In this episode of The Art of Imperfect Adulting, Amy Stone speaks with Carrie Veatch about her decision to leave a successful nonprofit executive role and embark on a transformative journey living and working around the world. Carrie is an entrepreneur, coach, and freedom advocate in Denver, Colorado when this was recorded. Carrie opens up about what inspired her to create her own “mini-retirement,” how she rebuilt her career with intention, and what it means to design a life aligned with your deepest values, even if it means breaking with expectations.

About the Guest:

Carrie Veatch is a coach specializing in helping entrepreneurs achieve time, financial, and location freedom. Drawing from her own experiences living and working abroad, downsizing her life, and building businesses online, Carrie empowers her clients to intentionally create lives and careers that truly honor their unique aspirations and rhythms.

Main Topics Covered:

• What led Carrie to quit her executive nonprofit job and move abroad in her 30s
• The concept of “mini-retirement” and intentional life design
• Navigating family influences, financial planning, and solo adulthood
• The realities and rewards of building an online business while traveling internationally
• The challenges (and joys) of fitting in—abroad and at home
• How travel and entrepreneurship shifted Carrie’s perspective on risk, community, and personal alignment
• Practical insights about downsizing, taxes, U.S. residency, and logistics while living nomadically

Quote from the Episode:

“I believe as an empowered person... it is up to me and it's my responsibility to do something with what is in front of me. Like, I am empowered to get to re-decide, to change course. Right. Like, that's where I really believe we find our power is knowing that life is not happening to me. I get to choose.”—Carrie Veatch

Timestamps: [00:00:04 ] Welcome & intros; where Carrie calls home

[00:01:36 ] Why she left her nonprofit career

[00:03:29 ] Discovering “mini-retirement” & intentional financial planning

[00:06:41 ] Growing up and early ideas of adulthood

[00:09:58 ] Making unconventional choices and social support

[00:13:35 ] Traveling, soul-searching, and planning the leap to Asia

[00:15:51 ] Feeling out of place—community, belonging, and redefining home

[00:20:24 ] The logistics of going nomadic: downsizing, storage, and finances

[00:21:39 ] Landing in Asia: work, building a business, and changing plans

[00:25:35 ] From fast travel to building connections in Vietnam

[00:27:32 ] Running a nomadic business and navigating U.S. logistics

[00:29:25 ] How travel changed Carrie’s perspective and life today

[00:34:33 ] Carrie’s coaching business: helping others pursue time, location, and financial freedom

[00:35:07 ] Denver food recommendation

[00:35:43 ] Book and treat picks

[00:37:28 ] Wrap-up and gratitude

Special Offer from the Guest:

Carrie invites listeners to connect with her for a free discovery call to explore time, financial, or location freedom—mention the podcast when you reach out via her website or Instagram. To make sure you have all the information about the guest and the offer be sure to subscribe to the email community at https://www.imperfectadulting.com

Note from the show: Guest offers are often limited-time and limited quantity. If you have an issue redeeming the guest offer please reach out to the guest or vendor directly.

ABOUT THE SHOW: The Art of Imperfect Adulting elevates the voices of experience by sharing real stories from real people figuring out adult life. Every episode features honest conversations about life's choices, changes, and challenges—interviews with individuals (not celebrities) who share their personal experiences and insights. Through these authentic stories, listeners find validation, motivation, and inspiration for navigating their own path through modern life. Because there's a big difference between expert advice and shared experience, and hearing another person's lived experience helps us feel less alone in our own situations.

If you love the show and you'd like to support it directly you can tip the host here https://imperfect-adulting.captivate.fm/support

Never Miss a Moment of Imperfect Adulting

We invite you to join our email community and let us bring the podcast directly to you! As a subscriber, you'll receive notifications about new episodes, exclusive offers from our amazing guests, and easier access to any of the important links mentioned on the show—no more scrambling to write down websites or remember special codes.

Why subscribe?

• Stay up-to-date without checking your podcast app
• Get guest offers delivered straight to your inbox
• Access all important links in one convenient place
• Catch the highlights even when you don't have time to listen

Are you ready? Join us at https://www.imperfectadulting.com

If you have a story to share and you'd like to be a guest on The Art of Imperfect Adulting, here are the steps for how you can make that happen. Click here and pitch yourself.

Here are a few resources that Amy uses to make all this great content. These are affiliate links :-)

Podcast hosting and distribution: Captivate FM

Website hosting with Siteground

Ai Transcription Tool: Castmagic

For Email I recently switched to Beehiiv before that I used Kit.

Online Shopping Cart: ThriveCart

Networking and support with Entreprenista League

Connection with Polka Dot Powerhouse

Books I like and books written by show guests on Bookshop.org

Grab a $20 coupon for Nutrafol here

Do you need a bank account? Ally