everybody's trying to diet. So I became the notary trying to make everybody fat, but guess what? They remember me. Yeah. Oh, that's the notary. That's trying to make fat. That was scary. cause I sat in a, I sat in a room, filled with donuts and people, they put an email out and people started coming in and I just sat in the corner, Bill. My cards were out. I didn't really talk to anybody. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I'm doing that again for that same escrow office. Cause I haven't broken down all the doors yet there, I'm doing lunch and I'm standing right in the middle of the room and I'm going to talk. That's what I'm going to do. Good for you. Oh, it's, it's a learning process. It's just a learning process. They need me. They need me as much as I need them.

Bill Soroka (28:17):
They do need You.

Jennifer Cooper (28:19):
And they might have their favorite notaries. But every single one of those escrow agents that I got was because their notary couldn't do it. And I became their notary. Every single one of them. They already have notaries. They're you know, you're not, you're not creating something new. I knew I wasn't, I wasn't magical. I wasn't, you know, I didn't have anything extra special to offer except that I was also here. And so when your person can't do it and your person can't show up, I'm here, I'm here late at night. I'm here far away. I'm here early in the morning. I'm here. And that's what built my business.

Bill Soroka (28:55):
Yeah. Jennifer, I love this because that's exactly the way you make this work so many times I think new notaries have expectations. This is probably one of the only, only times in my life I've ever said lower your expectations. Don't expect that they're going to roll out a red carpet for you and just welcome you in there, like, oh my gosh, we've never seen a notary before. Right?. That just doesn't happen.

Bill Soroka (29:23):
Yeah. They, they do have notaries. Many of them do have notaries or signing company that they work with. And when you hear the objection, cause that's really what it is. It's an objection. I've already got somebody I work for that shuts a lot of new notaries down. They get upset and then they roll into the oversaturation. They build a whole story. They jump onto Facebook and they complain and they just it's this self-fulfilling prophecy at that point. But if you stop that and handle it exactly like you did, you said awesome. In fact, I love it. When I hear and escrow officers say, no, I have someone I love working with already. Me too. Cause don't find loyalty like that every day anymore. Sure. Don't I love it. So I will use that as a springboard. That's so great. I'm here as a backup. If you ever, if he can't help you out or they retire or move, cause that happens all the time. Yeah. You can get an opportunity like that and be part of the team.

Jennifer Cooper (30:17):
Yeah. You and many leaders in this industry, team us to do this. Yeah. This is another one of those things of implementing what you've been taught. Yeah. You know, does it feel weird? Yeah. It feels weird, but every single person I've done that. Every single escrow agent I've or escrow officer, I've done that to every single one has hired me. So it's huge. Yeah.

Bill Soroka (30:44):
So tell me about your you've got now the tenacity. I think this is where the tenacity that your husband was talking about, comes into play. You've got, now you're taking yourself on, you're doing new things. You're trying new stuff and you're giving yourself space and grace to not know, have all the answers. You don't know what you're supposed to say in that little conference room and it's nerve wracking and they just want to donut. They don't want to hear a sales pitch. Right? Yep. So you got to figure that out. But I love that you've got another plan, but now you, that you've got probably a box full of business cards. Do you follow, how do you follow up with these escrow officers?

Jennifer Cooper (31:19):
Oh, I have this little system called my daily dues. No

Bill Soroka (31:25):
You do implement.

Jennifer Cooper (31:26):
I do. I, I have a list. I, and I continually add to that list and I haven't been really good about that. This has kind of been a hit or miss for me for the last year. I don't know if I told you that I recently just really started to understand this process of every single day reaching out and touch somebody. That sounds gross, but it, it is what it, it is, you know? And so I have a CRM program called Copper or Cooper. I don't know if it's called Copper or Cooper. I don't know if I picked it cause it has my name in it, but right. I put that card into that system right away. And then every single day part of morning at my desk, I pray. I give God my day. I open up my journal. I journal a little bit. I open up my planner to look at my schedule and I go and start sending out my little emails and cards send out cards has been awesome this last year. I get emails all the time going, oh my God, I love the card you just sent me. Thank you so much. You know? So it's a, it's every, it's an almost every day. There are some days I don't do that, but it's almost every single morning that I reach out and touch,

Bill Soroka (32:37):
Touch someone?

Jennifer Cooper (32:37):
Someone yep.

Jennifer Cooper (32:42):
I do that. I do that three times with somebody, Bill until I walk in their door until I walk in. And if it, especially if it hasn't been moving enough for me, I do it three times. And then I walk in the door with something.

Bill Soroka (32:56):
Let's break that down. So let's just say there's Julie at such and such title. You reach out to her a couple times. Maybe she responds. Maybe she doesn't, but you give her three chances of electronically. So whether or not they respond after three tries, you're going to do a pop in. And do you announce the pop in or do you just pop in?

