In this interview, Amber Gist also known as Amber the Notary discusses Expert Notary Tips with Katie Tremulis.
Amber the Notary x BlueNotary
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📍 Hi everybody. My name is Katie and today we have Amber Gist. She is nice enough to come on here and answer a couple of questions that we have for the community. She is also the business educator for the Notary Academy. Thank you so much for joining us.
Hi, Katie. Thanks for having me. I’m so excited to be here. Of course. So
I just wanted to ask you a little bit about your background and how you kind of got into the industry.
Amber the Notary: Background
Awesome. Well, absolutely. So my background is in education. So I went to college to become a teacher. And then after a few, few years, more than a few, eight.
Eight ish years of teaching. I then went back and got another degree to be a counselor. And so at that point I began counseling all ages up to high school. And then I did lead quite a few training and conferences within the school district of other teachers. So my background has always been to educate others.
It’s just now that I have moved careers. I am now educating about the career that I moved on to, and so I started into notary as a way to find a different avenue, obviously, because I needed more flexibility. I’ve got two children, one being special needs, and they just really required a lot more of my time and attention.
And although teacher and counselor careers are flexible to an extent, you know, it’s still, you have to be in the office and available for the students. From this time to this time. And so my own children as they grew, begin to need more time, like impromptu, like my son would need me to come earlier that day.
And it just became too much of stressful for me to leave work. So much to take care of his needs. So that’s when I decided to research other ways to make money, other ways to start a career and notary definitely was one that stood out and after doing lots and lots of research and interviewing people, looking at podcasts, going to conferences, I was definitely set on having a notary business, just because of the flexibility and the amount that I can get from my hour of time doing an appointment.
Yeah,
you we have very similar stories that make sense. That is one of the main appeals of why I also went into notary work because I did the same thing where it was like research and I did think that it was nice. So you, went into it basically, like, did you go full time right away or did you ease into it?
Business Plan
So my business plan was always that Because of knowing that I was going to put my money resources and invest into the education It was going to be my full time thing. But however You know, I was still under contract with my school district. So I had to finish out my contract and also building my business.
So it, the first six months I was working the two jobs. And then that’s when I did not re sign a new contract with my district and went ahead and continued notary full time. That’s exciting. Yeah.
Yeah. That’s good. I, I always run into people where like, well, you know, can you. Can you do this full time? I mean, yeah, you can definitely like, I don’t know of any other career that I could make the same amount in the eight hours that I used to work in one hour or even now I’ve got it down to about 20 minutes.
Yeah, for, remote online notarization. So you do both though? You do remote and
mobile? Yes. I love remote online notary. Once I started to get the hang of the platform and You know, all the tools, it was a breeze. You get it down to like 20 minutes, honestly, in the beginning. Yes. It might take like 30, 40 minutes just because you don’t want to make mistakes and you’re trying to drag the right things where they need to go.
But yeah, once you just like any other skill, once you do it enough and you practice, it’s going to become a lot easier and it’ll cut down on that time that it takes for you to complete that task.
So I wanted to dive in we were talking about it a little bit before of different topics that we could talk about and I know that one of the main things and especially right now that everybody is looking into is how to build on to Like, being a notary to be able to kind of branch out and I wanted to talk about apostille work.
So, could you explain, one, did I say that right? And two, could you explain a little bit about what that kind of is?
Okay. Yes. So it is that you said it right. It’s apostille. But if you ask like five different people, you might get five different pronunciations. The term does stem, I believe, from French origins.
So it is apostille. And I’m Texan, so you know, I try my best to say it correctly, but you know, most people know what you mean when you say the word, regardless of if it’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be pronounced or not. Yeah, so an apostille is basically when a person needs a document to be presented or used in a country other than the United States.
And so that country will impose guidelines for whoever that person is for them to accept that document. So let’s say a birth certificate, they’re going to start a new job in Mexico or they’re starting a new business in Mexico. Whoever they’re working with in Mexico says, this is what you need in order for us to accept your document here,
in Mexico. And so that’s what an apostille is. It’s a state authentication process where the secretary of state authenticates the notary that notarizes or witnesses the signatures on the documents. And so what it is, is a part of the Hague convention is basically a group of a lot of countries that came together and said, we’re all going to work together in any document.
