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T O P I C R E V I E W
Shannon	Posted - 01/28/2011 : 09:59:06 AM First: Do no harm. Sure, it sounds an awful lot like the words attributed to a Doctor's Hippocratic Oath. This "oath" is widely believed to include the words written above. But alas, it does not. A better place for these words it would seem, is with those who accept our advertising dollars. As paid allies in our daily struggle to improve our top-line sales, attract clients and to thoughtfully display our wares in a manner appealing to prospective customers, their responsibility is to help us NOT hurt us. Business people spend their workday trying desperately to drive dollars from the top-line (sales) to the bottom line (profit). We pinch our pennies, we squeeze our resources like lemons and we drive our employees to take on and do more in a days work, all to increase that bottom line. To assist us in these efforts we employ various advertising entities. An expectation is placed upon them that they will do what they are paid to do...promote our business. It seems some have lost their focus in doing that. With the addition of Social Media to our everyday lives, Facebook, Twitter and countless other such vehicles allow us to widen our sphere of influence and if not educate, then certainly to entertain others with our dazzling insights and vast professional knowledge. I, for one, believe that when a paid advertising entity chooses to participate via these various forms of social media, their responsibility does not lessen, it increases. They, after all, have been paid (sometimes handsomely) to promote and increase our business. If they insist upon providing improper or misleading information, or false information that paints our business in an unflattering light, are they not in breach? Certainly, they are working against us or as another generation might have put it: "biting the hand that feeds them" I'm hoping for lots of feedback on this post. I have been struggling with the choice to renew or "not" renew an advertising agreement with an entity for which I have been an advocate. The advertising I have paid for has been professional and my results have been mostly positive in my relationship with them. Still, when I see them regularly providing misinformation about my profession while continuing to accept my hard earned advertising dollars, I am angered. I simply wish that they would.... First, DO NO HARM! "A Quick Note" www.aquicknote.net Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aquicknote Like me on Facebook: http://goo.gl/WWpGP
7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
Shannon	Posted - 02/14/2011 : 10:16:24 PM "I am very thoughtful about what I post on social media." I'm baffled. Because today, you did it again! As posted on FACEBOOK: 123notary It is proper to charge incrementally more for each hour after 8pm. Its hard to find a notary late at night, and it interferes with your sleep schedule, so charge more. Here is a sample night price schedule: 7pm $40 8pm $45 9pm $50 10pm $55 11pm $60 12am $65 1am $70 2am $75 3am $80 4am $80 5am $80 6am $75 7am $70 8am $60 9am $50 10am $40 What do these random numbers represent? To who, for what purpose and to what are they attached? Again, there is enough misconception about Notaries and what we do and you pulling these numbers out of thin air does nothing but confuse an already puzzled public. Don't you see this inaccurate information only confuses our clients! "A Quick Note" www.aquicknote.net Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aquicknote Like me on Facebook: http://goo.gl/WWpGP
jbelmont	Posted - 01/30/2011 : 3:29:22 PM I am very thoughtful about what I post on social media. However, if I do 1000 things that you like and only one thing wrong, then there is a gang of people who will jump all over me. I don't have the time or resources to pay separate individuals to inspect each single post that I make. I have 100 responsibilities in my job. Carmen checks what we post, but she is human and can miss something from time to time. Some of our notaries told me that previously they thought of me as some sort of god or diety which is similar to how six year olds see their parents and teachers. Then, they were disillusioned (much like six year olds) when they found out that I was not perfect (which I never claimed to be). Then about a dozen of them decided to try to destroy me because I made a few honest mistakes. The amount of hatefullness and vindictiveness is psychotic behavior. If there is a problem, just email me and I'll fix it if I feel that it needs fixing, and if I have the resources to fix it. All of this drama is time consuming and emotionally extremely taxing. There is no reason for the drama and no reason for this discussion. Once again, as of 1-30-2011, there is nothing wrong and nothing to complain about.
