The Localist with Carrie Rollwagen

This week on The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Leah Drury and Lindsey Miller Neal, the co-founders of Battle Republic. Battle Republic is a fitness boxing studio with locations in Homewood, Hoover, and now Tuscaloosa. Leah played basketball at Alabama and coached in the WNBA. Lindsey spent 14 years at Zoe's Kitchen, where she was acting CFO while the company scaled to 240 restaurants, and she now runs an accounting business for small business owners. They have been friends since they were kids growing up, and they are refreshingly honest about what it takes to run a company with a friend. The conversation gets into how they hire, which starts with character and gets to kettlebell technique later. They talk about building community in a dark room where nobody is talking, why they don't require members to own gloves, and what the red light and the blue light at the end of class are actually doing. They also get into growth: what COVID taught them a year into the business, why you cannot pay the bills at your first location with the money from your second one, and how they decide when to trust the data and when to trust their gut. Watch the Full Episode on YouTube.   _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode Mpire Concepts Zoe's Kitchen The Stable in Greensboro Vuori at The Summit "Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara "Atomic Habits" by James Clear Church Street Coffee and Books Infomedia   Connect with Leah Drury and Lindsey Miller Neal Leah Drury and Lindsey Miller Neal are the co-founders of Battle Republic, a fitness boxing studio with locations in Homewood, Hoover, and Tuscaloosa. Leah played basketball at the University of Alabama and coached in the WNBA. Lindsey spent 14 years at Zoe's Kitchen, where she was acting CFO, and she also runs an accounting business for small business owners. Battle Republic Battle Republic on Instagram Battle Republic on LinkedIn Battle Republic Tuscaloosa on Instagram Battle Republic intro offer: two weeks for $59 Lindsey Miller Neal on LinkedIn   Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. Contact Infomedia   Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. Sign up here  

This is a live recording from Localist Lab, the in-person version of The Localist, where specialists come in to talk to small business owners about the work everyone's trying to figure out. This month Carrie Rollwagen was the speaker, talking about the thing that finally made AI click for her: using AI well isn't a tech skill, it's a management skill. Anyone who has trained an intern, written an SOP, or told somebody how to cover their desk while they were out already has most of what they need. The session walks through how to build an AI skill start to finish, first using Infomedia's new hire Emery as the comparison and then using the podcast as the working example. It covers the 70-30 rule for deciding what to hand off, why a skill is really just a standard operating procedure written in plain English, why the context window works like a meeting whiteboard, and the eight things a good set of instructions has to include. Carrie also shows the skills she actually uses to make The Localist: a researcher, an interview writer, a title writer, a social media writer, and a strategic advisor skill that the others pull from. There's also a story about an espresso machine named Richard that will convince you to read your AI's research before you sit down at a microphone. Then the audience asks questions on whether skills are just fancy form letters, whether you need to pay for an AI account, and what actually happens to your data once you put it into a chatbot.  If AI still feels overwhelming, or if you've built a skill and it keeps handing you mediocre work, this session gives you a real process for fixing it. Watch the Full Episode on YouTube   _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode Infomedia Uptick Marketing Tempo Websites Caravan (AI training) Infomedia AI training and upcoming events 1Password LastPass Trattoria ZaZa "The AI Daily Brief" podcast "The Localist" book by Carrie Rollwagen Laine White on local influencer marketing (next Localist Lab speaker) Saturn in Avondale   About the Speaker Carrie Rollwagen is Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning at Infomedia and the host of The Localist. She is a former bookstore owner, a career writer, and the author of "The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local, and Reclaim the American Dream." carrierollwagen.com Carrie on Instagram Carrie on LinkedIn   Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. Contact Infomedia   Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. Sign up here  

Show Notes  How to Use AI Without the Internet Turning on You | Laine White of Uptick Marketing AI can save your small business a lot of time. It can also get you dragged into your own comment section. This week Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Laine White, Head of Client Strategy at Uptick Marketing, to figure out where the line actually is. Laine uses AI every day, and she still has real ethical concerns about it, which is exactly why she is the right person to ask. Her rule is simple: use AI to plan, strategize, organize, and analyze. If you are using it to make the content people actually see, either make sure nobody can tell, or be ready for the fallout. We get into why people come for small businesses harder than they come for big corporations, how one angry comment thread turns into a Reddit thread and then into what your neighbor thinks about your business, and what 'burstiness' has to do with why AI captions read as bland. Laine breaks down what captions actually need on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok, why she does not want you generating images at all right now, how a brand kit makes AI design look less like AI, and why ChatGPT keeps quietly editing your photos and giving you away. She also answers the question every business owner is afraid to ask: you already posted the AI thing, people are mad, now what? Laine walks through what to say, what not to say, and why saying nothing is the worst option you have.   _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode Uptick Marketing Infomedia Uncle G's Pizza Uncle G's Pizza on Instagram Saturn Birmingham Cala Coffee Cember Studio Hattie O'Hara on Instagram The Localist episode with Hattie O'Hara Laine's first Localist episode: A Practical Guide to Influencer Marketing DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Combo The Birmingham subreddit   Connect with Laine White Laine White is Head of Client Strategy at Uptick Marketing, the sister company of Infomedia. She works with small businesses on social media, websites, and strategy, and she has a psychology background that shows up in how she thinks about reputation and word of mouth.  Uptick Marketing Laine on Instagram   Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. Contact Infomedia   Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. Sign up here  

In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Malissa Davis, the founder of Best You Ever, a Birmingham-based personal styling and image consulting firm. Malissa spent nearly 10 years at Nordstrom before launching her own business, and now works with clients in Birmingham and virtually across the United States. Fun fact: Malissa is also the mom of Taylor Davis, the showrunner for The Localist. If you've ever seen Taylor on camera and thought she looked great, that is Malissa's work. Malissa opens with how she starts every client relationship: tell me your story. She talks about why building trust in a dressing room feels a little like being an unlicensed therapist, and what she learned in a decade at Nordstrom that shaped how she works today. She walks through her closet cleanout process (take out anything that does not fit, including the clothes you keep to shame yourself into losing weight), her style assessment quiz, and why her four-hour shopping cap is really about respecting your capacity. The second half is about the business side of things. Malissa gets into why she specializes in curves and tall women, why tailoring is worth the extra $15 every time, how she styles for speaking events and camera, and the SOS package for special occasions. She also shares one of her favorite client stories: styling a Biggest Loser finalist for the show finale. If you are trying to build a personal brand, style yourself for a speaking event, or just tired of your closet saying no to you every morning, this episode is a warm, practical guide. Watch on YouTube _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode         Best You Ever Nordstrom Infomedia Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. •       Contact Infomedia    Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. •       See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. •       Sign up here

