In 1993, Evelyn Wiest-Kertz, M.S.CCC-A, went into private practice and started Wiest Audiology and Hearing Aid Center.

Kertz took a small business loan from Citizens National Bank and sought the advice of the Small Business Development Center in Butler.

Her father, Joseph C. Wiest, who already owned and operated Wiest Asphalt and Paving, gave her this advice: Always treat people right and they will come to you; never be late for your banker, accountant or lawyer (because their time means money); and if you make it the first year, you will make it.

Kertz’s mother, Betty Wiest, volunteered her time to handle the book work at Wiest Audiology.

Today, many of her siblings and in-laws help operate Wiest Asphalt and Paving. Her father’s advice echoed similar statements that she learned from her grandmother, Emma Aland, and step-grandfather, William Aland, who owned Aland’s Toyland that was in downtown Butler for many years.

Kertz worked for her grandparents as a teenager and learned valuable lessons in pricing, inventory, customer service, banking, invoicing, ordering and counting back change. Even William Aland’s father was a tailor who owned his own shop.

She supplemented her first year in private practice by contracting her services out to an ear nose and throat doctor and taught at night as a temporary instructor in the Speech and Hearing Department for Clarion University of Pennsylvania to undergraduate and graduate students.

In 2002, she again took a small business loan from Citizens National Bank and purchased Professional Hearing Aid Service from Lori McCorry, AuD, and merged the two practices into one as Wiest Audiology and Professional Hearing Aid Service.

Kertz said she only hopes that the next generations of family business owners are able to receive the help they need from the financial institutions and that they have organizations and mentors to help them with their dreams and goals. Kertz is grateful to the communities that have helped her grow and sustain her practice. Also, to her staff of many years, Jessica Bossinger and Carol Elias, who are dedicated to the patients.

This article was submitted by Wiest Audiology and Hearing Aid Center.