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Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season.  A new year brings renewed enthusiasm about our businesses and the opportunities that lie ahead, and I don’t know about you, but I am definitely feeling the buzz of excitement in the air! Then, there’s the shock of a new year…After a couple of weeks off to spend time with my family, I am also feeling a bit overwhelmed by my very lengthy to-do list.  That’s a very common feeling.  One lesson I learned last year is reminding myself that overwhelm happens when I am putting pressure on myself, so deep breathing helps keep my brain from spiraling out of control.  I also remind myself daily that as long as I complete my top 3 tasks for the day, then I’ve made a positive difference in my business.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed right now, stop and take 10 deep breaths (7 seconds inhale, hold for 1 second and exhale for 8 seconds/ the exhale has to be a beat or two longer than the inhale).  Then, focus on the top 3 things you can achieve before the end of the day. Back to the point of this blog post… I want to encourage you to spend some time looking at networking events happening in your community this month.  In my experience, January is an excellent time to get out and meet other business owners.  Just like you, they are renewing their commitment to their business and that involves networking with like-minded people.  I recommend attending at least 2 client-getting events in January because you are likely to meet more people in January than you might later in the year. Here’s a quick guide to help you locate events in your area.  Visit any of the websites below (I didn’t link Facebook and LinkedIn because those are personal to you) and search for your notary specialty.  For example, if you are a new Certified Notary Trust Delivery Agent and you want to mix and mingle with estate planning attorneys, search for “estate plan” in your city.  If you live in a suburb of a large city you may want to change the location to that larger city.  I found more results with that strategy. These are the top 4 social calendars I use to identify networking opportunities. https://www.meetup.com/ https://www.eventbrite.com/ facebook.com/events LinkedIn search bar at top left of screen next to the logo I am also a very big believer in identifying notary-related events, but I didn’t always see the value in it.  Many years ago, I (falsely) believed that it was a waste of my time networking with other notaries. I didn’t see the value in it.  I thought other notaries were my competition.  Man, I was green! And then my business took off after I began working the 5 Point Marketing System.  Suddenly, I was having to turn jobs away, and I quickly realized that had I been spending time with other notaries in my area, I could have identified someone to refer my customers to when I was already booked with another appointment.  It became clear that I needed to find some trusted notaries in Dallas that I could rely on, and who could rely on me when needed.  You see, even if I refer a job to someone else, I am still serving my client.  I am saving them time by filling their need with a trusted referral partner.  For the record, something wonderfully unexpected happened in seeking out other notaries…I found some amazing new friends! I encourage you to identify at least 2 notary networking events in 2024 to attend to begin identifying new potential partnerships (and hopefully, supportive friendships). To help you make that decision, I am hosting a call inside Notary Business Builder (NBB) on January 10th at 10am central (8am pacific/11am eastern) to review all the upcoming notary-centered events in 2024.  My goal is to help you identify which event meets your specific needs so you are spending your money wisely (y’all know I don’t like wasting money).  You’ll hear about everything from the National Notary Association conference in May to the Philly Social in October.  I’ve done all the research so you don’t have to! Have a great rest of your week, friends!  I’ll see you on tomorrow’s zoom call! P.S. If you didn’t know already, 2024 is a leap year so we all get an extra day to accomplish our goals!

As 2023 winds down, it's time for you to start thinking about the improvements you can make to your business to help you stay organized in 2024. One way to do that is with a notary-specific planner. Wendy Diem, of Diem Notary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania has created an undated planner for both new and seasoned notaries. A self-admitted "planner and organizational nerd," Wendy couldn't find a planner that met her needs. So, she got busy creating one! I love it when notaries get innovative and find ways to not only help themselves, but the community as a whole. Here is a list of features that make this planner stand out from the rest: ✦Undated pages – start using at any time; ✦Spiral Bound design to lay flat (462 pages); ✦Durable laminated covers; ✦Common legal definitions; ✦Samples of Notarial Certificates; ✦Printed on 60# paper for no-bleed through; ✦Daily pages – more space for your busy schedule; ✦Two Page monthly layout; ✦Quarterly & Annual Goal Sheets; and ✦Inspiring Quotes from special Notary colleagues My personal favorite part of the planner is the space to write down your monthly goals with steps on how you plan to accomplish them. I recommend the planner to any notary that values organization, their time and wants to keep themselves on a schedule to meet their goals. Wendy is happy to answer any questions you might have about her notary planner. Simply reach out to her via email at diemnotary@gmail.com. Interested in ordering? Simply click here to get it in time to kick off the new year organized!

