Midlife Career Transition: Building a Business and Community from Scratch with Betty Galvan | #255

👉 Start Your Second Act Strategy Call with Shannon here.

What does a successful career transition really look like?

In this episode of the Second Act Success Podcast, Shannon Russell sits down with Betty Galvan, a former teacher turned female entrepreneur, digital marketing expert, and coworking space owner, to talk about her inspiring journey from education to entrepreneurship.

Betty shares how she went from teaching middle school to launching a blog during the early days of digital marketing, which eventually evolved into a successful small business helping companies grow through social media. Today, she runs a digital marketing agency and owns two coworking spaces in New Jersey.

If you're a midlife woman considering a career change, dreaming about starting a business, or looking for real-life second act career ideas, this episode is packed with inspiration and actionable advice.

In this episode, we cover:

•  How Betty navigated her career transition from teaching to entrepreneurship 
•  Turning a passion project into a profitable small business
•  The early days of blogging and digital marketing 
•  How to evolve your business as industries change 
•  Building a digital marketing agency from the ground up 
•  Taking risks and acquiring a coworking business 
•  The power of community for women in business 
•  How to make time for your next chapter, even when life feels busy 

Betty’s story is proof that your second act career doesn’t have to be perfectly planned. It evolves as you do.

If you’ve been wondering how to start a business, pivot careers, or step into entrepreneurship, this episode will show you what’s possible.

🔗 Get the full show notes here!

--------

Book a free Strategy Call with Shannon

Download Free Resources

➡️ Let's Connect: Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

More resources & discounts:

Home Chef Meal Delivery - (free shipping & $4.99/serving)

Flodesk Email Marketing - (25% off 1st year)

Stitch Fix Personal Stylist - ($25 off 1st order)

Buzzsprout Podcast Hosting - ($20 off)

Podmatch Guesting

(*Some affiliate links)

Transcript

Transcription:

Second Act Success Podcast

Season 1 – Midlife Career Transition: Building a Business and Community from Scratch

Episode - #255

Host: Shannon Russell

Guest: Betty Galvan

Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

 [00:00:00] 

Shannon Russell: Welcome back to the second Act Success podcast. I am your host business coach Shannon Russell. Today I spent time with Betty Galvan. Betty is a former teacher turned blogger back when digital marketing and blogging was just taking off. She created my friend Betty says, a digital marketing agency that she still runs today.

In addition, she manages two coworking spaces in New Jersey. We're gonna dive into all of Betty's pivots and how she has really gone from education into entrepreneurship.

Shannon Russell: Welcome to the podcast, Betty. I'm so happy to have you here. This is great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited. I'm a big fan. Thank you. I'm a big fan of yours. , Betty and I know each other because she invited me to speak at her coworking space, the Co-Co in New Jersey, and we just had a lovely time what a beautiful space. As Betty and I got to know each other, I said she [00:01:00] is the perfect example of who we need here on the show. 

Betty Galvan: Oh, thank you so much for this and for your time, Shannon. Thank you. 

Shannon Russell: Let's start from the beginning.

Betty, tell me where your career began. It was education, right? 

Betty Galvan: That's right. I am a former middle school teacher. , I taught language arts and reading, , seventh and eighth grade. I was so young, my goodness. And now that I think about, I have one middle schooler left it feels like a very long time ago.

But I, I just love reading. I love writing. And as a young child, I was just immersed in, in books, and just love it. I still do. But my husband's work took us out to Asia. So we lived in Japan and I had my very first. Boy, my first baby boy in Tokyo I did teach at an international school there, which was awesome.

It was preschool and I realized that I did really like the little ones too. But I started to blog and to just document our experience living abroad, which is very unique. No one in our family had done that. That was in [00:02:00] 2007. 

Shannon Russell: And how long were you over there for? 

Betty Galvan: So we were in Japan for almost three years, and then we were in Singapore for nine months.

Shannon Russell: You had one child with you over there? Yes. 

Betty Galvan: And I waited. So my second was born four years later once we were back in New York City because there's no way I was going to keep having children abroad. It was, it's not easy without family and friends. Yeah. 

Shannon Russell: Oh yeah. I mean I moved from the west coast to the east coast to be closer to family after my first, so I can't imagine exactly being across the world.

That's an incredible experience to get to teach over there 

Betty Galvan: as well. And then Yes, it was fantastic. And let me just say that for international schools, they're excited if you have certified teachers, looking for work there. So that was awesome getting to meet families from all over the world as expats.

