Today we’d like to introduce you to Angelina “Angel” Nguyễn.
Hi Angelina “Angel”, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I learned what it meant to not have enough when I was nine. For many years, myfamily had to constantly move, and money stopped being invisible to me. I never forgot the feeling of being the person in the room who was somehow less than.
By my early teens I felt lost – mostly because I was in a hurry to grow up and help the family that had already sacrificed so much for me. That pressure made me hungry. It’s still the engine humming underneath everything I built.
I started in the notary industry doing signings myself. Then one afternoon I asked one of my escrow officers why she looked so tired. She glanced up from her three monitors, eyes soft and worn, and said in a frustrated breath, “These out-of-area notaries made a big mess that I have to clean up. Sorry.”
That was the light bulb. Her real problem wasn’t one bad signing – it was that when her favorite notaries were booked, she had no one she trusted to call. But she trusted me. I could be the one who managed the out-of-area notaries so she never had to. And I could do signings in my area, or I could make a bigger impact with more escrow officers at scale.
So I built Team Signings, a nationwide signing service for the busy and tired escrow officer. We coordinate the signing from start to finish so they can stay focused on the file, not the notary.
Running it has made me a better business partner and a better person; building who I needed to become has been harder than the actual building of the business.
A lot of that growth came from running this company with my husband, Tuan. Funny enough, we’re almost complete opposites. I want to deploy money at rocket speed. He wants to explore the alternatives, find the best deal, and think it through twice.
For a long time I thought that was friction. Why are we so different? Was there something wrong with us? Then we stumbled onto an interview with Morgan Housel.
Housel points out that getting wealthy and staying wealthy are two entirely different skills.
GETTING wealthy takes big risk. Swinging for the fences, gambling even, taking the shot again and again. The problem is that the same nerve eventually breaks most people. They keep swinging until something takes them out. They are either in a state of being rich or broke, and not much in between.
STAYING wealthy takes the opposite. Playing defense. Saving for rainy days and the discipline not to touch it (who else has dipped into the tax savings account and told themselves “just this once”?). Calculated bets. A real fear of losing what you’ve built.
Most people are only wired for one. I have the first. Tuan has the second.
Hearing that was the moment our differences stopped feeling like a problem and started feeling like the reason this marriage and business partnership works.
That balance is a big reason we’re on track to becoming a million-dollar company this year, five years after we started in January 2021, with reserves in the bank and without living in what Mike Michalowicz calls “entrepreneurial poverty.”
If my story says anything: you can change your circumstances if you stay focused on your clients’ needs and never stop learning. And you can build something real with your spouse, as long as you both do the hard work of listening well and respecting what the other person is protecting. Because in the end, you have to decide: do you want to be right, or do you want to build something that lasts?
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road, but most of the hard part has been internal. A lot of building this business has been overcoming myself: challenging my own beliefs, questioning stubborn habits, and staying skeptical of new ideas long enough to test whether they’re actually true. Then, once I believe, taking the leap anyway. Betting on myself even when it feels a little delusional.
There’s a voice on one shoulder telling you to play it safe, and a voice on the other telling you to risk it and keep going. The hard part is that neither one is always wrong. Knowing how far to push when you’re learning something new and part of you wants to quit, that’s the real skill. Determining signal or noise as Steve Jobs puts it.
Growing up, I experimented a lot. A semester of community college. Bank teller. Admin at a mortgage company. Real estate. Health insurance. A string of odd jobs in between. Each one was a decision to stop or keep going.
When I found notary work, I was nervous as heck for my first signing (even up until the 100th one even!). But I kept practicing, hot cheeks and sweaty palms and all, and I kept checking in with myself afterward on how it actually felt. That gut check became my compass. The nerves never were. Sweaty palms are just what a body does when it’s learning something new, not a signal to stop.
When I saw how far this could go and felt the community around me encouraging it, I kept moving. What kept me going was how creative I could be in running my own business in the notary space.
I’m also lucky in who I surrounded myself with. My mentor, Mark Wills, and the Loan Signing System community shaped a lot of this journey. I owe a real part of my success to that course.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Team Signings?
11,000 signings in five years, and on track to seven figures in gross revenue this year – we know exactly what a smooth signing takes.
Anyone can send a notary. Our service goes beyond that; we protect the file. We run checks before, during, and after every signing, so documents come back to escrow clean and closings don’t get held up. You don’t assume and you ask your client because they are the one who knows the file the best.
Because here’s the truth: a signing is never really about the notary. It’s about making the escrow officer look good to everyone involved in the transaction so the escrow officer gets repeat business. Our success is dependent on the escrow officer’s success. That’s the standard we hold – and we back it with a Client Happiness Guarantee. If you’re not happy, don’t pay.
What I’m proudest of? The trust. Most of our growth comes from escrow officers who started with one signing and never left.
At the end of the day, we give escrow teams their time back through proactive care of their files which results in less stress, and a partner who has their back.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Most people know me now as the “notary girl”, but they don’t know I’m a lifelong student. I’m constantly learning through books, podcasts, history, languages (I’m currently learning Vietnamese and Mandarin, and one day I’d love to tackle a wildcard language like Greek), real estate investing (I’m all about mid-term rentals in the mid-west!), and creating apps. I believe every new skill compounds over time, and curiosity has been one of my greatest competitive advantages.
More recently, I picked up another unexpected hobby: open-format DJing under the name DJ WILDEBEATS. I love creating experiences that bring people together. It’s a completely different creative outlet from running a business, but it satisfies the same part of me. Whether I’m helping clients through Team Signings or getting people hyped on the dance floor, I love bringing people together and creating memorable experiences that make people feel good.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.teamsignings.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/teamsignings
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamSignings/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelinamynguyen
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dj-wildebeats
- Other: https://share.google/lV7Sg8iljJotKWryb