I am 51 years old today. I'm not quite sure how that happened because I don't feel 51, and I do my best not to look 51 (thank you, botox & Hidden Door Med Spa)...but here I am! A full-grown 51-year-old woman! And you know what, I've never been happier to grow older! As I reflect on the last year, I am astonished at what I've accomplished with my health. I spent my 50th birthday in bed with covid, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. After a health scare in August, 2022 my health started to take a nose dive. I found out I had an auto-immune disorder. Then, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Then, menopause. Then, I discovered I had type 2 diabetes. And each new "discovery" felt like a huge blow because they just kept coming one after the other. I do NOT want to be the old lady who sits in front of her television when she retires watching soap operas and Wheel of Fortune. I want to LIVE my life. I want to travel, I want to meet new people and experience new things. I want to be energetic and vivacious when I'm in my older years. But if I was going to be that kind of person, I knew I had to make some changes to my lifestyle. So I did. After years of yo-yo dieting, I finally set out to fix my health through functional medicine (food and exercise). I ordered a glucose monitor and wore it religiously. I tracked my food intake, exercise and weight. I started exercising 5 times a week. I read some incredible books (but this one was by far the most impactful because it teaches you how to properly eat food and my doctor called it the "nutritional information we should all be taught,") and partnered with a functional medicine doctor/hormone specialist who draws an extensive blood panel every 3 months so I can track my progress. It wasn't easy. In fact, it was/is extremely difficult to break patterns that have existed for 50 years...but I did it because after years and years of trying to make changes, it finally became important enough to me to live a well-balanced life. With the help of my functional medicine doctor, I got my hormones balanced (which helped a lot with my ADHD), got on a sleep schedule, started exercising, found the proper supplements for my body and started eating properly. I've eliminated most processed foods from my diet, and I focus on lean protein and organic vegetables (the side effects of my auto-immune disorder show up less if I eat a low-carb diet and stay gluten-free). I am so proud to say that I am no longer a type 2 diabetic! I took my insulin resistance from 79% to 20% and my a1c is 5.2! The health plan I started has me down 25 lbs, too (which is finally a side-note for me instead of being the only thing I worry about). I feel fantastic! And I'm just getting started, because I realize that my health is a daily work-in-progress. I'll continue to exercise, eat right and live by a new rule: Enjoying the 80/20 life. That means I am disciplined about my food intake and exercise routine 80% of the time, but I give myself a bit of grace for special occasions and holidays. This new mindset has helped me significantly increase my energy levels and for the first time in a very, very long time I can honestly say I am the healthiest I've ever been! That's the best birthday present I can think of to give my family and all the notaries around the country who mean so much to me!

