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As a child, Martha Ellen Mabry remembers getting her hair cut at a local salon run by a neighbor.
The South Carolina native told Business Insider that she would flip through lookbooks for inspiration and choose “things that I thought really stood out or were different.” . “I really used my growing hair as a way to express myself.”
Now, Mabry is running the show, helping other women develop their own style at her two salons based in Brooklyn, New York. Head Chop is what she launched in 2011 on a shoestring budget from the basement of a residential building. Lil’ Chop opened in January 2023, more than a decade later.
The original location grew organically from a single chair that shared studio space with a clothing store to occupying an entire 1,700 square foot basement. This bustling boutique salon is by appointment only and typically requires reservations three to four weeks in advance.
Lil Chop, which Mabry describes as an “express version” of Head Chop, is nearly twice the size and accommodates same-day walk-in reservations.
“I think there was always a little bit of naivety in me,” said the small business owner. “From the beginning, I didn’t think, “Oh, I’m opening a business.” I was thinking. I never thought I would open a full-fledged salon. ”
Mabry, who was 21 when she started Heechop, said, “Looking back, I wasn’t ready. I didn’t go to business school. But I knew about hair.” he added.
The 34-year-old manages six full-time and three part-time employees. After being diagnosed with cancer in late 2020 and undergoing chemotherapy in 2021, she took a step back from working behind her chair and grew her business while maintaining the level of quality that got her where she is today. I concentrated on making it happen.
Here are two principles she followed that helped the entrepreneur launch two successful businesses without any business or financial experience.
1. Be Lean: Keep startup costs low, DIY when possible, and scale only when necessary
Mabry’s initial setup (one salon chair) was small, which allowed her to keep key startup costs low.
She was renting a basement space with her boyfriend, who at the time owned a clothing store. Monthly rent for the studio in 2011 was $1,300, about the same amount she was paying for her shared apartment.
They “decided that you would pay one cost and I would pay the other,” Mabry said. That meant she was spending about $650 a month on shared space in Williamsburg.
Other initial costs include equipment, products, and supplies.
Even after expanding and adding more seating, “we didn’t buy anything new,” she says. “The chairs were all vintage that I bought off Craigslist, otherwise I would go out and buy something because I knew the salon was going to close.”
Mabry didn’t spend a dime on marketing the head chop. Her customer base grew by word of mouth and she created a neat, artistic space in the heart of a trendy neighborhood.
“I made my presence felt,” she said. “We had music banging. We put up signs asking people to come down. It had a very artist vibe. That was the initial appeal. It didn’t necessarily attract high-paying clients. There wasn’t. We were drawing artistic things. We’re creative Williamsburg types, so it really worked out for us.”
Mabry was careful to hire only when necessary. In her first year, when her phone started ringing, she hired an assistant, but a flurry of bookings pushed her into a corner. As her number of chairs increased, so did the number of her employees. In 2012 she expanded her chairs to three and in 2014 she expanded to five. By 2016, her salon took up an entire basement space.
Although she now has a bigger budget to spend, she still prefers to do renovation and maintenance projects herself.
“I wasn’t one of those people who said, ‘Yeah, bring in a bunch of painters,'” Mabry says. “I can paint walls, and I have a drill. I do almost all of the updating myself, and only hire people when there’s something I can’t do.” does not happen often, she noted. “That’s the beauty of YouTube: If you don’t know how to do it, you probably will.”
2. Providing and maintaining high quality products through carefully selected recruitment
Mabry spent years honing her skills as a stylist before opening Head Chop.
When she was in high school, she took a beauty class at a vocational school and graduated with a haircutting license. From there, she moved to New York for her six-month hair and makeup program, where she learned the ins and outs of the industry, honed her technical skills, and began building a portfolio.
In her late teens and early 20s, she worked at DevaChan, a popular salon in Soho specializing in curly hair, under the guidance of stylist and salon owner Michelle Iorio.
“She taught me everything I know about color and helped me develop skills for all hair types, not just curly hair. I love working with her on my work. Now we can really make it perfect,” Mabry said. Before she rented her own studio space, she rented her apartment or their apartment.
To maintain high quality service as Headchop grew, she personally trained each stylist she hired.
“What makes a business really last is the care that you put into it,” Mabry said. “As an employer, you have to care about your employees, your customers, and everyone’s experience. Every experience comes first, along with the quality of the work.”
She wants the experience to be intimate and personal.
Customers “come in and are warmly welcomed, offered a cup of coffee and discuss everything before it happens,” she said. “We value our work very much. If someone calls and says they’re upset, they don’t like their hair, that actually affects us. We care about your work. It hurts when someone isn’t happy, and you will.” You don’t have to do anything to fix it. So, that consideration was always there from the beginning. ”
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