Jennifer Cooper (33:18):
I call them from their parking lot.

Jennifer Cooper (33:21):
I call them in their parking lot. I say, hi, this is Jen. I'm in the, I'm in notary, I'm in the neighborhood and I could stop by and drop off some goodies for you. That's, I'm in that parking lot. I'm not down the street, I'm in the parking lot. So that cause very often they'll say, well I only have five minutes. I'll say great. I'll be there in a minute. And I walk in the, the door, right? Very often I get that kind of like, well I'm not going to have that much time. I don't need to talk to you. I just want to drop off and say hi, you know, that kind of thing. That's my next step. And then almost, always, almost always that is the step that starts it all with them. They see my face, they get a sense of my personality. I gave them something good because I did some research on them, on their LinkedIn profiles and on Facebook. And so I know what their favorite coffee is or I know what you know. So when I come in, I come in packing with knowledge and it almost always works out that I get a job from them and they don't all become my go-to escrow agents. Right. But right. Almost always that process produces work.

Bill Soroka (34:33):
They give you a chance. Yep. Opens the door. I love that. Tell me more about how you prepare for a pop-in or a visit like that. You mentioned that you, you do go to their LinkedIn or maybe their website. What are you looking for?

Jennifer Cooper (34:48):
Sometimes I'm not sometimes, sometimes it's just verifying that they work at that office. Right? In our area. I don't know if this is true for every area, escrow agents jump around, they jump from title company to title company to title company, any given day of the week. So it's really just making sure they're where I think they, they are. I do, I don't spend a ton of time trolling them just enough to kind of get a sense of them. And sometimes at least here in our area escrow agents don't really make use of LinkedIn as much as other areas. So I have to do some workarounds a little bit. And but then when it comes down to it, Bill, I, everybody likes candy. Everybody likes breakfast foods, everybody likes coffee, gift cards, everybody. There's nobody that balks at that. I go to Costco, I load up my cart with something. I put it in a cute bag, put my business card on it. And yeah, sometimes I hit the nail in the head and people go, when, where do we get those chocolates? They like those. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Bill Soroka (35:57):
Yeah. I love that too. I used to try to get really creative. I find something unique that maybe they couldn't find just everywhere and they give it a chance and then they do, they reach back out to you. And you know, another thing that Jen Nietzell over at Signing Agent Marketing teaches too, is the refillable's. So you should get puts in a candy jar and then every six weeks or so she has an excuse to go back and refill the M & Ms or the peanuts or whatever it is. That's great. It's brilliant.

Jennifer Cooper (36:26):
Yeah.

Bill Soroka (36:28):
I love that. So in your bal, what's the balance of your business right now? Are you still working with signing companies or are you 100% escrow direct? What's the percentage?

Jennifer Cooper (36:41):
I'm, I'm about 10% signing agencies and everything else direct.

Bill Soroka (36:49):
Wow.

Jennifer Cooper (36:49):
About right now, not super busy right now that this, this season's kind of slowed everything down around here. I'm doing a lot of general notary work right now, but that's about my average right now. I've pretty much shut down the I've shut down the signing company train, just because I want more money for my signings. And so when they want to give me $50 for a refi, which happens, no, thank you. I'll do that for a hundred. I'll do that for 95. I'll do that for that shutting down avenues for me, which I'm perfectly fine with because there are still signing companies that will pay that when I ask for it. So, yeah.

Bill Soroka (37:27):
I love that. Well, that's a perfect segue though, too. You know, one of the keys to building a sustainable business is having a diverse revenue stream and I know loan signing is all the rage right now. So we talk about that a lot and that's where we feel so far in our conversation. But you mentioned the general notary work or specialty notary work has or specialty notary

Jennifer Cooper (37:49):
Work. I've got to change my language on that one. Yeah.

Bill Soroka (37:53):
I still have to catch myself all the time. So how are you generating business in specialty notary work,

Jennifer Cooper (38:02):
Google, Google business profile a hundred percent. I think, I think I, I mean, I might have, I might have gotten literally maybe four jobs from Facebook. But it's 98% my Google business and the ads I run on a regular basis with Google business.

Bill Soroka (38:22):
All right. So you have a, a full Google My Business Profile. You've optimized that you've had, do you have a website as well?

Jennifer Cooper (38:28):
Yes I do.

Bill Soroka (38:29):
So you have a website as well.

Jennifer Cooper (38:31):
I write a blog every week.

