Hey guys, Amber back again with Amber on Demand here with another informative video to help you reach your notary business goals. We are going to get into some really good juicy stuff. This is going to be for those people that are ready to get started, that are serious about their business, that are ready to put in the work. Take action. If you are ready, put take action down below in the comments and I'm definitely going to respond and root you on. Today we're going to talk about how to set up and structure your notary business in seven easy steps. That's it. Seven steps. But if you follow them to a tea, you will be up and running in no time. So, let's go ahead and get to it. Get your pen and paper. Let's go. So, you've officially decided, I want to do this thing. I can do this. I believe in myself and I know I have the skills to get this done. And that's what we're here for. That's what I'm here for today. Those of you that have decided, made it made that choice to get started and you're not in the research phase. You're not still just thinking about it and you're not just kind of doubting it. You already know this is a solid plan. It's a solid industry. This is a solid career and you're ready to move forward. And so I'm here to take you from step one to step seven. Let's get into it. Step number one, you're going to get your notary commission. This is step one ahead of all of the other ones because once you apply for your notary commission, there's going to be some downtime and some wait time. Your secretary of state is going to take a couple of weeks, maybe a month, maybe 6 weeks to process your application. And so that's why this is step one, so that you can get that out of the way and then move on to the rest of the steps until that commission comes in. And so what you need to do is you need to go into Google, type in notary public state, that means your state application. And so you're going to come to your secretary of state's website, usually ending in.gov or do. That's how you know it's the legitimate official website. Do not get fooled by some of these websites that are made to look exactly like a Secretary of State website. If it has that.gov, it's an official government website. Then you're in the right place. Make sure it's for your state. Once you're on there, you're going to scroll down to where it says how to apply. All right. Click the button, apply. Give them your information. They're going to run a background check. You're going to pay your fee. You're going to do all the steps that it tells you to do to get your commission. Some states require you to take an exam. Some don't. Some require you to um take their state course, some don't. Again, that Secretary of State website is going to tell you exactly what you need to do. Once that's done and you've clicked send, you've paid your fee, let's move on to the next step because now we're ready to get this business going. All right, let's get into step two of creating and structuring your notary business. You're going to want to think of and come up with a name for your notary business. I've even come up with a little checklist for you to help you come up with the perfect name for your notary business. Let's take a peek. You're going to want to use relevant keywords within your notary business name because it's going to help you come up in search in Google search and um overall in your ranking. All right. So key words would be notary obviously mobile notary apostasti you would say something like amber's mobile notary service or amber's apostasti service or swift mobile notary your you know your dynamic notary and apostasti needs all right you're going to want to put the key words that have to do with notary within your business name the next thing you want to do on the checklist of creating a business name. Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Choose a name that's easy to say, can spell easily, and it's easy to remember. I know we want to get real personal with our name and our business name sometimes, but you've got to think about your customer and your client. Okay? They don't care about very intricate, unique names. They want to know, do you have a notary service? Are you professional? Are you credentialed? And can you get it done? Make sure it's easy for them to type in a website. Many people can misspell names very quickly if you have it too difficult for them. Make the name simple. Okay. Swift mobile notary priority notary services something like that so that your username I'm sorry so that your domain and so that everything is easy for your customer to access. Once you've come up with a name, or at least three, you're going to want to check the availability of that name with your state department, which is usually the secretary of state, and even on the US trademark uh website. You want to make sure that the name is available for use in your state and for the type of services that you are going to provide. You're going to check that the avail same availability is there for the domain as well. So, if your heart is set on swiftmobile notary.com and swiftmobile notary.com is already taken, you're going to have to come up with some other alternatives for your domain, but still make it specific to your business and easy for your customer. All right? So, you're going to check on the state website and you're going to check across the domain uh universe to see if the domain is available for your business name. If none of them are available and none of them are suitable for you, you may want to go to option two or three on your list of names that you came up with. Another tip for creating a business name is to reflect your branding. Are you wanting to convey professionalism? Are you wanting to convey that you're mobile, you're sufficient, proficient, you're fast? So words like swift, priority, you know, topnotch, five-star, you want to make sure you're on brand with your brand. Okay, if that makes sense. If it not, leave in the comments. I'll I'll explain further. But I think you guys know what I mean when I say uh think about your branding when it comes to creating your business name. The last check I'd like for you to think about when choosing a business name is local branding. You want to use words that are local to you in your business name. for example, Texas Mobile Notary, Dallas Mobile Notary, Swift Notaries of Georgia. Okay, so that's where you would come in and bring the word locally. Again, helping you come up in search better when customers search for your business in Google, Yelp, wherever they search on the worldwide web. All right, guys, let's get into step number three. We're still waiting on that commission to come in. We're heading on over to number three. So step number three is to decide on a legal structure. Are you going to structure your business as a sole proprietorship or an LLC, an escort? You're going to want to research the