In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Austin Senseman and Robert Hill, the co-founders of Caravan. Caravan is a Birmingham-based AI training company that teaches business owners and their teams how to actually use tools like Claude Code and Claude Cowork. Austin is also co-founder of Birmingham AI, the 501(c)(3) that puts on free monthly AI events at Innovation Depot, and is a Claude Ambassador for Birmingham. Infomedia hired Caravan for a full team training earlier this year, and Infomedia also sells the class to clients. Austin and Robert talk about how Caravan started with a listening tour of 20 Birmingham businesses at the end of last year, and how the answer they kept hearing was not build me a product, it was teach me how to use these tools. They get into why they think Claude Code was the moment agentic AI became real for non-technical professionals, why every AI class is also a little bit of therapy, and why they update the curriculum every single week to keep up with what the tools can do. The second half is where the conversation goes deeper. Carrie, Austin and Robert all get honest about the ethics of AI, the anxiety it creates, and the reality of being a writer or a small business owner trying to navigate this moment. They talk about why anger is a common emotional home for people right now, why disengaging from AI often means leaving the conversation to bad actors, and why Robert thinks 2027 is going to get weird. They also talk about James Clear's identity framework, why buying local-ish beats buying local perfectly, and why Austin's favorite AI story is a Birmingham pastor who uses AI to save four hours a week on sermons so he can visit more people in hospice. If you are grappling with AI in your own work, this is a rare honest conversation. Watch on YouTube _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode    •       Caravan •       Birmingham AI •       Infomedia •       Claude •       Claude Code •       Anthropic •       Innovation Depot •       Hardware Park •       Sloss Tech Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. •       Contact Infomedia    Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. •       See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. •       Sign up here

What actually makes a photo shoot go well, and what makes an expensive one go sideways? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Katey Beck and Taylor Davis, producers at Infomedia Studios. Katey is a chef turned producer. Taylor is a film major from Auburn with a background in commercial acting and wedding videography. Together they run photo and video shoots for small businesses and brands in Birmingham, and Carrie regularly goes to them for the questions she cannot answer herself: what to wear on camera, how not to freeze up on video, whether her Zoom background looks weird. Katey and Taylor talk about what really goes into a shoot. Why one hour of production equals one minute of finished content. Why a full day realistically nets you 80 photos and a 90 second video, not a highlight reel. Why hospitality matters more than gear. Why you should never book a photographer without asking about lighting, focus and their ability to direct posing. When you actually need a stylist on set, and why food is the one category you always do. How to make people comfortable on camera when they are not used to being there. The second half is a practical guide for anyone shooting on their own. What a shot list is and why the whole team needs one. Why brand shoots often fail because the photos were not planned against the content they would live in. Why you should not wear the same blazer in every frame. How to build a good background at your desk. Why the iPhone is a legitimate tool in 2026, and how to hold your exposure to get better footage in any light. Katey and Taylor also answer listener questions on why video is so much harder than photos, whether there really is a good side of your face, and what budget you actually need to hire a producer. Watch on YouTube _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode    Infomedia Studios Infomedia Uptick Marketing @pinklanternbhm Spindle Photography (Kelly Cummings)   Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. •       Contact Infomedia    Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. •       See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. •       Sign up here

If you live in Birmingham, you already know Trattoria ZaZa. In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Bryan Stanfield of Trattoria ZaZa in downtown Birmingham. Bryan started at ZaZa as a server in 2010 while he was a student at UAB. Five years later, he and his former business partner bought the restaurant from original owners Brian Somershield and Geoff Lockert. Today ZaZa is one of the most beloved lunch and brunch spots in the city, known for Roman-style square pizza, daily pasta, and coffee program. Bryan and Carrie get into the name (it was ZaZa Trattoria in 2009, became Trattoria Centrale after a legal issue, and eventually went back to ZaZa when the community never stopped calling it that). They talk about how Bryan bought the restaurant instead of opening the ramen shop he had been planning. Why the pandemic pushed ZaZa to include tips in the menu price, and what the reaction has actually been. What it was like to close for eight months in 2019 for a renovation forced by Orchestra Partners' redevelopment of the Frank Nelson Building, how the space grew from 20 seats to 60, and how Bryan worked with Creature and designer Andrew Thomson to figure out every sconce and paint color. The second half is about the food and the philosophy. Why the menu changes daily and how a chef comes in at 3 p.m. and rebuilds a dinner menu from scratch by 5. Why brunch became such a phenomenon. Why the pizza is a hybrid of Roman pizza al taglio and focaccia, and why Bryan describes his food as second-generation Italian cooked with Alabama ingredients. Why he still calls Brian Somershield and Geoff Lockert regularly for advice, and why the downtown restaurant community is genuinely a community. If you love ZaZa, run a restaurant, or care about what has been happening in downtown Birmingham food for the last 15 years, this conversation is for you. Watch on YouTube _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode    •       Trattoria ZaZa •       Paramount •       El Barrio •       Brick & Tin •       Helen •       Punch Love Coffee •       Orchestra Partners •       Creature •       The Localist episode with Uncle G's Pizza •       Andrew Thompson Design Studio   Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. •       Contact Infomedia    Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. •       See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. •       Sign up here

If your digital ads feel broken, it is because they are. This episode is a live recording from Localist Lab, the free monthly marketing event series for small business owners in Birmingham. Matt Robinson, Director of Advertising and Analytics at Uptick Marketing, takes the stage to walk a live audience through what has actually changed with Google Ads and Meta Ads in 2026, and what to do about it. Matt oversees digital advertising at Uptick Marketing and also serves as President of AMA Birmingham. Matt breaks down why you may be spending the same amount and getting less. Why cheaper cost per click is not the win it used to be. Why the platforms now treat your website as a data source just as much as your ads. What AI Max, Performance Max and Advantage Plus are actually doing on the back end, and why bad website content will burn your ad budget on them. He walks through what kinds of Facebook ads the platform is actually rewarding right now (us versus them, face to camera, product demos, testimonials, web experience, positioning tests, founder story), and why the answer is 20 plus ads a month, not a single perfect one. The second half covers tracking and AI-generated advice. Why tracking is broken and getting worse. Why to think directionally, not in exact dollar amounts. Why cutting your budget is the wrong reaction to rising costs. And why AI advice from Claude or ChatGPT can lead you off a cliff if you do not tell it your budget, your goals, what has worked and what has not, and demand it push back. If you run digital ads for your small business, this is a practical field guide. _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode    •       Uptick Marketing •       Infomedia •       Tempo Websites •       AMA Birmingham •       Google Ads •       Meta Ads •       Claude •       ChatGPT •       Google Gemini •       Uncle G's Pizza episode of The Localist •       Lady Bird Taco Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. •       Contact Infomedia    Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. •       See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. •       Sign up here

