Mountain Cog
Mountain bike podcast that will make you laugh and learn. Featuring a wide range of passionate guests.
Mountain Cog
099 - Jess The Maker's take on content creation, bikes, trails, & tacos.
In this engaging episode of the MTNCOG Podcast, the hosts welcome Jess the Maker, a prominent mountain biking content creator who blends humor, authenticity, and technical riding expertise. The episode was recorded shortly after Jess was in town working on a project with 'Visit Tucson'. The conversation explores how she's helping showcase Tucson as a "hidden gem" of mountain biking while also discussing her experiences in renowned destinations like Whistler, Vermont, and Bentonville. Jess shares insights about her Specialized bike collection, including her Stumpjumper and newly acquired Levo 4, and her preferences for both technical and flow trails.
The second half of the episode offers a masterclass in mountain bike content creation, with Jess revealing how she evolved from using basic phone editing apps to professional equipment, her approach to brand partnerships, and strategies for growing social media presence. She discusses her demographic insights, posting schedule preferences, and the importance of maintaining authentic connections with followers. Young aspiring content creator Matt, Josh's son, asks thoughtful questions about editing, consistency, and growth strategies, with Jess emphasizing that relatability and persistence are key to building an engaged audience. The episode concludes with discussions about growing her YouTube presence beyond her well established Instagram following.
Follow JessTheMaker on…
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@jessthemaker?si=VcpDi6rZzW--N7mE
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessthemaker/
Listen to Mountain Cog
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Other Podcast Sites
Socials
Instagram
Facebook
Email
mountaincog@gmail.com
Hey man, did you know that, like today is my anniversary?
Matt:It really is actually my anniversary.
Josh:Lacey and I have been married for 24 years 2.4 decades.
Dane:Damn, that's awesome.
Josh:And for the most part it's been like amazing and I talk about Lacey all the time. Right, she's an amazing wife Is she a good mom. Yeah, she's a great mom. There's one problem, though. What is it? So Lacey is convinced that I'm invading her privacy.
Dane:Did she tell you that?
Josh:No man, but she writes about it all the time in her diary.
Matt:Okay, that was better, that was better, that was better, that was better.
Dane:Yeah, that was a better dad joke than most, so I got to give you props for that. Thanks, man, thanks. You had me hooked, I was hooked, you were hooked.
Josh:Yeah, it really is my anniversary today, by the way.
Dane:Yeah, it's pretty awesome. 24 years is amazing. Yeah, 24 years, it's a long time.
Jess The Maker:Long time to be married.
Josh:Um, all right, so it's what? What day is today, wednesday? Wednesday, wednesday night in the mcp yep and uh, we a couple weeks ago we're got that got an opportunity to spend a little bit time with uh jess the maker yes and uh, she came in with uh who I call crk yeah, uh, because I can't say cali rado kid crk, cali rado crk.
Dane:Call him CRK, cali Rado.
Jess The Maker:CRK yeah.
Josh:I'm going to call him that the next time I see him.
Dane:Well, we're going to refer to him as CRK for the rest of this episode. Crk. So we got this. Wade was on there, Wade Holland yeah.
Josh:Wade, holland was there. Wade lives in Tucson. Actually, yep, yep ride with him and his wife and barbecue up some dead animals. Nice, that should be fun. But Jess was out with CRK and Wade and I think Visit Tucson yeah, amazing organization that helps to promote the Tucson, basically our city and what we have to offer.
Dane:Because we're a secret.
Josh:We're a secret.
Dane:I feel like we're a secret. What do you think, Jess?
Jess The Maker:I mean, I feel I agree. You know like I've been to Tucson many times at this point and I still feel like you know this was CRK's first time.
Josh:You've already dropped into the CRK. I've already adapted.
Jess The Maker:This is his new name, this is his new identity. Yeah, like he had never been. I've been talking about it for a while to him you got to get to Tucson. You got to get to Tucson. He loves, you know, rocky, technical and downhill. So it's like you're going to love Mount lemon. You're going to love 50 year, you know. And, um, yeah, so you know I do. It is like a hidden gem.
Dane:Yeah, it is. I travel all over the place and I always think, compare it to Tucson, and not many places will win. So uh, it's usually. I want to come back here during the summer, during the summer, I'd like to be, anywhere else.
Josh:Well, I had randomly reached out to Jess beforehand and just said hey, if you're ever in Tucson, we're plugged into the scene and if you need any help or anything let me know. And she sent me an email and said hey, we're going to be in Tucson with visit Tucson. Can you help promote this ride? And I said hey, how about you come out to a trail day and doing some work with us?
Jess The Maker:Well, you were like, well, I think there's a trail work day happening, and we were like, well, we don't want to interfere. And we were like, why don't we just do that? That should be the thing we do, and like meet people. So that was it was awesome. Yeah, I got to meet you two in person, yeah I thought it was amazing.
Dane:I think you guys came, coming out, brought a lot of extra.
Matt:Yeah, I think we had like 15 people signed up and we ended up with I don't know 50 people or 35 people? I don't know, we ended up with a lot more, yeah um, so you helped, so thank you.
Josh:Yeah, thank you for coming.
Jess The Maker:I mean, at least I feel like it's really cool to get a sense of the community when you do stuff like that, like a volunteer trail day. It was just funny because either people wanted to come out and just like you know, vibe, or like they really wanted to experience our weirdness in person.
Dane:Yes, kind of, probably Does that happen everywhere you go Like, do you like, like, how much celeb do you have? Like, do you feel like it's?
Jess The Maker:yeah, you know, I think, because it's such an interesting, mountain biking is an, is a niche, right? Yeah, so if I'm just walking around in any old town and I'm going to the grocery store, something like, yeah, I'm not going to get recognized, but but when I lived in Bentonville which I lived in Bentonville for about three years and it's a mountain bike destination, so I'd be getting stopped quite a bit, and that's another place CRK hasn't been to yet and he's going to be there, he's going to, yeah, so he's going to the Bentonville bike fest next month. And I told him you know, get ready, he's going to love it, he loves, he loves attention.
Josh:Yeah, you want to go to the, I want so bad to go.
Dane:But, statistically like well, let's go.
Josh:Yeah, so say that.
Jess The Maker:But I got my kids. Yeah Say, y'all should go.
Dane:Yeah, go.
Jess The Maker:At least once you know.
Dane:Josh, Josh called me up on like Wednesday last week and he's like you want to go to Sea?
Josh:Otter, did you go?
Dane:No Cause I told him that I would get divorced. My wife would not lock me out, like not let me back in the house.
Josh:This is what's great about having a wife that mountain bike she's like. Why are you not at Sea?
Jess The Maker:Otter this weekend. She's probably like we're going. She's the one dragging me out, lacey's dragging me along.
Dane:And, to be fair, my wife was like I just need a little notice Cause she plans everything. We have two little kids and I do every kind of activity.
Jess The Maker:She works full time.
Dane:I work full time so, but yeah, I was really close. Really I did ask let's put it that way, it's yeah.
Josh:Well, thank you so much for coming out to tucson and highlighting I think you guys did a fantastic job with the videos thank you out and you captured our city. Great, you know I am on this quest um to make a spike town usa I think that we have, like you guys, got a little taste of it, but there's a lot more that you didn't get a taste of yeah, oh yeah, but it's, it's fantastic, um, so I'm gonna keep on that quest.
