“Ignorance is very expensive”: Ani Miller on Círculo del Triunfo

On Círculo del Triunfo, from the Alianza Empresarial channel, Ani Miller looked back on her arrival from Venezuela, the tax problem that led her to get trained and her advice for anyone who wants to start a business.

What we talk about

• Her training as an accountant in Venezuela
• The IRS letter that led her to prepare taxes
• The services of Ani Miller Services and how they began
• Passive income and leading by example in real estate
• Her advice for entrepreneurs

The full conversation

On the show Círculo del Triunfo, from the Alianza Empresarial channel, Ani Miller talked about her arrival from Venezuela, the tax problem that led her to get trained and to create her company, the services Ani Miller Services offers today and her advice for anyone who wants to start a business. The host opened the interview with a line that set the tone for the conversation: in this country you sometimes feel at home, but you soon discover that ignorance is very expensive, and that educating yourself and knowing where to turn makes all the difference.

From Caracas to the United States

Ani introduced herself as a native of Caracas who has lived in the United States for about ten years. She explained that she is an accountant by profession and that she built her career at a financial institution in Venezuela, where she started very young, at 16, and worked until she came to this country at 28. The host observed that what she does today is closely related to that experience. "Totally. It has to do with finance," she replied.

The IRS letter that gave rise to the company

When asked what Ani Miller Services is about, she explained that her company is built on her experience as an immigrant, on all the things that happened to her after she arrived in the country. One of the first was a problem with her taxes.

She had hired someone to prepare her return and, when she received her first letter from the IRS, that person did not give her the support she expected; they did not even answer the phone. That day she asked herself:

But if you're an accountant, why do you have to go through this? Why don't you get trained, understand this country's tax system and solve the problem with the letter yourself?

She had about 30 days to respond, so she got trained and went to the IRS. There she discovered that the person who had prepared her taxes had made a mistake in her son's information, which matched that of a child who had died, and the IRS believed it was a case of fraud. Ani decided to resolve it herself, and she did.

Her first 30 clients

At the time, like many immigrants, Ani was working deliveries; she said she did every kind of job people do in the United States. She told her coworkers what had happened to her, that she had completed the courses and that she now had her PTIN to prepare taxes. The response was immediate: since she had already been through it, they wanted her to prepare their returns.

That first year she prepared taxes for 30 clients, and she did it in just a month and a half, because she got her PTIN in February and that was what was left of the season. "I became an expert in taxes," she summed up.

Every experience, a new service

While she was working deliveries, Ani also began studying English, something she considers essential for getting trained and moving forward. Over time she began to see the weaknesses that Latinos who do not speak the language well face in everything involved in living in the United States, from insurance to the fact that all communications arrive in English and often are not understood.

Everything that happened to me as an immigrant, I took as a tool to develop myself, to learn and to be able to offer a new service to help the Latino community.

The host asked her to describe the services the company offers today. Ani mentioned:

• Personal and corporate tax preparation.
• Accounting.
• Health, life and liability insurance, with an insurance license in all 50 states.
• Real estate services.

Her advice for starting a business

The host asked what she would tell someone who is trying to start a business. Ani's first piece of advice was to believe in yourself:

If you believe in yourself and focus on what you want to achieve, nothing is impossible.

She added that you should not surround yourself with people who drain your motivation or say it cannot be done, and that if someone closes a door on you, you can create your own path so that a much bigger door opens.

When asked whether she had mentors, she replied that her mentors were, basically, her experiences as an immigrant. The host remarked that this is a very expensive university, and Ani completely agreed.

Leading by example

The host pointed out that her company offers almost every service an entrepreneur might need, and asked what she credits for the success of diversifying so much. Ani explained it this way: she likes to lead by example.

I don't tell a client to invest in real estate if I haven't already done it myself.

She started with taxes and insurance. When she moved into real estate, she first bought properties, rented them out and then showed her clients what something many of them do not even know about really means: passive income. For Ani, sometimes the key is not to work more, but to work with strategy, so that with the same work you can earn more and legally pay less in taxes.

Every case is different: showing results

The host asked whether she advises her clients in all those areas. Ani explained that, in financial advising, the first step is to listen to what the client has, because every case is different, and then to show them results. She recalled that she came to the country with her two children, her mother and her sister, and that she started out like everyone else, in the job she found doing deliveries.

Today, thanks to God and to the effort not only of her own but of a team that supports her and has her back, the company is well positioned. She said they have a great many loyal clients who started out just like her and now own three, four or five properties, and have begun to build generational wealth.

We can say a lot of things on camera, but you have to show results and guide clients so they can truly reach their goals.

From Doral to Cooper City

About the company's location, Ani explained that they had always been in the Doral area, but that the year before they had the opportunity to buy their first office of their own thanks to an SBA loan, in Cooper City, Florida, a little north of Pembroke Pines. People can also find them on social media as Ani Miller Services.

A parting message

To close, the host congratulated her and gave her the floor. Ani left this message: believe in yourselves and, if you need support, look for professionals who have results to guide you, without wasting time, because time is money.

In just a few minutes, the interview sums up the story of Ani Miller Services: an IRS letter that was poorly handled and became the company's first service, a list of services that grew at the pace of its founder's experiences, and a simple philosophy: never recommend what she has not done first herself.

Video: Alianza Empresarial channel, Círculo del Triunfo program.

This article is an English translation of the original Spanish version. Quotes have been translated from Spanish. Leer en español.