And we were so young, we were not on an expat package by any means, so my husband had raised his hand to try to really, climb and get ahead in his career. So that was a risk that we both took and I was there to support him and it was wonderful to know that I could [00:03:00] work out there and I did.

And so did it until I had my baby. 

Shannon Russell: And then the blogging, you got in when blogging was newer and gosh, it was starting and so tell me about that. Because now, I have a blog. Everyone has a blog, but it's, yeah, not the way it was back then when it was not at all really impactful at, it's 

Betty Galvan: just, I am.

So lucky. I'm so glad that I wasn't I never hesitated to put our personal life, and of course it's how much you decide you wanna share publicly. But my colleagues, my teacher friends, they were in awe, my family, right? Nobody had ever left, the city my husband and I grew up in Chicago just being in New York was a, a.

A big deal. And then moving to Tokyo was even a bigger deal clearly. So they said, you should write about this journal. There's like online journals now. It's hilarious. We were calling them online journals. We only had MySpace and Facebook then I started to share my blogs just. With my family and friends and it picked up some momentum.

I noticed people were really [00:04:00] interested. And fast forward just a year or so since I started the whole sponsoring on blogs and influencer marketing for bloggers, that's really where it all started. And this is 18, 19 years yeah, about 19 years ago. It, it's great to have been one of the first, and it's funny now because I, , I started accepting, sponsored content, working with household brand names like Neutrogena, Maybelline Tide, Huggies.

Because once I had my babies, it was relatable content, what I was using, being paid by these brands when I had such few readers. Incredible. I was also very niche to the Hispanic and Latino population because I, I am bilingual and I was writing some stuff in Spanish.

A lot of it was raising a Spanish speaker in Asia, right? So that, that got a lot of attention. Other women who were doing what I was doing, back home in the states we found each other. We started this, community [00:05:00] Latina bloggers and the woman who founded , that organization, Anna Flores, I give her a lot of credit.

She was the one who really started to get the attention of PR agencies and the brands to invest in, in us, and we were a very small group. So I like to say I'm an og. Are in first. You're one of the first 

Shannon Russell: And what a great, job, right? You didn't go back into the classroom at that point.

That's key because 

Betty Galvan: I, I knew that with the internet being what it was, that I could build a portfolio, right? Online and I, at the time, I thought I was gonna write a book. I just really said, I wanna stay at home. My mom stayed at home with us. And I see the benefits of, but.

But my mom also was in college educated and I am, right? And so for me, I was like, how can I not, I do wanna work, I wanna contribute in some way, but I wanna be home with my baby and I was abroad, right? So right. That, that had to be something. So I said, let me start building, let me start writing. And that's why I decided to go ahead and do the blog not knowing [00:06:00] where.

Influencer marketing was gonna go crazy. 

Shannon Russell: Yeah. Yes. You got in at such a great time. And it led you to really diving in and really building a career in digital marketing. 

Betty Galvan: Exactly. And evolving with it. Because, then the the brand started getting really savvy and had, started developing these campaigns and said, Hey, when you blog and you write about us, can you also post it on your Facebook?

And then Instagram came along. I remember one of my first Instagram posts was of my. Second child, so I already was back in New York City so he's now going to be 15 and he was a baby and he's one of my, first posts. Then the brands wanted us to post on Instagram and that's how Microblogging we used to have Twitter parties for brands.

Just having hundreds of people tweet about one brand at the same time. Yeah. We really, I really have watched it all, grow. 

Shannon Russell: Is that still a part of what you do today or how did that 

Betty Galvan: fast forward to moving to New Jersey?

Because I had our, we had our [00:07:00] third son and we're like, you. Yeah. You gotta be a millionaire to raise three boys in New York City. . And we needed space. So we moved out to New Jersey and I started to I needed to make friends. I didn't have a community in New Jersey.

This was 13 years ago and I started going to women organization groups and I give a lot of credit to believe, inspire, grow. That's a big organization that's been around for. 15 years, I wanna say I've been a, I was a part of it for 13 and I started meeting women who knew about the blog. I was promoting my blog.

A lot of them wanted to be on the blog, but, and I started to realize really quickly, sure, I can promote other businesses, local businesses, and I would ask them what the brands are asking. Asking me, can you post this on your Facebook? Once I write it, can you post this on your Instagram?

And they did not have a social media presence. Many of them didn't. So I was like, there's something here. People wanted help with their social media as it was exploding. And it was already, the height of, not the height of it, [00:08:00] but it was 13 years ago. So I said, oh, we have something here. And that's when I started.