In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with David Fleming, president and CEO of REV Birmingham. REV is the nonprofit that works to grow downtown Birmingham and the Woodlawn neighborhood, and David has been doing this work for 30 years. He is a self-described building hugger, a Bessemer native, and a walking encyclopedia of Birmingham history. Carrie and David open with a Birmingham history lesson. Why the city was founded as an entrepreneurial response to the collapse of the Southern slave economy, why the immigrants who came here to open dry goods stores and furniture shops mattered as much as the industrialists, and why understanding that DNA is critical for anyone leading the city into the future. Then they get into the last 30 years of downtown revitalization. Why 2010 was the pivotal year. How Railroad Park and Regions Field changed people's belief in what downtown could be. Why Second Avenue North became a corridor and how Urban Standard lit the fuse. The second half is a practical guide for small business owners. What REV actually does (place management, economic development, marketing and storytelling, advocacy and policy), the CAP program you see downtown in the blue shirts, the Business Improvement District, the historic preservation easement program, and the real estate advice REV offers for free to any business owner trying to figure out where to open. David also shares what a 2000-person survey revealed about what people actually want to see downtown, and why the answer is not what most people expect. If you own a small business in Birmingham or love the city, this conversation is full of practical resources and Birmingham history you should know. Watch on YouTube _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode •       REV Birmingham •       Downtown Birmingham •       Sloss Furnaces •       Birmingham Historical Society •       Railroad Park •       Regions Field •       Pepper Place Farmers Market •       Alabama Theatre •       El Barrio •       Filter Coffee Parlor •       Church Street Coffee & Books •       Gus's Hot Dogs •       The Localist episode with Gus's Hot Dogs •       The Localist book by Carrie Rollwagen Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. •       Contact Infomedia    Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. •       See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. •       Sign up here

If your ads aren't performing the way they used to, if you keep hearing about AEO and wondering what it is, or if you have a Google Business Profile you haven't touched in a year, this episode is for you. In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Alan Harned, Director of Account Services at Uptick Marketing. Alan works with small business owners every day on digital ads, SEO, AEO and analytics. He's honest about what has changed, what still works, and what small business owners can do right now, even without a marketing budget. Alan and Carrie talk about why AI has accelerated changes in marketing analytics, why pausing keywords based on an AI report can actually hurt your campaign, and why platforms need 30 to 60 days to learn what a good lead looks like for your business. They get into hard conversions versus soft conversions, why Google Ads is now prioritizing conversion data more than ever, and how small changes to a website (like adding a schedule button) can turn analytics into a real business insight. The second half of the episode covers small-business AI use cases: how to use ChatGPT and Claude to analyze your own analytics, build an AI advisory board, critique your website, and catch things like spammy backlinks you did not know existed. Alan also answers audience questions on whether customers are actually finding businesses through ChatGPT and Perplexity, whether SEO is dead (spoiler: no), how to handle a Google Business Profile you have neglected, whether Google Ads are still worth the money, and what budget you actually need to start working with a marketing agency.   Watch on YouTube _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode •       Uptick Marketing •       Infomedia •       ChatGPT •       Claude •       Perplexity •       Google Business Profile •       Google Analytics •       Google Ads •       StoryBrand •       Yelp for Business •       Bing Places for Business •       Ohm Jiu Jitsu Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. •       Contact Infomedia    Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. •       See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. •       Sign up here

How do you compete with Domino's when you are running a small pizza shop with two food trucks and a brick and mortar? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with George Gilliam, owner of Uncle G's Pizza in Birmingham. George is honest about the journey. He has pivoted his business more than once, from food truck to brick and mortar to takeout-only with a commissary kitchen. He has built one of the most engaged social media presences of any small business in Birmingham. And he has been openly using AI to give himself back the time he needs to run the business and create good content. George and Carrie talk about why pizza parties for first responders perform better than product shots, why short form video has been a sea change for his business, why the social videos that perform best are the ones he throws together quickly, and how he uses CapCut to build them. They also nerd out on AI: where George uses it for the back end of the business, where he avoids it, why he believes it can level the playing field for small business owners, and why the AI conversation feels risky to even have publicly right now. If you are a small business owner trying to figure out where AI fits, how to use social media without being self-serving, and how to make small business work in 2026, this is an honest, funny and useful conversation. Watch on YouTube _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode •       Uncle G's Pizza •       Donate a Pizza Party •       Hop City Birmingham •       Trim Tab Brewing •       Ghost Train Brewing •       CapCut •       Adobe Premiere Pro •       Google Gemini •       A. Studio That Works / Andrew Thomson (designer of the King Pep mascot) •       Noah Stalcup (illustrator of the King Pep mascot) •       Andrew Jackson Hood (designer of Ohm Jiu Jitsu branding) •       The Camel music venue (Richmond, VA)   Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. •       Contact Infomedia    Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. •       See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. •       Sign up here

AI can give you words. But it can't give you judgment. This episode is a live recording from Localist Lab, the free monthly marketing event series for small business owners in Birmingham. Janna Stevens, Communications Director at Infomedia, takes the stage to walk a live audience through writing with AI. Janna is a career writer. She has spent years honing grammar, voice and style. She talks about what AI is actually good at, where it falls short, and how to use it without losing your voice. Janna covers where AI helps: beating blank page paralysis, drafting structured writing, repurposing content, editing for length, grammar checks, document summarization, research and brainstorming. She also covers where it falls short: average output, flattening your voice, not knowing your audience, sameness across the internet, and the iteration loop that often takes longer than just writing it yourself. Then she shares practical tips for getting better AI output, including building richer prompts, asking AI to critique instead of create, and deleting the first paragraph almost every time. If you've been wondering how to use AI for your small business writing without sounding like everyone else, this is a clear and honest guide from a writer who is using it every day. ___________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode Claude (AI assistant) Claude Cowork ChatGPT Google Gemini NotebookLM Pam Darden's SEO for the AI Era talk at Localist Lab Luke Richey email marketing episode of The Localist Uptick Marketing Tempo Websites Infomedia Studios _______________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9  

What if the app you have been wishing existed could actually be built by you, even if you don't know how to code? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Dan Atchison, the creator of Tend+, an iOS app that helps you tend to the relationships already in your phone. You download the app, pick the people you want to keep in touch with, set how often you want to connect, and Tend+ prompts you when it is time to reach out. Carrie has been using it for months. Here's the twist. Dan is not a developer. He vibe coded the entire app himself, starting over Christmas break when he got bored. Dan talks about how he went from idea to App Store, what tools he used, what he learned the hard way, and why every small business owner should know what vibe coding can and cannot do. Dan and Carrie also talk about what Tend+ is really about. Why proximity used to do the work in our relationships and how that has changed. Why we should tend to people instead of managing them. Why the cost of delivery is directly tied to the value of the message. If you have an app idea, or you just want to be a better friend, this conversation has something for you Watch the Full Episode on YouTube ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode Tend+ on the Apple App Store Tend+ website Highlands College Claude (AI assistant) Claude Code Anthropic Famous.ai Base44 Lovable Supabase Netlify Vercel GitHub Hattie O'Hara episode of The Localist Dan's Substack: Truth and Wonder _______________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9

