Martha Ellen Mabry remembers getting her hair cut as a child at the local salon one of her neighbors owned.
She would flip through the lookbook for inspiration and select “what I thought really stood out or was different,” the South Carolina native told Business Insider. “I really used my hair growing up as a way to express myself.”
Today, Mabry runs the show and helps other women discover their style at her two salons based in Brooklyn, New York: head cutwhich he launched from the basement of a residential building in 2011 on a shoestring budget, and Lil' Chop, which opened its doors more than a decade later in January 2023.
The original location grew organically, from a chair sharing studio space with a clothing company to occupying the entire 1,700-square-foot basement. The lively boutique salon is open by appointment only and clients typically need to book three to four weeks in advance.
Lil' Chop, which Mabry describes as the “express version” of Headchop, is almost twice the size and accommodates walk-in appointments on the day.
“I think there's always been a bit of naivety in me,” he said. small business owner. “From the beginning, I never thought about it as, 'Oh, I'm going to open a business.' I looked at opening Headchop as, 'I'm going to get a space, a personal, private studio, to see my clients.' I didn't know that I would eventually open a full-scale beauty salon.”
Mabry skipped college, moved to New York to get a haircut, and never looked back.
Alicia Wetherill
Mabry, who was 21 when she founded Heachop, added: “Looking back, I wasn't prepared. I didn't go to business school. But I did know about hair.”
At 34 years old, he manages six full-time employees and three part-time employees. After being diagnosed with cancer in late 2020 and undergoing chemotherapy in 2021, she took a step back from her work behind the chair to focus on growing her business while maintaining the level of quality that has set her apart. taken to where she is.
Here are two principles the entrepreneur followed that helped her build two thriving businesses with no experience in business or finance.
1. Stay efficient: Keep your startup costs low, DIY when you can, and only expand when necessary
Mabry's initial setup (a single lounge chair) was small, which helped keep major startup costs down.
She rented a basement with her boyfriend at the time, who owned a clothing line. The studio's monthly rent in 2011 was $1,300, about the same amount they paid for her shared apartment.
They decided, “You pay for one, I'll pay for the other,” Mabry said, meaning she was spending about $650 a month on the Williamsburg shared space.
Your other startup costs included equipment, products, and supplies.
Mabry opened her Headchop salon in the basement on a shoestring budget.
Martha Ellen Mabry
Even when he expanded and added more chairs, “I didn't buy anything new,” he said. “All the chairs were antiques that I had gotten on Craigslist, or I would hear about a salon closing and go look for something.”
Mabry didn't spend a dime on Headchop marketing. Her customer base grew through word of mouth and the creation of an artsy, uncluttered space in the heart of a trendy neighborhood.
“We made a presence,” he said. “We had the music blaring. We put up signs encouraging people to come down. It was very artsy vibes, which is what attracted us in the beginning. It didn't necessarily attract your high-priced customer; we were drawing on the artsy, creative Williamsburg style, So it really worked.”
Mabry was careful to hire only when necessary. She hired an assistant her freshman year when the phone started ringing and she was harassed with back-to-back appointments. The number of her employees grew as did her chairs. She expanded to three chairs in 2012 and five in 2014. In 2016, her lounge took up the entire basement space.
Although she has a larger budget to work with today, she still prefers to do renovation and maintenance projects herself.
“I've never been one to say, 'Yeah, bring in a group of painters,'” Mabry said. “I can paint the wall, I have a drill, I do almost all of our updates myself and I only hire people when it's something I can't do.” The latter doesn't happen often, he noted. “That's the beauty of YouTube. If I don't know how to do it, I can probably figure it out.”
2. Deliver and maintain a high-quality product by hiring carefully.
Mabry spent years honing her skills as a stylist before opening Headchop.
When she was in high school, she took cosmetology classes at a vocational school and graduated with a hair cutting license. From there, she moved to New York to pursue a six-month hair and makeup program, where she learned the ins and outs of the industry, developed her technical skills, and began creating a portfolio.
As a teenager and early 20s, she worked at DevaChan, a popular SoHo salon specializing in curly hair, as well as under the tutelage of stylist and salon owner Michelle Iorio.
“She taught me everything I know about color and helped me hone my skills with all types of hair, not just curly. I really started honing my work with her,” said Mabry, who began seeing private clients and styling their hair. hair in your apartment or theirs before renting your own studio space.
Mabry's second salon, Lil' Chop, is almost twice the size of Headchop.
Hayley Carloni
To maintain high-quality service as Headchop grew, he personally trained every stylist he hired.
“What makes a business really run for a long time is the care that goes into it,” Mabry said. “As an employer, you should care about your employees, your customers, and everyone's experience. Overall experience is number one, along with quality of work.”
You want the experience to feel intimate and personal.
Customers are “warmly greeted when they come in, given a coffee, everything is talked about before it happens,” he said. “We care a lot about the work. If someone calls and says he's upset and doesn't like his hair, it actually affects us. It hurts when someone isn't happy with the work you do. You'll do it.” anything to rectify that. So that care has always been there from the beginning.”