It's Official!

Yes, I am now a Notary Public.

Exciting, huh?

What does a Notary Public do? Well, I'm glad you asked! A Notary Public acknowledges signatures, administers oaths, and takes depositions and affidavits. For instance, if you buy a house there will be paperwork that needs to notarized. I'm the guy stamping all that paperwork.

I was really looking forward to getting my cool embosser, but noooooo. Unfortunately, those have went the way of the dinosaur. They use stamps now because the embossers did not photo-copy well.

Being a Notary Public can come in handy, depending on your work. I'm currently working for a group of real estate investors, so they love me right now. Of course they also love to call me out late at night for sudden notarizations. It would be very useful if you worked at a bank or law office too.

It was relatively simple to become a Notary Public, although it is a lengthy process. It took me about 3 months to get everything setup completely. First, you need to go down to your Town Hall and request a Notary application. You fill out a short form with standard information and pay a small fee (mine was $13.50). About a month later the governor gives you a commission date and sends it back to your county. You have to pick up a $10,000 Surety Bond (I guess if you get sued for some unforseen reason), which takes about another month to get and then you can pick up your commission.

Of course that's not quite it. After you've got your commission you need to order your supplies, which include a stamp and notarial journal (yeah, you've got to keep a journal for everything you notarize). That takes another week and then you're all set. Like I said, it's easy, but just takes awhile.

You can't really make very much with just notarization by itself, but if you charge for mileage then you'll at least make a couple of bucks. However, you might be able to secure some type of raise or bonus if you're able to provide those skills at work.

Altogether everything cost me about $150.00 so I hope it pays off. I got called out the other night for a notarization and my boss gave me $50 for it. I don't know if that will be the norm, but I'm not complaining.

Sorry if I bored you to tears, but it was either this or me ranting about how I wanted to smack Cynthia McKinney around.

Hmmm...I'm sure I can find time for that later though.