Bill Soroka (38:32):
Optimization, obviously. Yeah. And then you run ads as well. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Jennifer Cooper (38:41):
Yeah, I'm not, I, I haven't really, I let Google kind of figure out my ads. I haven't really gotten into it. It's one of the things I want to do next quarter is kind of really optimize my ads that Google's running. I kind of let them do it. I have a feeling that once I optimize those is going to increase my business, but I haven't done too bad just letting Google create my ad. If that makes sense.

Bill Soroka (39:09):
Yeah, no, I think I've heard the same. From across the country, they Google knows their customers. They know what their customers are looking for, so there's probably some ways to tweak it and increase, but they do a pretty good job so I've heard in, in our industry anyway. Curious though, I want to give people an idea of how much you spend in a 30 day time period on Google ads. And then how many calls does that generate? Not necessarily business yet, but how many calls do you attribute to your Google ads?

Jennifer Cooper (39:45):
Okay. I'd say I spend between 200 and $300 a month and that brings in on average Hmm. Bill, you're making me do math for two, for two to $300 phone calls I probably get about, I'd say 250.

Bill Soroka (40:12):
Wow.

Jennifer Cooper (40:14):
On average

Bill Soroka (40:16):
250 calls a month, a month ballpark.

Jennifer Cooper (40:19):
That's a ballpark that might go up the, this month. I got a, I've gotten a lot of phone calls this week, but yeah.

Bill Soroka (40:26):
Okay.

Jennifer Cooper (40:26):
About 250 calls

Bill Soroka (40:28):
And then percentage of those calls that turn into business, what do you think you can ballpark it? I'm not,

Jennifer Cooper (40:34):
I'd say 60%

Bill Soroka (40:36):
60? So we're talking about, about 140 appointments or so, and I'm just literally guys don't take them, my math. I'm not, I don't have a calculator here and I'm definitely not beautiful mind over here.

Jennifer Cooper (40:48):
Hundred and a hundred. You're about you're out there between a hundred and 140. Okay. Specialty notary assignments a month.

Bill Soroka (40:55):
That's excellent. Okay. So at 140, even if all you made was $10 per appointment, which we know you're, we know you're making significantly more, you are making like five or six times your money on that. So I think that's a, that's a really good ROI return on investment, right? Yeah.

Jennifer Cooper (41:17):
It pays for itself.

Bill Soroka (41:20):
And then some. I.

Jennifer Cooper (41:20):
It really does. Yeah.

Bill Soroka (41:21):
Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Cooper (41:23):
That's,

Bill Soroka (41:23):
That's pretty incre credible. Thank you for sharing that part of the business too now.

Jennifer Cooper (41:28):
Also Bill with Google. Can I just do a little….

Bill Soroka (41:31):
Please do.

Jennifer Cooper (41:32):
run running ads is not the only thing that gets me business. Getting my reviews gets me business. I have 33 five star reviews right now, right now. Because for every 10 people, I send a link to leave me a review probably only three do so or less at this point. But I also post to Google three times a week.

Bill Soroka (41:53):
This is huge.

Jennifer Cooper (41:54):
I post ad I post not ads like my promos that I put on Facebook or wherever I put my promos and then my blogs that I post every week, those go on Google. And I don't know. I don't remember everything I post, but I post three times a week to Google

Bill Soroka (42:10):
And I you're really active on social media. So which I, I love of that you create content and you share other people's content as well. And I think that really solidifies you as the expert notary in your area. So maybe you post some pictures too, but we're talking about in the Google My Business profile or the Google page. Yeah, correct?

Jennifer Cooper (42:31):
Right.

Bill Soroka (42:33):
Yes. And that keeps you, that keeps you really active and let's Google know that you're relevant and that you're actually in business and you're performing, you're active in your business and that's a huge, huge factor too.

Jennifer Cooper (42:44):
Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Soroka (42:46):
What other suggestions would you have from a SEO or a digital digital presence standpoint for a notary?

Jennifer Cooper (42:54):
Well, for SEO specifically with Google, there are very specific words you need to be using for your specialty notary work to boom. And the biggest, the best phrase is Notary Near Me. Right? Mobile Notary Near Me. I, I have not experienced any loan signing business from Google, not any so that that's not the, that's not the platform in which they're going to find me or they have found me. So I really focus on specialty notary words power of attorney, document signing or just that kind of stuff in my, in my, in my SEO words that I post for my…..

Jennifer Cooper (43:38):
Yeah, my keywords. Thank you. Yeah.

Bill Soroka (43:42):
Yeah. That's, that's huge. And when you start blending those in with your blog articles too, it just really helps the relevance. You've made some incredible progress in the first 10 months. This is really impressive, Jennifer, but.

Jennifer Cooper (43:54):
Thank you.

Bill Soroka (43:54):
On top of all that, you've also built a community of notaries too, right? That you, you help and coach along, correct.

