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A college or university degree is good, but must one be fixated on it; as if life stops or all other opportunities are closed, with or without, it? This article provides insight.
On some
mornings, Angelina Nguyen makes $150 in five minutes.
The
25-year-old is still surprised at how lucrative her small notary business has
been. When she first became a notary signing agent seven years ago — just weeks
after her 18th birthday — Nguyen thought it would be a temporary side hustle to
support her income as a bank teller.
Notaries, or
notary publics, witness and authorize the signing of important documents, like
passport applications and real estate contracts. Most notary publics can only
charge what their state dictates; notary signing agents, on the other hand, can
charge more as they specialize in property records and loan documents.
While Nguyen
thought the bulk of her work as a notary would be spent verifying signatures
and explaining documents to clients, she quickly realized there was more to
notarizing than she initially thought — she was also walking people through
some of the happiest, and saddest, moments of their lives.
“I’ve
watched people sign the deed to their first house and contracts for a house
they weren’t ready to leave … there’s a lot of tears, both happy and sad,” says
Nguyen. “I realized I wanted to be the person who made people feel seen, heard,
cared for and understood in those important moments.”
Two years
ago, Nguyen decided to try notarizing as a full-time career, launching her
business, Team Signings, in San Jose, California, her hometown. That
decision turned out to be a smart bet: In 2022, Nguyen’s business made close to
$150,000, according to tax documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
‘You
don’t have to go to college to be successful’
Nguyen’s
dad, Chau, repeated the same advice to her throughout high school, as her
friends panicked about their grades and having the right extracurriculars on
their resumes: “You don’t have to go to college to be successful.”
“He built a
career that he loved as a real estate agent, without a bachelor’s degree, and
always instilled in me that I didn’t have to go to college to be successful,”
says Nguyen. “I listened to him, and thank goodness I did because I didn’t know
what I wanted to major in and I would have had to take out student loans … it
saved me a lot of time and stress.”
Her dad was
also the one who suggested she become a notary signing agent, as the notaries
he worked with on real estate documents were in incredibly high demand and
earning $75-$200 per signing.
In most
states, you just need to submit an application and clear a background check to
become a notary public, but in California,
you have to take a six-hour training course, pass an exam and clear a
background check. The startup costs for becoming a notary in California can
range anywhere between $275 and $442, according to Notary.net.
It took
Nguyen about three months to complete the process, which she finished in 2015,
and another month of training and coursework to become a specialized signing
agent in 2021.
After
completing her certifications in 2015, Nguyen still wasn’t convinced she wanted
to be a notary signing agent full-time. She quit her job as a bank teller in
2016 and for the next five years, she tried out different jobs, including short
stints as a real estate agent and insurance agent — but nothing matched how
much she enjoyed notarizing.
“It’s one
hour of work and then you’re done, you’re free,” says Nguyen. “It’s flexible
hours, and I feel like I am really making a difference in people’s lives.”
‘I work
less than six hours a day’
Nguyen
registered Team Signings as a corporation in November 2021 and
immediately got to work building her clientele: She visited real estate
agencies with a stack of business cards, made TikTok and Instagram pages to
document her work as a signing agent and asked friends to spread the word about
her new business.
Nguyen’s TikTok,
which has almost 30,000 followers, has been her most successful marketing tool,
she says. Notaries in other states have reached out with referrals in the
comments, and followers near San Jose have messaged her to request her
services.
She aims to
do at least two signings per day, charging anywhere between $75-$200, and
sometimes an even higher rate, depending on the type of document that needs to
be notarized and how far the appointment is from her home office in San
Jose.
Some
signings take a few minutes, while others can take an hour. On average, Nguyen
says she works “less than six hours a day.”
“I try to
keep regular hours and work between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., but I will also often
take signing appointments on weekends,” she adds. Nguyen hired a full-time
assistant in March to help with scheduling and billing.
Her only
regret is not starting her notary business sooner.
“I love that
I can set my own schedule, support myself financially and my parents if they
ever need help,” says Nguyen. “All of that together, along with having the
opportunity to help people every day, just makes me feel really fulfilled as a
person.”
You
can read the original article on CNBC
Written by Morgan Smith