Shippensburg University SBDC Client Success Story
Coworkers with a Shared Vision for a Brighter Future

Crystal Shank and Waylon Yohe began their journey as coworkers at a local contracting company. As the two colleagues worked together and grew in their careers, they performed very different roles as Waylon is a fully certified master electrician, while Crystal’s focus is on operations with a degree in business management. The vision for establishing their
own electrical contracting firm that provided high quality service at a competitive price with a strong focus on customer service grew out of business planning over a six-month period. Together they realized they had the knowledge, skills and experience to make it happen and WYElectric, LLC was created in February of 2019.

According to Crystal and Waylon, “WYElectric is an electrical construction contractor that excels in cost-saving technologies, quality work and strong customer relationships.” Crystal is operations focused and performs all of the job bidding, scheduling, recordkeeping, and budgeting for the business while Waylon’s electrical expertise is utilized working in the field often more than five days a week ensuring the work is completed on time and to a customer’s specifications. Their partnership utilizes the strengths of each individual while also working collaboratively to ensure all aspects of the business are covered to keep the business operating efficiently.

During WYElectric’s startup, Crystal learned about the services of the Shippensburg University SBDC and reached out for assistance in refining her business plan, securing financing, becoming a certified women-owned small business and pursuing government contract work. Crystal remarked how Consultant Jennifer Horning has provided valuable resources of learning and knowledge to assist with their small business needs. However, in early 2020 as the pandemic began to impact WYElectric’s business operations, Crystal was grateful to have Jennifer as a trusted resource to learn more about COVID specific assistance available to small businesses so that WYElectric could utilize the assistance available at the county, state and federal level. In reference to her SBDC Consultant, Crystal commented “I feel like she genuinely cares about what happens to my business.”

WYElectric has experienced slow sustainable growth over the almost three years since it launched despite the challenges the owners have faced with scaling the operation and navigating the pandemic. Together, Waylon and Crystal have created an electrical construction small business that excels in cost-saving technologies, quality and strong relationships with customers, contractors and suppliers. The future is bright for WYElectric as they are not only growing in revenue but employee count in 2021.