Email is one of the cheapest and most direct ways to talk to your customers. So why are so many small business owners still ignoring it? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Luke Richey, Director of Content Marketing at Uptick Marketing. Luke and Carrie are both writers, and they both know that good writing can sell services in a way most other marketing simply cannot. They take a deep dive into newsletter email marketing, what it really does for a small business, and why most owners are sleeping on it. Luke and Carrie talk about why newsletters build loyalty better than social media, why your email list is yours in a way your Instagram followers will never be, whether to send from a person or a brand, how to find your voice, why your subject line is the most important sentence you will write, when to use Substack and when not to, what to do with 25 subscribers, and how to keep going when people unsubscribe. If you have a small business and you have been wondering if email marketing is worth it, this episode is a clear and honest guide to getting started. Watch the Full Episode on YouTube ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode   Carrie's free newsletter and good stuff folder Uptick Marketing Infomedia Mailchimp Constant Contact Substack HubSpot Zapier Canva Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller StoryBrand   _______________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9

What does it really take to open a bookstore, survive a pandemic in your first year, and then expand twice in six years? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Kristen Iskandrian, co-owner of Thank You Books in Birmingham's Crestwood neighborhood. Thank You Books opened in December 2019, just months before COVID closed everything down. Six years later, they are expanding for the second time and doubling their footprint. Kristen talks about why retail leases matter more than most people realize, how Thank You Books learned what worked by listening to their customers, and why the book business is one of the hardest small businesses to run. They get into sideline items, signed first edition subscriptions, why bookstore margins are so thin, how to host author events that actually pull a crowd, and what it really means to build community around a store. Carrie spent years in bookselling before The Localist. She was co-founder of Church Street Coffee and Books and managed Jonathan Benton Bookseller. This conversation goes deep into the business, the dream and the reality of running an independent bookstore. Watch the full episode on YouTube ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode  Thank You Books Shop Thank You Books merch at MAKE Birmingham Thank You Books First Edition Subscription Thank You Books on Libro.fm Thank You Books on Bookshop.org MAKE Birmingham (local goods sold at Thank You Books) Hannah Mills (local maker featured at Thank You Books) Crestwood Pharmacy Red Bike Coffee Urban Suburban (Crestwood) Total Joint (Jimmy from Crestwood) Church Street Coffee and Books (Carrie's old shop) Parnassus Books (Nashville) Ingram (book distributor) Paz & Associates Bookselling Bootcamp Co.Starters small business class (Birmingham) Alabama Booksmith Little Professor Book Center Bookmarked Birmingham American Booksellers Association Indie Bookstore Day Winter Institute Birmingham Mountain Radio Square Books (Oxford) Bookshop.org Libro.fm _______________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9

What if a few hours of part-time help would change your week? This episode is a live recording from Localist Lab, the free monthly marketing event series for small business owners in Birmingham. Carrie Rollwagen takes the speaker seat this time to walk a live audience through how she hired a virtual assistant, what she actually has her VA do, and where AI tools fit into the mix. Carrie covers what a virtual assistant is, how to find one, how to budget for one, and what to do before they start. She shares the documents she made for her VA, the tools they use together, and the kinds of work she does and does not hand off. She also walks through how she uses AI for tasks like building decks, transcribing meetings, organizing her desktop, and turning one podcast into a dozen reels. If you are a small business owner who keeps thinking you cannot afford help, this episode is a clear and honest look at what part-time help actually looks like in practice. Watch on YouTube ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode Virtual Savvy Time Tailored OnePass (password manager) LastPass (password manager) Calendly Otter.ai (voice memo transcription) Carrie's Turn One Post into Ten talk Ohm Jiu Jitsu (Russell Marbut) Alabama Twisters _______________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9

Growing a Business Without Losing What Makes It Special | Golden Age Wine In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Brandon Loper and Trent Stewart, co-owners of Golden Age Wine in Birmingham. Last time Brandon and Trent were on the podcast, it was during the pandemic. A lot has changed since then. They still have their original Mountain Brook location, but they also have Golden Age Wine Garden downtown, a national wine club and their own importing company called Vins de Lieu. Brandon and Trent talk about why they chose to scale through importing instead of opening more locations, how they think about pop-ups with local chefs, what makes Birmingham's small business community so supportive, why they hire for hospitality first and wine knowledge second, and how they keep both shops feeling personal even as the business grows. If you own a small business and you have ever wondered what it looks like to grow without losing what makes you special, this conversation is full of honest answers. Watch the Full Episode on YouTube ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode Golden Age Wine website Golden Age Wine Club signup Brandon and Trent's first Localist episode (2021) Paramount (Brian) Bandit Patisserie Chez Fonfon Salud David Baker Architects June Coffee Erin Merhar (pizza pop-up) Harper Snell (Golden Age photography and marketing) Rob Culpepper (photographer) _______________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9

Your website traffic might be down. But that doesn't mean your business is. In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Pam Darden, VP of Accounts and Revenue at Infomedia, to answer real audience questions about small business websites in the age of AI. Pam has worked with small business clients for over 10 years. She knows what actually works, and what is quietly costing you customers. They cover why you still need a website even if traffic has dropped, how AI is pulling information about your business from places you never thought to check, what to put on your site so AI includes you in the conversation, how to track sales when analytics no longer tell the full story, and whether vibe coding is ever a good idea for a small business. If you have a website and are not sure if it is working, this episode will show you exactly where to look.  🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube   Mentioned in This Episode Infomedia Infomedia contact page Pam's SEO for the AI Era talk at Localist Lab Laine White influencer marketing episode of The Localist Hattie O'Hara episode of The Localist Google Business Profile HubSpot (CRM example) Salesforce (CRM example) Tempo Websites   Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web strategy company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia   Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources, and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter

