We were lucky to catch up with Jillian Brown recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jillian, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about one of the craziest things you’ve experienced in your journey so far.

It was an ordinary day for me in October of last year. I’d set my intentions for the day speaking abundance for my day ahead and I was working on my website when I received a notification! I recently started using the app Thumbtack to help attract more clients. My heart fluttered a bit in excitement as I developed a call flow/script for securing appointments. The client and I scheduled the appointment for two days later and I immediately reviewed the components of the closing documents and planned out how I would conduct the signing without seeing the closing documents before the appointment. I reviewed, I planned my outfit, I organized my notary bag and then the day before the appointment, the client called and said they needed to reschedule the appointment, but wanted to know the fee for the inconvenience. This was a game changer for business growth. I did not have a policy in place for this occurrence and I created one at that moment! On the day of the appointment, to my great surprise, the closing attorney neatly flagged all of the documents so I felt an immense sense of relief as we were able to easily locate signature lines and notary sections on each page. As we completed the signing, we began to chat and I noticed there were several professional microphones/studio equipment present so I inquisitively inquired about his career. He stated that he was an actor. I responded to him by saying, ” Wow, I will tell everyone that I met a famous performer today. He responded by saying, you could say that humbly. We reviewed the documents and I left. To my surprise, a simple Google inquiry afterward highlighted that the client was an acclaimed actor starring in Chicago Med, Django Unchained, and Hitch to name a few. Admittedly I do not watch television or movies often so I said the “famous performer” comment jokingly. However, I have watched nearly every season of Chicago Med and I did not recognize him in person. Whenever he needs future notary needs, I will recognize him this time! This is one of the funniest stories and one of the many unexpected treasures of being a mobile notary. Meeting people from so many different walks of life has been a highlight of the journey. Every appointment is always an opportunity to learn about various industries and insights into how others have become successful in their fields.

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 background and context?

I am the Founder of Atlanta Priority Mobile Notary Services, a mobile notary company specializing in providing Estate Planning, Power of Attorney signings, and Apostille solutions.  We have partnerships with attorneys, trust firms, local businesses,  and individual clients who are interested in protecting their family legacy. We provide our clients with the solution of convenience and care in handling their personal business affairs. From boardrooms to backyards, we travel to each client designed around their schedule and their preferred location. We handle sensitive and confidential information and we treat each client’s requests with great care.  We pride ourselves in creating a client-centric experience from initial contact to completion. Team Atlanta Priority Mobile Notary is laser-focused on the client experience and devoted to using automation in creating a seamless online scheduling workflow of ease. Atlanta Priority Mobile Notary has a reputation for excellence, professionalism, and responsiveness and offers third-party witnesses for signings which is often a requirement in Estate Planning documents.

I began my professional career teaching mathematics relocating to Atlanta as a member of Teach for America. I spent my career as a teacher leader diving into neuroscience to engage students through creative measures. After spending a summer advising at UC Davis in 2019 at a residential science and math program for high school students, my vision expanded to pursue a career outside of education. At that time, entrepreneurship seemed unattainable and uncertain; however, with an unexpected series of life pivots, unemployment, and the stillness of the pandemic Atlanta Priority Mobile Notary was launched in 2020.

As Dr. Eric Thomas stated “Knowledge is the new money. Go get you some”, I am committed to the choice of growth and discomfort in becoming a greater version of myself daily. I have challenged myself in studying the psychology of influence and how to develop discipline in building a company that I can work on and not in daily operations.  I am most proud of being able to help others in growing their existing businesses or create a supplemental income source for other professionals, students, and retirees. The next action steps for Team Atlanta Priority Mobile Notary include service area expansion, increased corporate partnerships, and the onboarding of an office coordinator.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Pivots have become an integral part of my journey into entrepreneurship. From deciding to pursue a career outside of education to developing a skin/hair care line to legal services, the last couple of years has been filled with pivotal moments. I initially envisioned that I would focus solely on mobile fingerprinting. However, after a few trials, I soon learned I did not enjoy fingerprinting. I then dove into real estate closings for the primary focus of business development. After spending hours with clients at the signing table, printing errors, and multiple-party involvement, I knew it was time to pivot. I was more fulfilled after discovering the type of signings I enjoyed most and providing opportunities for continual relationship building. In June 2021, I joined Thumbtack and began to build awareness around our service offerings highlighting Estate Planning and Power of Attorney. From consistent usage and dedication to response time and quality of service rendered, we were recognized as a Top Pro and remained in the top 3 listings in our local area. This helped drive more corporate clients to our business and this contributed to another pivot by establishing relationships with other local notaries. This allowed our company to complete various types of assignments and provide additional third-party witnesses when requested by our clients. It has led to one of my greatest joys in offering opportunities for others to join our team. Through expansion, I employed automation software to assist in scheduling and client communication as I was often with clients missing other opportunities via e-mails, calls, or messages. With automation, I created the structure for increased autonomy for clients while scheduling their appointments and a less cumbersome intake process. We have received resoundingly positive feedback with the changes as evidenced in our testimonials. We have pivoted in our business offerings most recently by adding Apostille services whereby we offer a premium in-person (not limited to only mail-in service) handling of documents intended for international usage.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

One of the most influential quotes on my journey has been “all disciplines affect each other” by John Rohn. As a lover of learning, I can be found reading all things neuroscience, meditation, and personal development. Unlearning self-imposed limitations was one of the first challenges I faced in taking risks in growing our business. As Grant Cardone stated in The 10x Role “the most valuable chips you have are your mindset, actions, persistence, and creativity”. The unearthing of the splendor of the gradual process of improvement has been one of the greatest joys of building a company. One of my daily practices of creating small wins through disciplines has transformed how I embrace risks, lead our team, provide feedback, structure communication with our clients, learn, reflect, and fail forward. It is my greatest honor to share some of the featured books on my reading log as Atomic Habits by James Clear, The Source by Tara Swart, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson, and The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John Maxwell. I am an avid consumer of Andrew Huberman, Joe Dispenza, Tom Bilyeu, and JT Automation’s content as well. I am thrilled to share my next read, The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers by Alex Banayan. As Kevin Turner stated, “the only job security we have is our commitment to personal development”. Your mindset matters.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.atlanta-notary.com
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/atlanta-priority-mobile-notary-services-atlanta
• Other: Thumbtack: https://www.thumbtack.com/ga/atlanta/notary-public/atlanta-priority-mobile-notary-services-llc/service/424190216358223896

Image Credits
Jayda Brown