Meet Anne
Anne Schmidt is the founder of Anne Schmidt Co., a certified WordPress expert and a Shopify Partner. Since founding Anne Schmidt Co. over 8 years ago, she has been trusted by hundreds of clients, ranging from solopreneurs to multinational corporations.
About Me
Hey, I’m Anne! I started building websites in 1995, when I taught myself HTML and built my very own Geocities website.
I now reside in Austin, TX, with my husband, two kids, and one scruffy rescue dog.
When I’m not glued to my computer, you can usually find me reading the latest Book of the Month club novel, pretending I’m a professional athlete while cycling on my Peloton bike, or zoning out while watching my favorite trashy reality TV (anything Bravo or 90 Day Fiance).
You probably don’t want my entire life story, but I’ll give you the highlights.
After growing up in Kansas City, I enrolled at the University of Virginia, where I had an absolute blast for four years (and met my husband). I majored in Finance and Accounting and fell in love with Charlottesville, the greatest college town ever.
After college, I took a job in Investment Banking at Citigroup in New York, and proceeded to work 18+ hour days in what I can only describe as a crash course in finance. After 2.5 years, I hopped a plane to Los Angeles and joined the Walt Disney Company in Corporate Strategy. I still spent long days creating hundred-page spreadsheets and evaluating potential acquisitions, but at least I was doing so in proximity to the beach. (OK, it was in Burbank, so not that close to the beach).
After a couple of years at Disney, I had a full-blown quarter-life crisis. I was burned out and had zero desire to spend my entire life in the world of Finance and spreadsheets. I honestly had no idea what to do with myself, and I floundered for a bit. I moved back to New York, where I managed licensing for Hanesbrands and Champion. I got engaged, and my husband and I somewhat randomly moved to Minneapolis, where I worked in finance at Boston Scientific.
At this point, my job required me to sit in a windowless cubicle for 8+ hours a day. I knew I could not go down this career path much longer. In my free time, I started reviving my love of coding. I was surprised to find that the HTML that I taught myself when I was 12 years old was still relevant. There was lots of new stuff to learn, and I dove right in, taking free classes online via CodeAcademy and other online learning websites.
Around this time, my friend needed a wedding website, and I offered to build one for her with my newly minted skills. She wanted a blog on her site. I stumbled across WordPress. I hacked her site together and made approximately 1,000,000 mistakes along the way, but I loved every minute of it.
Things built quickly from there. Unbeknownst to my employer, I started a web development side hustle and found paying clients via Upwork. Sure, they were paying me something like $60 to build an entire website, but I was thrilled.
About a year later, I was able to say sayonara to my career in finance, and I officially launched Anne Schmidt Co.
It’s been over 8 years now, and despite the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, I wouldn’t change a thing.