Dane:I'm down. Yeah, we're going to keep working. Yeah, I feel like this is definitely a destination. It already is by the industry, so the industry comes here and tests and does product launches and photoshoots and stuff, and so this terrain is so iconic and it's between here and Phoenix, but Phoenix is such a nightmare as far as driving around, oh yeah tucson just gives them a better, a better venue.
Josh:Yeah so we got a couple of questions to get us started on like just the rider, yeah yeah not just the maker, but just the rider.
Dane:Wait, wait. Can I? Can I ask where did just the maker? How did that?
Josh:where did it?
Dane:come from. Yeah, where did that come, come from?
Jess The Maker:I used to be a graphic designer, slash like web interface designer, and so it was my like portfolio and so I would do like I just had like a. It was just my instagram handle. I was like, oh, just the maker, it was like my freelance business name, right, and so I'm sure I'm sure we'll get into it of how I kind of got into content creation, but it was not a planned thing, and by the time I started growing my Instagram it was kind of like too late. I was like I can't change it now, gotcha. So that's where Justin Maker comes in.
Dane:That makes sense, that totally makes sense. I'm in the same place because my suspension company's Instagram is under my name and not under its own, and I'm like, oh man there's too many photos on there, I'm just going to leave.
Jess The Maker:Too many.
Dane:Yeah.
Jess The Maker:You don't want to like it's challenging. Yeah, it's challenging.
Josh:All right. So we got some questions. Just the rider, just the rider. Okay, so like, what bikes are in your stable today? Just the rider.
Jess The Maker:I'd say I probably ride the most at this point. My stump jumper 15. Okay nice, uh, that's my, my newest, analog bike and I really enjoy it. And then, uh, my newest e-bike I just got the levo four you got to do it.
Dane:What do you think way?
Jess The Maker:yes, um well, I'll tell you what I think after I so my rep at Specialized drops it off. We met at this very weird, like undisclosed location like an alley.
Matt:She was coming.
Jess The Maker:Yeah, she was coming from it was such a sketchy transaction like she. She met me in this like weird janky parking lot and she was, you know, in the midst of like kind of road tripping back from sea otter. So we like met and it needs a software update and I need to have it like either take it to a specialized dealer, um for them to upgrade the like.
Jess The Maker:I can't ride it until this happens so I have to do that, and I'm also like the kind of person who likes to wrap their bikes before I'm a wrap before you ride, kind of gal.
Dane:Yeah, you do ride wrap. Do you do ride wrap? Yes, right, yeah, did you understand that joke, manny.
Josh:Yeah, you got it.
Jess The Maker:Okay, you're good, you're good, keep going but yeah, ride wrap and I have a buddy who I don't have the patience to do that stuff.
Jess The Maker:I just try to put my little screen protector on. Yeah, and that's like a nightmare. So many bubbles. So to try to put it on not a flat surface is not going to work. So I have a buddy that I'll pay to wrap my bike. So before I ride that I will have him do that. But I have another Levo, an older Levo, that I ride primarily and then, yeah, those are like my main, that's what I probably ride the most. And then I also have an Epic Specialized. I ride her Specialized. So, like all my bikes are Specialized.
Dane:Right on. We've got a ride wrap installer at the shop and the guy is like super meticulous, he's amazing.
Josh:Do you know what he wrapped? You got to have those people. He wrapped my Levo. He wrapped my Levo.
Dane:He wrapped your Levo. Yeah, he does such a good job we uh, we have we do pivot at the shop and we have one of those pink um you know special edition talons, they call them the switchblade.
Jess The Maker:And and he wrapped that and we always show people you can't even see the wrap on it. It's like it's so nice, it's worth it too. It just to protect your investment, you know, and it is especially these bikes.
Dane:As the prices climb, it's like you're gonna keep it long. It's crazy.
Jess The Maker:So yeah, oh yeah exactly it does.
Dane:I've done a couple ride wraps and I'm like you. It's like bubble fest going on. I don't uh, do I have no patience?
Jess The Maker:no absolute nightmare.
Dane:I'm like, that'll work, it'll cover me for a year or so, I don't care, so yeah all right, so peeling off so jess gravity, or cross country gravity, gravity and uh chunky or flow I can't pick.
Jess The Maker:I like both. You like them both. I really do like both because I'm from the east coast originally and there's really not a whole lot of flow. It's mostly like rocky, rooty stuff. So like that's why I really love tucson um, because of the techie stuff and it's just different and really fun. But after living in bentonville for three years I think that really got me more into riding flow trails and doing bigger like features, like jumps and drops and stuff. So now I kind of like both.
Jess The Maker:But I feel like when you I feel I don't know if you both feel this way or all three of you yeah, when you focus on one thing more than the other, so like if you focus really like hard on flow and getting good at flow, the other stuff, kind of you, you kind of your skills degrade and vice versa, like I feel like when I don't focus on tech riding and then I go back to it because I've been riding flow for, so for a while it's like forget it, I just I like I'm so sloppy when I'm right, you know. And then same vice versa, like when I get focus on tech and I've been riding techie a while and then I go to like a jump and it's, like you know, sad yeah, to see and to.
Josh:To us, I think, because we ride tech just constantly yeah, I think like when we go to angel fire somewhere that's got a lot of flow yeah, angel fire, I think is the best, best my contention example bike park in the, in in the, in the continental or in the continental us. Yeah, um I haven't been to any in alaska, so I shouldn't say that ah, yeah yeah, as far as I have.
Jess The Maker:There's some good ones. Yeah, is there good ones in alaska? Yeah, I was there last year doing some media for a small little uh, a small little resort called hilltop. It's like their little town resort yeah, and they had some fun trails for sure, yeah that's cool.
Josh:I've ridden some good flow trails in alaska, for sure. We were there a couple years ago. You had fun at that, didn't you?
Dane:oh yeah trains and saw the yukon in alaska. That's all well, that's cool, that's awesome and a glacier that's awesome. And salmon, that's cool.
Josh:A big snowblower to me, the flow trails are like candy. Oh yeah, like we have to work on the tech. And then, when we go to angel fire, I'm like oh, this is it is.
Dane:This is fun. Yeah, it's so much fun. It is different. Look how fast we can go. Yes, look how I'm like way faster on this stuff. That, uh, you know we're talking about angel fire. Angel fire is kind of cool because you can go from a flow to a tech like next run that's cool, that's nice yeah or like whistler has that too.
Jess The Maker:It's like very yeah, yeah, I do a lot of racing at uh bootleg in Nevada.
Dane:Um and it's all tech, there's no flow.
Jess The Maker:Everything is sharp and bootleg canyon Everything's sharp.
Dane:Everything is sharp. It's crazy so yeah, all right.
Josh:So two mountain bike destinations that you think every mountain biker should visit. What are two?
Jess The Maker:Are we talking in the US? Are we talking international?
Josh:No constraints.
Jess The Maker:This is so hard, no constraints on your end Just two, two that people must go.
Josh:Yeah, if you're a mountain biker, you got to figure out how to get here, Okay, we obviously did not send just these questions ahead of time. You know what that's not.
Dane:That's not really hard because, like you, forget so hard, yeah, yeah.
Jess The Maker:So what comes to?
Dane:mind. How about that? What comes to mind?
