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Work From Home as a Notary Public
What is A Notary Public?
A Notary Public is someone who is appointed by their state government to be an impartial witness to the signing of important documents. These documents could include property transfers, wills, trusts, and any document that needs a witness to the signing. The notary confirms the identity of the person signing the document and insures that the person is signing of their own free will and are not under duress.
How Do You Become A Notary?
The requirements for becoming a Notary Public vary from state to state. For instance, California requires completion of a course, passing a test, fingerprints and a picture. New Mexico is not as stringent, only requiring that you purchase an official seal stamp and a bond. To find about the requirements for your state you should check with your state’s Secretary of State office. You could also check www.nationalnotary.org and www.notaryofamerica.com (Not affiliate links) Both sites sell notary training and supplies, as well as provide information on state requirements for notaries in all 50 states.
Once you have been appointed by the state you are free to offer your services to the public. Many notaries work from home and have their clients come to them for signing. But many notaries offer a mobile notary service and come to their client’s place of business to provide notary services.
How Much Can You Charge As A Notary Public?
How much a notary can charge is set by the state. The amount a notary can charge for a single page signing vaires widley from state to state. It can be as low as $1 (Minnesota),or as high as $10. (California and Florida. There are some states that do not have a maximum fee, but those states do require that the notary fee be reasonable. Puny.org has a chart showing the maximum a notary can charge for a one page document. Regulations can change at any time to see what the current fees are in your state.
Although the state allowed fees may be low, notaries are allowed to charge for other services they may provide. These could include travel, supplies, and proofreading of the document.
How Do Notary Publics Find Clients?
As a notary as with many occupations, finding clients when you are just starting out can be difficult. It may be a more difficult than usual for notaries because there are banks and such that will provide free notary services to their clients. However, when looking for your first clients think of professionals that frequently need notaries and offer your services. Real Estate agents and title companies are frequently in need of notaries. Also contact attorneys who practice family law. Many legal documents require notarized signatures.
Can You Earn a Full Time Income as a Notary Public?
I think it would be difficult to provide a full time income only providing notary services. However, it is relatively quick and inexpensive to become a notary, and it works well as an add-on service to other service occupations.
Do you work from home as a notary public? As you able to achieve a full time living providing notary services? Let me know in the comments!
~Kat~
Can You Make Money Blogging?
The question seems to come up fairly often. Can you really make money blogging? The answers come back all across the board. Everything from “Look at John Chow or Shoemoney, they’re raking in the cash!” to “I’ve got great content, I write for my readers and I spend the time it takes to write a well thought out, spell checked post, and I am still not making a dime!”
As well as writing for my own blogs, I also like writing for HubPages. I have a few hubs over there, and when I am not writing I like to read the forums. The forums are full of very good writers complaining that they are not making any money. They spend hours on their hubs, get hundreds of readers, dozens of comments, and don’t make any money. Others throw a hub together in just a few minutes, have a few dozen readers, and get a check from Google every month. It just doesn’t seem fair!
What some writers don’t seem to understand, is that to make money you have to sell what people are buying. The best ice cream in the world doesn’t sell well in the dead of winter! Your blog post on the Russian Revolution might be incredibly well written, gather lots of comments, and even win you an award, but it probably won’t make you any money. There just aren’t that many buyers (or advertisers) for the topic. On the other hand, an article on a diet that actually works, or a review on the latest tech gadget, those posts are going to attract people who are looking to buy. Buyers might not comment, but they will click on ads.
Some complain that they don’t want to “sell out”. They don’t want to write just for the money. That is fine, but then it doesn’t make sense to complain that you aren’t making money. I know that you have been told to write great content, spell check your work, and writer for your reader. That is all true. However, if you don’t also write for buyers, people who are looking to buy something, then you will have trouble making money blogging. Let’s face it, the market isn’t always fair and the most deserving don’t necessarily make the most money.
For me, I mix it up a bit. Sometimes I am write for the pleasure of writing. I pick a topic I am intersted in and write just to put my ideas out on the World Wide Web. Othertimes, I am writing with a specific market in mind. I am writing just to make money.
The results have been OK. For the amount of effort I put into my blogs I make a reasonable amount of money. I am not about to quit my dayjob, but I earn enough to pay for my hosting and my domains and to have a little left over. I am sure that if I spent more time I could make more money.
How about you, are you really blogging to make money?
Make Money Writing for Demand Studios
If you want to make money writing for blogs on the internet it pays to sign up with a few blogging networks. They can provide a steady stream of work that can tide you over if your own blogs are lagging. They are also good when you want to write on a topic that just doesn’t “fit” any of your own blogs. The trick can be picking the right blog network to write for. I have had a good amount of success writing for HubPages, but I am also searching for new networks that pay well and have interesting assignments. The Problogger job board alone has almost 20 new job listings for blog networks this month, and we are only half way through the month! The trick is to find a blog network that has enough assignments for all their writers, has a reputation for high quality content, and who pays their writers on time and consistently.
Demand Studios is a blog network that connects freelance writers and filmmakers with publishers who need content. They claim to be the largest provider of videos to YouTube, and they provide content to may popular sites like Trails.com and AOL.
Like most higher quality blog networks Demand Studios requires an application process that includes providing a resume and a writing sample. Once you are accepted into the network you can choose from a list of assignments and claim those that best suit your writing topics and style. Once you have claimed an assignment you have seven days to complete the article. After you submit you article it is subject to an editorial process where it will be either accepted, sent back for revision, or rejected. Once you article is accepted you are paid within one week via PayPal. The article is then optimized for the web before it is published.
Demand Studios provides two types of article assignments. Flat fee and revenue share. You know what type of article you are writing when you accept the assignment. For flat fee articles you are paid the fee one time, with revenue share you are paid a percentage of the generated revenue for an indefinite period of time. There is a $10 minimum to receive payment. If you don’t reach the minimum it is carried over to the next pay period.
Like most blog networks, once your article has been accepted, Demand Studios owns all the rights. However, they do allow a bio box that can include links back to your own blogs. If your article is published on a popular site this alone could be worth the effort to write the article!
I found it interesting that many of the publishers are also blog networks like eHow. I wonder if you might be better off writing directly for the network, rather than sharing the revenue with two networks. On the flip side, if you are more of a writer that an SEO expert, you might actually make more money on a revenue share with Demand Studio optimizing your content, than you would on your own.
In addition to writing jobs, Demand Studios also offers jobs for editors, filmmakers and transcribers.