ilise: Hello, Val, welcome to the podcast.

Val Roskens Tews: Thank you, I'm excited to be here.

ilise: I'm so glad you're here, and this is your first time. I'm sure there will be more, because you're so much into the content lately, but before we get there, introduce yourself, please, and give us a little background.

Val Roskens Tews: Okay, I'm Val Roskens Tews, and it's actually spelled T-E-W-S, not at all like you expect it to be. I craft tailored, ready-to-post content for Christian entrepreneurs and coaches, and help them build a community of business friends, collaborators, and clients. For those who don't like to write, don't have time to write, or don't know what to write, I turn scattered ideas into content that is authentic to them.

ilise: Beautiful, I love that. And yeah, just give us a little bit about your background. You've been alive for a while. What have you done all your life, Val? The short version, please.

Val Roskens Tews: The short version: I have had a passion for writing since I was in second grade, when my teacher introduced me to storytelling. And all growing up, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I haven't—not all my jobs have been that, but a lot of them have, and a few years ago, I started my own copywriting business. That had been a dream for a long time, and I'm enjoying it, having fun, and I absolutely love highlighting other people and helping them shine through writing.

ilise: So, that's kind of interesting to me, that you seem to have found a way to not sell copywriting, or focus so much on that, as much as sharing other people's ideas. Talk a little bit about that.

Val Roskens Tews: I love to write, and I discovered that—I realize there's a lot of people who don't like to write. Just like numbers are not my specialty, but for some people, they love numbers. I love words. And in being in different groups and hearing people talk, I discovered that I could help people and serve them by helping them share their message because I believe everyone has a story to share, everyone has a message. But I was discovering people weren't sharing it because they'd look at the blank screen and just freeze and not know what to write. And it's like, "Hey, I can help you. Talk to me. I'll help you share your message."

ilise: Right. And actually, I mean, that description applies to copywriters, other copywriters too, and that's part of what I want to talk with you about, which is the fact that you not only help others share their content, you're really good, and have always been, since I've known you, at sharing your own content. How do you think about that?

Val Roskens Tews: I love to write, and I love… I'm always…

ilise: The answer to every question is, "I love to write."

Val Roskens Tews: I'm always… day-to-day, I'll go, "Oh, that'd make a good idea, that'd make a good post." Just day-to-day things. And I'm always thinking, "Oh, I gotta write that down. Oh, I like that idea." Just, I don't know, it's just always… my mind's always turning that way. And I realize, you know, not everybody thinks that way.

ilise: You could! I think other people could. That's why I wanted to have you on the podcast, because what you're describing is so natural to you, and I think it is potentially natural to other people, including other writers who love to write, but somehow get blocked on their own writing, their own content.

Val Roskens Tews: I think it's sometimes just finding everyday things. Like, I did a post one time about washing dishes—dirty dishes. But I made it a reverse gratitude post. In that, okay, I have dirty dishes, that means I had food to eat, that means we had a grocery store to buy food. That means we had money to buy food. That means there were farmers who grew the food, and I just kept going back and back and back, and that just made me grateful for my dirty dishes.

ilise: I love that. But it also sounds like you do a version of what I do, or what I say about myself, which is that I thrive in response, meaning that I am always listening for ideas. I don't rack my brain for them, I don't look for them, they just come to me from the world, and like you're describing, everyday situations. Does that resonate with you?

Val Roskens Tews: Oh, absolutely, and I hear your voice daily saying, "Listen to the market, and when something doesn't go right, who cares?" That has been the best phrase. You try something, and you never know sometimes until you try it, and sometimes it's, "Wow, that really worked well," and "That didn't work so great, what else can I do?" And that has helped so much, because it's like, who does care? Yes, you have to care, I'm not saying that, but don't get so hung up. I love how you say, "Make your business a laboratory," because that has been a huge mind shift change for me.

ilise: Yeah, good. I'm glad. But you have done something different than most of the people I work with, and so again, that's why I wanted you to come on the podcast. And it started, from my point of view, with what you call the butterfly strategy. You seemed to, very early on, come up with, like, a framework other people might call it, or a process that you use to help people, and then you've used that and promoted the butterfly strategy, and now it's a book, which we're going to talk about. But just talk in general about the butterfly strategy first. Like, where did that come from? I know you're gonna say, "I love butterflies."

