Beacon Occupational Health and Safety Services: team players: Holly Hylen created a one-stop shop for her associates.

Holly Hylen, founder and owner of Beacon Occupational Health and Safety Services Inc., www.beaconohss.com, started her career with hopes of becoming a doctor. She says, "I graduated from Creighton University (in Omaha, Neb.) with a biology degree with the intent of going to medical school. I began working on the North Slope as an industrial hygiene technician, and then, I became an occupational health technician. After I decided to leave the Slope, I was approached by some of the contractors to continue helping them with some of their compliance testing ... and it grew from there."

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Indeed, Beacon has grown, where Hylen's vivacity drew people to her company. The company is located in Anchorage and has about 80 employees. Beacon brought in about $5 million to $10 million in revenue in the last year, and it's a woman-owned business. According to an Alaska Business Monthly source, Beacon is a "Certified 8(a) company providing a full range of health and safety environment and training services, (which) includes remote medical staffing, occupational health, drug and alcohol testing, industrial hygiene training, family practice, and safety consulting and staffing."

According to Hylen, "We provide high-quality, convenient, market-competitive medical, occupational health, drug and alcohol (testing), training, and safety services to all size employers. Our focus is on providing comprehensive professional services to organizations requiring assistance with development, implementation, and maintenance of required health and safety needs. Our goal is to provide convenient one-stop shopping for our clients." Hylen's company has succeeded in that goal.

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THE BEACON TEAM

Hylen never speaks in the singular when she talks about the success of her company, which started in 1999. She says, "I've always been so fortunate to be surrounded by an unparallel quality team of individuals who are committed to seeing Beacon be successful. We focus on our core values of always providing outstanding quality as well as 'rock star' customer service and having fun."

As she stated earlier, Beacon provides a myriad of services and training to their many clients. Their clients include contracts from municipal, state and federal governments. Beacon has a staff made up of medical doctors, physician assistants, a certified substance-abuse program administrator, nurses, occupational health technicians, certified safety professionals, a certified industrial hygienist, EMTs and paramedics. According to Beacon literature, "Our firm views certification and education as critical components in staying ahead of changing regulatory requirements."

GROWING THE BUSINESS

Beacon knows how to market the business in order to attract contracts that will build lasting relationships. Hylen says, "Our best marketing has always come from our clients and has been based on our reputation and history of high-quality service. We have new clients that sign up for services every week. After eight years in business, it still blows me away to see the 'word-of-mouth' impact on our annual growth. It is such a testament to our Beacon Team and our outstanding clients."

In addition to word-of-mouth advertising, Beacon participates in associations that aid in networking their business to other Alaska businesses. They participate with Alliance, Associated General Contractors, HR associations and other organizations. They also do some advertising.

Since Hylen's business has boomed within eight years of inception, she and her team have experienced some growing pains along the way. "When you're small, it takes a lot more to gain the reputation and experience you need to sell your services. It's only through actual delivery of high-quality market-competitive services that you're able to build a reputation. And, as a new organization, we did have that track record."

Hylen's work ethic has helped in the fast growth that Beacon has experienced in its nearly first decade. "I've always had high expectations for our team, but of course, there are always limitations to growing successfully. We've put in many late nights and weekends ensuring we have the systems in place to provide the high-quality services our clients expect."

Additionally, she realizes that her first clients accepted a risk when they hired Beacon to assist them in their human resource needs. Hylen admits, "Our first clients took a chance by using a young company, and I'm happy to report that they're still clients. I'll always be grateful for the 'risk' that they took. But, by awarding us the work, we're able to demonstrate our capabilities and commitment. Now, our track record speaks for us."

Since the Beacon team spends so much time with each other, they believe in having fun together. Hylen says, "We have softball teams, monthly Beacon poker tournaments, curling teams, barbeques, and much more. Work takes up too much of everyone's time not to enjoy the people that we work with. We've a very close 'Beacon family.'"

And, the Beacon family believes in taking care of the people in their community. They're involved with the March of Dimes, Walk America, Friends of Alaska Children's Trust, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Hylen says, "Beacon has a firm belief that being a successful business comes with the responsibility to support the local community. We encourage our team to participate in charitable events and volunteer time with these organizations."

Hylen has nurtured Beacon to success in less than 10 years. Hylen and her team continue working that success for Alaska businesses well into the future.