What if the reason you opened a business had nothing to do with profit? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Cierra Lober, founder of Cha House, a community hub centered around a tea house in Avondale, Birmingham. Cierra did not set out to open a tea shop. She set out to build a community center, and she chose tea as the method — specifically the traditional Chinese practice of Gong Fu Cha, where small pots of loose-leaf tea are steeped again and again, slowing you down and making you present with the people around you. Cierra talks about why she started Cha House, how five years of pop-up events led her to a brick-and-mortar space next to Beloved Community Church in Avondale, what it felt like to have four strangers volunteer to work for free because they wanted the space to survive, how she manages a seven-day-a-week event calendar, what she has learned about training staff for a community-first business, and what it actually takes to build a real third place in Birmingham. Whether you are running a traditional business, a mission-driven business or just someone who wonders what it would look like to build something around community first, this episode is warm, honest and full of ideas.  🎥 Watch the Full Episode on YouTube ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode Cha House Birmingham: https://www.chahousebham.com Cha House event request form: https://www.chahousebham.com/events Burdock Book Collective (shares space with Cha House): https://www.instagram.com/burdockbookcollective Being Tea Chicago (Cierra's tea teachers): https://www.beingtea.com The Craft Room episode of The Localist: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/how-the-craft-room-turns-creativity-into-community-blakely-oconnor/ Beloved Community Church Avondale (Cha House landlord):http://www.belovedcommunitychurch.org/ Alabama Arise (nonprofit that held private event at Cha House: https://alarise.org/ Autism Spectrum Society of Birmingham (monthly meetup at Cha House): https://autism-alabama.org/ ______________________________________________________________________________________________  📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register

What if the reason your small business marketing isn't working has nothing to do with your budget, your platform or your posting schedule? This episode is a live recording from Localist Lab, our free monthly marketing event for small business owners in Birmingham. Marketing consultant Laine White of Uptick Marketing joined Carrie Rollwagen on stage at Saturn in Avondale to share a simple three-question framework that reveals where most small business marketing goes wrong — and exactly what to fix first. Laine walks through the three questions every piece of marketing needs to answer: Is it clear what you are selling? Is it clear why they need to buy? And is it clear what they need to do next? She works through real examples, a live Q&A with the audience, and some honest talk about Google ads, AI in marketing and what actually moves the needle for small businesses with limited budgets. If you have ever felt like your marketing is not working but you could not figure out why, this episode gives you a framework you can apply to everything — your website, your ads, your social media — starting today.  🎥 Watch the Full Episode on YouTube ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode Uptick Marketing: https://www.uptickmarketing.com Infomedia: https://infomedia.com Tempo Websites: https://tempowebsites.com Infomedia Studios: https://infomedia.com/studios Nielsen Norman Group (10-second value proposition study): https://www.nngroup.com StoryBrand by Donald Miller: https://storybrand.com Cala Coffee: https://www.calacoffeeco.com I Clean Cars (Tucker White's mobile detailing business): https://icleancars.com Hattie O'Hara (One Week in Birmingham) — Localist episode: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/how-influencer-hattie-ohara-built-the-one-week-in-birmingham-brand Matt Robinson (Google Ads expert at Uptick — add LinkedIn/link): https://uptickmarketing.com/blog/author/mattrobinson/ Laine's LinkedIn post: Three free things you can do to promote your small business: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/laine-white-735aba150_marketing-directors-its-that-time-of-year-activity-7394807835714437120-iH24?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACZJCWQBuZLTu8SfILmK-EEv2IWLz7TCBsU ______________________________________________________________________________________________  📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register

Can a small business in Birmingham actually work with a local influencer? And if so, how do you even start? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Laine White, Marketing Consultant and Innovation Strategist at Uptick Marketing, to answer real audience questions about local influencer marketing. Laine made a semi-viral Instagram post about how small businesses are missing out by not working with local micro influencers, and a massive conversation followed in the comments. Now she is here to break it all down. They cover what makes a business a good fit for influencer marketing, how to reach out without being rude, what follower count matters actually, and what it doesn't, how to think about compensation, the difference between a paid post and an authentic partnership, and how hosting an influencer event can be one of the most cost-effective ways to get started. Plus, an audience Q&A with practical answers to real small-business scenarios. If you have ever seen a local influencer and wondered whether they could help your business, this episode gives you a clear, honest roadmap. 🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode Uptick Marketing: https://www.uptickmarketing.com Infomedia: https://infomedia.com Hattie O'Hara (One Week in Birmingham) — Localist episode: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/how-influencer-hattie-ohara-built-the-one-week-in-birmingham-brand Bustle Gowns — Localist episode: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/crafting-a-once-in-a-lifetime-experience-with-bustle/ Ohm Jiu Jitsu — Localist episode: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/ohm-jiu-jitsu/ Cala Coffee: https://www.calacoffeeco.com Lady Bird Taco — Localist episode: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/the-magic-behind-ladybird-taco/ Pink Lantern: https://www.instagram.com/pinklanternbham AMA Birmingham: https://amabirmingham.org Randall Porter: https://www.instagram.com/randallporter/ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 💻 Connect with Laine White Laine White is a Marketing Consultant and Innovation Strategist at Uptick Marketing, Infomedia's sister company. She works with local businesses on social media strategy, influencer marketing and brand storytelling. Uptick Marketing: https://www.uptickmarketing.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imlaine_white LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/lainewhite Email Laine: [email protected]  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 📲 Follow Carrie Rollwagen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crollwagen Website: https://www.carrierollwagen.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/crollwagen  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@crollwagen ______________________________________________________________________________________________  📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter

What does it take to build a platform that actually changes the way people see their city? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Hattie O'Hara, the creator behind One Week in Birmingham, a weekly Instagram series that tells the story of life in Birmingham through local businesses, events and community. Over 60 episodes in, Hattie has built one of the most beloved local platforms in the city, and recently launched Your Week in Birmingham, a curated weekly newsletter to help people plan their own weeks in the city. Hattie talks about what inspired the series, how she kept it going when nobody was watching, why she makes decisions based on her own values rather than best practices, how she manages the production process every Sunday entirely on her phone, and how she is beginning to build a real business around the brand she has been quietly creating for years. If you are a small business owner, a content creator or just someone who loves Birmingham, this is a really honest and energizing conversation about doing creative work your own way. 🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode One Week in Birmingham (Instagram series): https://www.instagram.com/hat_ohara Your Week in Birmingham newsletter: https://www.hattieohara.com Carrie's episode on Word of Mouth Podcast (referenced by Hattie): https://open.spotify.com/show/1icxBH4UjcZFSrtKIJ4rDi Birmingham Education Foundation (Hattie's first job): https://www.bhamef.org Breakthrough Birmingham (Hattie's current day job): https://breakthroughbham.org Railroad Park Foundation (nonprofit spotlight example): https://railroadpark.org Balance Wine Club (Hattie's brand partnership): https://www.balancewineco.com The Little Red Print Shop (newsletter sponsor example): https://www.instagram.com/thelittleredprintshop F Up Nights Birmingham (event referenced at the start of the One Week in Birmingham story):  https://en.fuckupnights.com/city/birmingham ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 💻 Connect with Hattie O'Hara Hattie O'Hara is the creator of One Week in Birmingham, a weekly Instagram series that tells the story of her week in the city, and Your Week in Birmingham, a curated weekly newsletter that helps readers plan their own week in Birmingham. Website and newsletter signup: https://www.hattieohara.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hat_ohara  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 📲 Follow Carrie Rollwagen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crollwagen Website: https://www.carrierollwagen.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/crollwagen  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@crollwagen ______________________________________________________________________________________________  📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9

