People ask me all the time how to get started in this business and how to find signings.

I really haven't needed to advertise because I've stayed very busy on the loan signing side of things. In my case, because I did start in 2020 with the refi boom and all, they were looking for bodies.

During the time that I was waiting for my commission to come through, I spent 15-hour days sitting with my computer in my lap, going through every single Facebook group I could find, reading and taking notes on the names of signing companies. I learned about the basic databases and the couple that it's okay to pay for, like the ones that cost $5 a year or $60–$70 a year to belong to. I signed up for those, and they had lists of signing companies.

So I started going through those lists, and many of those companies were either out of business or had bad reviews, etc. I had to pick through those lists very gingerly to find good ones to sign up with. Of course, many of the companies I signed up with I never heard from again, or I've only heard from once or twice.

I actually lost 15 pounds in that first six weeks because I wouldn't leave my computer. It was nuts because every single company you sign up with requires an application of sorts. Some of them are quick and easy, but others are not. The ones that make you apply as if you're getting an actual job require you to upload everything.

At that time, I didn't have all of my credentials yet, so I had to keep pretty accurate lists of what I needed to go back to when everything was finally in place. So it was a big deal—not a few hours a day. I'm talking about living and breathing it for the first several months.

But the thing is, since then, loan signing has kept me busy. Not incredibly lucrative, no. Even though I work primarily for title companies, it's not direct in the sense that they pay the full fee everybody always talks about. Even local title companies that hire notaries locally tend to lower those payments to about the same as what you would get on Snapdocs, or very little more.

In fact, I don't work nearly as much on Snapdocs anymore. I still do maybe six or eight signings a month through them. I used to do 20 a month from Snapdocs, but I now do 70 to 80 signings a month, and most of those come from major title companies. They don't pay any better than signing services do. In fact, the few companies I still work for through Snapdocs often pay me better than the title companies.

I say that to say every area is going to have its own title companies, and some are going to be better than others. The same thing can be said of signing services. If I really wanted to make better money, I would probably spend more time looking for companies I've never heard of before.

All of that is kind of exhausting. No, not kind of exhausting—it is absolutely exhausting.

I remember back when I was doing all that, every time I found a company to sign up with and then saw the list of things I needed to do, many of them didn't just want an electronic upload. They wanted us to compile everything together, print it out, sign it, or do whatever was needed, and then send it all back in one file.

I was pretty convinced they did all of that as a way to see just how quickly and thoroughly we could do it. After all, we needed to learn how to use our printer, our scanner, email, and how to follow instructions. Oftentimes they had little initial spots hidden throughout the paperwork.

It's like an audition.

They want to see how we do.

And apparently, I passed all those tests.