What Additional Skills are Helpful for Remote Notaries?

Beyond the legal and technical requirements to perform RON, the skills that separate notaries who build a sustainable practice from those who struggle are largely relationship, communication, and document-literacy skills that the state authorization process does not cover.

This guide covers the supplementary skills that have the most practical impact on RON practice success. For the technical and legal requirements that come first, start with the how-to by state hub and RON legal status hub.

Real Estate and Loan Document Literacy

Loan signing packages — one of the highest-volume segments of RON work — consist of dense legal and financial documents: promissory notes, deeds of trust, closing disclosures, truth-in-lending statements, right of rescission notices. You do not need to be a lawyer to be effective, but knowing what each major document type is, where signatures and initials are required, and how to guide signers through the package efficiently is a skill that directly affects how smoothly sessions run and whether clients refer you again.

The NNA Certified Notary Signing Agent training course covers this specifically and is the most widely recognized credential for this domain knowledge.

Bilingual Ability — Spanish in Particular

Spanish language ability creates meaningful differentiation in most U.S. markets. A significant share of real estate buyers, estate planning clients, and business owners are Spanish-dominant or more comfortable transacting in Spanish. RON notaries who can conduct sessions in Spanish — or who can at minimum guide Spanish-speaking signers through the process clearly — access a consistently underserved segment of the market that generates referrals and repeat business.

Note that conducting a session in Spanish does not change the legal requirements — identity verification, oath administration, and recordkeeping must still comply with state law. The language of the session is separate from the legal framework of the notarial act.

Basic Technical Troubleshooting

RON sessions involve technology on both sides of the connection. Signers regularly encounter browser incompatibility issues, camera permission problems, microphone failures, or difficulty navigating the platform interface. A notary who can walk a signer through basic troubleshooting — clearing browser cache, enabling camera permissions, checking microphone settings, switching browsers — saves sessions that would otherwise have to be rescheduled and creates a noticeably better client experience.

Professional Communication and Client Management

The notaries who generate consistent repeat business and referrals from professional clients are almost always described in terms of communication quality: responsive, with clear pre-session preparation instructions, quick follow-up, and easy to work with administratively. Communication skill directly drives client retention and referral generation — the primary drivers of income growth beyond a certain baseline session volume.

Estate Planning Document Familiarity

Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and advance care documents are a significant category of RON work, especially in markets with older populations or strong estate planning attorney practices. These documents have specific execution requirements — witness requirements, specific notarial act types, and in some states, specific signing sequences. Familiarity with these documents and their execution requirements reduces session friction and errors significantly.

Best Next Page by Intent

• If you need your state’s RON authorization: browse how-to by state.
• If you need to confirm RON legality: review RON legal status.
• If you need a platform: compare remote notary platforms.
• If you need more professional guides: browse how-to guides.