Making it on their own

Given the unsteady nature of the economy in recent years, many Americans have looked to alternative methods of earning a living that best suit their interests, talents and lifestyle, which are often different from the 9-5 office environment that many are familiar with. These workers often have different business and tax statuses, depending on the type of job they perform.

Following is the story of three such local people who have taken their skills and made careers in unique ways.

Sharron Secrist

International Falls resident Sharron Secrist may have been born a self-starter. She remembers baking chocolate cakes and selling them to friends and neighbors as a child for extra pocket money. Her first job at 17 years old was opening a health food shop with her mother in Zimbabwe, Africa, where she was born. There, she sold homemade granola and molasses, among other foods.

“I think I had an impact on the health of the people there,” she said.

As an adult, Secrist has taken a passion for wellness and turned it into a career.

“Whatever bothers a person is the key to a person’s mission,” she said. “Disease and ignorance bother me terribly.”

“(Wellness) is very important to me. God got me in the right position.”

She rose to the top of her field at Mary Kay cosmetics, earning herself a spot in the top 2 percent of sales nationwide during the mid-1990s.

But while she was successful selling Mary Kay, her real passion seems to have been found in a series of nutritional supplements, which she said increase a person’s wellness.

“With Mary Kay, I helped people look better on the outside,” Secrist said. “(With the products), prevention is better than a cure.”

Secrist became interested in the nutritional supplements after hearing of their success from a friend. So she and her husband began taking the product themselves.

She then told family and friends, and word spread through her circle.

“It was unethical not to tell people about it,” she said. “Why should I keep this technology to myself?”

Secrist now spreads the word of this product to customers in 17 states, Taiwan, South Africa and Canada, doing business as Unlimited Wellness. Her position is to educate and sign people up for the system so that they can order the product.

“I seek to help others maintain and improve their health,” she said. “That brings me a lot of satisfaction to help someone.”

She said that this type of job is convenient because she can take her business anywhere — as long as she has her laptop computer and telephone.

“Working for corporate America wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

Working as an international network marketing professional, Secrist also helps teach others how to sell the product through their own home-based businesses. She said that through this interaction, she helps her own business grow, and also collaborates with other employees to learn new things about her field.

James Bujold

After an injury, James Bujold needed a new career path and decided to follow an interest in technology — an interest that led him to become president and owner of Dynamic Technologies International.

“I was always kind of a geek,” he said, which made the transition from paramedic to technology contractor smooth.

Bujold is a licensed technology contractor, who said he works with just about anything “tech” that needs to be interfaced, from wiring home theaters to installing satellite television and Internet services, to setting up phone, cash register and alarm systems for businesses. His company is based from his retail store across from SuperOne.

“There was a need and a trend in the industry for technology contractors,” he said.

He said that he contracts his services on both sides of the international border to projects that require his expertise, such as a new home being built that requires a sound or alarm system. Resorts also hire him, he said, to install television, Internet and other services so that guests can stay connected while in the vicinity of the resort.

He described what aspects of an install he deals with by explaining that “electricians are like cousins” in that they deal in high voltage while Bujold and DTI deal with low voltage.

He also installs DirectTV and high-speed Internet connections, as a local provider of those services.

But part of his business, Bujold said, is constantly looking at the company and “adjusting to the economic tides.” For him, that may mean incorporating another product or service or changing the way that he does something.

Recently, he said trends include wide-range wireless networking and including Blu-ray players in home theaters.

“You always have to be on the ball and change the ways you do business,” he said.

He is often required to work seven days a week and evenings in order to meet his clients’ needs. He said, “You’re your own boss and you have to work.”

“You have to enjoy a challenge,” he advised those thinking of striking out on their own. “You not only have to have an idea, but you have to support it so that you make money.”

“The worst thing you can do is jump in and start your business,” he said, without creating a business plan that includes research into the niche an entrepreneur hopes to fill.

He said that he is “turning into a business man,” after several years working as president of DTI.

He added that being successful on your own requires constant learning through reading trade publications, and then incorporating new ideas.

Lisa Bacon

Falls resident Lisa Bacon has held several careers in the medical field, including medical secretary and licensed practical nurse, and is now putting her knowledge and skills to use as a medical transcriptionist.

Bacon works from home, listening to doctors’ dictations of medical records and transcribing what is said so that the information can be placed in patients’ records.

She said she is currently working for AccuScribe Transcription Services, LLC, and Keystrokes Transcription Service, Inc. The companies are based in South Carolina and Illinois, respectively, according to their Web sites, meaning that the confidential patient records that Bacon transcribes are often from doctors practicing far away from Borderland.

She said that she has now worked from home as a medical transcriptionist for three years. She said she enjoys being in control of her own time and has a love for medicine.

“I had to be creative and think, ‘This is what I’ve wanted to do for a long time, now how do I do it?’.” she remembers of making the transition to the home-based job. She said that this type of work is beneficial for her because it allows her the flexibility to be available for her children and family and was the fulfillment of a life-long dream.

She is assigned cases every day to transcribe based on patients that doctors have seen the previous day. There is usually a 24-hour turn around time on a file, she noted. Depending on her case load, she said that she can put in an 8- to- 10-hour day. But, she said that she can manage her time as she sees fit and can start as early or finish as late each day as she needs.

Her 30-year medical background in town has played a big part into her success and accuracy in her current field, she said. That success, she said, comes in part from three doctors who she said taught her valuable skills along the way. She credits F.H. Walter with giving her a sense of professionalism, James Berlin with giving her a command of the English and medical languages and Burton Helleloid with instilling in her that, “a computer will never replace a good medical secretary/transcriptionist and a smile.”

She said she often remembers those lessons while she is working, even after years in the medical field herself.

And, during some cases, a little help comes in handy.

“You never know what you’re going to get,” she said. “I really struggle with some of the accents.” She also said that sometimes the speed of a dictation can cause her to take extra time to transcribe exactly what the doctor is saying.

“Each specialty has its own language,” she explained. Her familiarity with orthopedics and neurology jargon leads her to often be assigned cases from specialists in those fields, she said.