We recently connected with Norman Graham and have shared our conversation below.

Norman, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. So, we’d appreciate if you could open up about your growth story and the nitty, gritty details that went into scaling up.

The beginning of my notary journey was stagnant because I was once anxious about messing up a client’s documents. As I was walking in my house, I noticed the material and things paid for to become a successful notary and realized I haven’t used it. This was the day I took it upon myself to finally say enough is enough and get to work. I started signing up with signing companies, I started creating my own marketing material (being that I didn’t have the money to hire someone to do it for me) and I started passing out my materials. I used postal mail, emails, google business page, social media and my community (friends and family) to get my business noticed. I’ve received inspiration from fellow notaries on YouTube and other forms of social media and learned on the job. I will say speaking to notaries that had more experience was helpful in terms of avoiding some mistakes.

Consistency was definitely key in getting my business up. Making genuine connections with my fellow notaries has allowed them to trust me to take some of their signings for them in addition to experiencing other business opportunities. Reposting other entrepreneurs work has allowed me to be noticed and trusted amongst my colleagues. Standing in my true authentic self, while being profession is something I didn’t noticed I was doing until it was expressed to me by other colleagues.

Norman, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a mobile notary who was introduced to the business from my older cousin. I am dual commissioned in New Jersey and New York. I just opened my own nationwide signing service with the same older cousin called Graham Family Signing Service. The signing service allows others to gain clients and perfect their skills. I do not give legal advice, but I do provide witnesses for documents.

I do general notary work and loan signings. Meaning I help signers with their refinance documents, I help them with power of attorney documents, I also assist with international documents (apostilles) for clients. As a notary public, you are a trusted servant in the community so I offer additional services such as courier, process serving, translations, I-9 verifications and wedding officiant services. What sets me apart is that I’m a 1 stop shop for several services, in addition to being dual commissioned. I also offer mentorship for notary and officiants, which allows me to show personality and allows them to be better at their craft. As a wedding officiant, I ensure clients get legally married, making their loved ones celebrate a joyous occasion.

I’m most proud of the growth of my business, how clients really want to work with me in more than one occasion. I’m proud of the brand that it has become. I want clients who are respectful, clients who are willing to pay my fees and clients who have a clear vision of what they need. I am opened to working with anyone who is willing to work with me and who can make decisions when need be. I would love clients to know that I’m 24/7 and that I travel to my clients.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I originally ensured I followed colleagues in the same industry, people who are household names and also my ideal clients. I also reposted information that other users posted on their pages or stories. I would I looked around on websites, google business pages and any platforms that had information on notary life. My advice would be to stay consistent, reply on people’s posts, engage in conversation with others and look at the typical times within your area to post/create content. Learning from others work is something that is helpful and key to making me better. Creating content that engages the audience, allows them to speak/have an opinion is helpful and constantly promoting yourself on your multiple platforms is helpful.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My reviews has definitely helped build my reputation. Asking for reviews in multiple ways is helpful and half of the time, challenging to receive. You can tailor your approach to the client so it makes it feel personable. Being personable and relatable is a factor that I’ve used with my market. People can sense if you are not being genuine so as they say best, honesty is the best policy.

Attending in-person events allows people to have a face to the social media profile, in addition getting to know me professionally. Sometimes having an in-person meeting allows people to gain your trust and give you recommendations and clientele based off your character. Being versatile, flexible and being opened minded allowed me to experience positive opportunities.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @notarize_with_norm
• Facebook: Notarize With Norm
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/notarize-with-norm-new-york