Within that are transferable between all our countries, we will accept. If the document is going into a country that is a part of that, Hague Convention, then there’s only one step that needs to be done, which is state level apostille, get it done at your state where the document is originated.
Amber the Notary: Hague Convention
And then they can carry it over to whatever country they need to take it to. That’s a part of the Hague Convention. Now, if they want to have that document authenticated for a country that is not a part of the Hague Convention, then a second step has to be done, which is the authentication part. So you’d have to go to the state.
You have to go through the state and then get it authenticated at the Department of State in Washington, and that’s where they’ll do the second part and give you a authentication certificate. Then you can take the document to that country.
Okay. So basically you as the notary would do the first part of the notarization and then.
After that, would you take it to the actual state or how does that work?
So the term that you’ve probably heard quite a bit is apostille agent But really there’s a lot of different terms and hats that a notary can wear for this type of service I like apostille agent, but I really what really The term that really encompasses this service is apostille facilitator.
You’re facilitating the processing of the documents. So when a customer says I need an apostille and I need it notarized, that means the notary agent or the notary facilitator is going to notarize the document. And there are different ways where they can either take it to the secretary of state themselves.
So for example, I’m in Dallas, Texas, our secretary of state office that does apostills is in Austin, Texas, and that’s about four hours away. So I could choose to drive the document there. Yeah. Okay. Most people, business people, if they’re choosing to drive, you’re looking at me funny like four hours. This is why they pay us tonight because most customers, they don’t have the time or want to drive four hours, eight hours there and back.
Okay. So you would collect a lot of apostills and drive there. That’s one. Or if you live close by, that’s awesome too, because you don’t have that time constraint where you’re having to spend all your time driving, but you can drive it there, or you can use an apostille courier. And that is where you send the documents to your partner notary in the
city that’s close to the secretary of state, they get the documents processed for you, and then they send them back to you. That is the process that I go through because I don’t have the time to drive to Austin anymore. So I utilize an apostille agent. I pay them to do that part of the job for me. And then the other way you can do it is you can mail in, you can mail in the apostille to any state.
Basically, just you should know and the customer will know that the process for that will take a little bit longer because we’re going through mail and they’re getting the documents process as they come in the mail. And then they’re not in a rush to send it back. So they kind of send it back as they get them.
Okay,
yeah, I’m a little bit familiar because I have a family member that was trying to get their Italian citizenship And you basically have to go up the line to be able to show that you know They are an Italian citizen, and I do remember briefly that it is a very very huge And a little bit arduous process so I can see why clients would rather use someone as a service to be able to do that instead of go through all of those hoops because it’s a lot.
And if you don’t know, you can just waste a bunch of time like sending it off to the wrong place.
Well, the notary business in itself is a convenience based business. Customers can do every single one of these things on their own or go to, you know, wherever they need to go to get notarized. It’s convenient.
They want to do it in their home. They want to do it while they’re sitting on their couch, but at the airport, before they go on a business trip, they don’t want to spend four or five hours waiting in line, trying to get to that secretary of state to maybe do it right or wrong. That’s why they pay for the convenience of someone who’s knowledgeable, educated.
Certified to do it for them.
And just based off of like, if you are a notary that’s just looking into this for the learning curve, do you think that it’s like a huge learning curve or would you recommend it for someone that is just kind of starting out?
I believe it’s a median learning curve. The process itself is very easy.
The part that you will have to sit down and take some time to learn is the documents that you can apostille at the state level and which ones you can apostille or have to apostille at the federal level and what’s required for your state. And then if you’re ready to scale your business, then you need to become aware of the different requirements for every state because they’re not all equal or not the same.
Okay.
And so do you, you also have obviously the notary academy, do you teach apostille how to be an apostille agent? Is that one of your courses?