Jess The Maker:well, because I just said it, I'd say whistler because you know, or just you know, uh, squamish and whistler and pemberton, that whole area is so unique and so cool and every person you meet that like starts riding there or just another level, because they kind of have to be, you know, to ride that stuff and it's just super pretty and I, I think it's really neat to even just driving from Vancouver through like a sea to sky highway is just like epic, like you're, it's just so beautiful and unique. Um, and then I'd say, hmm, if you, well, okay, that'll be an international destination, cause I was going to mention like Peru is really cool, but, uh, in the U S, I feel like there's like a hidden, like Vermont is kind of a hidden gem in terms of of turn turn the trail, kind of a hidden gem in terms of turn turns.
Jess The Maker:A trail like where, specifically in vermont oh, that's hard too like the whole state because lacy wants to go there and I'm just like, really you want to
Josh:fly like 2 000 miles to like some vermont vermont, really.
Dane:I mean, if you like syrup, right, maple syrup, oh yeah, maple, actual maple syrup, and it's just really you could get a lot of places like you're used to being.
Jess The Maker:You know well you're. You know you're in tucson. It's like you want to go somewhere else outside of tucson.
Jess The Maker:You can drive a couple hours right yeah yeah, and in vermont you could get a lot of. You could see all of vermont, you know, in a couple hours a week's time. Well, like you can go to different locations and see kind of a totally different area. But yeah, I feel like I kind of cut my teeth in Vermont a little bit because I learned to ride in the Northeast. And then I'd say, like Waterbury stands out to me as a place in Vermont to check out for sure Good craft beer too.
Dane:Whistler and Vermont Yep, and those are two ends of the country, like as far as the continent, cool yeah right, and that's really.
Jess The Maker:Yeah, that's really hard because, like it's really hard to pick. I just I'm just trying to think of like magical places, they're all. I mean, there's so many. Yeah, picking just two, that's too hard it is.
Dane:It really is. We have places that we go all the time. Right, angel fire is probably number one on the list just because it's like drive drive ability from get out I still need that.
Jess The Maker:Maybe that would have been on my list, have you not been?
Josh:no, no shut the front door, so it's the. We talked about this at lunch.
Dane:It's the us whistler, so like it's okay, you gotta go that big so we gotta make it, and then? Moab have you been to moab?
Jess The Maker:yes, moab is pretty awesome too, and then Moab is really cool.
Dane:Yeah, and then I have like a criteria for family versus bike trip, right. So Angel Fire is not a family destination, like there's nothing, nothing there for my wife and my kids, that don't you know that aren't doing anything, and so, but man, my wife loves Moab doing anything, and so. But man, my wife loves, uh, moab. You know, she loves the raft, she loves the arches national park, she loves the scenery, she loves all of that stuff, the downtown, so so that's the destination for us. And then Whistler we're going to Whistler this summer, so she loves Whistler.
Jess The Maker:That'll be nice so.
Josh:Jess, are you okay if I introduce you to Patrick West, who's the bike park manager at uh, angel Fire?
Jess The Maker:Absolutely, that would be awesome. Yeah, we were just in New Mexico in January, but it obviously was not bike season, Uh, and instead we would. We did a little ski snowboard trip and um, but we were at Taos. We were at like what is it called Taos ski Valley or?
Dane:whatever. Um, but yeah, it'd be really cool 30 miles away.
Jess The Maker:You were so close, so I know I know, I know, and really when I was living in bentonville it wasn't that far, it was like an 11 or 12 hour drive. Yeah, so a lot of people from bentonville.
Josh:If they want bike park, they'll go it's crazy how far we'll drive for a bike park yeah, I mean, it's true, like I don't have a problem with a 12 hour drive.
Dane:you know like I can do that family-wise. They're maxing out at about seven. Yeah, before the like blood comes out, you're pushing through in one day.
Jess The Maker:Oh yeah, you're pushing through in one.
Dane:Oh yeah, Like, oh it's 10 to 12, for the bike trips is easy, so Angel Fire is no problem Going to.
Josh:Big. Bear, no problem going up to Durango. Going up to Durango Bike Park is closed this summer. What they're putting a new lift in?
Jess The Maker:and so they've closed the bike park. So they have good reason.
Josh:Yeah, good reason oh man. So Jess, you got the taco hat on.
Dane:Yeah.
Josh:I do, yeah, I'm interested. I know this isn't just the rider. Maybe this is just the eater.
Dane:The eater yeah.
Josh:Just the rider. I think tacos go with riding so much. Two best taco places that you've been to.
Jess The Maker:La Chiteria. That was so good. Where was that In Tucson, la Chiteria?
Dane:Have I not tried it.
Josh:I don't think we know of this place, which is amazing because we've got like 10,000. We've got so many taco places. You definitely got to send me that. How about one outside of Tucson?
Jess The Maker:Okay, there's a place in San Diego that has really good fish tacos. I think it's called Oscar's or something it's supposed to be really good.
Dane:Well it is good I've been there. I think it's called Oscar's.
Jess The Maker:Is it near the beach or off the beach? It's right off the beach. Do you know which one?
Josh:Oh man, you're getting crazy now.
Jess The Maker:Well, it's because I go there all the time I think so Okay, there's a lot of restaurants. We could Google this right now. Oh, I can figure it out.
Dane:We'll figure it out. Oscars in San Diego.
Josh:Definitely want to know where the good and say the name of the place in Tucson again, which is hilarious that we're having to ask our friend La La Chateria, chateria, like Chateria, yeah, okay. Okay, sweet, I guess. I guess I know where we're going this weekend and the place.
Jess The Maker:Oscars is on Turquoise Street and well, there's actually a couple locations, but I think the one that I've been to is right above mission beach. Okay, oh yeah, it's pacific beach. I was right wow, my memory serves me well that is awesome I know my taco places. That's why that's awesome.
Dane:Yeah, I yeah. Tacos are like they're tacos, and a beer with mountain biking is like hand in hand and I don't even drink beer so yeah, I'll still go to a brewery.
Josh:We're breaking our format, cause I've got another question and this one's just the lover.
Dane:What.
Josh:Oh my God.
Dane:That video, by the way, where you tried to what was it You're turning on your e-bike.
Jess The Maker:Oh my God, dude I just laughed so hard. I wish I but laugh so hard. I wish I would. I think we took I don't know if we took any B-roll of all that, but it was hilarious.
Dane:How long did it take? Like did you crack up halfway? Not long.
Jess The Maker:Oh yeah, of course. But like that day, you know, crk CBass and myself, we were there we try to film as much Like when we get together we know we're going to be filming and so we'll like just try to plan a bunch of stuff all at once, so we'll, we'll all come to the table with ideas. So that was actually one of Joe's like.
Matt:CRK's ideas? You mean like the one where you twerked.
Dane:Yeah, what? Yes, is it that one Well?
Jess The Maker:there's actually a few of those, yeah, yeah, you might have to specify which one just just does.
Jess The Maker:A lot of twerking I do a lot of the twerking with the fanny pack on, but uh, that's even. But uh, that was actually crk's idea and I was like, okay, like let's do it. He's like I, I he's like I have this idea, but like, because the other people it was a trending thing with other people like doing it in their kitchen with their ovens and stuff, and we're like we need to do this with an e-bike, it's hilarious so we did that with the e-bike and you know because, uh and yeah, of course there's a lot of laughter off off camera, we're just like having a good time and all right back to back to just the lover
Josh:okay, sorry we want to know more about tony we want to know more.
Jess The Maker:Okay, we want to know where you guys met.
