Recently, I ran a newspaper advertisement promoting virtual notarization. I received quite a few emails asking the same question: “If you’re the Queen of Apostilles, why aren’t you running that ad for apostilles?”

My answer was simple. I am.

Notaries who run a small business have to do more than simply show up and work hard. You have to pay attention to what’s happening around you. It’s easy to get caught up in the passion and excitement you feel for your business, but successful business owners also watch the shifts in the marketplace.

Right now, I’m seeing a clear change. A high percentage of my apostille clients are asking for Virtual Notarization first. If I want to serve those clients well (and keep earning their business) I need to let them know that I offer that service.

Your business is always giving you feedback. Sometimes it shows up in declining sales. Sometimes it’s unhappy customers, rising costs, or services that simply aren’t moving the way they used to. The biggest mistake business owners make is ignoring those signals and hoping things will eventually improve on their own.

Successful entrepreneurs do something different. They pay attention early, and when things start changing, they pivot.

There’s an old saying that there’s no such thing as a dumb question. The same goes for pivoting. Pivoting doesn’t mean you failed, and it certainly doesn’t make you look foolish. In fact, it’s often the reason small businesses survive and continue to grow.

Sometimes pivoting means getting additional training. Sometimes it means changing how you market your services. Other times it might mean adjusting your pricing, improving customer service, or even letting go of something that worked well in the past but no longer does.

The key is timing.

The longer a business owner waits to address a problem, the harder it becomes to fix. Small issues grow into larger ones. Cash flow tightens. Customers begin to look elsewhere.

Smart entrepreneurs treat their business like a living system. They watch the numbers. They listen to their customers. And they regularly ask themselves one simple question:

“What is my business trying to tell me right now?”

For me, I’ve been paying close attention to the trends. Being able to offer the president of a major corporation the convenience of virtual notarization is often the tipping point that leads them to choose my company to handle their apostilles.

That’s a message my business is clearly sending.

So keep watching the trends in your own business carefully. When something isn’t working the way it used to, don’t ignore it. Pay attention. Make adjustments. Keep moving forward.

The ability to pivot isn’t a weakness in business.

It’s one of the greatest strengths a business owner can develop.

If you’re looking for more tips, advice, and a community of notary entrepreneurs that think bigger AND continually learn, join me and Bill Soroka from Notary Coach on the Skool platform in High Performance Notary at the link below. It’s free to join at the Standard level. And when you’re ready, you can upgrade to VIP where I include my certification course, the World of Apostilles. 

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