Meet Digital Nomad Tax Expert Bianca Bonilla, Founder & CEO of TaxSmart

The Essentials:

• ‍Hometown: Guatemala
• Born in: 1982
• Lifestyle: Hybrid
• Projects: TaxSmart
• Industry: Finance

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Tell us a bit about yourself:

I was born in Guatemala but moved to the USA when I was 17 years old. The last five years I’ve been in entrepreneur mode! So basically, survival mode! No one told me how hard this path was going to be. It’s a constant roller coaster of emotions but I’ve learned that there’s nothing that can stop me when I’m driven by passion and purpose.

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What are you working on currently?

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I run a fully remote cloud accounting business, so my team and I are all digital nomads. Many of our clients are too! My Virtual Assistant is based in London, Marketing Director in Sydney, Lead Designer in South America and we’ve got bookkeepers all over the US. It’s a lot of work to coordinate our different schedules and time zones but this lifestyle gives us the freedom and flexibility to work at our best. We try to stay in touch as regularly as possible and we’ve even got a team retreat in Europe later this year!

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Giving back to my home country is also important to me. I’m currently mentoring local business owners in a small beach town in Guatemala called El Paredon. They’re looking to develop new business ideas in tourism and travel. I’m also supporting a local family to send their children to school.

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I started out self-employed but over the last 5 years I’ve scaled my operations and become an entrepreneur. I attribute that to my background in accounting and bookkeeping, as well as understanding tax laws. Numbers tell the story of your business and personal finance administration. I believe every individual and business should know where every penny they earn is being spent! That helps to plan and make better financial decisions. Looking at your expenses at the end of the year is too late, it pays to plan ahead! My motto is plan, plan, plan!

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What's next for you?

I’m working on learning Portuguese, I love Portugal! As an entrepreneur, I’m learning how to manage a remote team. TaxSmart currently employs people from three continents, it’s lots of fun! I love hearing all the different accents in our weekly team meeting. My dream was to have a global firm and I can safely say we’re pretty global now! I’d love to connect with self-employed people who are ready to scale their business to the next level. I think so many people could benefit from having a better understanding of their basic finances like income versus expenses.

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Tell us about your experience with Outsite so far.  

I love Outsite. The whole community is like a family to me now. The first location I stayed at was Outsite Lisbon, it was love at first stay! I love being in a coworking environment. When I come into a space and I see others working on their laptops, I get so pumped up and inspired to work. It’s like having coworkers, which is really important when you work remotely. It’s so much better than working from home alone! Being an Outsite member is perfect when you travel a lot. I’m always on the road and just knowing that I have a house to go to in so many locations around the world is just awesome.

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Do you have any tips or recommendations that have helped you navigate the nomadic lifestyle?

I recommend every nomad get involved in the community! Make sure you join Outsite’s WhatsApp group, Slack channel and all the Facebook groups for digital nomads. There’s so much support and information out there.

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My advice to everyone - Turn your passions into profits and don’t forget to believe in yourself! Also, we’ve got a special 15% discount on bookkeeping and tax preparation for all US Outsite members! Check it out on Outsite's perks page.

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What's got you excited these days?

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Travel accessories! As someone who travels a lot, I’m constantly on the lookout for new innovations that are going to make my life easier. Right now I’m obsessed with: Compression packing cubes (every traveler needs them!) and baby shampoo - it can be a makeup remover, shampoo, body wash and laundry detergent. You’re welcome! I’m hoping to develop a toiletry travel kit sometime soon.

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Get in touch with Bianca online at taxsmartinc.com and on Instagram @taxsmart_inc or @bianca_world_traveler.

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Get tax tips from TaxSmart in our guide to digital nomad taxes. Curious about the Outsite Community? Become a Member today and get connected.

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