Yes. So I have it. It’s just called simple, The Apostle Agent Course. And in there, I do teach exactly the process, everything that you need to do and what documents you can do at a state level and what you could do at a federal level, and then to dive deeper for those that want more ongoing coaching, as far for the business side of it.
I offer the mentorship at the notary business mentorship program, where I’m teaching about twice a week on all topics about notary. And so, yeah, it’s really great. A lot of people are really getting out there and putting their stamp to work. Yeah,
so what are some of the sorry to kind of put you on the spot, but what are some of the reasons why someone would do apostile or like as a signer “Why would I, I mean, I know why I would want to, but like, what are some of the examples of someone that is looking for an apostille?”
One that comes to mind just because I just did one was for the process of adoption. It’s required to have an apostille. Moving to a new country, going to a school abroad, studying abroad, you would need to apostille your diploma, not diploma, I’m sorry, your transcripts. Some do require diploma as well.
Other would would be if you’re opening a business in another country, your business formation documents. Everything that has to do with that would need to be apostilled. Power of attorneys are ones that I get quite a bit when someone is giving power of attorney to a family member in another country.
Mm-Hmm. to take care of their. You know, personal things that requires an apostille. And so there, I mean, just like any document that needs to be notarized for whatever reason, if it’s being used out of the country, it could, that could also be a reason to be apostilled. Okay.
Okay. That makes sense. Yeah.
Because it was for the Italian citizenship thing. It was every single piece of the whole steps, like from the birth certificate to the naturalization card needed to be apostilled before they would even touch anything. So that makes sense just the way they kind of recognize that the document is.
The real document, right?
Yeah.
It can get pretty expensive probably for your family member to do that and like business people who are opening businesses, because like you said, every single little document has to be apostilled. So people were like, is that true? When I would post about, Oh, I just did 16 apostilles for one customer.
Well, that’s why, because they need every single part of their order or their, you know, whatever they’re doing apostilled and then some even need it translated in the translation also has to be certified by a notary and apostilled as well.
Yes. Yeah. So for this family member, it was up to, I think, at least 7
different types of documents, and that wasn’t even that wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg, right? Because it was a fairly long line of lineage all needed documents and they all needed apostilled. So that does make sense as far as like one customer or one client potentially being a pretty good source of income.
So does your course also go into pricing and like kind of how to figure out, you know, cause that is obviously a lot of your time goes into it as well. So do you have pricing in your course as well, as far as like how to kind of get that figured out?
Yes, yes. So pricing will not look the same for every person, but I do teach about how to do market research and evaluate and analyze the different services or notary appostile services in your area so that you can be competitive when pricing.
Because the thing is, I can charge more here in Dallas, Texas, because my customers definitely don’t want to drive four hours. Five hours to Austin. Wait there to get it apostilled and then drive another four or five hours back. Yeah. My associates in Austin, when a customer contacts them for apostille, well they’re 30 minutes from it, from the secretary of state office, so the customer might not really want to
spend as much money on someone who can just go do it if their 30 minutes away, or they could just do it themselves because the customer can do it themselves and so that’s why I’m saying the pricing may be different according to where you are, your location, and how close you are to the secretary of state that would process apostilles.
So the other thing is, is have you noticed that remote online notarization has kind of opened up the client base that you’ve been able to do because. Like, let’s say I’m in Florida, but I asked you because the documents are in Texas. Would you be able to remotely notary notarize it and then move it to Texas
or like, yeah.
So for, if the document is getting apostilled, it has to be apostilled in the originating state. State. So, and then as far as Texas law is, I, a Texas notary has to be the one to notarize it. So yes, you can be in another area, but you would need to contact a remote online notary that’s in Texas to do it.
Does that make sense? Yeah, I can’t do it if I’m a florida notary and your documents originate in Texas. Does that make sense? I didn’t know that. For apostille services, and also every state differs, in Texas it’s definitely a law that the document needs to be done by a public notary for Texas.
Okay, so if I needed to get something notarized or apostilled in Texas, I would, I would contact you because you’re in Texas. Right. Okay. Right. Right. Okay. Interesting. Okay. I know. So it is always sometimes tricky when you’re looking into a new business venture within notarization to try and find out all of the nitty gritty of everything.