Jennifer Cooper (44:01):
I'm very proud of this group Bill. I started at the central California notary network on Facebook. I did that because I was part of the, the loan signing systems as Facebook groups for different areas of the country. They had a Southern California and a Northern in California. And for some reason, people forget that here in the middle, we are nowhere near Southern and we are nowhere near, Northern, we are hours away. Right? And so I started one cause a couple people said I'd love to have a Fresno one. So I start, I started it and it boomed fast. We got local people. It's a small area. It's Fresno county, Madera county and Kings county. And we have 85 people. We just cut to 85. I'm so proud of them and excited about it. And we do weekly every other week. We do breakfast and every other week we do lunch and every day we do, I do a special live thing on the group like motivation, Mondays tip Tuesdays, what's up Wednesdays, trivia Thursdays and Fridays are kind of a mishmash of whatever, but I'm really proud of this group.

Jennifer Cooper (45:09):
And you used a word about me earlier in the, this conversation. He called me an influencer and he made my skin curl a little bit, cause I'm not ready. Right? I'm not ready for that kind of title. And I don't like being called a mentor cause I'm still so new, but I am mentoring brand new notaries. I get questions all day long on Facebook or on my phone about documents or how to do this or how to do that. It's a very interesting role. I've stepped into that. I'm a little bit resistant to just a little. Cause I have mentors. I'm not a mentor. I have mentors. I'm not ready for that, that title quite yet. Yeah.

Bill Soroka (45:49):
That's a, that's a really good point. And I think just the fact that you even feel that is, is actually a really good thing because that role is important and it deserves reverence. It deserves respect. It deserves to be looked at before you jump into it because you do have an influence on other people that makes a difference. And I would also challenge you to say that you are ready. And I think the cool thing about, or the powerful thing about a mentor is sometimes everybody has their own definition for what it is and what it can mean. And you know, some people, you know, get into the details of it. But in reality, what we do as mentors is we shine the light back, and we say, watch out for that pothole, go this route for this kind of result. Here's what you can do.

Bill Soroka (46:40):
And that's really what this is. And sometimes it's reaching a hand back too and saying, all right here, let me help you. Yeah. And I think if you just boiled it down to its basics, Jen, you are absolutely whether you buy the name tag that says it or not, Yeah. you're, you're a mentor to others. You're, you're helping others. You're one, you're one page ahead or a few one chapter ahead in this business and a lot of people and actually with three or four years of studying and training, you're your light years ahead of many people. So sharing that, that knowledge is that does it fits the, the definition of a mentor as well. But I love that you're sitting with it before you just jump on there.

Jennifer Cooper (47:28):
Well, yeah, you won't, won't see me calling myself that is, is, I guess that's my point. I am doing what I'm doing. Other people are calling me their mentor, but you will never hear that come out of my mouth as, right now as a, a title of, one of the things I do for living,

Bill Soroka (47:44):
This is one of the keys I think to success is the tie to helping others succeed. And I can't remember who said it, but it was probably Maya Angelou. She has been, her quotes have been coming to me nonstop lately, but there is no success without helping others.

Jennifer Cooper (48:04):
That's right.

Bill Soroka (48:05):
And it will be a if for those who are listening too, you know, there's a being, since I've been through some of the cycles of this business, there have been repeated patterns of regret things. I wish I would've done. Staying in touch, keep, capturing contact information, information, getting permission to stay in touch and then doing that. And another, it was not help, not participating in the notary community community and not helping others. When I first got into this business, it was all me, me, me, I treated this business like an ATM machine and it wasn't until we started helping other notaries, I started helping other notaries that the joy started coming from this business a lot more. And then what I would even define as success started happening. Doesn't matter how much money you make. Doesn't matter how many clients you have. If you're not helping other people, you will come to a point when you regret that decision. Yeah. And I love that. You've learned this lesson so early on in your business, I love what you're doing. Jen, do you have any closing words or advice or anything you'd like to share with brand new notaries who are coming into this business?

Jennifer Cooper (49:19):
Yeah. You have done the work and you've done the study and there's really nothing holding you back other than you. And I just encourage people to let go of the fear little bit and step outside the front door and just watch the amazing things that are going to happen because they do that. I really would encourage any new notary to just continue to step forward. Cause stepping backwards is you've seen that before. Let's see the new stuff stepping forward. Yeah.

Bill Soroka (49:50):
Great advice, Jennifer Cooper. Thank you so much for carving out just about an hour of your time to share and shine even more light on the steps you've taken to, to build a business that you clearly love and are passionate about. And I am honored to be in your orbit. Thank you for being here.

Jennifer Cooper (50:09):
Oh, thank you, Bill. Thank you for having me

Bill Soroka (50:12):
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Speaker 4 (51:44):
Go and get it. And.

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Bill

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