What if the best place to make new friends turned out to be a craft table? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Blakely O'Connor, founder of The Craft Room, a creative reuse store in West Homewood, Birmingham. The Craft Room collects donated arts and craft supplies from the community and resells them at affordable prices, while also serving as a drop-in maker space, workshop venue and private event destination. Blakely talks about why having your hands busy actually makes conversation easier, how she manages inventory she can never predict, why she chose to run The Craft Room as a for-profit small business instead of a nonprofit, what it was like to walk away from a Harvard PhD research career to open a secondhand craft shop, and how making things together is one of the most reliable ways to build real community. Whether you are a small business owner, a crafter or someone who has ever donated a box of forgotten supplies to Goodwill, this episode is warm, honest and full of ideas. 🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode The Craft Room https://www.thecraftroom.co The Craft Room donation guide https://www.thecraftroom.co Seeds Coffee Co. (West Homewood neighbor) https://seedscoffee.com Turnip Green Creative Reuse (Nashville) https://turnipgreencreativereuse.org Scrap ATL (Atlanta) https://scrapatl.com Make and Mend (Boston area) https://makeandmend.org Seattle Recreative https://www.seattlerecreative.org Nexus Fitness (West Homewood) https://nexusfitness.com ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 💻 Connect with The Craft Room The Craft Room is a creative reuse store in West Homewood, Birmingham. They sell secondhand arts and craft supplies at thrifty prices, host drop-in crafting, workshops and private events, and operate as a creative third space for the community. Website: https://www.thecraftroom.co  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecraftroomhwd/  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 📲 Follow Carrie Rollwagen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crollwagen Website: https://www.carrierollwagen.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/crollwagen  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@crollwagen ______________________________________________________________________________________________  📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9

In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Myres Allen and Stephen Peacock, the hosts of Word of Mouth Podcast, a Birmingham show dedicated to telling the stories of people doing interesting and meaningful things in the city. This is the second half of a podcast swap: Carrie appeared on Word of Mouth first, and now the tables are turned. Myres and Stephen talk about why community, not content, has always been the real mission behind the show, how they think about building connection in an increasingly isolated world, what it is like when strangers know you better than your close friends because they listen every week, how they divide the work behind the scenes, and where they hope Word of Mouth grows as a platform, a brand and maybe eventually a full business. If you are a small business owner, a content creator or just someone who loves Birmingham and wants to understand what it takes to build something from nothing, this conversation is honest, fun and full of ideas. 🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 💻 Connect with Word of Mouth Podcast Word of Mouth Podcast is hosted by Myres Allen and Stephen Peacock. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, the show tells the stories of people doing cool, interesting things in the city and beyond. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1icxBH4UjcZFSrtKIJ4rDi Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ua/podcast/word-of-mouth/id1724476450 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/word.of.mouth.pod/ Myres on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myresense/ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 📲 Follow Carrie Rollwagen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crollwagen Website: https://www.carrierollwagen.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/crollwagen  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@crollwagen ______________________________________________________________________________________________  📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9

Search has changed more in the last two years than in the previous seven combined. Is your small business still getting found? This episode is a live recording from the first ever Localist Lab event, a free live marketing series for small business owners hosted by The Localist. Our speaker is Pam Darden, Director of Account Development at Infomedia, who breaks down exactly how the rise of AI search tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity is changing the way customers find local businesses, and what you can do right now to make sure you are still showing up. Pam covers why getting cited by AI is now just as important as ranking on Google, what the E-E-A-T content guidelines mean for your website, how to structure your content so AI can actually quote you, and why the fundamentals of good SEO have not changed even though the platforms delivering customers to you have. If you own a small business and you want practical, actionable steps you can take to improve your visibility in the age of AI search, this episode is exactly that. 🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube:https://youtu.be/cn1bwI4t83s ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 💻 Connect with Pam Darden Website: https://infomedia.com/our-team/pamela-darden/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamelasanderson/ Mentioned in This Episode: Infomedia https://infomedia.com Uptick Marketing https://www.uptickmarketing.com Infomedia Studios https://infomedia.com/studios Tempo (website design) https://www.tempoweb.com Lady Bird Taco https://www.ladybirdtaco.com ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 📲 Follow Carrie Rollwagen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crollwagen Website: https://www.carrierollwagen.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/crollwagen  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@crollwagen ______________________________________________________________________________________________  📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9

What if the secret to standing out in a tough industry was just treating people the way they deserve to be treated? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Chris Palmer, founder of Green Garage, an auto repair shop in Birmingham's Automotive Historic District. Chris shares how intentionally hiring people with hospitality backgrounds transformed the customer experience at Green Garage, and why simply doing what you say you will do turns out to be better than average in the auto repair industry. Chris also talks about 13 years of building and adapting the business, from starting with hybrid vehicles to adding a licensed locksmith operation, buying his own building to protect against rising downtown rents, and how treating employees like an investment rather than a cost has driven real loyalty and growth. If you own a small business, work in the trades, or are thinking about what kind of business to start, this episode is full of practical, honest insight on customer experience, employee investment and building something that lasts. 🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 💻 Connect with Green Garage Green Garage is an eco-friendly, ASE Master Certified auto repair shop in Birmingham's Automotive Historic District, serving domestic, European and import vehicles. Website: https://greengaragebham.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greengaragebham/ Auto Keyco (wholesale locksmith services): https://greengaragebham.com Mentioned in This Episode: Auto Keyco (wholesale locksmith & key programming): https://autokeyco.com/ Uptick Marketing (Green Garage's marketing partner): https://www.uptickmarketing.com Thompson Architecture: https://thompsonarchitecture.com/ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 📲 Follow Carrie Rollwagen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crollwagen Website: https://www.carrierollwagen.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/crollwagen   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@crollwagen   ______________________________________________________________________________________________  📢 Thanks to OurSponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter

