CEO | Bee Line Support |Chicago, Illinois, United States

Jamie Henry, CEO of Bee Line Support, had a vision for her cleaning services company. She wanted to achieve a level of excellence unprecedented in the cleaning services industry. She had her team trained and educated in bacterial/viral/disease cleaning eradication, she built identical replicas of the exam and bathrooms for Illinois’ largest medical system, and she opened the first medical-grade cleaning and training center. From her employee-centered management to her social corporate responsibility, to the fact that she relocated her headquarters to the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago to better service her employees’ needs, she has disrupted this industry. 

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What do achievements mean to you?

Achievements are reminders that we’re on the right path, taking all of the right steps, and getting recognized throughout that journey towards success.

What excites you most about the work that you do?

People always tell me that my face lights up when I talk about what I do for a living. There is a circle of people in my life that are beams of light and many of them are those that I have built the company with and on.

Do you have a mantra or motto that you live by?

We asked Jamie what’s one piece of advice she’s learned throughout the years that she wishes she knew 24 years ago. “As you grow, always stay humble. You may grow to a point where a lot of different people are handling your smaller tasks, but it will always pay off to get on the ground floor and complete these tasks every once in a while.” – Jamie Henry

Work philosophy

“Don’t ever be apologetic for speaking your mind, speaking up, or speaking out for what you believe in or what you’re setting out to accomplish. Too often I see female entrepreneurs beginning with apologies or working too hard to fit in, when what they really need to focus on is delivering exactly what they want to say.”

Recent successes

Personally, I could not be more proud to witness firsthand the perspective change the world suddenly has on the janitorial industry, and to use this opportunity to bring our expert disinfection techniques to as many new clients and facilities as possible. The events of the past year have created a lot of reframing in society and has led to such a deeper worldwide appreciation and understanding of what we do at Bee Line. Words that have been in our vocabulary for years such as “pathogens”, “disinfection” and “infectious control” are now household names.

How do you stay motivated

Over the years I’ve had so many great relationships and friendships with other women entrepreneurs in the janitorial industry as well as others. I always made sure to surround myself with people that set the bar as high as I do and swear that anytime I spend time with these extraordinary women, I always see myself leveling up as well.

Guiding principle

There are so many things I’ve learned, all of which come from getting out there and “doing” it. These key lessons have helped Bee Line these past 23 years: 

-You can’t diversify your portfolio enough. Always be selling, and don’t get too comfortable.  
-As you grow, always stay humble. You may grow to a point where a lot of different people are handling so many of your business’ smaller tasks (like opening mail), but it will always pay-off to get onto the ground floor and complete these tasks at various points. You’d be surprised what you can learn or uncover.

Goal yet to be achieved

Five years from now, Bee Line should be five times bigger in terms of revenue, depth, and geographic reach. Each year, we’d like to grow a larger presence in the three states we’re in (Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana), and stay open to spreading even further as our reputation grows. We’ll keep an open mind around expanding geography with our customers, too, but always with a solid crew and foundation. 

Best decision

The past year has completely shifted our industry to one of importance and one to be respected rather than ignored or mistreated.

How you’ve approached change

At this point we use technology for everything we do. Bee Line was one of the first in our industry to implement technology as effectively as we do and have grown thanks to it.  

Bee Line uses technology for the following: 

-Marketing our company across many different mediums 

-Finding, interviewing, and hiring top talent  

-Taking customer work orders anywhere, anytime  

-Immediate sales follow-ups and quotes  

-QC auditing of all procedures 

-Medical-grade, advanced cleaning technology and equipment

Most important lesson learned

2011 was the hardest year for Bee Line. We got ourselves into a position where we were so happy and relaxed with our largest clients but then suddenly faced losing almost all of them. This was a critical moment in the company’s history, and I knew I had to act quickly, or I’d have to face the decision of potentially selling the company. 

Reflecting now, you truly should never allow yourself to get too comfortable, especially as the leader of a company, and try to avoid allowing a small portion of accounts make up most of your profits.

Peers you admire

I cannot pick one person but I quickly can think of ten names that come to mind that have stood by me in the recent darkest, hardest times, and that continued to give me love and support, and most importantly help me believe in myself.