About Miabella | The 20-Hour CEO Chronicles
Business + Life Integration
Hey there! I’m Miabella Galvan, and I’m building in public at 62.
I’ve built a $150M operating entity inside a Fortune 100 company that drove $20B in sales. I’ve spent 20+ years working with privately held businesses generating $5M to $250M in annual revenue. I’ve led teams, managed complexity most CEOs never see, and proven I know how to build and scale.
And I’ve learned this: the second half requires different courage.
What This Is
The 20-Hour CEO Chronicles is for seasoned women CEOs who’ve done the building and are now designing what fits.
Not what should fit. Not what used to fit. What fits now in business AND in life.
Essays published every other Sunday, twice a month, about the real work of building a business that supports your life instead of consuming it, while actually living a life worth supporting.
What You’ll Find Here
Building in Public at 62
The experiments, pivots, and real-time testing of what actually works, business strategy, marketing tests, the pivots, the failures, and what I’m learning by doing it all out loud at 62.
Clarity by Design
How to know what actually fits, not what should. Business decisions, life design choices, energy management, and the honest inventory that makes space for what matters.
From Doing to Leading
The shift from carrying it all to calling the shots, building trust, installing systems, and leading from overflow instead of obligation.
What Fits Now
Designing the second half on my terms, 20-hour work months, raising a teenager at 62, health and longevity, adventure and curiosity, and what actually matters in this season of life.
Salty Truths
Hard-earned wisdom, unvarnished, the real talk about business, life, and the second half that nobody else is saying. Because you’ve earned the right to hear it straight.
A little salty, a little sweet, a lot of soul.
My Journey
Here’s the evolution nobody talks about:
My 20s and 30s at Compaq: 70-hour workweeks. Location-dependent. Building a $150M operating entity that drove $20B in sales. Proving I could play at scale.
My 40s and 50s in consulting: 30-40 hour workweeks. Better, but still somewhat location-dependent. Still saying yes to everything. Still carrying more than I needed to.
My early 50s: Shifted to 20-hour workweeks after my daughter came into my life at 51. Suddenly, what fit mattered more than what looked impressive.
Now, in my 60s: 20-hour workmonths of actual delivery. Everything else — content, strategy, systems — runs lean and supports the work instead of becoming the work.
This didn’t happen overnight. And it didn’t happen by following someone else’s blueprint.
It’s happening by testing what works for me. By building systems that create visibility without requiring me to perform on social media every day. By choosing long-term assets over short-term noise.
And by being honest about what forces the redesign.
The Truth About Permission
Here’s what I’ve learned: Most of us don’t redesign our business or our life because we give ourselves permission.
We redesign because something forces us to.
A health crisis. A family change. Burnout. A newborn placed in your arms at 51. Hitting a wall so hard you can’t ignore it anymore.
The question isn’t whether you’ll redesign. It’s whether you’ll do it with clarity or chaos.
That’s what I mean by designing what fits now.
Who This Is For
Seasoned women CEOs (45-65+) who:
Have proven they can work hard, and are ready to work clear
Want their business to support their life, not consume it
Are designing the second half on their terms — business AND life
Are tired of content that tells them to do more
Want real talk from someone who’s lived the transition
If you’re looking for “10x your business” or “hustle harder,” this isn’t for you.
If you’re looking for clarity, real talk, and a path forward when life forces the redesign, you’re in the right place.
What I’m Building
Beyond this newsletter, I work with seasoned women through:
CEO Clarity Day — 3-hour virtual intensives to fine-tune direction, priorities, and rhythm so your business supports your life, not consumes it (CEOClarityDay.com)
The Seasoned CEO Way — Self-paced digital program launching March 2026: From carrying it all to calling the shots (TheSeasonedCEOWay.com)
CEOs in Cahoots — Invite-only peer circles for seasoned women CEOs (new group launching 2026)
What “Building in Public” Means
I’m not just writing about strategy. I’m testing it in real time and showing you what works and what doesn’t.
That means you’ll see:
The pivots (like shutting down a LinkedIn newsletter with 106 subscribers to launch this)
The experiments (testing Substack vs. LinkedIn, audio vs. written, what actually converts)
The failures (what didn’t work and why)
The structure (how I actually run a business in 20 hours a month)
The life side (what it’s like to run a business while raising a teenager at 62)
This isn’t polished highlight reel. It’s the messy middle of building something real.
Connect With Me
- Website: MiabellaGalvan.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miabellagalvan/
- Email: Hit reply to any Chronicle — I read every message
Subscribe
New essays arrive every other Sunday, straight to your inbox.
No algorithm. No noise. Just clarity.
Welcome. I’m glad you’re here.
Ciao for now — Miabella 💎
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