My friend Betty says, the blog turned into MFBS digital Marketing Services. For the past, let's just say 10 years, we have been helping small to mid-size businesses. Mostly service providers tell their story on social media. So we help 'em with LinkedIn, Instagram.

Facebook and TikTok now. So we've come a long way now to help others tell their story. 

Shannon Russell: And you really know how to do it. In all the different arenas. And that's incredible to have someone like you that can really say, okay, based on your business and your brand, this is what will work best.

That's right. And really working one-on-one to help them grow. 

Betty Galvan: Yeah. So we have served up to 14, 15 industries at a time. There was a, we. A lot of people would say, Betty, niche and just work with realtors. 'Cause they were the first to come. But I think the creative side of me and then I had started to build a team.

I knew that my team [00:09:00] would need a diversity in services and industries. To keep the creativity going, I should say. Yeah. Sure. We currently, right now I think we have six or seven realtors we help, but we have restaurants, we have attorneys, doctors, dentists all types of different services.

So finding how to tell their story in unique ways in their industry has been a lot of fun. 

Shannon Russell: And really rewarding, because you're able to do all of this from home. That's right. As mom still. 

Betty Galvan: Ugh. So my team is spread across the United States. There's six of us and I have my editor and one other woman who helps me with content collection.

So what makes us. Stand apart from other social media management agencies is that we show up to create content with our clients. So a realtor, for example, could have their photographer, their professional photographer, their professional videographer shooting the current [00:10:00] listing, but we show up with our iPhone or our GoPro to do content with the team that's a little bit more relaxed and more organic and authentic and not just beautiful pictures of the house.

Shannon Russell: You're showing more of the person behind the brand or behind the business. 100%. That's what people wanna buy from or connect with. That's what people want to see. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I love that you're still doing that, but then you also. Ventured a couple of years ago into acquiring the cocoa.

So tell us where that came from. Yes, 

Betty Galvan: so because I love all networking groups, especially groups that really cater to female business owners, entrepreneurs, you name it. I was also a part belong to this organization called the coco which is community focus co-learning, co-working together.

So there's a lot of networking happening, but they have a space, right? They had a space in Summit, New Jersey, and after being a member for about four [00:11:00] years they hired my friend Betty says, digital marketing. To do their social media. So in late 2023. I'm immersed in the cocoa. I work from there.

I do my workshops with, from there I was networking with other women there, and in late 2023, they called me in for messaging that the founders were ready to retire and they were gonna close shop. And I, I just couldn't. See that happening? I said, no, not, it's such a great place. It's for creatives and business owners like me who need a space, an office and that networking and that community component.

I just saw the value and I just know that for, I knew that 130 other members were gonna be so disappointed. That, that meeting quickly turned into, would you consider selling it to me? So by January of 2024, I had acquired it and [00:12:00] I've been managing it. Since then with my team, I was very lucky that Kathy Cohen, who had been with the cocoa for a very long time decided to stay.

And then, we continue doing what the philosophy and the motto and the passion of the cocoa was. And we were going strong now. So we're, we just opened , our second location in Flo Park, New Jersey. 

Shannon Russell: Congrats. That is so exciting. When I heard that, I was just so over the moon because after just being at the original cocoa, it was just so beautiful and so warm and so inviting.

So to know you have another location out there is incredible. 

Betty Galvan: Yes. Thank you. Our coworkers we're definitely running outta room and I think for our community who we gather so much, we have. Eight different special interest groups. And by that that just helps our calendar and maintaining focus on the meetings that our community need.

Everything from finance to marketing, to wellness. So we have eight of those special interest groups. We have a lot of people coming into the space, so we love our summit location. [00:13:00] It's not going anywhere, but we just needed more space. 

Shannon Russell: And how is that going to be managing too now? I know now in addition to your marketing agency.

Betty Galvan: So I think that's that's the beauty , I have the marketing director at the Cocoa has been with my friend Betty for many years. So my, the, my friend Betty team really is powering the marketing behind the cocoa. That's our strength. I think that's what we really bring, we are saying now that it's hard to, both companies are so different, but what we do have in common is that we're bringing people together online and in person.

So I'm all about the community building, whether. Businesses need to just grow communities online or business owners need to grow their networks in person. I find that is the, that's the connection and the education background that I have. Really listening to see what business owners need and providing and creating that programming to help them grow both personal and professional growth [00:14:00] is super important.

So we have a nice balance. We have great. Allies. We used to be women only. We are women forward, but we're inclusive to all. So it's just really awesome to see the diversity also of our membership grow in the last couple years. 

