Canan Bekdik From Debt To Wealth Interview

Rising From the Ashes of Financial Failure

Former Bank Manager, finance coach and Wealth Creators facilitator, Canan Bekdik, knows firsthand what it is like to find yourself starting over later in life. When Canan's husband quit his job in 2004 and they retired to a small fishing village, they ended up losing everything they owned – and still had rising debt. Canan realised she had two choices: give in and continue to struggle or rise from the ashes and change her future.

"My husband's decision to quit his job and move to the sea created a sort of disaster for our financial status," Canan explains. "It was our mounting credit card debts that made me stand up and start doing what I truly wanted in life and end our financial troubles in the process."

Interview with Canan Bekdik, Former Bank Manager, Finance Coach and Wealth Creators Facilitator

Canan Bekdik was a bank manager, who became a full time mum before reinventing herself as the breadwinner of her family, by introducing  Access Consciousness workshops to Turkey in 2009. Canan is a Wealth Creators Anonymous facilitator, a specialty program from Access Consciousness, and she has touched hundreds of people's lives and supported them to make money, move into more aligned career paths and choose happiness. Other areas she supports clients in include: Smoking Cessation, Awareness Cultivation, Access Energetic Slimming, Freedom from Parents and Suicide Prevention.

Question: Are you surprised that 50% of Australians are stressed about their finances?

Canan Bekdik: If I heard this question many years ago, I would have said, "really?" Now however, I am aware that even in the most developed countries, even among the people with high level of prosperity, it is not surprising to see people have certain levels of stress because most wish for their families and future to feel safe and secure. Stress is something that belongs to this reality, and it is the product of fear, anxiety and sadness that influences many people.


Question: What advice do you have for those stressed about their finances?

Canan Bekdik: 1. What are your points of view about money and finance? Being aware of your own thoughts and emotions is good step for starting, as your point of view creates your reality. If you realised that it is your belief patterns that creates the reality you are living in, then you can change it!

2. Is realising you have the power and capacity to change anything you created unconsciously
3. Choose something. The act of choosing something will create. Do something different rather than stressing. Take Action!
4. Ask questions is a great place to start. Questions can change the feeling of being stuck to start with are; What is it? What can I do with it? Can I change it? How can I change? Asking the questions will give you an awareness of another direction to take.

We need to choose, and know that our choice will create this. (Whatever it is that we are asking to change) Asking questions is a great place to start.

1) What is this?
2) What can I do with it?
3) Can I change it?
4) If I can, how?"

We need to know that we have infinite possibilities. In order to receive, we need to be ready to receive.


Question: What originally inspired you to begin managing your finances?

Canan Bekdik: My financial bankruptcy was the beginning of the change I needed to make in my life, and my choice to introduce the healing modality of Access Consciousness in Turkey, supported this choice. Although I worked in the banking sector for 14 years, I didn't know that I had the power of managing my life, and I didn't like my business life, I felt unhappy in business. So, I gave that power to my husband, and my husband choose retirement. When he stopped earning money was the catalyst to change everything! I was not willing to be poor. This negative situation actually was the greatest gift to turn my life around and gain financial independence and happiness.


Question: How did you rise from the ashes and change your financial future?

Canan Bekdik: I desired for a long time to introduce Access Consciousness to the Turkish people, as it created so much happiness and change in my life. With our personal finances at such a low point, and my husband choosing to step away from our finances to retire, this created an opportunity for me to create change on my own, and something new. I knew life could not continue with our accumulating credit card debt, and losing all we had. I chose to return alone from the small village where we lived, to Istanbul to create a new life, with my husband's support of my choice.
I started small, and using the tools of Access, I began to teach these tools to earn money to pay for our debts, to grow my business and to actualize my financial vision.

I kept asking questions, making choices, allowing myself to receive the results of this magic.

Now days, my financial situation has totally turned around. I earn great money and I am very proud of myself for turning everything around.


Question: What is your 10% rule to create ultimate financial security?

Canan Bekdik: If you have any income, you need to put away 10% of it. If you are a business owner, you also need to save 10% of every penny you receive.

That means to set aside 10% for yourself and 10% for your business.

Most people in debt keep paying for the debt and not saving anything. Just by saving 10% just for you subconsciously creates more money, and you start seeing this grow and start to feel abundant.


Question: Can you share the three tools you recommend to grow and expand business?

Canan Bekdik: Investing in yourself is an investment in your business. Constantly improve your skills and knowledge by studying, observing other industries and businesses.
Adopt a creative mindset in business. A successful business is in a constant state of evolution. Find ways you can expand what is working in a way that is creative, fresh and new. It not only is good for yourself and your customers or clients, it also adds vitality to your business.
Set aside 10% of all business income for business savings. I have mentioned this before, however, this is essential for sustainable long term growth of your business, and allows for future growth and wealth.

Question: What investments do you believe work, for our money?

Canan Bekdik: We need to educate ourselves about the things that have certain values on them. Antiques, jewellery, gold, etc.

We need to constantly ask questions, and as an example, ask yourself, "If I choose this, what will my life look like in 5 years?" and "If I don't choose this what will my life look like in 5 years?" then look at what is occurring, this will make us choose the thing that really works for us. It never fails us.


Question: What are your five tips to rise above financial issues?

Canan Bekdik: Don't look at your finances as a problem.
When you focus on your financial situation as a problem, you keep struggle, difficulties, sadness, and anxiety in place. It is important to be aware that this mindset won't work for you. If you want a way out of financial problems, you must put your attention on creating possibilities. Rather than wondering "How do I fix this?" ask questions like: "What choices do I have to change this and make it easier?" "What other income streams can I explore that will allow me to create more money?" "What action can I take to create more revenue today and for the future?"

Are you comfortable with the struggle?
Even if you are not happy with your finances, money struggles can be a comfort zone because it is the most familiar – many of us were raised in families or communities where financial stress or problems were considered the "norm."

In addition to this, we're often taught that achieving even a little success requires a lot of hard work and effort. It doesn't actually need to be that way. Changing your perceptions about working hard can be as simple as asking, "Is there an easier way?"

Don't ask "Why me?" Ask, "What else?"
Spending time wondering why this is happening to you won't help you change it. Stop looking for the reasons for your struggles. Stop judging yourself and your situation, and instead ask, "What else is possible?" "What else can I choose?" Asking these will open doors to finding new ways forward.

Focus on change, not results.
Attempting to control outcomes takes a lot of energy – it creates more struggle. Rather than fixating on specific results, remain open to different ways for change to occur and don't be limited by your imagination. A great question to ask is, "What change can I make today to create a greater outcome in the future?"

Have long-term vision and don't quit.
Lastly, you must have long-term vision and never give up on what you desire to achieve. Financial success and change do not happen overnight.


Interview by Brooke Hunter