Let me start by saying I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I love that it allows me to keep up with friends in different cities, but I hate that it acts as a cheat sheet to peek into someone else’s life so we rob ourselves of creating genuine connections. I love that it’s free advertising for my business, but I hate that it’s time consuming, and my ADHD brain always gets distracted and I lose 30 minutes in the blink of an eye while I’m mindlessly scrolling. *SQUIRREL*! I love catching up with new trends, new influencers and new ideas, but I hate how I can literally feel my brain turn to mush after being on social media for more than 20 minutes. I’m a busy gal and with each new project I take on, my time becomes more limited. Managing Marketing4Notaries, Notary Business Builder and the Notary Trust Delivery Agent Certification program are my priorities, and I’m also serving my community as a working mobile notary. A few months ago, I started feeling overwhelmed. I had too many things on my to-do list. There are only so many hours in the day and something had to give. I was phoning in my social media posts which was basically a big waste of time because hardly anyone was paying attention to my posts. Something had to change. I decided to begin the search for a social media manager. It was the one area I felt I could most easily transition to someone else’s control. I set out to find help. I interviewed 5 different people from the big $5k/month firm to the $20/hour freelancer at Fiverr. I wasn’t connecting with anyone because they all seemed either too sales-y or too boring… and I was getting tired of constantly being upsold products and services I didn’t need. For months, my daughter had been telling me how she thought I should manage my accounts, but I didn’t listen. You know how as parents we complain that our kids don’t listen to us because they think we’re old and unhip? The truth is…I wasn’t listening to my daughter and taking her experience into account. She grew up with social media. It was “normal,” to her where it’s an added task for me. She kept talking about aesthetics, branding, stories…I started to notice that it sounded like she knew what she was talking about. So, I called her one day and asked her if she’d be interested in managing my social media, but because I’m her mom and I don’t believe in just giving my kids things I asked her to pitch me. I wanted to see her ideas written out to be sure we were aligned in our vision. Yes, I’m that mom who is a bit harder on her own kids. What I expected was a one-page list of ways she could help improve my engagement and reach. What I got blew me away. She did her research! She had a whole page on my current analytics with a plan to include everything I felt it is important to share with a step-by step guide on how to do that. The minute I saw her presentation I knew I would hire her to manage my social media accounts and not because she is my daughter, but because she listened to what my wants and needs are and created a plan to achieve my goals. She earned her seat at the table. I am thrilled to introduce all of you to Katie Cox, Marketing4Notaries, social media manager. Not only is she my daughter, but she’s also a 2022 graduate of Texas State University. She lives in Houston with her boyfriend, Max and is a dog-mom to Ricky (mini-weenie) and Kai (black lab). Katie has made a huge impact on my social media accounts. In one week, she increased my engagement over 350%! Of all the markers one looks at to analyze accounts, she has increased all of them across the board. I’m so impressed with what she’s managed to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time that I’ve invited her to be a part of my deep dive call into step 4 of the 5 Point Marketing System/social media. I know if her tips can work to build my social media following, it will work for you, too! Katie will be sharing her top 5 tips for increasing social media traffic atour rescheduled call on Thursday, November 16th at 12:30pm central/10:30am pacific/1:30pm eastern. No doubt about it…Social media is a necessity and as my business has grown over the years, I am more and more convinced that it’s an excellent tool for expanding your audience when done properly. I am so thankful that I finally found the right person to manage my accounts and I learned a valuable lesson in the process: the younger generations have many talents to share and we shouldn’t overlook their contributions because we think we're older and wiser. There is always more to learn, and the older I get the more I appreciate that!

