Service-disabled Navy Veteran Michael Polusky built and launched Marcs Notary Service.

As a young man straight out of high school, Polusky joined the Navy in 1966 with the full intention of beating the draft, as to not be sent to Vietnam. Polusky completed his basic training in Great Lakes, IL, served for about five years, and was discharged in 1971 as an E3. Despite his efforts, Polusky was deployed to Vietnam for five and a half months. Polusky now suffers from various injuries, including severe hearing loss and degenerative bone and tissue disease in his upper torso, caused by a number of explosions and accidents. Like many disabled veterans, Polusky also suffers from PTSD, which has since lead to PNES (psychogenic nonepileptic seizures). Admirably, Polusky does not allow any of these unfortunate disabilities constrict his everyday life.

“I don’t have any restrictions on my daily life,” claims Polusky, proudly. “I’ve had three surgeries on my hearing, I do pain therapy twice a year on my upper torso, I see the PTSD doctor every three months, and I’ll be starting a new treatment for my PNES in October.”

Polusky is an inspiration to those around him. He is a husband, father of three, and grandfather of six and has made quite the life for himself and his family. After discharge, he worked as a marketing manager for a large company in New Jersey in the chemical industry until the company went out of business 22 years later.

Given his disabilities, his need for employment, and his love for meeting new people, Polusky decided to pave a new path for his future. In 2006 he founded Marcs Notary Service in Dallas, TX.

“It just seemed like it would be an easy thing to do with my disabilities. I’m only required to really just drive to a person’s location and have them sign paperwork. I enjoy meeting people, so that was my interest in getting going. It also kept me busy so it helped with the emotional issues I have.”

Polusky sought help from the VA Rehabilitation Program in order to get his business started. He explained that the VA helped him with his equipment, some money, and getting his schooling set up, and then he was responsible for learning how to do the work on his own.

“They put me through 130 classes to learn how to run a business and how to take care of a business. That was one of the requirements that I had to do with them. It was online. They sent me courses and I would study the courses and then I would have to answer questions and fill out stuff. I had to come up with a business plan. I had to come up with a lot of different things they required in order to pass that class. I couldn’t get any stuff from the VA until I passed those classes. That took several months, but the training was very good. I learned a lot from what they did for me.”

After several months of studying and learning, Polusky launched his business. Although he was able to start his business relatively quickly in Texas, it took a little bit of extra work to transfer it to California when he relocated in 2010.

“Unfortunately, Texas and California have different licensing requirements, so I had to return to school in California, in order to get my California mortgage notary license.”

The majority of his business comes from the mortgage industry for refinancing, new purchasing, and reverse mortgages, but he does notarize various documents for individuals as needed.

“As far as clientele, I basically market myself.  I find contacts online, I give people calls, I send them my information, you know, try to get into their business platform so I can do closings for them. That’s been very successful. I have a lot of companies I work for,” Polusky explained. He works with banks and title companies as well. He notarized 813 closings in 2016 alone.

Polusky hopes for his company to become an escrow company in the long-term. “I have it planned and I have it in place, and we are just trying to get to the point where we have the cash to be able to do it… so that’s what we are working on,” Polusky explained with certainty.

When asked what the hardest part of owning his own company is, Polusky replied, “The hardest part? There really isn’t a hard part. Getting business and marketing your company with other companies in the business is the hardest part. Finding people that can help you grow your business… I think that’s the hardest part. The rest of it is pretty simple.”

Polusky services clients in Riverside County, as well as in some areas of San Bernardino. If you live in one of these areas and are in need of any notary services or would like more information about what Michael Polusky can do for you, feel free to contact him via phone- 909-720-0275, or email marcsnotaryservice@yahoo.com.

With the help of the VA Accelerator Program www.vaaccelerator.com, Polusky’s dreams became achievable. The VA Accelerator Program is currently in the process of raising capital to fund the organization to give back to even more disabled veterans. If you’d like to help, or if you’d like more information on the program, you can directly visit the campaign page at www.aboutgiving.org.