This is where the bulk of your start-up costs are going to come from. You will need a good computer or laptop, printer, and a scanner.
There is a lot to unpack here, so bear with me…
I will not even begin to try to tell you what kind of computer or laptop you should get. This is a hugely personal decision. But I will make a couple of recommendations:
1) Be sure you acquire and maintain good Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware Software and that you keep it up to date and run it regularly. Most of these kinds of software have automated settings. Use them. Not only is this a good idea, but it is also required by most if not all of your agreements with Signing Agencies.
2) Make it your work computer. Not your gaming computer. Not your Social Media Computer. This computer should be for work. Your computer will, at times, have various amounts of VERY personal information on it. You are downloading and/or scanning to it, Loan Applications, Deeds of Trust, banking account details, copies of Driver’s Licenses or Passports, Social Security Numbers and more.
More and more, I am seeing Signing Agencies and Title Companies requiring that you understand that you are responsible for protecting any Personal Identifying Information (PII), also called Personal Private Information (PPI) or even Non-Public Personal Information (NPPI). This is essentially any information that could be used to identify your Signers. Obviously, you will need this information for a short time, but then, it should be deleted and then deleted from your Delete Files or Recycle Bin.
If you are hacked, you can be held responsible for any PII or PPI or NPPI that was taken or exposed and that can break a business in a heartbeat. Not to mention that you are also required to notify your Signing Agency(ies) or Title Company(ies) and maybe the person or people whose information might have been compromised.
There is no reason to hang onto any of the documents you download for a Signing or uploaded after scanning, any longer than necessary.
You should also clean up and regularly delete files from your Downloads folder and then, again, delete them from your Recycle Bin.
3) Protect your computer / protect yourself – a password is not enough. Two-Factor Authentication is best and regularly required by Signing Agencies and Title Companies. Again, you have or may have a lot of sensitive data on your computer, and it must be protected. The slight inconvenience of Two-Factor Authentication is worth it.
A last few items: 1) Letting others use your computer is sincerely frowned upon, ideally, you would be the only user, 2) Avoid so called “Internet” laptops – they rarely have enough processing power to do what you will need and almost never have additional ports for connecting printers, scanners, additional monitors, etc., 3) When shopping for your computer / laptop, avoid the “Value” section, these are usually under powered and lack processing capabilities, 4) Think about what will need to have plugged in or connected. Think Blue Tooth, think USB A vs USB C ports, think HDMI (if you plan to connect a separate monitor), think security, think about the software that you will be using. If you are planning to use Quickbooks desktop, it requires 8 Gig of RAM. And, while you are here, think about whether you want any security software or One Drive or a Microsoft 365 subscription. Also, think about whether you plan on doing RONs (Remote Online Notarizations) which is a completely different conversation / post. And iPENs in another. So many decisions.
Smartphones
While we’re talking about computers, let’s talk about the one in your pocket. Your smartphone is nothing more than a minicomputer. Fortunately, you have options. You can get a separate smartphone (I say separate, because most of us already have 1 for personal use) strictly for business purposes. You can get a 2nd line on your existing phone usually for a nominal free from your cell phone service provider or you can double up and use the personal phone number for both.
Whichever route you choose to go, remember that when you are using it, it is a business phone. Answer professionally, every call. Even those calls that your cell phone service provider may declare as “Potential Spam”. I cannot tell you how many calls I have answered that show “Potential Spam” that turned out to be a legitimate, Notary related call. Maybe not a ton, but enough to keep me answering the phone. If it is spam and you get a live person, let them know this is a business number and ask them not to call you back, if it’s a recording, just hang up. Over time, I have gotten fewer of these scam / spam calls.
Hopefully you need your face or fingerprint or PIN to open your phone, but you may be required (per Signing Agencies and / or Title Company agreements) to also have a separate password to get into your work email account. If you open Signing files on your phone, don’t forget to delete them and then delete them from your Recycle Bin.
Disclaimer: I am not suggesting that the security measures I recommend will meet all of your requirements and obligations, but this is a good start. You should make every effort to understand what you need to do to protect any data in your possession.
Printers:
Now let’s talk Printers. No Ink Jet printers. None. Don’t even bother. You would end up spending a fortune on ink and besides, they are generally not allowed. A laser printer is the only way to go. I bought a Brother HL – L6200DW. And I bought the extra tray. This was easily some of the best advice I found in the forums.
I also ended up buying a 2nd printer from a Notary friend who was moving on – a Brother HL L8360DW. Having 2 printers has been a good thing and made my life easier a number of times. A 2nd printer is not necessary, but certainly helpful. Both of my printers are connected via Bluetooth so that Ibcan print from my laptop or cell phone.
Once again, I am not going to tell you what printer to buy but make it a good one and get a second tray. Most of the time a package will contain both Letter and Legal-size pages and having designated trays for each will save time and your sanity. Also, there are many profiles that ask if you have a dual tray laser printer. I don’t know if saying ‘No’ would keep you from getting work, but why temp fate?