Val Roskens Tews: Well, yes. It actually started with you, because you asked me, what, 4 or 5 years ago, on one of your 21-day challenge sessions. And when you asked me, first time I think I said no, and you asked me again, and I'm like, "Okay," and then I'm like, "Why are you asking me? I don't know anything."

Val Roskens Tews: So then it's like, "Okay, I gotta come up with something to say."

Val Roskens Tews: And in doing so, that made me reflect on my journey so far at that time. And what I discovered in doing—because I kind of, like, wrote out my thoughts, I actually created an article, again, writing for me, so that I could be more prepared to talk with you, and I discovered that the biggest thing that made a difference for me on LinkedIn was community. And as I've been helping people with their content creation, I discovered that some of them, once they posted, were, like, not even responding to comments made on their posts, nor were they commenting on other people's posts, and then they were wondering why nothing was happening on their page. People weren't realizing the importance of connecting and commenting, and that posting comments just isn't enough, especially now with the emphasis that LinkedIn has on, like, focusing on higher interaction value—you know, is your content relevant, and are you, like, talking with other people. One quote that I heard that I think really helps this is, Lynnaire Johnson said it this way: "Posts introduce you, but comments build you."

ilise: Mmm. I like that.

Val Roskens Tews: So, you know, it's… people have to know who you are, and they're not just gonna know from your posts.

ilise: And just as a little aside for those who like what Lynnaire said, I did a podcast episode #544 recently with her all about LinkedIn also, so…

Val Roskens Tews: fabulous, and you can learn so—I've learned so much from her, so…

ilise: But you know what I was just thinking as you were talking about your experience with LinkedIn and what you noticed is that you seem to have also kind of become a bit of a LinkedIn expert yourself. Would you say that?

Val Roskens Tews: No. Okay, fine.

ilise: Alright, but come back to the butterfly then, right? I asked you to… I invited you, you said no, I invited you again, you said yes, and then you prepared, and you had to come up with something, and where did the butterfly come from?

Val Roskens Tews: Well, the butterfly came in because—the short version of my company name, my business name is Butterfly Copywriting. And there was—I lost my dad 6 months earlier, before my—short version, before my granddaughter was born, and one afternoon, I was outside with my granddaughter, watching her and her brothers play, and this beautiful monarch butterfly came and, like, almost kissed her cheek, and then flew off to the tree and hovered there for a few more minutes. This is in southwest Minnesota, where monarchs are not—you don't see a lot of them. And that immediately made me think of my dad, that he was reminding me that there was still love and hope in the world, and I needed to share that. And that's why I named my company Butterfly Copywriting, and just in the last, probably, two—last few months, last couple years, I've really been focusing on using the butterfly as an analogy, as a metaphor, so to speak. And as I'm learning more about the exquisite design of the butterfly, it came to me to use the butterfly itself as a way to remember what I call, excuse me, the three C's, which is strategic connections, thoughtful comments, and authentic content. So, the body equals connecting because you have to connect with people in order to relate to them. The left wing is commenting, because you have to interact with them and talk with them, and then the right wing is content. So I call that the butterfly strategy because it's the combination of all three that is needed to be effective.

ilise: And do you… will you acknowledge that that's a framework?

Val Roskens Tews: Yes, that, that I will. Expert, no. Framework, yes.

ilise: Okay, good, we're getting somewhere. And actually, I've heard similar analogies, actually, using an airplane, but butterfly is so much more beautiful. Okay, I love that. And, I guess that's a good segue to the book, right? So…

Val Roskens Tews: Yes.

ilise: You've been in business how long? Did you say 4 or 5 years?