Josh:We want to know, when you, when did you know he was the one? And why is he and why is he awesome? Yeah?
Jess The Maker:okay, but by the way, we see him in the back playing video games so we can see him in the background.
Dane:I wish we did video. I know I can see his foot. It's awesome Because you'll do that every once in a while.
Josh:I wish we did video.
Dane:I know it is awesome because this random leg pops into the screen and I'm like what's going?
Jess The Maker:on. So for the listeners I have my background blurred. But if Tony moves his leg he's sitting on a bed behind me. If he moves it, it like comes into focus and it's just really funny, just a random leg, just a random foot.
Jess The Maker:I can actually probably answer this question. Like with the one, the original, like with like the. You had like a three part question and it's like all kind of in one. So we met in Nashville, tennessee, at a work conference. We both worked in like we Tony still works in tech. Tennessee at a work conference. We both worked in like we, tony still works in tech. But that's where we met. We worked for like a financial tech company and twice a year they would fly. We were already fully distributed and fully remote, and this is before the pandemic. So once every six months they'd get everybody together in one place and they would move the destination. So they'd be like, okay, like New York City or you know whatever. But for whatever reason, this particular time was Nashville. And so we met at this work conference and we sang.
Jess The Maker:We were at a karaoke bar in Nashville which, if you've ever been to Nashville, it's awesome, like that's, it's awesome, but that's like the worst place to do karaoke because there's so many talented people that you're like, why even try? Why even try? Just like. And here's the other thing is, this was not like a nice place. This was a double wide trailer and it was a Santa themed. It was called Santa's Pub. It's still there, santa's pub, and it's an all year around santa themed bar. That's in a double y trailer. People were still smoking in there, wow, and like it was like thick with smoke and we were like, ah, how can I sing? My lungs are burning. So we sang, uh, we like we met at that, you know we were. We met at the thing we said. I mean, I feel like, because we bonded over the karaoke, I was like this is the, this is my person, you know. We just I just knew all right.
Josh:Why is he?
Jess The Maker:I just knew, why is he awesome yeah oh, why is he awesome, oh man he's listening to you right now, I know yeah, he can't hear what you guys are saying, but I, he's like.
Jess The Maker:He's like because I am awesome, you know are saying but he's like because I am awesome, you know what? I think? Because Tony, like, he helps me, make sure that I'm always me and like supports me in whatever I do, no matter what it is Like he is like my biggest cheerleader and just like, whatever I need, he's just like I'm there, I'm, I've got your back, like whatever crazy idea I whip up or whatever he's, he's, you know, he's there, he's down, you know. And so having that kind of person in your corner and it's awesome, and so having that kind of person in your corner and it's awesome.
Dane:He's awesome, that's awesome. Yeah, that is great. That's a good awesome.
Josh:Yeah, that's awesome, just shout out to Tony man, I wanted to like take a minute to talk about Tony the guy behind the guy, yeah, the guy behind the girl behind the maker, I know Right.
Jess The Maker:Stop, all right, a little bit back to a little bit back to just the rider.
Josh:Okay, if your bike could talk, what would it say is your most annoying habit? Self-reflection.
Jess The Maker:If my bike could talk, it would be like just finally learn how to wheelie already, cause I'm like constantly trying but not like consistently. It's my fault, I don't consistently practice. I know if I just like did this for an hour a day I would, I'd be able to do it like hold the wheelie yeah I watched your video on the wheelie did you yeah, how you spend so long on it and you still haven't got it oh, oh yeah.
Jess The Maker:I did a parody of. I don't know if anyone watches Severance, but the whole like innie-outie thing and like one of the things that my like your innie is the version. Well, first of all, did either of you watch Severance? No no we haven't I started to Adults. It's an adult show, so this is.
Dane:This is the one where he's a different person at work than he is.
Jess The Maker:Well, you, you become severed, so like you get this procedure done to your brain where literally, you kind of become two selves, your same body, two selves. The moment you go into this office building and down the elevator, you become your any.
Dane:Yeah, okay.
Jess The Maker:And that's like you're, you're working and all this stuff. And then one of the characters in the show is basically like they call it wellness checks, but there's like a therapist and the person is like, basically, as you do, well, they release facts about your audi like your any wants to know. They don't know each other, right. Like you don't know what happens at work, your audi doesn't know what happens at work, your you don't know what happens at work, your Audi doesn't know what happens at work, your Innie doesn't know what happens out in the real world. So they give you facts about yourself. So that whole video is just basically me being told what my Audi does, and so that's what Matty was talking about. It's like your Audi spends a lot of time trying to learn how to wheelie but still cannot wheelie. You're like that's one of the things. So, anyway, that was a very long-winded explanation of that video, but he he got it all right.
Josh:So you, you have a super fan in tucson like, like an like an like next level super fan. Her name is I have a super fan you have a super fan her name is hillary martin and she actually, she actually uh, shared with us a couple questions. So, on behalf of Hillary Martin.
Jess The Maker:You're super fan.
Josh:Thanks, hillary and shout out to Hillary don't thank you, don't thank us until you've heard the questions oh crap, okay, all right uh the. The first one is is pretty benign and pretty simple. What is the longest skill it took you to learn on a bike?
Jess The Maker:Well, I guess the wheelie right.
Josh:We're not there yet.
Jess The Maker:Well, not okay. Well, it's hard, though right. Like, what skills have I necessarily mastered? You know, like that, not a whole. I mean, I feel like there's always room for improvement with every skill. What took me the longest to learn? Um, I mean, I think proper jump technique took a little while for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it takes a little while.
Josh:It definitely. I know. You probably know Joanna Yates I would imagine that you know her.
Jess The Maker:Yes, we are friends.
Josh:And Maddie and Lacey just went up like two or three weeks ago, and Joanna they ended up getting like a private lesson with Joanna to learn how to jump.
Jess The Maker:Oh, awesome To jump. To jump right and Maddie like, progressed in this jumping like significantly.
Josh:So he's like up and it's pretty amazing.
Jess The Maker:Did you enjoy it, Maddie? Yeah?
Matt:Yep, very much did she tell you she is.
Jess The Maker:Jordan is an awesome coach. She's fantastic, so you learn from the best she's got the stoke yeah, it's awesome.
Dane:Yeah, she does bring this.
Josh:So here's the question from hillary martin. That now I get why you were tentative. Yeah, a little tentative, because I didn't, even I didn't even know what this is I do, oh, okay, yeah so you might, I had to, I had to like I had to use claude ai to even figure out what yeah this one sucks so um do you ever get the race shits?
Jess The Maker:oh well, yeah, absolutely, but I also don't race but I mean like just normal yeah like Like the nervous, the nervous shit. Yeah, absolutely, when did I? Here's me like trying to think about the last time.
Dane:Have you left gloves on the trail or socks?
Josh:That's yes.
Dane:I think if you ask most, most mountain bikers, they're going to say yes.