In 2017 I became a full time loan signing agent after losing my mortgage operations job through corporate cutbacks. My decision to start my own business was born out of the realization that I was going to likely end up in a sales position as my next job, and I’d prefer to sell my own widgets instead of someone else’s. I had hired mobile notaries before working with the closing department at my previous company, but I didn’t have much luck with them. There’s one notary I’ll never forget, although I don’t remember her name. She was at my customer’s house at their dining room table with the refinance documents for them to sign when she blurted out, “you could get a better interest rate if you go with this bank over that bank.” Of course, my customer’s called me immediately asking about a better interest rate and I politely asked to speak to the notary, who by the way never worked for us again! I was livid! Talk about crossing a line! So, I knew there was room in the mobile notary world to do things differently, which is what I set out to do. My intention was to be the most professional loan signing agent in town! I had no idea how to get the word out about my new business to all the title companies in my hometown of Dallas/Fort Worth, so I got on YouTube and discovered the existence of signing services. I signed up for 100 of them and waited for my phone to ring. And it did! I got some decent jobs. I started reviewing the Closing Disclosure prior to each appointment, and I was blown away when I saw what the signing services were making and compared it to the small amount they were giving me. I decided pretty quickly that I was going to start directly marketing my notary business to title companies, Realtors, loan officers or anyone in the mortgage business who would listen. I wanted the FULL fee to go to me! And that is where my direct sales journey began. I made a ton of mistakes. No really, a TON of mistakes. But after a year and a half of making mistakes, taking good notes on those mistakes and finding ways to fix them, I had also organically developed a 5 Point Marketing System that helped me grow my business revenue by 75%! I kept my system close to my chest for a while, but soon realized as I was starting to meet other notaries around DFW that what I’d discovered could help them, too. I’ve always thought that the one trait we all share as notaries is our heart of service. That’s when I decided to start a website dedicated to helping loan signing agents marketing their business directly to title and escrow offices. I called the website Signing Agent Marketing (SAM) and launched on July 1, 2019. Over the months and years, SAM grew in popularity and membership. I was hosting live training calls, interviews with industry experts and pumping out all kinds of great marketing-related content. Then, the pandemic hit. Then, mortgage interest rates went up. Then, the refinance boom ended. Then, I lost 85% of SAM membership. The last year and a half have been a learning experience to say the least. With the rise in mortgage interest rates, notaries all over the country have had to face some harsh realities: relying on one source of income isn’t a smart business model. When you focus on one stream of revenue as a notary, you leave yourself vulnerable to dependency on that market. For example, when interest rates started to rise it became very clear that notaries were overly dependent on signing services. But that was the model we were taught on YouTube, right? Get your notary commission from your state’s Secretary of State office, take the signing agent training through the National Notary Association, sign up for 100-150 signing services and you’ll have all the business you can handle. Sound familiar? With the benefit of hindsight, it’s time we reflect on our business model and realize the incredible opportunities that exist for notaries public beyond loan signings. In fact, my good friends and business partners, Bill Soroka and Laura Biewer wrote a best-selling book titled, Beyond Loan Signings; The Ultimate Guide to Monetizing Your Notary Commission with Specialty Notary Work. If you’ve not yet gotten your copy, I encourage you to click the link and buy it today! It’s a thoughtfully written guide and gives you a peek into each specialty under the notary umbrella (with marketing tips) so you can get real insight before making decisions about where you’d like to focus. All industries evolve, and that’s exactly what’s happened to the notary industry in the last year and a half. We had to evolve to pay our bills because signing services weren’t bringing in enough business, and with the rise in interest rates they were struggling to pay their own employees let alone offer reasonable fees. The refinance boom came to a screeching halt and so many of us were left wondering, “now what?” I can tell you in all honesty, “now what” was exactly what I was thinking as I watched my marketing website, Signing Agent Marketing lose member after member. Every day, I was getting bombarded with cancellation emails, and I couldn’t blame anyone for it. I had positioned myself to focus on teaching Signing Agents how to market themselves to title offices. I neglected other specialties. I put all my eggs into the loan signing basket without giving weight to the other specialties. I started wondering if managing the program was something I still wanted to do. I felt like a failure watching something I worked so hard for just crumble before my eyes. I wasn’t alone. I had a choice. I could pivot and put more energy into providing thoughtful training for other notary specialties or I could just let Signing Agent Marketing sunset and focus on my partnership with Bill Soroka and Laura Biewer and the advanced notary mastermind we launched in December 2021 called Notary Business Builder. But I had put so much effort into developing the 5 Point Marketing System that SAM teaches, it felt like I was abandoning my baby. So, after a LOT of thought and planning, I decided to broaden the system to all notary specialties and re-brand SAM as Marketing4Notaries. For the last several months, I’ve held live training calls to deep dive into the 5 Point Marketing System to show notaries the power of having a marketing system in place. The 5 steps consist of: The PopIn The Follow Up The Shout Out Social Media Networking When I say deep-dive I mean it! We discussed the benefits of direct marketing (step 1, The PopIn), but that’s the easy part. The true focus of the call was to get real about the fear and resistance we all have when talking about our businesses to other business owners. We feel vulnerable and insecure. Will we be judged? Will they think I’m silly for trying to build a notary business when notaries only make a few dollars a stamp (varies state-by-state). One of my biggest endeavors with Marketing4Notaries is to help solopreneurs get past that natural fear that rises up inside when we do something new and bold. My main goal from July 1, 2019 (when I launched SAM) to today has never changed: to help notaries understand basic marketing principles to help them grow their business. It’s something I am very passionate about because I have experienced the power of implementing the 5 Point Marketing System into my business and I want every notary to know that sustainability in the notary world is possible! This is an exciting time! The website has been re-tooled, the content is being updated to address the current issues notaries face, our social media handles are changing, I’ve hired a new social media manager and there is a new logo. I appreciate everyone’s patience as updates are being made. The most important update is this: I am re-dedicating myself to helping notaries find a groove with marketing!

