Making It Up As We Grow: A Husband and Wife Share Their Story of Podcasting

In this special podcast episode, Jennifer and Scott finish up their discussion on Snapchat and then Scott puts Jennifer on the spot by asking her 10 random questions.

Mentioned in the Snapchat discussion, Scott referenced a “Professional” Snapchatter named, Shaun McBride who goes by the handle Shonduras. Scott shares one secret for Snapchat that he discovered on Shonduras’ website where a user can add more than one line of text to their Snapchat photos or videos.

Here’s how it’s done:

* Go to your iPhone notes app

* Don’t type anything, simply hit the Return button 3 or 4 times

* Hold down your finger and hit Select All, then Copy

* Take your Snapchat photo or video

* Then hit the “T” button to prompt the text editor

* Tap in the text box and the Paste button will appear

* Hit Past and Voila, you now have more than one line available to type in.

Thanks Shaun!

Jennifer discusses some of her favorite Snapchatters that she follows. Here are their usernames for you to enter.

* SongofStyle – Aimee Song, a fashion and interior design blogger. Website

* BeautylogicBlog – Milly Thompson, senior beauty editor for Cosmo for Latinas. Instagram

* MyStyleVita – Jessica Camerata, a fashion and lifestyle blogger. Website (with a cute pic of her dog)

* PoorLilItGirl – Cathy Anderson, a shopping and personal style blog. Website

* Jessica and Cathy are the founders of The Blog Societies, which Jennifer is happily a member of.

Jennifer’s top vacation destination thus far? San Francisco. Where would she like to travel? That’s easy. Well, maybe not. Italy and Toronto would be her picks for her next trip abroad.

Also mentioned towards the end of the 10 questions for Jennifer section was some music that both she and Scott love to crank up real loud when riding in their cars with or without kids.

Jennifer’s choices were, “Man In The Mirror” by Michael Jackson and “Levels” by Nick Jonas and she did go ahead and mention another awesome 80s song, which was “Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard

Scott’s choices were, “Drag Me Down” by One Direction and “Cowboys Like Us” by Georgia Strait | What a combination of songs!

Thanks for Listening!

You can find our podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio, or just check out our website | Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Jennifer’s website is JennySue Makeup | Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and of course you can follow her on Snapchat by searching for, you guessed it,

Hello again. It's been a month since Jennifer and Scott posted a podcast episode.

Is Snapchat the happiest of all platforms? That is the question that is posed to Jennifer as Scott gets her to discuss why this relatively new way of sharing pictures and stories has quickly risen to the top in her social media pecking order.

You can follow Jennifer on snapchat by searching for: jennysuemakeup.

Jennifer aka JennySue Makeup and Scott sit down to discuss how she plans her blog posts, how she develops her blog topics and why purple lipstick is the new hot fall color.

As Scott and Jennifer continue to settle in to their “new” podcasting format, they expand on strategies that Jennifer has used to increase her productivity in blogging.  They reference Lauren Lefevre from the Edit By Lauren blog and what she mentioned in Ep. 009 about how 3 to 4 blog posts per week might be the optimal number.

Later, they get interrupted by painters smoking cigarettes on ladders.  Nope, you can’t make that stuff up.

Thanks for Listening.

You can find Jennifer’s social media handles by going on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram and searching, JennySue Makeup.

Some of the music you heard throughout the episode was created by Birocratic.

Scott and his social media presence can be found by searching JaWaVi Films

And we’re back from our three week break.  It’s almost like things have been redecorated in here.  Okay, what we’re saying is that over the past three weeks, we (Scott & Jennifer) have debated everything as it pertains to this podcast.

* Should we stop doing it all together?

* Is anyone listening?

* Would it make a difference whether or not we continue?

* Should we make a format change?

Ah-ha!  That’s it.  It’s not a matter of who listens or how many downloads one episode might receive or really anything else for that matter.  The issue at hand was that we currently live very busy lives.  You’ll hear how busy they are in this episode as Jennifer discusses her recent New York Fashion Week trip.  (See her Instagram pics here)

But, the problem was that although storytelling and creative transitions, etc are fun, interesting and memorable, they are also very hard to produce.  You heard Scott mention that episode 001 took him 82 days to complete.

Now, he has gotten better, but still a 20 minute narrative styled podcast would take him the better part of two days working to craft it just right.  From researching stats, to looking up famous quotes, editing script, you name it.

There needed to be a change and that change was simple.  Turn on the microphone, hit record and simply talk, or conduct an interview and don’t worry about every little nuance about the podcast.  If people listen (and we hope they/you do), they’ll listen and if not, then we shouldn’t lose too much sleep over it.

Cliche here, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

What are we building here?  We’re not quite sure yet.  Suppose our podcast title is still pretty perfect.

Hope you enjoy this episode.