What does your brand actually say about your business, and when is it time to change it? In this episode of The Localist, host Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Caleb Chancey, Creative Director at Infomedia, to answer real branding questions submitted by the audience. They cover what branding actually means beyond fonts and colors, whether AI-generated logos are a good starting point, why simplicity can be the most expensive option, and how to know when your brand needs to grow. Caleb and Carrie also pull back the curtain on the real-world branding evolution of The Localist podcast, including the creation of Localist Lab, as a practical case study in how small business brands can adapt and expand without losing what makes them recognizable. Whether you are just starting out or years into running a business, this conversation will help you think differently about the brand you are building. 🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/TEf-25iSxVU 💻 Connect with Caleb Chancey Website: https://infomedia.com/our-team/caleb-chancey/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calebchancey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebchancey/ Mentioned in This Episode: Zag by Marty Neumeier https://bookshop.org/p/books/zag-the-1-strategy-of-high-performance-brands-marty-neumeier/b7df5b6597ad6a34?ean=9780321426772&next=t Brands That Mean Business by Blake Howard https://bookshop.org/p/books/branding-that-means-business-how-to-build-enduring-bonds-between-brands-consumers-and-markets-matt-johnson/72a19efd0bbb201f?ean=9781541701670&next=t Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012 Matchstick (brand agency, Atlanta) https://matchstick.co Carrie's One Quick Coffee: Personal Branding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhwG7__vei0 The Localist Brand Guide  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AwzW6ig0wYRK2OTkiUb3lhph8qo2tCy0/view?usp=sharing 📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia: The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact  Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events

From Backyard Roasting to Birmingham Roastery | Bert Davis of DaySol Coffee What does it take to turn a backyard hobby into a thriving coffee business? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen talks with Bert Davis, co-owner of DaySol Coffee, about growing a specialty coffee brand from roasting beans in his Colorado backyard to opening a full roastery in Birmingham's Pepper Place district. Bert shares lessons about business partnerships, scaling a small business, building systems over time, managing wholesale accounts like Piggly Wiggly, and knowing when to expand even when you don't have all the information. If you're a small business owner — or thinking about becoming one — this conversation offers practical insights on sustainable growth, delegation, and building real community through entrepreneurship. 🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/I1gfR5NmSSo 💻 Connect with Daysol Coffee Lab Website: https://www.daysolcoffeelab.co/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daysolcoffeelab/ Mentioned in This Episode: Bluff Park Coffee Collective: https://www.instagram.com/bpcoffeecollective Good Neighbor Baking: https://www.instagram.com/goodneighborbaking/ Bandit Pâtisserie: https://www.instagram.com/banditbham/ 📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact Join us at Localist Lab: https://infomedia.com/events

Alabama Twisters: When Competitors Become Teammates What happens when nine gym owners stop competing against each other — and start building something together? The Alabama Twisters are a professional jiu jitsu team competing in the Professional Grappling Federation (PGF), a submission-only league built for action. No points. Only submissions. There's even a shot clock for stalling — because in this league, you get penalized for being passive. In this episode, Carrie talks with Russell Marbut, Matt Elkins, and Flearoy Brown about: How the PGF rule set works Running a team with nine owners Why collaboration beats competition Why they prioritize authentic content over AI-heavy marketing How they're building Alabama jiu jitsu culture from the ground up Even if you don't train jiu jitsu, this episode is about entrepreneurship, structure, and building something that lasts. 🎥  Watch the Full Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/GIfThuxG1hw   📺 Watch the Alabama Twisters Live PGF World: https://kick.com/pgfworldAlabama Twisters: https://kick.com/AlabamaTwisters Website: https://alabamatwisters.orgInstagram: https://instagram.com/alabamatwisters 📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact Join us at Localist Lab: https://infomedia.com/events

Tech startup veteran Jarrod Morgan joins The Localist to share how he grew ProctorU, navigated pandemic-era challenges, and then pivoted to physical products with Tuff Dog Coatings and Morgan Muscle. This episode is a must-listen for entrepreneurs interested in reinvention, customer-first strategies, and applying tech skills to blue-collar businesses. Mentioned in this episode: Formerly Meazure Learning (Proctor U former) Website - https://www.meazurelearning.com/ Tuff Dog Coating Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tuffdogcoatings/ Morgan Muscle Cars Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morganmusclecars/  

Born from a pandemic pivot, The Son of a Butcher has become a local favorite in Birmingham's Pepper Place. In this episode, we talk with Brian McMillan and John Litzinger about their journey from wholesale to storefront, the art of cheesemongering, and why food and community go hand-in-hand.   Mentioned in this episode: Website: https://thesonofabutcher.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesonofabutcher_bham/ Evan's Meat & Seafood: https://www.instagram.com/evansmeatsandseafood/ Pepper Place: https://www.instagram.com/pepperplacebham/  

Accounting doesn't have to be cold or confusing. In this episode, Carrie talks with Jordan Pridemore of LUCA about how they help small businesses use financial data to grow, not just survive. Learn why advisory services, tech-forward tools, and true partnerships are the future of accounting.   Mentioned in this episode: Website: https://www.lucahq.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luca_hq/ Fox Hound Bee Company: https://www.instagram.com/foxhoundbeeco/  

Janet King, founder of The Gathering Lab, joins The Localist to explore why modern friendships feel harder than ever—and what we can do about it. From her groundbreaking Circles model to the science of trust and connection, Janet offers a refreshing and hopeful roadmap for rebuilding community in a disconnected world.   Mentioned in this episode: Website: https://thegatheringlab.com/ Instagram: @thegatheringlab  Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/how-to-build-a-deeper-social-life-in-your-30s/id1842196653   

Laura Smith of The Electric joins The Localist to share her journey opening a second restaurant location. From pandemic delays to vintage decor hunts, Laura dives into the highs and challenges of expanding her business without losing its soul. This one's packed with small business insight and local flavor. Mentioned in this episode: Website: https://www.theelectricbar.com/  The Electric Bluff Park: www.instagram.com/theelectricbp The Electric Avondale : www.instagram.com/theelectriceast Paramount: www.instagram.com/paramounthomewood El Barrio: www.instagram.com/elbarriobham

Michael Sellers is reviving Ghost Train, launching a new brand called Porch, and building an entire beverage collective on Birmingham's Hugh Kaul Trail. In this episode, he joins Carrie Rollwagen to talk about alcohol trends, risk, regulation—and building brands that last. Mentioned in this episode: Porch Instagram: www.instagram.com/drinkporch/  Porch Website: www.DrinkPorch.com  Good People Brewing Company Instagram: www.instagram.com/gpbrewing/  Good People Brewing Company Website: www.goodpeoplebrewing.com  Avondale Brewing: www.instagram.com/avondalebrewing  Avondale Website: www.avondalebrewing.com  Ghost Train Brewing Instagram: www.instagram.com/ghost_train_brewing/  Ghost Train Website: www.ghosttrainbrewing.com  All Good Beverage Instagram: www.instagram.com/allgoodbeverage/  All Good Beverage Website: www.AllGoodBeverage.com   

McCall Harwell of Nan Curated joins Carrie Rollwagen to talk about building Birmingham's most stylish pop-up. From sourcing vintage pieces across Alabama to turning social media buzz into real foot traffic, McCall shares her journey of turning taste into a thriving business — all while keeping the experience front and center. Mentioned in this episode: Website: https://www.nancurated.com/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nan.curated TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mccallharwell Zephyr Barbershop: https://www.instagram.com/zephyrbarber/