Jess The Maker:I think probably the last time I was really, really nervous before a ride was in Whistler, I went on like Specialized was doing like these group I'm saying group rides. I thought they were just like group rides for just the average person, yeah. So I was like, yeah, like I told my rep like absolutely I'll go on one of these rides and like be fun, whatever. And Seabass was like, yeah, like I told my rep like absolutely I'll go on one of these rides and like be fun, whatever. And sea bass was like let's coordinate, we'll go on the same one together. And I was like, yeah, cool, cool, I show up, everyone's on an e-bike and mike sinyard, the ceo of a specialized, is on the ride, a bunch of pro riders are on the ride and then there's me on an analog bike and I was like oh no, this is this
Jess The Maker:isn't gonna go. Well, I survived but it was like barely hanging on. It was so, and it wasn't at the park, so it wasn't lift serve. It was like riding these. I mean, there's, there's a, there's a. If you're familiar with some of the trails, like off the black home, there's a trail called um, oh no, it's going to slip my mind there's dark crystal, and then there's another one, uh, but they're, they're pretty, they're pretty rowdy, and but the climb. What I forgot was the climb getting up to it was terrible and I was definitely dying by by the top. Um, but uh, yeah, no, I definitely to answer uh, hillary's question. Yeah, absolutely, I get the nervous, I think.
Josh:Thank you not even racing. I think that hillary will be completely satisfied with your answers.
Jess The Maker:Yeah, thank you so much. I've only done three races in my life. I'm not much of a racer. I don't really do that often.
Dane:So is it. Do you think you don't race because you don't feel competitive or you don't like the feeling of racing?
Josh:Nobody likes race, shits Well no.
Jess The Maker:No one likes to race shits. That's the truth I.
Dane:The worst is if it's at the start line.
Jess The Maker:Yeah, I will say so, the first Enduro. They've all been Enduros and I like that format. I think it's really cool. The first Enduro I ever did was with a friend of mine. I had some friends. They convinced me to go. It was in Arkansas. It's called the Northwoods Enduro really fun and actually funny story. The way the Arkansas Enduro Really fun and actually funny story. The way the Arkansas Enduro Series is is like if there's not at least 10 women in the pro category, they won't pay out those women. What? And they were, yes.
Dane:So yeah, we don't support that. So your friends are like come on, we need one more. We need to. Yeah, literally.
Jess The Maker:My friends are like we should enter the pro category, so the actual pros can win money.
Dane:Yeah.
Jess The Maker:And so we did. Yeah, we signed up for the.
Josh:so I, not I don't know I guess maybe it's just yeah, and like I think, if I had more time or if it was like a friend, like doing it with friends, I would.
Jess The Maker:I would do it again, for sure, it's not. It's just like I guess I just don't for the racing part of it being competitive.
Dane:I'm not like super competitive, you know. Okay, I got a challenge for you, yeah. Yeah, and I don't know if you can work this into your career, but I think you could. No, I no, I'm not joking, I'm not joking.
Jess The Maker:I think I could do it.
Dane:Uh, cause I can get you the guy to talk to. Um, I think you and the Cali Rado kid.
Jess The Maker:CRK, crk.
Dane:Normal, normal. Uh and then, uh, you keep saying somebody else Um, oh, seabass is normal mountain biker. Okay, sea bass, okay, yeah and you got to get two more people. So I come with two more people and come out and do the 24 hour in the old pueblo oh yes, make a team because it is a party, it's a race, but it's that I would do I think you guys, I would do I think you guys should do that.
Josh:I think that would be an awesome event for you guys in fact, I think we'll sponsor your team if you guys want to come out damn.
Dane:You know, when he says stuff like that, don't laugh, because he'll do it, I'll do it, yeah, for sure.
Jess The Maker:No, no, that's a that's a legitimate offer yeah, we'll sponsor your team if you guys want to come out I think, that would be bitching.
Dane:Consider that because you got to camp together, okay, so imagine the shenanigans all of us having a camp although it could backfire, we could see just the grump and yeah, you will and the sea bass with no coffee uh yeah, right, yep and the color colorado kid who needs sleep crk, yeah, crk, all right, gosh, so we've got uh you guys have heard him a couple times.
Josh:We've we've got my my 12 year old, soon to be 12 year old son.
Jess The Maker:Matt.
Josh:Graham Anderson who, uh, you know we were going to name Maddie hazard and at the last minute we're going to call him hazard. Matthew Anderson and call him hazmat, yeah.
Jess The Maker:And at the last minute like literally, I backed out.
Josh:I backed out like right when he was being like, birthed when they were like I'm like.
Jess The Maker:I can out like right when he was being like birthed, when they were yeah Right Like.
Josh:I can't name my kid Hazard. This is crazy, so he is super pissed about the fact that I didn't name him. Hazard Wants to be referred to as Hazy.
Jess The Maker:Renamed, yeah, renamed as Hazy. Oh, that's cool.
Josh:But Matty is a mountain biker, he's also an aspiring content creator and, jess, if you're okay with it, he's got some like questions straight from the straight, straight from the aspiring content creator.
Matt:Yeah, absolutely.
Dane:So, first of all, you don't got to call out my full name like that. Why you got to call them?
Jess The Maker:out dad Gosh calling them out, I know. So my first question would be do you enjoy being a content creator? I do. Yeah, there are definitely tough days. It's challenging.
Jess The Maker:I think just having your own business in general is challenging. So the whole business, part of it, and having to manage brand partnerships and making sure that, like the money's coming in part of it, is very stressful at times. But the fact that I get to like express my creativity and see ideas through, like when they become just like a little idea and then see them like actually become a thing and then people enjoy that thing, I'll say like it's worth it. You know, like all the all the little things that kind of it's called like you know I there's a couple business people I follow, but it's like eating a crap sandwich is essentially what it's likened to, is like everything you do in life, every job you have, you're gonna be a crap sandwich you have to eat. And at least this crap sandwich I make for myself, I enjoy it and I don't know. I think just making people laugh and bringing joy to people's days is really fun and yeah, so I do. I love doing what I do.
Matt:Saying on this topic what made, what made you decide to become a content creator?
Jess The Maker:uh, I feel like I didn't really decide. It was almost like the internet decided for me, kind of. You know, like I. I was in Bentonville at the time and I was taking a break off of uh, my full what I was doing full time, which was like graphic design, web design. The company that Tony and I worked for got acquired by a bigger company and so essentially, if we had equity in the company, we were able to make a little bit of money off of the acquisition. So I was able to live off of that for a little while.
Jess The Maker:So during that time is when I was getting back into mountain bike coaching. So I was able to live off of that for a little while. So during that time is when I was getting back into mountain bike coaching. So that's actually how I know Joanna is. I used to also coach.
Jess The Maker:And so, getting back to Bentonville, I was like you know what? I think I can get back into coaching. There's just a lot of people here eager to learn, a lot of people that got into mountain biking because of COVID and through COVID. So I was like I think I'll get back into coaching and I think it was because I was coaching and working with a lot of newer riders again, you start to like see all those silly things that you know, you kind of forget not being a beginner again, right? So I started making these funny videos, like just for fun. I was putting videos out and then people were enjoying them and there was a good response. And then, um, I think what?
Jess The Maker:I think the point in time where I was like, oh, okay, this could be a thing, was, um, I made a video three or so years ago and it was how to, how to afford a high-end mountain bike. Um, and Tony and I at the time, well, when we lived in Bentonville, we have a fixer-upper, and so it was basically a very dumpy house that we didn't have any time to renovate because we were always riding our bikes. So the whole video was essentially me being like, oh, how to afford a high-end mountain bike? Basically, disregard everything else in your life, which, and so we didn't have floors. Guard everything else in your life, which, and so we, we didn't have floors, we didn't have you know like curtains we had. We had a sheet that we like duct taped up, and so, like, people loved it, and I think Pinkbike reshared it and that is kind of what really started to like get things going. So for me it was more just like seeing the response and getting excited that people were excited it's like, oh, people like this, you know.