Scott & Jennifer

In this episode, you’ll hear Jennifer of JennySueMakeup and Lauren Lefevre of EditByLauren continue their discussion on blog strategies as they travel back from a blogger conference.  Do you have to spend money to make money?  Not necessarily, but sometimes it might be that one aspect that is missing to help you take that next step in growing your brand.

If you missed it, you can hear part one of their conversation by listening to last week’s episode 009 podcast.

Thanks for Listening!

Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave us a message in the comment section below!

But, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Yeah, uh, we don’t have those installed just yet. Oops. Regardless, you know how to copy and paste a link into whatever social media site you desire, right?

Also, please leave an honest review for “Making It Up As We Grow” on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! Here is a simple “walk through” I made to help you understand how to review it on your iPhone. Each Rating, Review and Subscription matters a ton in how our show is ranked and we read all of them (sometimes twice in one day)!

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates, and follow us on social media.

Twitter :: Facebook :: Instagram

Other Links:

Music for this Episode: Birocratic – His discography is awesome. Stop by and buy his music.  Additional Music was by Macroform.  You can find his music here.

Website design: Carolyn Marquez at RunRuffian

Jennifer of JennySue Makeup takes a road trip with Lauren Lefevre of  Edit By Lauren and they discuss strategies of blogging, share frustrations of trying to grow their respective brands and Jennifer gets a simple yet powerful Instagram tip from Lauren, which could improve her growing Instagram following if implemented correctly.

Thanks for Listening!

Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave us a message in the comment section below!

But, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Yeah, uh, we don’t have those installed just yet. Oops. Regardless, you know how to copy and paste a link into whatever social media site you desire, right?

Also, please leave an honest review for “Making It Up As We Grow” on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! Here is a simple “walk through” I made to help you understand how to review it on your iPhone. Each Rating, Review and Subscription matters a ton in how our show is ranked and we read all of them (sometimes twice in one day)!

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates, and follow us on social media.

Twitter :: Facebook :: Instagram

Other Links:

Music for this Episode: Birocratic – His discography is awesome. Stop by and buy his music.  Additional Music was by Macroform.  You can find his music here.

Website design: Carolyn Marquez at RunRuffian

In this episode, Scott struggles to create a podcast this week as he feels that his creativity left him, yet finds inspiration all around him.  It was as easy as him thinking back to what got Jennifer and him here in the first place.

As the episode begins, you can hear how Scott is so emotionally drained from completing episode 001, as he tries to describe to Jennifer what tools he’s found to help him record his podcast.  Some individuals might cry when expressing emotion, but not Scott, he simply begins to laugh uncontrollably as it seems funny to him that he gained his knowledge at Guitar Center…mainly because he’s not musically inclined and definitely doesn’t play guitar.  [Note:  If you’re thinking of beginning a podcast, Guitar Center has everything you could possibly need to get started.  We highly recommend it.]

Here are some other links mentioned in the episode that could help you if you’re thinking of starting a podcast or are looking for inspiration should you ever question your own creative drive.

* Looking for a logo for a business or a podcast?  You heard Scott explain to Jennifer how 99 designs was a valuable solution for them in creating their podcast logo.

* Here’s a list of the podcasts Scott mentioned during the episode, which have helped inspire him to go from a podcast novice to landing on iTunes New & Noteworthy.

* The Tim Ferriss Show:  A self-experimenter and best selling author, best known for “The 4-Hour Workweek”.

* Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income:  Online business and blogging strategies.  In addition, Pat has a fantastic YouTube series to help get you up and running on publishing your new podcast.

* Profitcast:  The Real Brian podcasts with passion and offers tips, tricks and hacks on how to profit with a podcast.  *One of the best radio voices you’ll ever hear*

* Startup Podcast:  Created by Alex Blumberg, formerly of Planet Money and This American Life.  A narrative, storytelling podcast series about what it’s really like to start a business.  Careful.  You might find yourself “binge-listening” to this show.

* Reply All:  Quite simply.  A show about the internet with compelling interviews and very cool music. Hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman.  They’re great.

* Mystery Show:  #1 Show on iTunes. Hosted by Starlee Kine.  You’ll hear Scott in this episode briefly mention this podcast and if you pay close attention, he states how she has the coolest voice ever.  She solves mysteries for people.  The Belt Buckle episode is a must-listen!

* Scott mentioned how he is now contributing to a new podcast.  Waitin’ Since Last Saturday.  A podcast he and two friends, Tony Waller, editor of the Georgia Sports Blog and Will Leitch of

If you had asked me earlier this year - Which social media platform is the go to source for sharing what you wore, what you ate or where you travelled? I would've said, "I don't know" and guessed that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were pretty much all the same. But there's really no question on which one is King. That's Instagram. It's not just for photo sharing anymore. It's big business and the stats back it up.

In this podcast episode Jennifer and I celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary by staying at the beautiful Hotel Indigo in Athens, Georgia. Join us as you hear our candid conversation as we discuss some of the steps Jennifer has taken in order to grow her JennySue Makeup Instagram page by 27% over the last 15 weeks.

