T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Marshall County 911 Communications Director and Oliver Beene Designs Co-Owner Rhonda Braudis, pictured, recently released “Credit Revival,” her first book, with a second book on leadership already in the works.

Public safety dispatcher, entrepreneur and now author — is there anything Rhonda Braudis can’t do?

The Marshall County 911 Communications Center director and co-owner of Oliver Beene Designs recently released her first book titled “Credit Revival,” and it is available inside Oliver Beene at 214 E. Main St. as well as through online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kindle. Braudis said she was inspired to write it through conversations with friends and colleagues who have faced struggles with people trying to “pull a fast one” on them.

“Credit is one of those things that if you know what you’re looking for, there’s so many individuals out there that try and take advantage, and it drives me a little bit crazy,” she said. “So I wanted to be able to put out the information and try and help any of those people that are looking to try and fix the credit that they have. You can do it. You can absolutely do it yourself, and oftentimes we don’t think that we can because we think that it’s such a far reach, but you absolutely can.”

The book, she added, is for anyone interested in learning more about the topic, but it does provide some specific guidelines and starting points — templates for writing in, changing locations or addresses and correcting inaccuracies on a credit report — for those who aim to work their way out of a tough financial situation. Many of the friends who inspired the book have gone through credit repair companies and agencies, and Braudis feels that why they aren’t necessarily bad, the money spent with them could instead be put directly toward repairing an individual’s credit.

“You can do it yourself. It does take a little bit of work, but you can absolutely do it. You just can’t expect change overnight,” she said.

In addition to “Credit Revival,” Braudis is also working on a second book about leadership based on her 22 years of experience — some good, and some less so — in the 911 dispatch world.

“This is a book about being that leader and looking at those things. We all make mistakes, but it’s not the mistakes that you make. It’s how you overcome those mistakes and how you adapt from those mistakes and the decisions that you make,” she said. “Leadership is not about ‘What do I get?’ It’s about our team, and if we’re not there for the team, then what are we doing? So that’s kind of the direction that the book is going, and of course there are going to be a lot of examples of things that I’ve dealt with and how I’ve gotten to where I’m at.”

Braudis became the 911 director for Marshall County in 2019 and opened Oliver Beene along with her wife Lora in 2020. The boutique, which has doubled in size and is now one of the largest in Iowa with over 8,000 square feet of space, moved from the Meadow Lane Mall to the Marshalltown Mall in February of 2023 and again to its current downtown location last November after the power was shut off at the Marshalltown Mall due to nonpayment by the ownership group.

She’s easy to find around the community, and she hopes her new foray into writing can lend a hand to someone who needs it.

“I just hope that it helps somebody. I know that there’s a lot of information in there, but the information that’s not in there, if anybody ever has a question, they can certainly reach out to me because I’m more than happy to help,” she said.

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Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.