Dane:Yeah, that's cool. So that Pinkbike kind of pushed you over the edge a little bit.
Jess The Maker:I think that was my first big viral video, so I was like whoa, like people really like this, and so then it kind of kept me going. I still didn't really think of it as a business yet or like as my full-time thing, yet that probably came like a year into it. Like, like as my full-time thing yet that probably came like a year into it. Like I was consistently posting for fun for like a year. And then then you start getting like, as I was growing. That's when you know brands are kind of starting to reach out and they're like oh, like you know, we would love to send you this and do this and do this, and you're like okay, well, you're like free stuff.
Dane:Can I share something real quick with?
Matt:my instagram.
Dane:I've reached this level on my instagram where girls actually contact me and want to be my friend on instagram no comment I'm just saying no I don't, I mean I, does that happen with?
Jess The Maker:you is there a bunch of guys that were like, hey, we want to be friends with you on Instagram.
Dane:Is that when you knew you made it?
Jess The Maker:Because I feel like I made it. Well, first of all, dane, they're not called friends, they're called followers. Oh, followers yes, on Facebook is where you have friends. But wait they keep saying they want to be my friend though. Oh, like in the messaging, are these like bots maybe?
Josh:I don't think these are real girls.
Dane:They're very attractive and they seem to be interested in me.
Josh:I don't know what you guys are talking about.
Matt:Hopefully your wife doesn't hear this. There's a lot of them. I don't know what are you guys talking about Dude? That's with everybody. Like 80% of my audience is 17-year-old girls from Canada.
Jess The Maker:Whoa popular amongst the Canadian ladies. Oh my God, I'm sorry.
Dane:I just had to tell you how popular I was on Instagram with the girls.
Matt:What editing software do you use?
Jess The Maker:I use. So what I'll say is for the first I forget how long I think year and a half or two years all I used was my iphone and I used. So I didn't buy any fancy equipment. I didn't buy. I have fancy equipment now, which I'll talk about. But, um, I was just using my iphone. I used the splice app to start and then I well, actually I used the very, very crappy in app like Instagram editor, which really is terrible. It's better now, but it was very terrible then. Then I was using Splice and then I kind of migrated over to CapCut. I migrated over to CapCut, so I'd say CapCut is probably still one of the better on-phone editing apps.
Jess The Maker:And then in the last year I've upgraded all of my equipment. So I have a Sony A7S III fancy camera and mics and I use DaVinci on my computer. So I actually really like using that to oh, my dog Now my dog's walking around, oh, where's Hanky? Oh, and so, yeah, I use DaVinci on my computer and I like it for editing. It's nice, like I could have more control over certain things. But yeah, I mean I use my and I'll still use the phone every now and then I, but yeah, I mean I use my phone and I'll still use the phone every now and then I'll just if I don't have my camera with me. It's like just use the phone. You know, totally fine.
Matt:So how long does it take you to edit a short form video, or like a reel, what it's called, right?
Jess The Maker:Yeah, it depends. You know, like there's some that take no time at all. It's funny, sometimes the most viral videos I have were the ones that I spent no time editing and no time it's the ones that you spend like so much time editing and put all this heart and soul into, and then it kind of flops or doesn't do as well as you think it's going to do. It's just funny. That's always how it seems to work. But it depends. It really depends. Like it could take anywhere from an hour if it's like a really short one or if there are a lot of cuts and a lot of talking. Um, I mean, it could take a couple hours. You know, um, I've definitely spent a decent amount of, you know, like a half day editing one reel, or even a full day, depending it's interesting maddie's taking like copious notes as you're talking.
Josh:He's just, yeah, he's like very, very I love it.
Matt:Thank you for asking me, these are great questions yeah, studying he's like studying yes, yeah do you feel like editing is like something boring, or do you enjoy it?
Jess The Maker:I. It's hard, I think, when you're first starting to, sometimes when I know the footage is really good and I'm and I'm excited because I can see it all coming together, I do get really excited to sit down and edit because I can already see it coming together. And then there are other times where I might put it off a little bit. I have to get into the mood to edit, but then once I start editing it and seeing it all come together in the timeline, I think that's For me that's super fun. Dane, you mentioned, like you're just now watching you starting to watch YouTube. I do have a YouTube. I've just been starting to ramp up like putting some of the short form content on there and I do have some long form videos, but like the long form videos to edit.
Dane:Yeah, like I watched your Nemesis video. It's videos to edit. Yeah, like I watched your nemesis video. It's like a marathon. Yeah.
Jess The Maker:Yeah, like like. Short form is like running a 5k. You're like you know what, I can even walk this and I'd be fine. Yeah, long form is like a marathon and you're like I'm in like an ultra marathon for me and I'm like I don't know if I can make it.
Dane:You for me and I'm like I don't know if I can make it. You know, so do you? Yeah, I really depend. Do you feel like you gotta script stuff or like write stuff down, or is it always kind of off the hip or you know?
Jess The Maker:I could be both um with clients. So, maddie, like, the way I make money with my content right now is I'll do brand partnerships. So I'll work with brands, and usually with brands. If I am doing like a one-off project like, for example, I just did one with Marmot I will script everything, because it's so much easier. Like I'll think of a concept and they'll say that's a cool concept, I'll say, cool, I'll script it out and then they have to approve it, because otherwise, if I don't do that, then they might see the end product and be like oh, actually we wish you would have said it differently. Or we wish you would have said, oh, you didn't include this word, or about the jacket, or, and then this way, the client signs off on that script.
Jess The Maker:So if and then I work it into all my contracts that if, after it's approved it's they've already approved the script. Right, because really it's about saving yourself time, and so I think and that all comes from my design background, so that was immediately when I started taking brand partnerships. It's just like doing work for a client, a design client yeah, same process, and so. And of course I keep it collaborative, like if any of the brands I work with are like oh, we'd love if you could include this. I'll try my best to. You know, like I, for me, it's like I try to keep things authentic and not super canned, but at the same time, like I think also, you know, viewers are smart now that they know that, like, creators have to make money too, so they know when they see an ad they're like okay, we get it. They have to do this at some point, you know so hey.
Dane:So I just had a quick thing to interject because I've been watching youtube a lot and one of the things when I watch it is I I geek out on how much work they put into it. You know, a lot of people just sit back and get entertained, but I'm like I'm watching the edits, the camera angles the different camera, camera placements.
Dane:You know some guy coming down the trail and you're seeing him, and you're you're watching him come down the trail, but you don't realize there's three different camera angles they use and and all that time they've been in and so, and then you just brought another layer of that that I didn't really think about, which is, you know, scripting it and and and sculpting it for your client to make sure that you're presenting their product properly. That's the amount of work that is put into it is kind of sometimes so seamless and unseen.
Dane:You know, I think a lot of people just sit back and get entertained. So yes yes, thank you.
Jess The Maker:Thank you.
Dane:Okay, maddie's got a few more questions, so what is?
Matt:your posting schedule.
Jess The Maker:You know I try to keep things consistent. I like to post at least two to three times a week, but I also don't beat myself up if I miss a couple here and there. I think I'm at the point on Instagram where I feel good about my cadence, like how often I post. Really I like the best days I find for posting are Monday, tuesday people are paying attention Thursday is also good. Sometimes Sunday night is nice because people are like winding down from the weekend and so Sunday nights are kind of nice too. But yeah, I try to have a couple planned out for the week.