Some steps she has taken to grow her followers include, strategic giveaways, only posting pictures in the "square" format, commenting on other accounts and leveraging her self-professed very strong emoji game, among other tactics.

But it's not just Jennifer who is turning to Instagram to help tell her overall brand story. Other bloggers, companies and small businesses are also seeing success with their Instagram account. One of the most telling articles on the impact of Instagram in the social media universe can be seen from a Forrester Research study conducted in 2014.

Hear are some other topics and people discussed in this episode.

Jennifer mentioned she's a co-founder of the Southern Blog Society, which Jessica who sent us the tweet from the Atlanta airport helped start. Jessica's cute fashion blog is My Style Vita.

Naturally, Scott heads up the Instagram and Twitter account for this podcast but he also has his own film production company where he makes small videos and movies for people who want to take those videos just wasting away on their personal devices and make them into something more memorable. JaWaViFilms Instagram :: JaWaViFilms Twitter :: JaWaViFilms Website

AllGood Lounge is one of our favorite bars to hang out in or grab a quick happy hour drink. It's the one with the cool spiral staircase.

Beginning one Sunday morning at the ridiculous hour of 4:15am, Jennifer (aka JennySue Makeup) gets ready to step out of her comfort zone and travel to New York City to attend an makeup industry event called The Makeup Show. What was it like? Did she meet anyone famous? It's all in this short 30 minute episode via a video diary that she recorded while traveling. She did a great job documenting the good, the bad and the always annoying, inappropriate accessory habits of people wearing sunglasses indoors.

For this episode, think of Jennifer as a jet setting star of a Bravo TV show and think of me as the Andy Cohen, interviewing her and helping to move the story along.

This trip took place in May, but in May, we hadn't launched our podcast yet. So, that's why its about 11 weeks behind. Here are two very detailed blog posts Jennifer wrote that will help fill in some gaps and provide beautiful pictures about her stay. Day 1 in NYC & Day 2 in NYC.

Some links to people and places mentioned during this episode:

The Dream Hotel Downtown in NYC. In Jennifer's words from her blog post, "I enjoyed a much needed glass of wine but the pool after winding down from a long day at The Makeup Show (which is rare in NYC for a hotel to have an outdoor pool!). Isn’t this architecture and scenery just spectacular?! I couldn’t get over how beautiful and mild the weather was in New York and how lucky we got to be there with all of this sunshine."

Jennifer is a "Power Primper" for the beauty app, Pretty In My Pocket or PRIMP. It's a free app and I asked our friend Caroline Van Sickle, the Founder and CEO to describe what makes PRIMP a must have for women and beauty consumers?

"Primp is a community that helps you discover beauty products from the recommendations of other women. We are a total contra to superficial photoshopped models in magazine ads. Instead, we enable the delivery of truth in beauty and beauty products. We are doing this because we believe that real women are real pretty!"

Jennifer met Kat Von D, world renown tattoo artist and CEO of her own cosmetic line. She couldn't believe how friendly she was and was grateful with the amount of time she spent chatting with her and Caroline.

You can hear some of the music played in the episode through these links. BIROCRATIC and MACROFORM. They have some great tracks, so stop by their page to check out their music.

And finally, that makeup artist that Jennifer met and captured an Instagram pic with...His name is Billy Brasfield, better known as Billy B. He's kind of a big deal in the world of makeup having worked with the likes of Lady GAGA, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, and Tina Turner, among others. You can see his work all over and in the pages of such publications as Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair.

This is an episode with two stories. The first being a fun, little glimpse inside the mind of a seven year old and hearing him call it like he sees it, even when speaking about his dad and mom's podcast. He and his brother, after seeing me record and edit so many podcasts thus far, wanted to try their hand at interviewing. Well, let's just say that when you give a kid a mic, you better be able to handle what's going to come out of his mouth. It was definitely fu.

You'll also get a quick rundown of Athens, Georgia's downtown scene, which comprises of a beautiful historic skyline of painted brick buildings on one side of the street coupled with the lovely North Campus of the University of Georgia on the other side of the street.

The lionshare of this podcast revolves around Jennifer aka JennySue Makeup as she dives into what has made her blog successful in the past, some favorite accomplishments in the present and hopes for her future as a makeup artist and blogger.

You heard Jennifer mention how one of her proudest accomplishments was when she landed the lead makeup artist gig for Dierks Bentley's music video for "Tip It On Back". You can watch the video here and towards the end, during the flashback scene, you will see two little boys running in a field, those are our boys, whom you heard talking to each other on this episode.

The song, "Tip It On Back" was co-written by Tully Kennedy, Ross Copperman and Jon Nite. It was directed by Wes Edwards, who even to this day holds a special place in Jennifer's heart for including Jack and Walker in the video.