different types of business structures in order to meet the needs of you and your business. But I will give you a few things to consider when choosing the type of structure you want for your business. For sole proprietorship, this is the simplest and the easiest and the least expensive to set up. You have full control of your business obviously. And then as far as taxes goes, income is reported on your personal tax return, simplifying tax filing. And then let's talk about liability. There is no legal separation between you and the business. Meaning personal assets are at risk if the business incurs debt or legal issues. LLC or a limited liability company. For an LLC, personal assets are protected from business liabilities. This is different from sole proprietorship because they are not protected in sole proprietorship. Okay. You get tax flexibility with an LLC. You can choose to be taxed as a sole proprietor, partnership, SC corporation, or CC corporation. Next is credibility. Having an LLC is often perceived as more professional and credible by clients. The next one is compliance. An LLC does require more paperwork and fees compared to a sole proprietorship corporation, a Ccorporation or an SC corporation. So, these are ones that you definitely want to make sure you are consulting with a tax professional to guide you on the best option for you. For Ccorporation, it is strong protection for your personal assets growth potential. It's easier to raise capital by issuing stock. Honestly, this is typically not the option for our type of business. However, I do want to inform you. So, for taxation, you are subject to double taxation. Corporate profits are taxed and shareholders are taxed on the dividends. SC corporation, which is the type of setup I have for most of my businesses, which is an LLC taxed as an SC corporation. An SC corporation is similar to a Ccorporation providing strong protection for personal assets. Tax benefits. You would avoid double taxation by allowing profits and losses to pass through to shareholders to shareholders personal tax returns. You must meet certain criteria such as having no more than 100 shareholders and only one class of stock. It does require adherence to corporate formalities and regular filings. So, what I would recommend you do is consult with your tax professional and see which structure would be best for your business and for you moving forward. But you do need to choose one. You need to choose either sole proprietorship or an LLC. And with if you choose an LLC, you need to decide how you want to get taxed in that LLC. All right, it's very imperative that you get educated and have information to make an informed decision. Step number four is to get all of your notary supplies. you still are on the fence of exactly what supplies to get or you want to know what supplies I recommend, I am linking the video right down here on which supplies that you need um in your notary business. But let's go over just a few. So, the first things you're going to want to buy are a notary stamp and a journal. Obviously, you're going to want the stamp because that is how you actually notoriize a document. I recommend getting at least two stamps in the beginning. And then you're going to get a journal so that you can document the notoriizations and appointments that you have every single day. Then you want to ensure you have the correct office supplies for a notary business. Things like paper clips, pens, blue ink and black ink, rubber bands. You're going to want stapler. If you are doing loan signing, you're going to want a commercial printer such as a dual tray laser printer. Other kinds of office supplies you might need are folders and things like that to help with your branding when you are marketing or and sending out uh documents to clients and when you are returning documents, staying on brand, putting your promotional and marketing materials in those folders. Also, uh you're going to want to go ahead and order your business cards, any flyers that you'd like to make when you're out marketing. These are all going to be under office supplies. If you would like a complete list of office supplies, again, you can check the video that I am linking here or you can check out my Amazon storefront where I've specifically listed all the different notary supplies that you will need. Next, you're going to outline the pricing for set services according to your demographics in your area and what's the going rate for these particular services. I talk a lot about competitor analysis and how to properly price your services competitively amongst other notary business owners within your city and state. It doesn't make sense to put your prices the same as someone in California if you are in New York. All right? Because their demographic, their lifestyle, their clients are different from those in New York. The only other thing that would be an exception to this is remote online notary because you guys know that then it's a different ballgame and we can charge and and have uh clients all across the nation. All right, in all countries and foreign countries, there really is no limit to the expansion for remote online notary or states that allow remote online notary. All right, so you're going to come up with your pricing for each service. Let's head over to step six of creating and structuring your notary business. You are going to want to create a notary business plan. I say this time and time again. Why are there so many notaries getting into this business and not creating a plan? All these other businesses require a business plan. Why are you not doing the same for your notary business? All right, we all know that when you have a plan and you follow it and stick to it, it works out. You're successful because you have a plan, you know what to do. Highly recommend you look at my notary business plan. Use it as a blueprint, guys. It's no secret here. I want us all to be successful and so that is why I have put all of my information out there public so that you can see my plan and then you can twe tweak it and put your own information in and your own demographics so that you can create your own notary business plan. And for those of you that are moving on to business credit and funding, we all know that you need a business plan in order to acquire fundings and those government grants that a lot of us are seeking out to get and win. You're ha you have to have a business plan, guys. Things that you're going to need in your business plan are you're going to want to talk about and come up with the services that you're going to offer. You need to define exactly the services that you are going to offer within your business. Then you're going to identify the target client for your services. Last but not least, you've got to come up with the marketing strategy. You don't know what a marketing strategy is? I got you. This is what I do all day