Jess The Maker:If I don't, sometimes I'll repost something from last year or whatnot, just to make sure that it's hard, because when you see people repost things, for me at least, I do it to keep my stats high, so it's like the viewership high, so that way it's like not stagnant. Plus, you figure, when you get new followers there are people that have never seen that video that maybe I posted last year. But what's nice is? Instagram released a feature where you could do trial reels. So you could post to a trial reel, which is essentially posting to your non-followers, and it's a great way to capture more followers. So, like, if Instagram sees that that's performing really well, then it'll share it to the rest of your followers again. You know say it's like a repost. It's a great like. I've used it a few times. It's kind of nice to be able to post a trial reel to, like broaden your audience. Nice, yeah, yeah.
Matt:So how did you get so popular?
Jess The Maker:Well, I feel like I kind of set up into a one word answer, please. Oh, I think that, and this is what I hear from other people- it's Tony, it's Tony. It's Tony, it's all Tony, tony, everyone's there for the Tony. So what I've heard from other people, it's like one, I guess I'm funny.
Jess The Maker:Sometimes, Sometimes I can be, I make the funny ha-has. Two people love relatable stuff and so I think when they can see themselves in that situation or that scenario or they've gone through the same exact thing, people, that resonates with a lot of people. So the relatability is super important and it's funny because, like we all, we're all human, we all go through a lot of the same you know experiences on the trail. So it's like I try my best to tap into those things and remind myself about those like those, those experiences I've had, and then, yeah, I think, just tying that into my personality, just like my humor, and then the relatability, part of it, I think, is what helped me grow and more people keep following.
Matt:We have one more question.
Dane:He's taking us off the list. I love it. He's got a off the list.
Jess The Maker:Like he's, I love it. He's got a pen and a clipboard.
Matt:Thank you, Do you have any advice for aspiring content creators?
Jess The Maker:Absolutely. I would say you know, don't get bummed out if you see something doesn't perform well, because that next video might be the one you never know, so you have to just keep showing up. It's like anything you know, even in mountain biking it's like you can't expect to get better if you're not riding your bike. Same thing with content creation you can't expect to get better if you're not consistently showing up and posting. Um, you know my crk and normal mountain biker, I think for the longest time I've been like Jess, you got to keep up, you got to post longer format to YouTube. You got to do that. You know, and I listened to them a while ago. I think I'd be in a better spot with YouTube, but you know it's like I was being very consistent with Instagram and that I can see the output of that Right.
Jess The Maker:So I recently started doing some stuff on YouTube where I was posting very consistently and I think in the last month I grew like 3000 subs, which is a decent amount for YouTube, a really big jump, and I was like, okay, so it's that reminder, maddie, to just keep. You got to keep posting, don't worry about the numbers so much. And also, don't worry about the numbers so much. And also, don't worry about you're always gonna, everyone's gonna get the haters. We get them, we all get them. You just gotta keep doing your thing. I do my best to just ignore them, you know. And just remind myself all the good comments, all the positive stuff um, so I have one more whoa, he's ad-libbing now.
Dane:he's ad-libbing now, he's ad-libbing.
Matt:Oh, do you know how many subscribers you have on YouTube and followers on Instagram? Off your head, no, looking it up.
Dane:Oh my gosh Pop quiz.
Jess The Maker:I think I have 112,000 on Instagram and about 7,000 on YouTube. Okay, so you recently just gained like 7,000 on YouTube.
Matt:Okay, so you recently just gained like half your followers on YouTube. Absolutely Yep, wow.
Dane:That's a big jump. I was one of them.
Jess The Maker:Exactly. I'll tell you that. Cool Look at you, dane.
Dane:Yeah, yeah, I'm learning to like and subscribe, although I found out that you don't do that on Instagram, so now I don't know what you do on Instagram.
Josh:You can still like and subscribe. You follow you follow, follow.
Dane:Yes, like all those hot girls that are following me. But what? And you do it, oh yeah.
Matt:I heart like crazy actually, yeah, I do, you're a heart.
Jess The Maker:I'm a heart. Yeah, I'm definitely a heart Is.
Dane:Harding a good thing.
Jess The Maker:Yeah, Harding is a good thing, yeah when I put all the stats are good. I mean, I think, whatever the algorithm does, it looks at the combination of, obviously, views and replays. It looks at likes, hearts. It looks at comments and then shareability. So if people are sharing something like crazy, creating very shareable content and that's where the relatability comes in that's your. That's, I feel, like a great ticket to growth. And one more thing, matty, to add to your notes yeah, Something I think that helped me grow big time on Instagram in the beginning was every single person that would comment. I would comment back. I'd make sure I comment back. I'd. Also, you could see people share a reel. So what I would do is I would direct message those people and say, hey, thank you so much for resharing that Like. I appreciate it. And most times, if they weren't following me, they would start following me because I took the time to reach out and say hey, thank you.
Dane:Okay, I got a quick question, can you help me?
Josh:So this is like the elderly training social media.
Dane:This is the old man who needs some direction. This is legit. This is a legit question. Okay, because again 13 years on Facebook.
Josh:Facebook, I've got it down, I kind of you know that 40 of our audience is like less than 25 years old. I don't know.
Jess The Maker:Okay, they are that's awesome, that's actually great, um, so yeah, but that's awesome on instagram yeah, my biggest frustration is when I see something that I like, like your video.
Dane:I want to share it, and I don't quite know how oh it goes to you hit the little, the little um paper airplane, and then you can share it to your story. But the story's temporary, yeah, and so is that the shares you're talking about, or then I share it to facebook, which is where then I feel like it's there out for people, but I don't know how to actually share it to like my feed.
Josh:Like that's not an Instagram thing. It's an Instagram question.
Dane:Yes, okay, yeah, yeah.
Jess The Maker:Yeah, so it's.
Jess The Maker:it's sharing it to their story, to your story, to my story Okay, but like but also, if you wanted to share it to like, if you wanted to text Josh, you got to see this you would copy the link to it, which isn't? They keep moving where that is in Instagram. It's kind of a pain in the butt, but you would just copy a link to it and then paste it to your chat and then they would see that. But that I don't know, that they I don't know that Instagram counts that towards like a statistic. But like the little paper, airplane shared a story is what I was talking about when I talk about shares. Yeah, ok, now that's good.
Dane:Good, because if I know that that's something that helps you, I will be doing it more often, which is what I want to know. I always have a negative viewpoint on stories Like Josh, and I have talked about this.
Josh:Josh and I disagree about this. Yes, we disagree about this.
Dane:We've talked. We've talked, jess. What do you think your? What's your biggest demographic?
Josh:Oh, there's a good question, Jess what do you think your?
Jess The Maker:what's your biggest demographic? Ooh, that's a good question. On my professional stuff, I'm like my stat.
Dane:Like um. Does it give you that on Instagram?
Jess The Maker:Yeah, yeah, actually. Actually, I haven't looked in a while so I could actually look right now. Um, I actually pretty split down the middle in terms of, like you know, the stereotypical male, female gender. The way that they break it down on instagram is uh, is that way? Let me actually try to find. Oh, they keep switching things out too, which is really annoying.
Dane:Um, what'd you say ours was? We're 24 year olds there's a lot of.