I've been a busy girl lately and unfortunately, blogging has taken a back seat to some other incredible and innovative projects I'm working to complete. But I had to get on here today to tell you about the coolest new product I've purchased in a long time. I saw it for the first time at the 2023 NNA Conference a few weeks ago and it BLEW. MY. MIND. In that moment I knew I had to have it, and share it with other notaries in my circle of influence. What am I talking about? The Notary eJournal from Jurat, Inc! Holy moly this thing is cool! I was filming a training video for Notary Business Builder's new Notary Trust Delivery Agent Certification (more on that in another blog post coming soon), and when it came time to log the transaction, Laura Biewer pulled out her phone instead of her notary journal. At first, I was confused, but then I saw her talk through the process of using the Notary eJournal during our mock estate plan/living trust signing, and I instantly kicked myself for not looking into this amazing product before. It was quick. It was easy. It was efficient. It was super cool, and made Laura look like a top tier, tech-savvy notary! And the time it saved was incredible! Here's the nitty gritty: It can scan state ID's and auto fill the entry. It has pretty much every document you've ever heard of pre-installed so you can easily search and click to notate which documents you notarized (plus, it's easy to add other documents as needed). It auto-generates the signing location address when you type in the first few letters of the street address. It allows your customer to sign with their finger on your phone screen (and takes digital finger prints, as well). It produces monthly reports for accounting purposes. It's cloud based, and will work for up to 12 hours if you're not on wifi. But best of all, it's SECURE and provides a detailed, minute-by-minute record of each transaction if it's ever needed. So, whether you specialize in trust and estate plans, care facilities or hospitals, international adoptions, jail signings, loan signings or any other specialty under the notary umbrella the Notary eJournal will save you time, help you keep more accurate records and store them securely. It's available in 46 states (yes, California, Texas and Florida are included), and I HIGHLY recommend this journal! Oh! Did I mention it's FREE to try out the first 2 weeks (with no credit card required for the free trial) then it's only $90 a year? At that price, it's a no-brainer!! Full disclosure: I loved the Notary eJournal so much, I became an affiliate! P.S. If you currently use the Notary eJournal, I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments section below!