Shannon Russell: Do you have plans to expand further throughout New Jersey or further?

Betty Galvan: If you asked this morning when I woke up super stressed about, I was like, don't let me do this again. If I mention anything please stop me. But as, as it's a lot of work. And, and there's always the fear of the financial risks that one takes. That's the big one. Time and energy.

I'm very lucky. I feel like I'm there and I can handle that. But of course, the risk, right? Of just continuing to invest. But the beauty of community, if you can bring that everywhere, why wouldn't people want to, right? So we are seeing ourselves as the third space, right?

You have your home, you have your office. Maybe if you go into work [00:15:00] somewhere or your stay at home office or work from home, I should say. But we want people to see the cocoa as their third space, right? Yeah. So a place where you can network, a place where you can meet a client. A place where the organization can rent a conference room.

Or just for you to have your own private office now outside of your home. It's beautiful while still. The main focus for us is still connecting people that are sitting there next to each other. A lot of people, sometimes we need a little nudge, right? So we're bringing in that hospitality feel.

When you walk in, you don't have to pay for coffee. The wifi is strong and if we know that, oh my gosh, so and so should meet so and we're doing that without disrupting their work, yeah. So making sure people know who they're sitting next to.

It's very unique compared to other coworking spaces. 

Shannon Russell: I love the fact that, more and more of us have been working from home. And it gets a little stale. It gets a little lonely, and you need that option of getting out and talking to [00:16:00] people who are like-minded. That's really what you're creating there is that, and you had an Instagram reel on the other day where it was just a pan of.

Location and people were turned around from their computers talking to someone next to them. I glad that and I caught my eye 

Betty Galvan: that Yeah, I'm glad you noticed that. And that was that stage. She even looked at me like, what are you doing? So yeah, I think that the social media background that we have and that storytelling makes it so easy for us to tell the story of the cocoa.

100%. Yeah. And look, today I am sitting at my home office, right? How lucky and blessed we are to have these options. And because my husband is traveling and because my parents are also gone, who helped me so much, and and the dogs, I'm afraid I went into this conversation with you fearing that the dogs will bark.

So it could be disruptive. I loaded the dishwasher and it's you're thinking, you're being like, you're multitasking. But those distractions really do cut into your productivity. I feel like a lot of business owners who are women, they, [00:17:00] we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, and we have to do everything.

We feel like we have to do everything. And I think that if you say, no, today, I'm going to the cocoa, right? You're investing in yourself. You're investing in either the, if you're just coming for an hour for a meeting. With one of the special interest groups, or if you're coming to meet somebody that we connected you with and you're having a coffee or you are setting down, four or five hours to just work and have no interruptions.

That's the whole point, right? Yeah. Really it's a third space for you to be able to focus on you or your. 

Shannon Russell: Networking has such a stigma of just, oh, I've gotta go network tonight, and it doesn't feel that way in what you're creating. It feels more of let me get together with other like-minded people and have a conversation about a topic.

It's not going out feeling like you need to throw your business cards around a big conference table. 

Betty Galvan: Yes. That is such a great point, and I'm glad you noticed that, Shannon, because we do with all these special interest group topics every month. [00:18:00] So let's say the marketing group is going to be talking about SEO for website, right?

People who genuinely have that, concern or questions, they come, they sit at the conference room, they listen to the presentation, and then there's so much time. Right before the meeting or during the meeting or after to get to know the other people without it feeling like, here's my 32nd elevator pitch.

Just like you're saying. Yeah. And just to be able to learn who in our community can maybe help me with something else, right? Lots of opportunities and the special interest groups really have been created based on our community's needs. People say, I wanna join this community, then we do listening sessions and we just talk about what is missing, or what would you like to see here? So the finance group is fairly new. We have the virtual power hour, which is a zoom. Everything's in person. But we did add this one online.

Special interest group because we did feel that there were some people who were missing and couldn't get in. They signed up. They want the community, but for [00:19:00] different reasons, they just can't get in the door as often as possible. And that's a business development group with a different theme every month.

And we meet twice a month. And it just really is a power hour. It's one hour to help each other out. So we listen, we see what's missing. Nothing is just created just to, because it's popular or trendy or whatnot. 

Shannon Russell: Well, I love that You've really pivoted at all these different aspects of your life based on what you need and what felt right to you.

Okay, I'm teaching, I have my son. Let's start blogging. Let's evolve this into marketing. There's just so many times where you bet on yourself. And it's really apparent that it's worked out for you really well. What advice would you give to someone who's listening and they've got these ideas, things aren't working out for them the way they want right now, and they need to pivot.