Josh:We have an unusually high percentage of younger women that listen to this podcast and I. My hypothesis is that because we've never done video this might be the same.
Jess The Maker:These might be the same women that are that are following Dane on Instagram.
Dane:I told you I'm very popular with the ladies on Instagram.
Jess The Maker:My biggest age range is actually 35 to 44, which is my age bracket. So so that followed by 25 to 34, followed by 45 to 54.
Dane:Yeah, so yeah, that relatability.
Josh:So you're in that latter group.
Dane:Do you think that because since I've come on we've gotten like more?
Josh:90 year olds that listen. Oh God, that's funny. All right, all right, jess. Maybe one more question for you.
Jess The Maker:I've got a whole.
Josh:I've got like 52 questions and this always happens.
Dane:We'll see if Dane has anything. Yeah, I've been inserting, you've been inserting so.
Josh:So I really want to know like what? So, first of all, thank you, yeah, Thank you, yeah. Thank you guys for having me Like. I really enjoy your content. It is awesome. It brings levity to our sport. I think it is awesome it brings levity to our sport. I honestly think that you and the normal biker and Pinkbike and CRK, like during COVID.
Dane:Not so much Pinkbike, no, I love the guys, but like I'm giving them kudos.
Josh:Okay, all right, they helped grow the sport, specifically during COVID.
Dane:Yeah.
Josh:And it's awesome. So just thank you for like what you've done for the sport. You continue to help, you make it relatable, you make it funny. I like to laugh. So, I'm a I'm a huge fan, so thank you.
Jess The Maker:Thank you.
Josh:As a member of your audience and for your entire audience. What can we do to help you, oh?
Dane:yeah, good question.
Jess The Maker:I think the biggest thing you know, like, continue enjoying.
Jess The Maker:You know like I love reading comments and if it you know like some of my favorite comments are when people are like that I was you know, I was having a rough day, I really needed this, or you know stuff like that I love, love hearing that Really want to try to grow the YouTube, so that could be a big thing.
Jess The Maker:If people aren't already following me on the YouTube, that could be awesome, because YouTube actually incentivizes their creators a lot more. And really the idea is like I'd love to take on less brand partnerships and focus more on the content and then monetize that way, rather than having to have so many one-off projects and that way it frees me up to make more of the content and then monetize that way, rather than having to like have so many like one-off projects and that way it frees me up to make more of the content. That's just like what I want to make, you know? So, uh, yeah, those. Those are the kind of two main things keep, keep giving me feedback, keep posting comments and if you haven't already, follow on, subscribe. Sorry, I'm gonna get that shirt.
Dane:I'm gonna put that on the shirt and it's gonna be guru, uh like, and people are gonna go look for a youtube.
Josh:You don't even have a youtube channel. We should create a youtube channel for you yeah we should create you one.
Dane:Yeah, I, I am down, but the editing scares me. Like I really appreciate how much time you guys put in, like I thank you I know for a fact my nine-year-old, for instance, has no clue. You know, uh, how much time people put in because he watches all the gamer youtube stuff, but oh yeah, that's a big industry.
Dane:It's huge, yeah, but I'll tell you what, like I, I, I know just from the little bit of content we've put out from our trips, you know, and trying to edit a video to just show people out on our trips riding their bikes and stuff. Just the hours of video, like hours and like you know so much footage memory cards just full and full and like.
Dane:You have to go through it and you know the best is when you hit your GoPro and you didn't realize that you had switched it to camera instead of video and you just do the best section of you know. Oh, dude did you hear him.
Matt:What did he say? That's an old man problem.
Dane:Oh my God. So it's true. It's true, I can talk to my GoPro. Just so you know I'm not that old. I have a newer one, it's only a nine, but I have one. But yeah, that's a real thing I did, the best ride of my life, and it was just a picture of me starting.
Matt:One picture. Oh wait, you have more. A bonus question.
Dane:No way, oh bonus, double bonus. Have more a bonus question.
Matt:no way, oh bonus, double double rainbow how long did it take you to really get where you are with editing?
Dane:oh, oh yeah, like, oh yeah these are really great questions.
Jess The Maker:Um, if you were to go back in my feed and look at some of my older videos, I I actually kind of cringe sometimes when I watch them because I'm like, oh, that cut.
Matt:Why would I do that?
Jess The Maker:The audio, you know, and it's funny because I had to do that to get to where I am, so it's like I had to get you know, like yeah, you learn from your mistakes, right? That's how you get stronger, yeah it's practice it's getting the reps in, so I guess it's taken me the whole time, yeah, so so, jess, thank you so much for your time this evening.
Josh:We really appreciate it thanks for hanging out.
Dane:This is super fun and um man, yeah, next time I get back to tucson I was gonna say you gotta come back, give us some notice so we can go on a cool ride absolutely, absolutely.
Jess The Maker:One of my best friends lives in the garden district so I'll be, I'll be back because I'll I'll come and stay and visit her and, yeah, I'll let y'all know we can go hit up some stuff and I like to check, check out the trails you were mentioning down, uh, down your way.
Josh:Oh, yeah, for sure it's a kind of south, yeah yeah, southeast, we got a lot more that you haven't seen um at least as far as I know just, do you have any final thoughts for our listeners besides like? Go follow jess the maker. Like and subscribe on youtube. Yeah, like and let's let's build up jess's youtube following. Yep, yeah, thank you.
Jess The Maker:I would say make sure to what I guess. Now it's like podcast world. Make sure to like and subscribe to Mountain Cock. Do people subscribe?
Josh:No, people subscribe right, yeah, they do, they do, they do actually. Yes, yes, yes, yes, you can subscribe, oh okay, you can subscribe. On Spotify, apple Music, on your favorite podcast streaming. Yes, listen to you. That's what I like. That's usually what I hear. This is awesome. This is like a selfless lady. She's like pumping our podcast.
Dane:Wait, can you do that one more time, so we can do a sound cut.
Jess The Maker:Okay, yeah, everybody, okay, okay.
Dane:Okay, wait, ready, mark.
Jess The Maker:Okay, okay, everybody Make sure to like.
Dane:And, oh wait, you Can you like? Do you have to?
Jess The Maker:have people leave you a review. Download. We download right. Subscribe is the right term. Okay, all right, take two. Okay, ready, take two. Hey, everybody.
Dane:Shit, I'm sorry. I have to say Mark, okay, ready, mark hey everybody, make sure to subscribe to the Mountain Cop.
Josh:Did I say cop? No, you said cock.
Jess The Maker:That happens, you wouldn't be the first person. Google does that to me.
Dane:Do you have any idea?
Josh:how many bad pictures come?
Dane:up when I Google us Okay we're going to do it again.
Matt:Okay, hold on. We got to stop laughing, Okay hold on.
Dane:Okay, ready, okay, tell me when you're ready. Tell me when you're ready and.
Jess The Maker:I'll say it I'm ready.
Matt:I'm ready.
Dane:Mark.
Jess The Maker:Hey everybody, Make sure to subscribe to the Mountain Cog podcast on it and make sure you download it on your favorite subscription podcast. That's perfect.
Josh:We can work with that. We can work with that. We can work with that. We can work with that. Just splice it all up, oh my.
Jess The Maker:God, I'm going to call it the mountain.
Josh:Oh God, that's awesome. You wouldn't be the first person. That's actually even better you might want to change the name. We've thought about it, but we haven't done it yet.
Jess The Maker:No, my gosh so fun.