The Notary Business Builder Healthy Challenge got me thinking about how everything I do (good and bad) is contributing to my business. The truth is, we are a community and community is good medicine. As a solopreneur it can be difficult to find support for the more personal things in life we struggle with like health and wellness. We are our businesses, guys....and I know that sounds strange. Part of moving away from the W2 mindset is realizing that EVERYTHING we do feeds into our business. Did you stay up too late eating pizza, drinking wine and watching Netflix? That'll make you sleeping and sluggish the next day for your appointments. Maybe you decided to stay in bed sipping coffee and watching the Today show instead of getting ready to say YES for the day if an appointment pops up at the last minute. Everything you do as an individual feeds your business. I mean that literally and figuratively. If you eat healthy food and stay hydrated you're going to feel better than if you eat fast food 3 times a day and drink soda. And if you allow your body to sleep an appropriate amount of time and exercise at least 3 times a week, you will have more energy and be less likely to feed yourself the b.s. excuses we're so good at conjuring up to get out of doing the hard things. Being a solopreneur has never been easy. Ever. It's difficult. It's always a balancing act, and it's always up to you to make it happen or not. However, having the support of a community like Notary Business Builder and the #NBBHealthyChallenge can help you make the little changes in your life necessary to build a stronger you and a stronger business. So, I encourage you to find a community to support you. Need to lose weight? Find an accountability partner or join a weight management support group. Need to learn more about being a notary business owner? Join the largest notary collaboration in history with a weekly accountability call and over 20 live teaching calls every month (all recorded and replays posted on your dashboard). We will be diving deep into the idea that everything we do feeds our businesses on the next Building Authentic Relationships call on Wednesday, May 17th at 10am central/8am pacific/11am eastern.

Y'all know Bill and Laura were in town last week for the Evolve Summit, but we did a whole lot more than just speak on new topics. When we're together, we have a lot of fun, but we also work hard creating new learning opportunities for Notary Business Builders. And if you've been around for a while, you know we're also working very hard at building up our NBB membership so we can continue our mission to help notaries make their dreams of a successful, thriving business come true. A few weeks ago, we realized we have no professional pictures of the three of us together, so we decided to use our time together in Dallas to change that. So, after a great day of learning at the Evolve summit (my mind is still blown from Laura's "Show Me The Money," presentation which you can catch inside the Notary Business Builder replay library), we woke up early and drove to Penny Whistle Photography for a photo session. I'd met Tracy Allard, the owner of Penny Whistle a few years back when I took my pooch Piper to obedient classes at a local pet camp. You see, Tracy is also a fantastic dog trainer who helped me learn how to teach my old dog new tricks. She stuck in my mind as someone who had the same entrepreneurial spirit as me, so when it came time to trust our mugs to someone in Dallas, I instantly thought of Tracy. Tracy's backstory is one you might find familiar. She was very high up in the corporate technology world and decided she wanted a more manageable life so she "retired," and took her two passions, photography and animals and combined them. She now owns Penny Whistle Photography in Carrollton, TX and specializes in people, pet and equine photography. It's difficult to be "smiley" so early on a Sunday morning, but Tracy made it very easy. In fact, within a few minutes of being in her studio, Bill said that he felt like she was a kindred spirit. We started out doing individual headshots, which for the record are really difficult to nail. You have to stick your neck out, lean forward and "push your forehead to Oklahoma", as Tracy said. It felt so unnatural, but wait until we unveil our new headshots! Let me tell you, Tracy is a miracle worker! She made us look like movie stars. After our individual headshots, we posed for 5 different branding poses with the three of us in each shot. It was very hard to keep a straight face, but we did manage (barely). Laura had the idea to do a "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" photo with the 3 of us and it's one of my favorite because it visually captures our belief in leading with integrity. At the end of the session, we wanted some candid shots where it's just the 3 of us talking and at first it felt really awkward, but I remembered something I saw on a TV show a long time ago about extras in the background of a TV set. They appear to be having conversations, but really they're just saying "watermelon, cantaloupe" over and over again. So we did that....and hilarity ensured, but we got some great shots for branding Notary Business Builder that reflect the genuine bond that Laura, Bill and I share. If you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and you need headshots or branding photos (or you want to capture your adorable pet in a photo session), I encourage you to reach out to Penny Whistle Photography. I'm not an affiliate. I just love recommending local businesses that deliver amazing service! P.S. I can't wait to share our new pictures with you next week! P.S.S. That's Tracy in the photo at the top of this page.