So. That’s super cool that you have that course, though. I’m going to, I’m going to check it out because I do want to get into apostille. It just seems like such a big undertaking,
but it’s a complex but simple process. I do have a, like a chart that will basically tell you if the document is this document and It’s in the apostille.
I’m sorry, the hague convention. Then I say, do this step, do this step and do this step. And then I’ve got another chart if it’s a federal document or blah, blah, blah. So I try to make it as simple as possible with my teaching background. That’s, you know, I do a lot of pictorials and a lot of visuals and to help, you know, learners that would like, you know, can learn visually they need, you know, Step by step process.
And, and to me, apostille is something that you would definitely want a step by step process. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I
don’t feel like that’s something that I could just kind of like, or anyone could just kind of wing and
then just be like, Oh yeah. And I say that because you’re dealing with people’s. Real sensitive documents like birth certificates, marriage license, death certificates, and just going out there after watching three YouTube videos and like, I’m going to do it and possibly like, I wouldn’t play with someone’s, you know, yeah.
Sensitive documents like that, you know, I mean, I would really want to make sure I know what I’m doing. That’s,
yeah, that’s one of the challenges sometimes that I run into when people are just looking into becoming a notary at all. And they’re like, oh yeah, you just stamp stuff, right?
And I’m like, no, it’s a little bit more than that. Yeah. You know, trying to convey that can be tricky sometimes. Right. Yeah, but it’s, it’s people’s adoptions. It’s people’s being able to be Italian citizens. It’s people’s
homes. The power of attorney giving someone power of their attorney, of their estate in another country.
Like, you know, I don’t know. It’s one thing that I definitely did lots of research and education on before I accepted my first order. And even then, when I accepted my first order, I was on the phone with my mentor and I was on the phone with secretary of state, even though I knew what I was doing, I was like, I had to hear it from other people to say, okay, you are doing this
correct. Yeah. Yeah.
It’s always nice to have someone that you can kind of like fall back on and be like. I’m doing this right, right? Like it is a nice feeling. So yeah, I definitely think also the collaboration. I mean, I can’t stress enough how much I like collaborating with other notaries just in general or getting plugged into the community because I think that when I was first starting out, I was It’s pretty much all by myself, like just trying to figure it out all by myself.
And then I had no idea basically what I was doing and it wasn’t until I started talking to different notaries to basically figure out. Anything about this business, but it’s a constant continuous, like it’s been almost a year and a half that I started doing the remote online notarizations and it’s still something new every single day where it’s like a huge learning curve, right?
Yeah. But did you have any questions? I know that you kind of had some questions maybe for me about. BlueNotary in case you had any.
Yes. So I asked some of the members in our community Mm-Hmm… And I did have two questions for you. Sure. And so, you know, just the best that you can. Yeah. So the first question is, it says, is there a better way to answer open calls?
This person says that she was, she’s a beginner and I believe she’s just having a hard time on the open call line getting assigned for some of the closings or from for some of the appointments. Yes,
yes. So that is something that is somewhat common and I’m sorry if you can hear. The mowing people, I’m hoping that we’re able to kind of, can you still
hear me?
I can hear you, but I could hear them too, but that’s okay.
Okay. Sorry about that. They choose a little bit of a inopportune moment, but anyway, so for the open call program, my best bet is to either make sure that you stay on the dashboard or you will get emails, but there can be a lag time. And it is very, very competitive.
It’s first come first serve. We can’t guarantee the volume. And we do have a sales team that we are constantly getting more brand awareness and traffic. But at the same time, we are also getting more notaries on the platform. And, my advice to any new notary would be to get your own client base.
So that way you would not relying on any other third party. So yes, it is a nice benefit that BlueNotary has that option. But I do not recommend using that as something that you are relying on for a source of income.
Right. I think that the
occasional call will be caught by you, but I would not kind of Put, put my income on, on the basis of
one thing on that solely one thing.