every day. I live, eat and breathe notary and notary marketing, notary business, notary entrepreneurship, guys. So again, my business plan has that marketing strategy. Now that you've got that business plan in hand, you probably already have your commission in the mail or you've gotten that email from your secretary of state that you are good to go and it's time to put all of that into place. And the last thing you're going to do for step seven is to build your online presence. All right, you need to go ahead and get your name and your brand out there. No one is going to know who you are. No one's going to know about your business unless you tell people. And you have to do that in multiple ways. Before I get into the ways to build your online presence, I want to preface that by saying you need to always have the customer and the client in the top of your mind. What would my client say? What makes what's easy for my client to read? What kind of information would my client want to know before scheduling an appointment? Where would my client want to travel in order to do this type of appointment? All those things need to be running through your head as you're creating your online presence. So, the first thing you need to do is to create a website around your business, your brand, and your services. You can use any website development tool that suits you. If you are familiar with one from other businesses, then use that. If you don't have one, I highly recommend Wix Wix as your website developer because it is a all-in-one tool which gives you an an immense amount of tools to help your business run smoothly. It has appointments. You can customize it however you want. You can receive payments. You can put forms on there. You can talk directly with your clients when they jump on your website. They have chat that it's all it's just endless there. You can get your domain there. You can get your professional email there. And so I do recommend Wix, especially for those that want to go off of like a template to help you create your website. The next thing you're going to need for your online presence is to create a Google business profile. This is free, guys. Go into Google, type in Google My Business or Google Business Profile, click setup, and begin setting up your Google business profile. But it doesn't stop there. There are some things you're going to have to do. You need to put all the information it asks. You need to write complete descriptions with complete sentences, more than one sentence. Guys, it it pays on this one to be wordy. Okay? Don't go in just saying mobile notary. All right? You need to describe your service using lots of keywords. All right? So, I do have a class on Google My Business if you want to know exactly how to do that, guys. I teach everything. So, I don't want you to think that I'm always saying I have a class, I have a class. There's only so much I can say in this little 15, 20 minute video, but I do go into depth on every topic I ever discuss here on YouTube. But I will say the best way to optimize your Google business page is to frequently update it with updates, sales, photos, hours, descriptions, and utilize the frequently asked questions section of your Google business page. And you will start to see through their analytics tool how many people are jumping on your website, jumping on your Google business page, clicking your book now button, and you're going to see how fast you are going to uh get those leads. All right. So, number two is get that Google business profile up and started ASAP. Another thing you can do to get yourself um out there is to list your notary business on online directories. All right? So, think of the old school yellow pages or white pages where you would go and I know I'm showing my age, but for those of you who are young, it used to be a book or online where if you needed the number or needed to find a business or a person's phone number, house, anything, you would look them up there. It was a a directory and then you could find their information. And so there are directories geared just for notaries so that people can find a notary, an apostle agent, a wedding official, an immigration form specialist. All of the things that we offer, you can put your business on said directories. All right. So some of them that I recommend for you to look into are obviously the one that I have is notary.com. Other ones, the National Notary Association has one and then notary Rotary has a good one as well. So, look into those to see which one meets your needs to help you get your name and your brand out there. And the last thing I'm going to say about your online presence is to create a social media online presence. Now, I don't mean go and start doing a bunch of Tik Tok dances and Instagram because we all know that's not for everybody. When I say social media presence, I mean get yourself a professional LinkedIn account and start promoting and talking about your business and making connections with the type of client that you want to work with and contract with. For example, I'd be connect contacting and connecting and networking on LinkedIn with attorneys, law offices, escro officers, real estate agents, mortgage companies, mortgage brokers. Those are the type of people that I would want to make connections with on LinkedIn. Next, you're going to want to have one other type of social media account at minimum, and that can be Instagram or Facebook or even Tik Tok, especially if you're remote online notary. Tik Tok has been very valuable in reaching clients all around the world to use your remote online notary services. All right. And we have someone coming to our empower notary summit to talk exactly how she gets clients all around the world while sitting at home. And she's banking at least 14,000 15,000 a month from her home as an online notary. So stay tuned for that. If you want to come to the Empower Notary Conference, we'll link that information down below as well. your social media presence. I recommend a LinkedIn account and then at least one other social media account, be it Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, or if you want to do all of them, that's fine, but at least one. And get used to how to post. Get used to sharing information about your business, your services, educational content that your client might want to know about. And that's it, guys. Those are the seven steps you need in order to set up and structure your notary business and go for success. If you found this video valuable, please comment down below so that we can hear from you so that I can connect with you. And I can't wait to see you at the next one. For any of you coming to the Empower Notary Conference this September, I can't wait to meet you. We are going to have so much fun. It's going to be such a valuable evening. It's going to be amazing. I'm going to let you guys go. I'll see you on the next one.