Recommendation #1: Most laser printers seem to have it but trust me when I say that it is worth it to ensure that your new printer can print via Bluetooth. Connect your computer and smartphone. You may have to download an app or some kind of driver, but just do it. Thank me later. Not to mention, your computer of choice may be limited as to the number of ports, so the less you have to physically connect to it, the better.
Recommendation #2: Find yourself a good printer repair guy / girl / person and a can of air. Eventually, a printer…every printer, will struggle and possibly fail. Just because we live in a disposable world does not mean that you should throw your printer out and buy a new one. A good printer repair guy can clean, repair, and bring it back to life for less than the cost of a new one. Oh, and the can of air…every time, and I mean every single time you add a new ream of paper to the printer tray, take a moment and spray some air into the printer tray cavity. Those few seconds will help keep excess toner and bits of paper from building up and clogging or damaging your printer innards and help extend its life.
Recommendation #3: Keep an extra Drum Unit and an extra Toner Cartridge on hand. Nothing is worse than having your printer scream for Toner or a fresh Drum Unit in the middle of a print job. Especially at 10 00 PM on Sunday night when you have a 9 00 AM Monday morning Signing – trust me, it will happen.
Recommendation #4: Toner Cartridges. Your printer repair guy should be able to get you good, high quality Toner Cartridges. They may not be name brand, but they will be good. Spring for the Super High Yield cartridges. If / when you get busy, you will be printing thousands of pages per month and the less often you have swap them out, the better. I was lucky enough to run into an HP certified printer repair guy, Sam, at my Networking group. He sells me good, high quality Toner Cartridges for a great price. He regularly beats, by far, the pricing I can get at any of the office supply places or even Wal Mart, Costco, Amazon, etc.
Scanners:
Scanners are a necessary tool in the Notary world. Frequently, Signing Agencies will require that the signed documents be scanned and emailed or uploaded to them after the completion of the Signing. Usually within 75 minutes to 2 hours. This is often called a Scanback or even a Faxback. Failure to scan and email or upload documents, as appropriate, can cost you a portion or all of your fee.
When I first became a Notary, I had a multi-purpose ink jet printer, copier, fax, and scanner machine. I mistakenly thought that that scanner would be fine. I quickly realized that I was going to have to invest in something better. It would only scan about 8 pages per minute – which as it turns out, is common for these types of machines and sometimes I wouldn’t even go that fast. One time, I had to break a package apart into multiple files (which took me over an hour to scan) and another time, my scanning ended up happening at my local Fed Ex office and cost $0.50 per page. It was not a good day.
Shortly thereafter, I invested in a refurbished Fuji fi-6130 scanner on Amazon. It cost me a little over $250, but scans upwards of 80 pages per minute at 300 dpi. Worth every penny.
Eventually, that scanner died. I revived it and it finally died, like dead. It was then that I invested in a brand spanking new Epson ES – 400II. It has been worth every penny
Note #1: dpi = Dots Per Inch. The higher the dpi, the better the scanned image, but also, the larger the resulting file. 300 dpi is generally fine for most Notary related scanning. I have found that 600 dpi is necessary if I need to scan a photocopy of a Driver’s License or Passport. If the photocopy is really bad, consider scanning in color even if the copy is black and white, or play around with your settings and figure out what looks best. As a matter of habit, I scan signed documents at 400 dpi and Identification documents at 600 dpi. I have also stumbled across a couple of occasions where the Title Company specifically requested that the scan be in color as to confirm the signature was completed in blue ink. I mentioned my multi-scanner/printer, etc. machine, I use it when scanning checks and if I need a higher scan on IDs – I can get up to 1200 dpi. Also, it has both a feeder and a flatbed scanning surface.
Note #2: If your package contains both letter and legal-sized pages just scan the whole thing as legal-size and be done with it. With my Fuji, I had to select a final size, but with my Epson, it will auto- size to accommodate Letter and Legal sizes without my having to do anything. Talk about a game changer. If you find that as an option on potential scanner, that is definitely a ‘check’ in the Pro column. I wish it would connect via bluetooth, but you can’t always have everything you want.
I am not going to suggest that you buy the same scanner I have, but I will say that your scanner will be an investment and it is worth buying a good one – take care of it.
Let’s talk for a moment about Scanner Apps. A Scanner App allows you to “scan” documents using the camera on your smartphone. Essentially, you are taking a picture of a document – one page at a time. There are many scanner apps out there. I have no personal recommendations here. The use of scanner apps is sometimes frowned upon. Just be aware of any restrictions when deciding whether to use one. Also, think about having to scan a 100 page document 1 page at a time…the horror.
It is important to note that some Signing Agencies and some Title Companies tell you specifically to not use scanning apps. Read your Confirmations…more on that later.
Lastly, some Notaries keep a scanner in their car and scan documents on the fly. If you plan to do that, make sure your car can accommodate the power usage and that your new scanner is easily moved / mobile.
I know that was a lot to take in. Relax, take a deep breath and start looking forward to my next post.
TX Notary Guy 
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