When Monica Haverkamp took a job as an executive assistant at American Airlines, she never expected that her Notary commission would earn her extra income. But thanks to some word of mouth and a few well-placed and cleverly designed flyers, her Notary business has grown exponentially.
Haverkamp first became a Notary in the 1990s while working as a legal assistant. Notarization is also part of her duties at the American Airlines corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. But she noticed that the more notarizations she performed in her office, the more requests she started getting from co-workers to notarize personal documents.
“Initially, I just did a few free personal notarizations for co-workers on my team,” she said. “After that, people outside my team were asking for notarizations too.”
With the increased demand, Haverkamp started a part-time Notary business on the side. She started out with notarizations referred to her by co-workers, then posted flyers with her contact information.
At first, the posters went mostly unnoticed. So Haverkamp added a colorful Texas flag to her flyers to make them stand out. She also started carrying a backpack with the same picture and her Notary business name on it. Co-workers also referred more customers to her. Haverkamp says keeping a highly visible profile for her business around her office and community has helped her stay successful.
“I often get stopped by people asking if I’m a Notary. When I tell them I am, they say they’ll remember that,” she said. “I get a lot of business through word of mouth and referrals. If people are on short notice to find a Notary, they often remember seeing me and contact me.”
Since she started her Notary business, Haverkamp has notarized school permission slips for parents, passport and visa application documents and many others. She also clears her activities with her supervisors and Human Resources to make sure her personal business doesn’t conflict with her duties at American Airlines. She only posts her flyers in designated areas and schedules personal business notarizations during her lunch break.
“I just keep it very low-key. It’s always a good idea to check to make sure your private business doesn’t cause problems with your work for the company,” she said. But it seems to be working out for her — when asked how her business is right now, Haverkamp said, “It’s been going crazy!”
David Thun is an Associate Editor at the National Notary Association.