Right, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
So I would diverse- I’m all about diversifying income, so I would definitely. Start doing the marketing, signing up for signing services and going out and getting work. So that way you have that client base that you can rely on yourself. You have your own relationships and just build it that way.
So that’s, that’s kind of my answer is, but there’s no secret, there’s no like tier system. There’s nothing like, you know, it’s just whoever just happens to get
it, gets it. Okay. Bye. Bye. Yeah, and that makes sense. I do have a additional question with that is the longer the more appointments that you’ve accepted.
Is there any kind of an algorithm that will kind of push you up in the ranking or anything like that? No,
not as of right now, there’s no algorithm as far as that. It’s just, it really is just first come first serve. Sometimes if you have a better internet connection, you will get the calls quicker just because you’re And I’m not super tech, but like your computer will be able to grab it faster.
But that is just essentially, it’s, it’s like if you have a gaming system versus if you have, you know, you’re on your cell phone, it is quicker if you have a better internet connection and things like that, but there, there’s no secret. There’s no tiers. Okay.
Okay. All right. And then the last question is about how long does it take to get approved to do loan signings?
So that is a little bit of a backlog. So if you have questions about that, you can always reach out to our help desk and then we can try and kind of get that on a case by case. But that is definitely something that we are working on getting through. There are new submissions. I think pretty much every day.
I’m not really involved too much in that process, but as far as that, that’s a little bit backlogged. So I don’t have a good estimation of timeframe for when that will.
Okay. All right. Patience is key, right? Patience, patience, patience, and work on your marketing until you get in, right? Less.
Yeah. Yeah.
And if you have any additional, so for the loan signing, if you have any additional trainings that you do in between, make sure that you update your profile. So that way, when the, we are looking through those submissions, if you’ve taken any type of extra course, or you have any extra experience, we want to know about that as well.
Just so that, I mean, it’s essentially a resume. So we want to know.. Right.
So, right. So In, in essence, what you’re saying is loan signing agents that show that they’ve had education and training going to be looked at as more of a true candidate over someone that has no training. Yes. Essentially.
Right. Okay. Yeah. I’m just making that point just for some that are just like, I could do loan signings.
No, but there’s definitely a process because when you are taking these calls, we want to be representing the industry. Well, we want to have people that know what they’re doing and will complete these documents in a secure, professional and complete manner, just because one, it’s the brand and two, the industry, but three, these are these people’s documents. And I. I’m very, very aware of the human aspect that if there is an issue within the notarizations for these loan signings, it can have severe ramifications at the end.
So, you know, my, my background is in finance and I’ve seen it where things have gone wrong and. You know, as much as we want to give everybody an opportunity, sometimes these are a little bit more sensitive just because these are usually the biggest purchase of anyone’s lives is a home. So it’s not exactly, you know, a proof of loss that can just be redone.
Exactly. Someone’s loss. So.
Yeah. Definitely should be taken very seriously. Yeah.
Yeah. So definitely do your homework. There are resources obviously out there that are sometimes free or there’s training courses. And if you do either of those, we want to kind of know about it.
Yeah, never hurts to continue that education.
Yes, yeah,
but I think, did you have any other things that you wanted to go over before we kind of
No, that was the, that was it, that was the only, those are the only two questions. Okay,
and so the way that we can find out more about you, especially the apostille, how would
we find you? So the website has everything there, courses and mentorship and free resources and blogs.
It’s www. thenotaryacademy. net. Okay. And that’s where you’ll find everything there is to know about being a notary. Okay, and then
also I wanted to do a plug for your Instagram too because your Instagram your Instagram is good like as well. It’s a very good resource. I Follow you. I like watching, you know, like your different reels and you have very very good valuable content so tips & tricks Yeah.
Yeah. So good job on the social media because I know that putting yourself out there on social media can be hard sometimes. So I appreciate you doing that because it does help the community,
so.
Thank you yes, Instagram is @amber.TheNotary. Okay. Perfect.
All right. Well, thank you so much. If you want to check out more, go ahead and check her out and follow us along for more tips and tutorials.
Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Bye bye.