They need to make this change. 

Betty Galvan: Early on for me and as a young mother and I feel this happens a lot with young professionals, or even if there are [00:20:00] no children yet women start to feel like, was this the right choice and afraid to, to the make the change. I would say that dedicate a little bit of time.

Of your new passion of whatever that is, right? If you do wanna write that book, you have to set the time aside, I have found that the more I take on, I realize I had the time. , You figure it out. You make the time, right? If you say, I'm gonna work on my new business, or This is the business plan I wanna do, or I wanna write that book, you have to set the time aside to do that and keep yourself accountable or find an accountability partner.

Yes. To keep you on track. The more you speak it into existence. I think that's another thing. I'm. I'm a little woo in that yes, a lot of business sense, but also a little woo in putting it out into the universe and what you say you're gonna do if you really want it. Say it, tell people.

And that helps too. But I, there's nothing better than dedicating and giving yourself, allowing for yourself to have to make that time for [00:21:00] you. 

Shannon Russell: It's like a puzzle. Then once you start actually saying where can I find the time? It becomes a lot easier than just saying, oh, I'm too busy.

Exactly. And brushing it off. Exactly. Like just try at least try and then you'll 

Betty Galvan: know. One example is as I got busier, I said now how do I fit in my workouts, right? Working out is super important to me. It helps with my mind, like clarity. It helps with anxiety. Like I just. Need to do it.

Waking up earlier, it wasn't easy. It took a couple of months, but now I'm in bed by nine o'clock and, instead of scrolling on my phone, I can knock out so quickly because now I'm exhausted. So there's no wasting of time so just shifting and looking at where your time and what you're spending your time on I think is really important.

Shannon Russell: You've shared so much great stuff, so thank you for your time. How can everyone connect with you, Betty? 

Betty Galvan: Oh, thank you. So you can find my personal Instagram is @myfriendbetty. The social media agency is [00:22:00] @MFBSdigital marketing, that's Instagram. And the cocoa is @thecoconj on Instagram.

You can also find me on LinkedIn, Betty Galvan. 

Shannon Russell: I will link to everything in the show notes. Your digital marketing services are all over. It's not just New Jersey based, is that right? Oh, no. Yeah, 

Betty Galvan: we can help people all over. People are super savvy. We are so lucky to work with people who have videographers and are.

Sending us their own content, we strategize with them. So it's a big team effort. We love for our clients to be able to see us as an extension of their team. Yeah, so we have a client in a couple clients in New York City, Florida. We have had one in Tennessee in Illinois, what we want is people to strategize with us.

If they can get us the content we've asked, then we execute in making those really cool videos, reels and make sure that we not only post for you on social, but we're also engaging for you. Like I said we want people to see us as an extension of their team. 

Shannon Russell: And so important [00:23:00] in this day and age to have that.

And it's easy to say, oh, go take a video, but then you do it and you're busy with the day-to-day of your business. So to have you as that partner to be able to just take everything and get it out there is so helpful. It's 

Betty Galvan: people know what they need if a person says, no, I'm committed, I have a videographer.

I can get you that then. That's awesome. And those are people that are usually not shy to be on camera if it's somebody local who really, they need help. And we're so good at extracting all the information from that person to make them feel comfortable on camera. We also have people who choose not to be on camera.

Yeah. And we do a lot of graphic work. With AI now, there's a lot of reels that we can create as well. Without having to make the owner, uncomfortable being on camera. 

We're not making anybody do anything they don't wanna do.

No. Some people wanna dance and some people clearly do not. 

Shannon Russell: Yeah. And either way, it helps your brand as long as you get something out there that's sos. 

Betty Galvan: And now with the cocoa, we have that additional, again, that third space. If some of my clients don't want [00:24:00] to meet in their office or they're working from home, we are, providing the space for them too at the coco.

Shannon Russell: Betty, I'm so proud of you and all that you've been building and continue to build. It's amazing. Thank 

Betty Galvan: you so much. Thank you. I'll take all the positive energy from you. 

Shannon Russell: Thank you for sharing everything. I know you're gonna inspire a lot of listeners, and I will link to everything so everyone at home can connect with you and keep doing all the great stuff and expanding my friend Betty and the Coco.

Thank you. 

Thank you.

Speaker: Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to second act success. To view show notes from this episode, visit secondactsuccess.co. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode. Reviews only take a few moments, and they really do mean so much.

Thank you again for listening. I'm Shannon Russell, and this is Second Act [00:25:00] Success.