Lola Méndez was only 25 years old when she was promoted to a director position at a strategic branding agency that she was working for in New York City. The promotion included a significant bump in salary in an industry she loved. It was everything she wanted in a career. Before the day was over, however, Méndez found herself crying in the bathroom.
“I should have been absolutely thrilled, but I was devastated,” Méndez, 33, said. “I really loved living in New York, and I was great at my job and had wonderful friends. But I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do forever. It just felt like there had to be so much more.”
Méndez, who identifies as a queer Uruguayan American, didn’t want to spend the next chapter of her life working on a computer behind a desk in an office. She also didn’t want to stress over things like paperwork and filing taxes. Was there a career out there where she could live an independent lifestyle and not let issues like expense reports and 401(k) plans slow her down?
She found her calling when she started writing articles about sustainability, travel, culture, and wellness for publications across the globe. Today, Méndez travels the world as a freelance writer and inspires others to live the life of a “digital nomad.”
In Nómadas, a custom editorial series between Remezcla and TurboTax, Latine, creative professionals show how – with the help of current technology and online resources like TurboTax to file their taxes online – they are redefining and transforming the remote working experience and becoming location independent.
According to Forbes, some studies estimate that 35.7 million Americans – or 22% of the workforce – will be remote workers by 2025.
After leaving New York, Méndez wanted a change in scenery. Her next series of jobs included working as an English teacher in Spain and a marketing director at a tourism company, but neither of those positions made her truly happy. It’s not until she started writing hostel reviews while visiting the Balkans that Méndez realized she could make a living by writing and traveling.
“If you would have told me that this was going to be my life – that I would be traveling around the world to write about it – I wouldn’t have believed you,” Méndez said. “I didn’t even know this was a job that existed.”
Next month, Méndez will travel to her 80th country – Kenya. She considers herself built for this kind of lifestyle because she is “not a creature of routine and habit.” Living out of her suitcase is something she’s grown accustomed to and being surprised by, for example, a canceled flight doesn’t faze her. She just works through the challenges and figures it out.
“I’m really enjoying seeing new places and experiencing new things,” she said. “I like to immerse myself in my destination. I think it’s important to be very flexible and nimble.”
For Méndez, part of being flexible includes using different tools to complete some of the essential things even people traveling the world need to do – like their taxes. Méndez, who receives dozens of 1099 forms from her numerous employers (for independent contractors and freelancers) each year, uses TurboTax to manage her taxes. Digital nomads like Méndez are able to get taxes done in a flinch with the help of TurboTax experts who’ll do their taxes for them, allowing them to focus on what they love the most.
TurboTax experts relieve people from the guesswork and stress of filing taxes. They can even plug in the numbers and file all your information from start to finish. Instead of figuring it out on your own and researching write-offs, TurboTax experts can guarantee your taxes are done correctly.
As challenging as Méndez said it is to collect receipts and file away 1099s from dozens of companies, she knows meeting with a TurboTax expert is the first step to getting your taxes done and freeing yourself up, so you can do what makes you happy. For Méndez, it’s traveling the world.
Available with Full Service products only. Video meeting while an expert does your taxes required.
