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…
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