The Importance of Having a Permanent Email Address

Don't make the same mistake that so many others do. Follow this advice!

Victoria Ring---Bio

When you established internet service, your service provider assigned you a personal email address.  For example, an email address like beth784@comcast.net is a personal email address.  How do I know? By analyzing the email address itself. Someone named "Beth" has internet service through Comcast.Net and since there were other email addresses with the same name as "Beth" she was assigned a set of numbers to make her email address unique.  In this case: beth784 is a different person than beth783.

The first mistake Beth makes is assuming that beth784@comcast.net is the only email address she can use to receive email. When Beth becomes a notary and starts filling out application forms to work as a notary signing agent, she never gives it a moment's thought that her email address at Comcast.Net is ONLY to be used for personal purposes. Then, a few months later Beth decides to switch over from Comcast.Net to Roadrunner. Guess what? Beth's Comcast.Net email is closed and Roadrunner assigns her a new one.  Beth now has the impossible task of going back to every form she filled out and updating her email address or risk losing work because she cannot be contacted by email at her old Comcast.Net account.

So how do you solve this problem?  First rule: NEVER use your personal email address for anything but personal email. When you decide to open a business you should think of the business as a new person.  This means that the business needs its own email address and that email address should be a PERMANENT one that will never change.  This way, you never need to worry about the possibility of losing any work or missing important business correspondence because your business email address is not working. (You would be surprised at the number of emails I received from mortgage, title and signing companies complaining that email addresses in the Nationwide Notary Directory are no longer working. Of course the company doesn't have time to research the matter and find out "why" a notary's email address is not correct. Instead, they move on to another notary with an email address that works and the other notary loses the job without ever understanding why.)

How Do You Get a Permanent Email Address?

The easiest permanent email address to get (unless you decide to have a web site of your own and purchase a domain name like "50StateNotary.Com") is through Yahoo, Hotmail or other similar online services. The main mistake people make when they choose an online email service like Yahoo and Hotmail is they only sign up for the Free Account. Again, the Free Account is ONLY for personal email. Not only will you be limited to the amount of email you receive with a Free Account, but you will not have access to many crucial business services.  Normally, for less than $20 for 12 months you can have a PAID Yahoo or Hotmail email account that provides you with no email limitations, so why settle for a Free Account?  This PAID permanent email address will be the one you will use for your business.

How An Online Email Account Protects Your Computer

When you establish a PAID email account for your business with an online service like Yahoo or Hotmail, you also protect your computer because you are accessing your email on the internet.  In fact, you can access your email from any computer; whether you are at work, in a hotel room or from your laptop at Aunt Millie's house.  Accessing your email through the internet means that the email never downloads to your computer.  But when you go into your email program (Outlook for example) and click on "Get Mail" the email is transferred from your internet service provider to your computer.  Often, you can download a virus and never know it.  However, if you ONLY use your personal email address to give to your trusted friends and relatives, you will greatly limit your chances of receiving a virus in your personal email account unless they personally forward you one.

Selecting the Right Business Email Address

When you set up your PAID email account with an online service like Yahoo or Hotmail you should also select an email address that reflects the name of your business.  If you do not have a name for your business, you shouldn't start marketing your business.  One of the first things a mother does when she gives birth to a child is to name the baby.  Why then do people decide to start a business but never choose a name for it? The logic doesn't make sense to me.

Business email addresses like beththenotary@hotmail.com would indicate that Beth is a notary but she has no name for her business. It would be better for Beth to use her last name and choose an email address like drakenotaryservice@hotmail.com.  Drake Notary Service is a more realistic business name for an email address than Beth The Notary.  And don't think you have to file paperwork with your state to have an email business name. At this point, you are choosing an email address -- not buying a storefront and hiring employees.

To get some ideas for available domains, visit http://www.dnwiz.com.  Type in a search word like "notary" and you get a guadzillion of ones to choose from.