Shannon	Posted - 01/29/2011 : 10:56:35 PM I appreciate this thoughtful response. I merely request that your future public posting on Social media is also as thoughtful. You will not now (or ever) see me bashing for the sake of bashing...that's just not my thing. I have a duty to my own interests to point out an issue or concern when I see one. I hope (and believe) you appreciate that. For the record, I spend the lion's share of my entire advertising budget each year on a listing with 123. I don't believe that makes me special, but it certainly means I must evaluate that expense. The issues I have raised go straight to the setting of that value. Thanks for your reply. "A Quick Note" www.aquicknote.net Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aquicknote Like me on Facebook: http://goo.gl/WWpGP
jbelmont	Posted - 01/29/2011 : 9:00:06 PM Hi Shannon, We take these things seriously. We want to be 100% correct. We have 6000 notaries who always need something. We can not always address all issues to the satisfaction of the notary. Your complaint about the list of signing companies was a difference in opinion. I agree that it would be nice to update it monthly, but that entails about 20 hours of labor which I don't have time for. I was not trying to brush your comment under the refrigerator. Its just that I can't do what you asked, and its a lower priority than the other projects I'm working on which directly relate to getting notaries jobs through optimization and content. As far as what happened in December, it did not hurt our business, but hurt our feelings and our faith in our clientele. Please try to understand that we are trying to do 100 things at the same time, and if clients are attacking us, or being overly critical without a good reason, this is unfair to us. We are working our rears off and trying our best. We need assistance, not this type of endless criticism which is not helpful to anyone. Your wants and needs for what we should do seem reasonable to you, but there are many sides to the story. I don't think you understand the time that goes into each little thing that we do, not to mention the lack of help we get from the community. I have to write 99% of my content myself with no help from others who know more than I do. In any case, endless public criticism doesn't sit well with me, especially if its not deserved. Polite, private dialogue is what I accept. And please don't expect me to be able to comply with all of your requests, because I am only one person and I'm overloaded as it is.
Shannon	Posted - 01/29/2011 : 4:50:41 PM Apparently Lee, You can argue with my logic. As for writing letters, I did that and received a dismissive and condescending response that did nothing to reduce my anger. I take issue with your belief that I have somehow bashed you. If you look back, you will find numerous posts where I have defended and advocated for 123 Notary on this and several other sites. I am certainly responsible for bringing you my repeat business for many years, but also suggesting your site to countless Newbies over that span. What I cannot abide are "generalized formulas" that instruct potential clients (and all readers) on what to expect to pay for Notary Services. Nor the offer of Notary advice from someone who is not currently a Notary and can be largely "out of touch" with the current ins and outs of operating a successful notary signing business. The areas where I am critical are specific and I have tried to do that in a private manner. My apologies if I have offended or bruised your office in any way. But sweeping such a complaint under the rug will not make it go away. Step back and realize that I am not alone (see facebook)and ...I am not acting in an irrational way. "A Quick Note" www.aquicknote.net Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aquicknote Like me on Facebook: http://goo.gl/WWpGP
jbelmont	Posted - 01/29/2011 : 3:37:18 PM We offer endless valuable content for FREE 123notary provides the finest quality mobile notary advertising in the industry. Additionally, we provide a wide variety of free resource materials, not only to paying customers, but to the public. We have Facebook, Twitter, a Blog, a Forum, and resource materials that teach you how to make sure you get paid by signing companies. Facebook has close to 2200 followers whose lives are positively effected and entertained by our profile. Additionally, we have http://www.123notary.com/s for your i-phone where you can look up signing companies on the road to make sure they pay their notaries. Carmen and I work overtime to ensure that notaries get the best overall experience with us, and in their professional lives. We are not experts on the notary law of all 50 states. We don't claim to be. Out of over 1000 tweets / posts on social media there were only about seven or eight errors which we quickly fixed which is less than 1% and is temporary since they have been fixed. Once the error is fixed, the problem is over, but the complaining and bashing goes on for months and years. Additionally, our social media campaign has nothing to do with your advertising budget with us and doesn't effect your advertising in any way other than the fact that it might bring you more business. 20-30%+ business for notaries! Our social media campaign has helped our notaries get about 20-30% more business regardless of whether or not there were seven or eight mistakes out of 1000 posts. Do you want the extra business or not? The problem is, that if we make a mistake; or if we don't make a mistake, but you think we made a mistake or violently disagree with us about something, there are a handful of notaries waiting to be vindictive towards us and engage in endless bashing and complaining. Just send a quick polite email and the problem is over: If you want to act civilized, if there is something wrong, you send us a short and polite email asking us to fix it, then we quickly fix it, and the matter is OVER without all of this endless whining and bashing. Honestly, I don't think you want a solution, you just want something to complain about. We work our rear ends off to provide you with the finest advertising money can buy, and all I hear from Shannon is complaints about absolutely everything from our list of signing companies, to our social media, and the list goes on and on. I have not heard anything positive from Shannon. Title and Settlement companies I have personal contacts with have told me that they have a POLICY not to hire these negative notaries who only complain and are negative about everything. They read this forum and keep track of the regular negative folks. Complaining about nothing After all that we do, and half of it we don't even charge for, Shannon is bitterly complaining because less than 1% of our social media posts had a temporary mistake that got fixed long time ago. He is angry without reason. Nobody is harming him. Shannon, are you perfect? Have you ever made a mistake in your life? If you made a mistake that you fixed in 2006 and in 2012 there were a dozen people who constantly harrassed you becuase there was a small mistake six years ago that you had fixed, how would you feel? Is this civil or fair behavior?
Lee-AR	Posted - 01/29/2011 : 1:34:18 PM Can't argue with that logic.