We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melina Fuenmayor. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melina below.
Hi Melina, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I became a Notary Signing Agent in June 2019, by coincidence. At that moment I was working in an attorney’s office, they asked me to get my notary commission, and so I did. Something caught my attention, I discovered that besides the Notary Public career there was something else called “Notary Signing Agent” and I started to research information related to this. I fell in love with it, and this is how, within 42 days I had started a new business. A Notary Signing Agent guides the borrower through the loan package, and get the paperwork signed, dated, and notarized. A year later, after having 1000 closings under my belt, I launched my own Signing Service (The Closing Signing Service). At first, I only offered the service to my current clients, the ones that were hiring me as a Loan Signing Agent, but soon I started to offer the services to other companies in my area. The decision of starting the Signing Service came from not being able to handle the high demand of appointments that I was getting from my clients, so, I decided to outsource notaries to do the job when I wasn’t available.
Melina, 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 got into the notary business as a side hustle. I had recently moved to the US, and I was trying to provide for my family, working 4 jobs, can you imagine that? Then, I scaled the business to a Signing Service, so it was not only me doing real estate closings but hiring other notaries to do the same across the nation, which has been a blessing not only to us but to everyone involved in the whole operation, we were able to create job opportunities, I see it as a win-win situation. We are specialists in hiring mobile notaries to facilitate mortgage closings for title companies and real estate attorneys. However, what set us apart from our competitors, is that we don’t limit ourselves to only recruit the mobile notary, instead, we oversee the entire operation from beginning to the end, doing whatever it takes to have a successful transaction. We keep constant communication with our clients and notaries, and we assure the hired notary gets the documents signed, dated, and notarized properly, etc. We take pride of the hard work done and all our happy clients and notaries that love working with us. We enjoy creating and keeping a good business relationship with both our clients and notary partners.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
To give you a little a little backstory, I used to get clients by literally nocking doors, I would get there without an appointment, not even letting them know beforehand I was going to do a visit, I would just show up with my marketing material, some goodies, a big smile, good attitude and 100% confident in the amazing service I was about to offer them. Once upon a time, I was visiting prospects, and I couldn’t get a hold of the manager because he was busy, somehow, I found his cellphone number, and when I got back in the car, I sent a text message introducing myself, letting him know I dropped off some goodies for the office, and I would like to make an appointment with him. I couldn’t believe my eyes, he texted back and asked me to come back, interviewed me, and hired me at that moment. The Closing Signing Service became the Signing Service for one of the largest offices in South Florida. I felt so accomplished, long story short, here we are. Hard work pays off.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I have built my social media by being authentic, consistent and persistent. I have managed to do so by sharing quality content, and by planning in advance the content I’m going to share. It’s not about to post just because you have to post, instead, I try to educate and entertain my audience. I interact with them, share experiences, it takes time and effort but will give you the credibility you need to attract your prospects. Having high quality graphic design helps a lot. I have invested a lot of time, money, effort in sharing quality content, I am a perfectionist and for me to post something in social media, takes a lot of commitment. I like to review the content before posting as many times as possible, so my followers get to see striking design that leads to helpful information.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theclosingsigningservice.
com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclosingsigningservice/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclosingsigningservice
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/68171270/admin/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcrsqHvc1ISr_4iq9ZYlRdg
- Other: This is not the best moment in the real estate industry, interest rates are high, the U.S economy is not going through its best moment, gas prices are as high as the sky, the pandemic, etc., but despite all of this, I decided to go for it. I decided to invest in marketing, in recruiting talent, because I believe in my business and in myself. I can feel everything is against me at this moment, however, I’m not planning in backing up, I’m a wowan of faith and I’m a woman who likes taking risks.
Image Credits
Oriana Higuera = Photography
Julia Garcia = Makeup Artist
Milagros Guzman = Hair Stylist
Jade Bohorquez = Nail Artist