I just hung up from the Building Authentic Relationships call I host twice a month inside Notary Business Builder. This week was actually a bonus call where we each committed to a 7 day challenge. We decided what was most important to us individually, and made our #NBBHealthyChallenge pledge. For support, I've created a #NBBHealthyChallenge WhatsApp group where we can share our wins or send out a call for support. You can download it here: https://www.whatsapp.com. If you'd like to join, please respond to this email with your first and last name and the number you use to text. I will then send you an invitation to join. Please be sure once you're signed up you turn the notifications ON so you will be notified when someone needs you! This idea won't work if no one knows you need them! With their permission, I am sharing the promises fellow NBB'ers made for the next seven days in hopes you will find inspiration and join us from Thursday, April 20th to Thursday, April 27th as we challenge ourselves to be better...because together we can do anything! Jen: no gluten, dairy, refined/processed sugar, or alcohol. Eat only whole food and limit any processed foods Ev: set a timer for 20 minutes a day and complete one thing off her "I need to do this, but I hate to do this" list Jen: no chips, eat whole food and do yoga/workout daily Nina: walk a mile every day Debbie: no refined or processed sugar (rely on fruit for sweet tooth) and exercise 3 days walking, and 2 days strength training Joycelyn: start each day with positive affirmations, walk around the neighborhood every morning to get sunlight, and add more water to her routine Dianna: 64-100 oz of water each day, do strength exercises and research the Mediterranean food plan Melissa: be ready for YES before 8am and meditate/pray before picking up her phone in the morning. Kathleen: 48 oz of water between morning and night, and walk a mile with 5 different friends Tami: be ready for YES by 8am with daily workout completed William: exercise daily for 45 minutes (walking or strength training), no refined or processed sugar and eat only whole food Theresa: no refined or processed sugar Patricia: walk 20 minutes, hula hoop 5 minutes, and work on book Lorre: 15 minutes moderately intensive exercise, and no refined sugar or carbs Lastly, here are a few tips to keep you on track: Use the #NBBHealthyChallenge WhatsApp group to send out a call for support or encouragement if you feel yourself slipping. We're all in this together, and trust me I'll be using it when my cheese or chocolate cravings kicks in! Keep a diary of your daily commitment and how you feel at the end of each day so you can see the benefits of your hard work as you work through the week. Listen to inspirational podcasts like Mel Robbins or Jay Shetty or Hal Elrod or any number of inspirational podcasts to start your day off with positive reinforcement. I believe in you and I know you can do anything you set your mind to!

When someone asks you, "how can I support your business," what do you say? It's a hard question to answer if you've never given it any thought. During our weekly NBB accountability call on Tuesday afternoons, we are learning the nuances of how to answer this question. Part of the call is dedicated to these support requests, giving NBB members the opportunity to ask for the support they need from the community. This could mean "liking" their Etsy store, sharing a social media post or requesting we watch the videos on their YouTube channel. And the best part is, we're all willing to lend a hand to support each other! One of the ways that the Notary Business Builder (NBB) is different from other learning platforms is our willingness to promote the businesses our members have created outside of their mobile notary business that support notaries around the country. I just completed a slideshow highlighting these opportunities that will travel with Bill, Laura and me as we speak at different notary conferences around the country. That's right! We love showing off the creativity of the NBB community because we believe in each members ability to be a badass notary entrepreneur. Today, I want to highlight my friend and NBB member, Jennifer Cooper with JKC Mobile Notary in Fresno county, CA. She has launched a YouTube channel with some great advice on various topics like jail signings, choosing your notary "uniform," productivity apps to help you with your daily tasks, how to stop leaving money on the table at a signing and so much more! Her advice is accurate, she is very relatable and I learned a lot watching her videos. I invite you to visit her website and her YouTube channel to learn more about Jennifer, and while you're there be sure to "like" the videos that resonate with you the most! This is what NBB is all about: Innovation and Collaboration. It's not about teaching you to make a quick buck. That's not a sustainable model of business. We understand that building a lasting business requires dedication, patience and support from those in a position to help, and we are happy to lend it to those who support us!