Val Roskens Tews: I started in October of 2019.

ilise: Okay, so… that's 6 or 7 years.

Val Roskens Tews: Okay.

ilise: good.

Val Roskens Tews: Math, see? I said math is not my specialty.

ilise: That's right, all right. I'm not bad at math. Okay, and very soon, you came up with this butterfly metaphor, and you've been building it, and you've been offering, you have… you do all sorts of really fun and interesting things on LinkedIn, and maybe we'll get to those, or maybe we'll just save it for another podcast episode, but… because I do want to get to the book. So you wrote a book, it's called The Butterfly Strategy: Transform Online Connections into Community and Clients. So, how did the book come about? Tell us all about the book.

Val Roskens Tews: Well, that, again, it started when you asked me to be on the 21 Day Challenge session, one of your sessions. I created that article. Well, as I was going along, that article actually became an engagement guide, or a lead magnet. I like to call it an engagement guide, and the first version was… it was there. But I was able to do a workshop from that—it expanded into a workshop, and it expanded into a masterclass, and… I now have version 3 of that original guide that is out on my website, and from that, as I was creating a special digital asset for… I was a sponsor for a conference last summer.

ilise: Wow.

Val Roskens Tews: As I was working on creating this engagement guide that could be part… that could be my contribution at this conference, it dawned on me that this could be a brand book. And by a brand book, I mean it's telling about what I do in book form, and that expanded into creating the book that just got published in February called The Butterfly Strategy. Well, as I went along, I realized there's all kinds of elements that go into creating a book. And because I had been building a community of business friends, collaborators, and experts on LinkedIn, I knew who did what and what their specialties were. I have a book because I had… my brand book coach was Jessica Anderson, and she was also my editor. I knew I couldn't do a book cover or lay out the interior, but I knew Tony Serafin could. As for publishing, I realized that was above my pay grade, that was too confusing for me. And honestly, I didn't want to learn the tech, but Diane Vollick, who is an amazing publishing partner, she helped me get it published on Amazon, and IngramSpark, and Bookshop.org. So… I have a book because I created a team of people who could help me.

ilise: No, no, no, no, no, no, I may have misheard it, but either way, I am channeling my listeners, and I know that when they hear something like that, they think, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I could never do that. That must be super expensive. I'm not in a position…" Why? Like, all of that, blah blah blah. So, tell me about this… being a sponsor at a conference. What was the conference? How did this happen? How much did it cost? Was it worth it? Anything you can tell us.

Val Roskens Tews: I've actually been a sponsor at several conferences.

ilise: What?

Val Roskens Tews: My name was mentioned on stage. I was also included in the programs, and all my contact information was there, and like I said, there were digital, like, my guide was included. They had a list of digital assets.

ilise: ...obviously, but can you give us an example of one or two of the conferences, just so people can get a sense of the kind of thing you're talking about?

Val Roskens Tews: Okay, recently, Elaine Langford had a… what was called She Steps Forward International, and it was a conference for Christian women entrepreneurs. And I wasn't able to attend the conference, but I was able to, like I said, share my books as—I think they gave them out as door prizes.

ilise: Awesome.

Val Roskens Tews: I had a full-page ad in their program. 

ilise: And share a few other of your… because you keep saying the main—it's not the main way, so what is the main way? Tell us about your main way of marketing your business, and then I'm going to ask you how business is, because that's kind of the elephant in the room.

Val Roskens Tews: Okay. Of course, it's as simple as a marketing plan, because I've used your program (The Simplest Marketing Plan aka SMP)—incredible program—for several years, and it has made a huge difference for me, and I have told people this, you know, these are the three areas you really need to work on… need to focus on. And in one way, I think the three tools in the SMP complement the butterfly strategy, because, like, your content marketing, to me, complements the right wing, which is content creation.

ilise: I'm so glad, you know, to hear the impact I've had, because often I don't really hear about it. And, but I do feel like my job is to see potential in people when they don't see it themselves. And I saw that in you, I see it in a lot of people. Most people don't believe it's there, even if I tell them it's there, and my way of telling them that it's there is to say, "Do this, all you gotta do is this, all you gotta do is this," but they don't do it. So, you did, and you, you know… I'm trying to use the butterfly analogy, actually, here. You flew away with it.

