Welcome back, Product Bosses! We talk a lot about what it takes to build a successful business: the strategies, the sales, the marketing. But what happens when life gets hard, when you're navigating grief or loss, and just getting through the day feels like enough, yet you still have a business to run? In this episode, I'm joined by Meyla Ruwin, CEO and co-founder of Beksan Designs Jewelry & Accessories, a business she started with her sister in 2011, inspired by their American and Turkish heritage. Meyla has spent the last 15 years building a business rooted in connection, culture, and community, and she shares what she has learned about gratitude, asking for help, and building a community that carries you through the hardest seasons while you're still running a business.
HOW COMMUNITY AND GRATITUDE CAN CARRY YOU THROUGH THE HARDEST SEASONS OF BUSINESS
Beksan Designs began with a childhood dream. Meyla was born in Los Angeles and spent her early years in Istanbul with her Turkish grandmother, and every summer they returned to Turkey, visiting places like Topkapi Palace, where she fell in love with the jewelry and gemstones, and picking out one piece each summer as a souvenir. After a career as a teacher and administrator, she started making jewelry in 2011 with her sister, working with the granddaughter of the jeweler her grandmother used to visit. Today, she designs and handcrafts pieces with gemstones, crystals, sterling silver, and gold fill, made with two women she works with in Istanbul and in the United States, with stones sourced from a gemologist in Montana and the gem shows in Arizona. Meyla began with in-person shows, then expanded into wholesale and a stronger website, and her business is now profitable and in a good six-figure place. She also chooses how big she wants it to be, because she enjoys the work, the markets, and the life she's building around it. When her sister passed away in January 2025 and life got incredibly hard, her business kept making money because she had built multiple streams, including wholesale stores, online sales, and in-person shows. Even when she couldn't do as many in-person events, the other channels kept going.
The heart of this conversation is about asking for help. Meyla's sister, who co-founded the business, was diagnosed with breast cancer twice, and it later metastasized to liver cancer. As part of her sister's wish to give back, Meyla donates a portion of sales to the American Cancer Society. She also started sharing her story openly with her customers, and she found that people stepped up in ways she never expected, from a simple "how are you?" email to customers who said they had been through something similar. She had been the boss of the classroom and then a boss in administration, so asking for help felt like admitting she couldn't do it. As a competitive achiever, she worried it would look like she wasn't capable. Even so, when she finally asked for resources, advice, and support, people showed up, and she learned to ask her friends, her daughters, and even her customers what would help them. She also practices listening more closely and keeps a nighttime gratitude journal. She credits reliable follow-up and kindness with the wholesale partnerships that deepened during that time, as buyers were understanding about missed deadlines and became more like friends. As I put it, entrepreneurship is the greatest personal development tool, and your business can either feel like it takes from you or give to you. Meyla treats hers like the sun and water on a plant: it nourishes her.
There is also a bigger lesson here about time, in-person connection, and building a business that supports your life. Meyla used her work as an escape and an almost therapeutic outlet, choosing gemstones with meaning, like rose quartz for love, while also giving back, and said it helped her get up in the morning when she was grieving. Looking back, the only thing she would shift is doing a few fewer in-person shows to spend more time with her mother, her sister, and her daughters. I shared the same feeling about my own mom, and the way I think about it now is that money is renewable and time is not. Investing in people, teams, and tools can collapse your timeline and give time back to the people you love. This is also why in-person selling matters right now. Five out of six dollars are still spent in person, big brands like Elf and Levi's are showing up at state fairs, and Meyla is seeing it herself, from the Monterey Jazz Festival to a private holiday event in San Francisco that invited her after seeing her at a show. When you show up where people are, you grow your email list, meet customers, press, and retailers, and make friends with other vendors along the way. Meyla's next chapter includes a collective book with 14 authors, where she shares her story of hope and the importance of reaching out for help, coming out at the end of the year.
The key takeaways I want you to remember are:
Ask for help before you're on your knees. Reach out to your personal and business community, and remember that asking doesn't mean you can't do it, it means you're building support that helps you grow.
Build multiple streams so life can happen. Wholesale, online, and in-person sales kept Meyla's business growing through grief, and a community of friends, family, customers, and advisors gives you support in the same way.
Let your business give to you. Define your own version of success, practice gratitude, and invest in what gives you time back with the people you love, because time is the one thing you can't renew.
Product Boss, remember: your business can be a place of support, not just something you have to carry. Follow Meyla @beksandesigns and visit BeksanDesigns.com, and as we head into the holiday season, shop from her online (her bestseller is one of her crystal wrap bracelets).
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
00:00 Meet Meyla Ruwin, CEO and co-founder of Beksan Designs.
03:30 The childhood memories and Turkish heritage behind Meyla's jewelry business.
07:30 How expanding beyond in-person markets created new opportunities for growth.
09:00 Why asking for help and building the right partnerships can accelerate business growth.
12:30 What makes customers connect with the person and story behind a product?
16:15 Why your business can be both a creative outlet and a source of fulfillment.
19:30 How gratitude can change your relationship with your business and its growth.
22:45 Turning authentic relationships into unexpected business opportunities.
25:00 Why are in-person experiences still valuable for product-based businesses?
29:30 How to recognize when you need support and learn to ask for help.
34:40 What's really stopping you from asking for help?
39:00 How staying connected to your passion can help you through difficult times.
43:00 Making time for the people you love while continuing to run your business.
48:45 Building a business that fills you up instead of constantly draining you.
51:15 How personal and business communities help you find support and grow your business.
53:15 Creating a resilient business through multiple sales channels.
Resources + Links
Explore Meyla's jewelry and accessories brand, Beksan Designs HERE!
Ready to lead, run, and grow your product business beyond a million dollars, without being the bottleneck? Join me this week for a FREE workshop HERE!
Ready to stop guessing and follow a proven system? Book your strategy call HERE!
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Follow
Jacqueline on IG: @theproductboss
Meyla on LinkedIn: @meylaruwin
Meyla on IG: @beksandesigns
