Leaving Entrepreneurship: From Coffee Shop Owner to Corporate Vice President


carrie rollwagen headshotThe Localist’s showrunner Michelle Phillips joins Carrie again this week for part two of Carrie’s journey from employee to business owner, and back to corporate life. Michelle and Carrie dive in with how a side business for Church Street led to Carrie writing a book and ultimately realizing she needed to move on. Carrie describes building up her freelance work again, and how she landed a steady job that gave her both stability and freedom to continue freelancing and pursuing creative projects. Carrie stresses the importance of knowing how you work best (critical during quarantine!), and gives us some insight into her Enneagram number and Myers Briggs type. Running a business opens your eyes to so many possibilities, and Carrie tells us how everything she learned while owning a business has gotten her where she is today. Michelle and Carrie wrap up the conversation with perfectionism, imposter syndrome and some key takeaways. 

Mentioned in this episode: 

Tanesha Sims-Summers on The Localist

Part 1: Carrie Transitions from Employee to Owner 

The Localist book

BookExpo America

Church Street Coffee and Books

NaNoWriMo

Kelly Cummings — Spindle Photography

Infomedia

Jonathan Benton Bookseller 

Doris Kearns Goodwin on MasterClass

About Carrie

Carrie Rollwagen is host of the Localist podcast and cofounder of Church Street Coffee & Books. Currently, she works as Vice President of Strategic Planning at Infomedia, a web development company in Birmingham, Alabama. Find the Localist at @thinklocalist on Instagram and follow Carrie at @crollwagen.

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