From Dorm Rooms to Boardrooms – and Growing a digital marketing team

Mike Schmidt started Anchor Wave in his college dorm room at The University of Arizona in 2003. He was coding websites and having client meetings in that cramped space. Even with the lack of a professional setting, his dedication and passion struck a chord with the businesses he was working for. As he grew the business, he understood the pressure and burdens of small business owners more and more. Clients were no longer clients, but partnerships in business. Mike was passionate about seeing his partners grow their businesses, and as those businesses grew, Anchor Wave did as well.

Anchor Wave has grown a team of more than 25 team members, all with a spirit of entrepreneurship and a tie to local business. Many grew up in a family-run business, or they started a business on their own. Lilly Darling, Anchor Wave’s CEO, ran her own design agency for more than two decades before she filled the shoes that Mike left. (He is now teaching other agencies how to be successful using our proven methods!) We love to see that spark of innovation and passion from our team. We also know they understand that starting and running a business is no easy path, and they are dedicated to helping small to medium sized businesses gain their voice and get their message out to their community.

In 2020, when we saw almost all of our partners shift their way of doing business, we went remote. What we saw is more intention when it came to culture, communication, and planning. Things we took for granted or simply dismissed while we were in the office were crucial for performance now. And with those intentional changes, we realized our communication and systems were even better than before! We were able to grow our team and clients nationally. While we still enjoy meeting our clients at their place of business and brainstorming together, we are still mostly remote, allowing us to serve small businesses everywhere.