A Practical Guide to Part-Time Help: From Virtual Assistants to AI Tools

This Pizza Entrepreneur Uses AI to Level the Playing Field | George Gilliam of Uncle G's Pizza

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 [https://youtu.be/5zxXRgpFwvM] _______________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode • Uncle G's Pizza [https://unclegspizza.com] • Donate a Pizza Party [https://unclegspizza.com/donate] • Hop City Birmingham [https://www.hopcitybeer.com/birmingham] • Trim Tab Brewing [https://trimtabbrewing.com] • Ghost Train Brewing [https://ghosttrainbrewing.com] • CapCut [https://www.capcut.com] • Adobe Premiere Pro [https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html] • Google Gemini [https://gemini.google.com] • A. Studio That Works / Andrew Thomson (designer of the King Pep mascot) [https://www.instagram.com/a_studio_that_works] • Noah Stalcup (illustrator of the King Pep mascot) [https://www.instagram.com/stalcupdesign] • Andrew Jackson Hood (designer of Ohm Jiu Jitsu branding) [https://www.instagram.com/ajhoodart] • The Camel music venue (Richmond, VA) [https://www.thecamel.org] 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 [https://infomedia.com/contact] 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 [https://infomedia.com/events] Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. • Sign up here [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9]

Writing with AI: What Works, What Doesn't and How to Use It | Janna Stevens

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) [https://claude.ai] * Claude Cowork [https://claude.com] * ChatGPT [https://chatgpt.com] * Google Gemini [https://gemini.google.com] * NotebookLM [https://notebooklm.google.com] * Pam Darden's SEO for the AI Era talk at Localist Lab [https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/seo-for-the-ai-era-how-small-businesses-get-found-now-pam-darden-infomedia/] * Luke Richey email marketing episode of The Localist [https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/email-marketing-small-business-luke-richey-uptick/] * Uptick Marketing [https://www.uptickmarketing.com] * Tempo Websites [https://tempowebsites.com] * Infomedia Studios [https://infomedia.com/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 [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 [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 [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9]

Can You Build the App You've Always Wanted? | Dan Atchison of Tend+

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 [https://youtu.be/1yFwetD-hIY] ____________________________________________________________________________________ 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 [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 [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 [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9]

Is Email the Marketing Hack You've Been Missing? | Luke Richey of Uptick Marketing

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 [https://youtu.be/P9Q1fj8iQgQ] ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode * Carrie's free newsletter and good stuff folder [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9] * Uptick Marketing [https://www.uptickmarketing.com] * Infomedia [https://infomedia.com] * Mailchimp [https://mailchimp.com] * Constant Contact [https://www.constantcontact.com] * Substack [https://substack.com] * HubSpot [https://www.hubspot.com] * Zapier [https://zapier.com] * Canva [https://www.canva.com] * Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller [https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Made-Simple-Step-Step/dp/1400203795] * StoryBrand [https://storybrand.com] _______________________________________________________________________________ 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 [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 [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 [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9]

The Bookstore Dream Is Real (and the Margins Are Terrible) | Kristen Iskandrian of Thank You Books

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 [https://youtu.be/3CsZkXB7NOM?si=WrjNWwZ5WudgvGw9] ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode * https://thankyoubookshop.comThank You Books [https://thankyoubookshop.com] * Shop Thank You Books merch at MAKE Birmingham [https://www.thankyoubookshop.com/merch] * https://thankyoubookshop.com/signed-first-editions-club/signed-first-editions-clubThank You Books First Edition Subscription [https://thankyoubookshop.com/signed-first-editions-club/signed-first-editions-club] * Thank You Books on Libro.fm [https://libro.fm/thankyoubookshop] * Thank You Books on Bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/shop/thankyoubookshop] * MAKE Birmingham (local goods sold at Thank You Books) [https://www.makebhm.com] * Hannah Mills (local maker featured at Thank You Books) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahemills/] * Crestwood Pharmacy [https://www.instagram.com/crestwoodpharmacy] * Red Bike Coffee [https://www.redbikecoffee.com] * Urban Suburban (Crestwood) [https://www.facebook.com/UrbanSuburbanAntiques/] * Total Joint (Jimmy from Crestwood) [https://totaljointbham.com/] * Church Street Coffee and Books (Carrie's old shop [https://www.churchstreetshop.com/]) * Parnassus Books (Nashville) [https://www.parnassusbooks.net] * Ingram (book distributor) [https://www.ingramcontent.com] * Paz & Associates Bookselling Bootcamp [https://www.pazbookbiz.com] * Co.Starters small business class (Birmingham) [https://createbirmingham.org/programs/co-starters/] * Alabama Booksmith [https://www.alabamabooksmith.com] * Little Professor Book Center [https://www.littleprofessorhomewood.com] * Bookmarked Birmingham [https://www.bookmarkedpaperie.com/] * American Booksellers Association [https://www.bookweb.org] * Indie Bookstore Day [https://www.indiebookstoreday.com] * Winter Institute [https://www.bookweb.org/wi] * Birmingham Mountain Radio [https://birminghammountainradio.com] * Square Books (Oxford) [https://www.squarebooks.com] * Bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org] * Libro.fm [https://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 [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 [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 [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9]