Bustle Gowns isn't your typical bridal shop. Owner Meredith Carter and creative director Laine White join Carrie Rollwagen to talk about creating a luxury experience with sample gowns, training consultants to be true guides, and navigating viral fame with grace. You'll hear stories of treasure-hunt dresses, intimate appointments, and why brides keep recommending Bustle long after the big day.   Mentioned in this episode: Website Instagram Breakout Games  Asia Nicole Ashley Wilhite  

Carrie Rollwagen chats with her husband, Russell Marbut, about co-owning the Alabama Twisters, a state-based team in the Professional Grappling Federation. They explore how nine gym owners joined forces, the fast-paced PGF format, and their mission to grow Alabama's jiu jitsu community.   Mentioned in this episode: Alabama Twisters Website: https://www.alabamatwisters.org/ Alabama Twisters Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alabamatwisters Watch PGF on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PGFWorld Ohm Jiu Jitsu: https://ohmjiujitsu.com/  Russell's photo Instagram, Jiu Jitsu Still: https://www.instagram.com/jiujitsustill Ohm Jiu Jitsu on The Localist: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/ohm-jiu-jitsu/   

Carrie talks with Paul Shunnarah, co-owner of Fit Five Meals and Gauntlet Fitness, about how he turned a nutrition need at his gym into one of the Southeast's fastest-growing meal prep companies. Paul shares what makes Fit Five stand out, why they avoid subscriptions and how they've grown without sacrificing quality. Mentioned in this episode: Fit Five Meals Fit Five Meals on Instagram Gauntlet Fitness Elite Nutrition Wheelhouse Salon Infomedia Overtime Grill & Bar Church Street Coffee & Books Baba Java Paul Shunnarah on Instagram Absolute Nutrition  

Carrie Rollwagen shares her personal checklist for turning every business event into authentic, engaging social media content. Learn how to build your brand and tell better stories with simple, actionable tips you can implement at your next conference or networking event.   Mentioned in this episode: carrierollwagen.com Infomedia @crollwagen on Instagram  

On this episode of The Localist, Carrie talks with Brooke Bowles, CEO of the Levite Jewish Community Center (JCC), about what makes the JCC more than just a fitness center. Brooke shares how the J fosters connection across cultures and ages, from preschoolers to long-time legacy members, and how its Jewish values shape its inclusive, mission-driven programs. Mentioned in this episode: Levite Jewish Community Center The JCC on Instagram Infomedia The Joy of Movement by Kelly McGonigal Morgan Johnston on the Localist Duquette Johnston on the Localist Swim School I3 Academy Girls Inc. United Way Glenwood United Ability Full Circle BHM The J'la Gala  

In this episode of The Localist, Carrie shares her simple but powerful end-of-week routine to set herself up for a calmer, more focused Monday. Inspired by Kelly Nolan's calendaring techniques, she explains why Friday planning works better than Sunday, how to catch calendar conflicts and why your agenda should include joy as well as tasks. Find out how to organize your week without losing yourself in the shuffle. Mentioned in this episode: Kelly Nolan Free course on calendaring with Kelly Nolan Kelly Nolan on Instagram  

In this episode of The Localist, Mitch and Maddie McEver share how Whammy Coffee grew from a playful weekend project — complete with toy dinosaurs and nostalgic branding — into a thriving Birmingham café. What began as a creative roasting experiment evolved through pop-ups, coffee carts and shared entrepreneurial dreams into a brick-and-mortar shop in the Denham Building. Mentioned in this episode: Whammy Coffee Whammy Coffee on Instagram Little Professor Bookshop Denham Building East Pole Coffee Church Street Coffee & Books Noble & Main Coffee Company Localist episode with June Coffee Ohm Jiu Jitsu Cala Coffee Localist episode with Cala Coffee Redeemer Community Church  

In this solo episode, Carrie Rollwagen unpacks her approach to solo retreats — why she takes them, what she brings and how they transform her work. Tune in to hear how a few days away can lead to long-term clarity and productivity.   Mentioned in this episode: Sign up for Carrie's newsletter  

Kim Nguyen of House Eleven joins Carrie Rollwagen to share how she and her husband turned a remodeling project into a community-driven café and cocktail bar. From real estate to espresso to event planning, their journey in Birmingham's Woodlawn neighborhood is full of passion, pivots and purpose.   Mentioned in this episode: House Eleven House Eleven on Instagram Church Street Coffee & Books Ohm Jiu Jitsu Taylor Remodeling & Building Solutions Bigger Pockets podcast Blue House Properties Punch Love Coffee June Coffee Localist episode with June Coffee Domestique Coffee Localist episode with Nathan Pocus Red Bike Coffee Localist episode with Jesús Méndez Bygones Cocktail Bar Infomedia Studios  

In this vulnerable solo episode, Carrie explores the complex emotion of professional jealousy and how it can point us toward change. Whether it's craving attention, chasing the wrong goals or grieving a past identity, she offers practical ways to understand and act on those feelings instead of ignoring them. Plus, she shares her own personal stories about navigating envy and finding clarity.

Carrie sits down with Kaitlyn Bentley of True40 and Wellness Passport to talk about building business communities through fitness, self-care and local food. From launching a studio to acquiring the entire True40 brand, Kaitlyn walks us through the smart and strategic moves behind her growth — and how she keeps it all grounded in community.   Mentioned in this episode: Wellness Passport The Well True40 ClassPass Ohm Jiu Jitsu Cala Coffee Ignite Cycle Localist episode with Cala Coffee Edelman Southern Company Ross Bridge Mayawell  

In this solo episode of The Localist, host Carrie Rollwagen shares personal strategies for making time for your side hustle while balancing a full-time job. She discusses creative retreats, batching work on weekends, and using passive time for research and inspiration.  Mentioned in this episode: Camp McDowell Brandon Sanderson's free class on fantasy writing Localist episode with Ladybird Taco  

Today on The Localist, host Carrie Rollwagen talks with Teasha Cable, CEO and co-founder of C-Model, a decision intelligence platform that helps small and mid-sized businesses make better decisions using a combination of AI, data and real-world expertise. Teasha shares her journey from VP roles to founder, the importance of tracking business decisions and how technology like CORA gives small businesses a competitive edge.   Mentioned in this episode: C-Model Church Street Coffee & Books Dynamic Decisions podcast Company personality test Schedule a demo with C-Model  

In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen shares practical tips for getting better results from AI tools like ChatGPT. Learn how specificity, tone-setting and smart prompting strategies can help small business owners save time while maintaining their authentic voice.   Mentioned in this episode: Carrie's talk on writing with AI Infomedia