Reality of Compensation

As the month draws to a close, I have five signings left to see through—assuming none of them cancel.

This has been a pretty typical month for me. I work as much as I can, every month, but the final numbers depend largely on how busy the schedulers are and how “generous” they feel like being.

Last year, their collective generosity decided that all this work was worth about $27,000 after expenses. They didn’t know exactly where the numbers would land, but they certainly knew they weren’t paying much.

When business is busy, companies are more willing to pay experienced notaries like me a little more. When things slow down, experience seems to matter much less. There can easily be a $2,000 difference between my lowest and highest months—but the effort I put in is exactly the same.

That is what business ownership looks like. There are no guarantees, except that we will work ourselves silly trying to make it work.

Some people look at numbers like mine and say they prove I had no business writing a book because I cannot teach anyone how to make six figures. But that is exactly why I wrote it. People have been bamboozled into believing that six figures is available to anyone who is smart enough or works hard enough. I do not believe the gurus making those promises can be trusted.

Others assume I must not be very good, or that I simply work for the wrong companies—as though generous signing companies grow on trees.

Here is what I know: I would never be trusted with this many signings, month after month, if I were not good at what I do. I carry people’s private financial information. I help them refinance, purchase, or sell one of the largest assets they will ever own. If companies did not trust me to handle that responsibility correctly, my calendar would not look like this.

My book was never intended to sell a six-figure fantasy. It was written to provide a dose of reality—and that is exactly what I meant it to be.