Anchor Point Collective was founded by Thomas Smith, a lifelong creative, avid traveller, and born entrepreneur. Thomas was born and raised in Northern New Jersey, and earned his BFA in Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art and Design.
After graduating, he spent some time working in corporate America, doing everything from packaging design to advertising to web design. Alas, he found that existence to be woefully underwhelming. He was a mere cog in the machine, and he quickly realized that he wanted to be the machine.
So he went off on his own as a freelance Graphic Designer. And just in case quitting his job in favor of freelancing wasn’t stressful enough, he also made the alcohol-induced decision of buying a one-way ticket to Spain to begin living the “digital nomad” lifestyle… on the premise that he would just magically find a client-base while doing so.
But he followed through, and found himself in Barcelona living out of an AirBNB with nowhere near enough savings for the full endeavor. Goings were slow at first, but he hit the keyboard, mastered the art of marketing himself and slowly but surely accrued enough clients through platforms like Upwork to piece together a livable income.
From there, he bounced around Spain before continuing on to France, Serbia, Macedonia, and Turkey. He mastered the art of “nomadding” (collecting a litany of SIM cards, navigating foreign cities and languages, using coworking spaces in various states of upkeep, and contesting with conflicting timezones) while also building his mental, physical, and professional resilience.
After returning to the United States for a family emergency, Thomas applied his passion for traveling to America and road-tripped across the nation. He spent some time in cities along the way, still working simultaneously, before landing back the city of his alma mater–Savannah.
He quickly found a coworking establishment where he set up shop, and it wasn’t long until he ran into the founders of Candor USA–a small health insurance startup and was finding it’s feet in the Savannah tech scene. Thanks to an introduction from a friend, he quickly found himself contracting for Candor, then being made a full time employee, and rapidly rising to the role of “Creative Director”.
The experiece at Candor is truly what forged Thomas into a titan of industry. Being that it was an early stage startup, he quickly found himself wearing a multitude of hats… everything from graphic design, to copywriting, to web development, to marketing, to client management. He even facilitated a trade-show and judged sponsored competition after just two months of being at the company.
While the skills garnered from Candor were useful, the true takeaway came from the mentoring he received from some of the tech world’s greatest minds. The visibility into the minds of these high-achieving executives redefined the way Thomas view business, creativity, and entrepreneurship.
After two years of grinding through the fire and flames, Candor was acquired by a larger entity. Thomas assisted with the initial transition and helped to make the brand handover as seamless as possible. Despite success and stability, he once again found himself yearning for the entrepreneurial life and the satisfaction of creating something from nothing.
So he said his farewells, and parted ways to focus all of his time on Anchor Point and other endeavors. His imagination runs a million miles and minutes, his dedication to his clients his unwavering, and he truly loves what he does.
So with all that on the table, it’s safe to say that you’re good hands with Thomas and the Anchor Point Collective.