Val Roskens Tews: Well, you, yes, you have influenced me incredibly, so.

ilise: ...you gave me… sometimes I'd, like…

Val Roskens Tews: "How is that going to work?" Okay, but I have to try it because I don't want to go back to you and say, "I didn't do it."

ilise: That would be bad. I've got my whip over here that I use.

Val Roskens Tews: But it's just trying, and when you said, "Have your business be a laboratory, be willing to try things." Well, I've tried things, and like I said, I went, I don't... trying a number of different things, it came down to: I want to help people share their message by writing an article, because that is one of my favorite formats for writing. Create an article that can be then repurposed into LinkedIn posts, into newsletter content, into a resource on your website, a resource to send to people. So that is when I focused, narrowed it down to what kind of writing do I want to do, because there's all kinds I can do. But what's the one that I want to focus on? And it came down to article writing.

ilise: Yeah, I mean, one of the things I hear underneath...

Val Roskens Tews: ...along, and then as I went, "Oh, I do need a coach, oh, a coach can help me, but I wonder how…" Well, it is what it is, but…

ilise: It is what it is.

Val Roskens Tews: ...that's… you know, like I said, and then you have to get out there and be on LinkedIn and try things, and post things, and, "Well, I didn't get a good response." Well, neither did I this time. Oh well, we'll go on to the next one.

ilise: So you're not focused on the metrics.

Val Roskens Tews: ...voice. Like, with my book, I have… several of my business friends have been promoting my book on their LinkedIn pages, which I really appreciate. That has made a difference, because they're introducing me to people that I wouldn't have met otherwise. So, to me, a business friend, while most of them won't become a client, they will be a resource, they will be a referral… a potential referral source. Like I said, someone to amplify your voice, someone maybe to talk to and say, "Hey, what do you think of this idea?" Because I've done that before, going, "I'm thinking of this, what do you think?" And they'll say no, or, "Yeah, give it a try," or maybe do this. And… know you, and they get to know what you do, then there may be a time when they're like—hey, I've had people come back to me 6 months, a year later, and go, "I want to talk to you now, I'm ready, I want your help." And I was not expecting that, and I was not, you know, focusing on that. I've had conversations, and the conversation has ended, and I'm going, "Well, that was nice," and didn't think anything more of it, and 6 months later, she came back to me—I can think of one example, where she came back to me and said, "I'd like you to help me with my..."

ilise: ...content creation.

Val Roskens Tews: Okay. So, it's…

Val Roskens Tews: ...that book. That is one of my foundation books.

ilise: A Go-Giver.

Val Roskens Tews: Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann, M-A-N-N.

ilise: Excellent. All right, well, there's definitely going to have to be a part two to this, because I didn't get to so many of my questions, Val, but we are going to have to wrap up. But I do want to know, how's business? That's my last question. How's business?

ilise: ...of the room, and…

Val Roskens Tews: To me, that was like, "Yes!"

ilise: Well, you know what, that also is a good segue to one more question that I just thought of, which is, but aren't you afraid AI is going...

Val Roskens Tews: Okay, I am on LinkedIn at Val Roskens, R-O-S-K-E-N-S, Tews, T-E-W-S? And my website is butterflycopywriting.com, or my author website that talks about my book, The Butterfly Strategy, is under my name, valroskenstews.com.

ilise: Beautiful. Alright, well, this is awesome, and as soon as we hang up, we're gonna schedule Part 2.

Val Roskens Tews: Okay, well, thank you so much, I was so excited when you asked me, and again...