We were lucky to catch up with Jeannie Stout recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jeannie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

Recently, at a settlement there was an issue with the deposit check and IDs. To move forward, I needed to verify their IDs so the wife drive home to get her ID which were packed away in boxes. After searching for 20 minutes she found them and headed back to the office. While this was going on, the husband realized he did not bring enough in the form a check as required by the lender to finalize their purchase. After much back and forth with the buyer, realtor and title company we were given the okay to move forward with the documents. The realtor had been dealing with a lot of back and forth so was thrilled when it was all done. I was calm and put the buyers at ease throughout the entire process. In the end, there were smiles all around and everyone was thrilled! When I went out to my car, the realtor handed me a bottle of champagne and thanked me for my calm demeanor and ensuring to his buyers that it there was nothing to worry about.

My goal is always for everyone to walk away from the table smiling and at ease!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As a mobile notary public who specializes in real estate transactions, I work primarily with Title companies and realtors but my real clients are the purchasers and sellers. I am the person at the settlement table who walks them through their loan documents explaining every single page to ensure they understand what it is they are about to sign. I pride myself on my ability to provide a calm atmosphere and a smooth settlement.

I became a notary public by accident. Right before the pandemic, I was chatting with my girlfriend who works in the mortgage industry and she had mentioned that her boss wanted her to get her notary commission to help out with settlements in the office. I had no idea what a notary public did so I asked a few questions and did some research. I eventually got my commission but wanted to do more with my commission so I took a course on how to be a loan signing agent with Mark Wills. I followed Mark’s course and listened to his uplifting words every single day. I began working with signing services first to get assignments but eventually, with encouragement from Mark and his community, I started to market to Title companies. I am a baker and crafter at heart (I have two shops on Etsy: Petite25 Studios and GreenLee Avenue) so began making home baked goods and bringing them by the offices I was hoping to work with. These home baked goods definitely set me apart from other notaries. I was tenacious. I came by every single week with a homemade baked good just to say “hi”. And eventually I began getting business from these offices. By consistently stopping by to say “hi”, I was at the top of their minds when they needed a notary. And eventually, the positive feedback I received from their clients spoke for themselves and I am not the go-to notary for several offices.

I am most proud of my ability to provide exceptional customer service at the table. I have worked very hard to build these relationships so knowing that my title officers, closers, loan officers, mortgage brokers and conveyancers trust me and call on me to be an extension of their team at the settlement table says it all!

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

I have multiple revenue streams from my notary business. I receive most of my business from Title companies but I also market to realtors, loan officers, UPS stores and by Google Business page. Many of my new clients come from referrals which is the ultimate compliment.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

This was my third side hustle as I have two shops on Etsy (Petite25 Studios going on 12 years and GreenLee Avenue going on 6 years). This was never meant to be a full time job but rather something to keep me busy as I am not one to sit around. As I began marketing to Title offices I found that I absolutely loved it! The aspect of always walking in to an office with a gift and receiving smiles all around was/is so much fun! I go in never expecting anything and am always thrilled when I receive a call.

When I began this journey I was very busy doing refinances for little money as most of my work came through services. Now that the market has slowed down due to a lack of real estate inventory and high interest rates, I do mostly buyers and sellers packages at full rates as I am working directly with Title companies. In some ways I’ve scaled down in quantity but scaled up in profitability.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://core-notary-llc.business.site
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corenotaryllc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannie-stout/