In this episode, Filipe Santos (@chop_safil), CEO of Chop Enterprises, shares how he went from tattoo artist and union carpenter to building a multi-location salon company with nine salons across New York, New Jersey, and Miami.
Filipe breaks down the growth, leadership, and execution behind scaling from one salon to nine, including how he built leaders, created systems, recruited talent, used marketing, acquired salons, negotiated owner financing, and developed a shared services platform to support growth.
This conversation is for salon owners, beauty pros, and hairpreneurs who know that talent is only one part of building a real business.
Follow/subscribe to be the first to know when new episodes are released. Like what you hear? Leave us a review!
Key Takeaways:
🔅Your first salon teaches you the hardest lessons - Filipe explains that the first business is usually the most difficult because you are breaking barriers you have never faced before. Once you learn how to build the first one, you can start duplicating the process with stronger systems.
🔅What gets you to $1 million will not get you to $5 million - The systems, leadership, and decision-making that get you started are not always enough for the next stage. Growth requires new structure.
🔅Every salon needs leadership, not just ownership - Each Chop location has its own leader, and the leadership team meets weekly to review metrics, game plan, and get resources. Scaling requires leaders who can carry the standards into each location.
🔅Recruiting is a business skill - Filipe challenges the emotional idea of “poaching” and reframes recruiting as giving talented people an opportunity. If you want to grow, you need to learn how to attract talent.
🔅A new hire needs a reason to move - Filipe said when someone joins, they need to make more money or experience a clear benefit. If they leave their current situation to make the same or less, that creates problems later.
🔅Train for more than technical skill - Filipe’s assistant program includes phones, hospitality, booking, cancellations, POS systems, client communication, language, business, and numbers before someone fully moves behind the chair. Filipe says skill can be taught, but energy, work ethic, and alignment determine whether someone fits the business.
🔅Owners need business education outside the beauty industry - Filipe makes the case that business principles are not only “hair business” principles. Salon owners need to study business, marketing, leadership, operations, and strategy from outside the industry too.
🔅Acquisition can be faster than opening from scratch - Filipe explains that buying an existing salon can come with staff, cash flow, and infrastructure, but you have to know how to audit the business, see the waste, and improve the operation.
🔅Owner financing can create succession opportunities - Filipe breaks down how price, down payment, and interest can all be negotiated when buying a salon, creating a potential path for owners who want to sell and operators who want to grow.
🔅Shared services could change the salon industry - Filipe’s shared services platform idea is about giving salons access to systems, education, discounts, resources, and operational support without forcing every owner to figure everything out alone.
🔅The owner narrative needs to change - Filipe talks about how owners have had “bad PR” and how the industry needs more honest conversations about the real value owners create, the opportunities they provide, and the performance required to earn more.
RELATED LINKS
📸Follow Filipe on Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/chop_safil/
📸Learn more about Filipe's Salons -https://www.chopentllc.com/about-chop-enterprises#:~:text=built%20for%20decades.-,SALON%20OPERATIONS,-Chop%20Enterprises%27%20journey
The Hairdresser Strong Show is all about Salon Owners, Rising Stylists, and Seasoned Stylists sharing their experiences, successes, failures, and advice to inform, educate, and empower their Fellow Hairdresser. We won’t stop until we are all: Hairdresser Strong.
CONNECT WITH US
📬 Subscribe to our free newsletter
📸 Connect on Instagram
🎵 Connect on TikTok
📺 Watch on YouTube
📝 Check out our Blog
The views and opinions of our guests are theirs and important to hear. Each guest's views and opinions are their own and we aim to bring you diverse perspectives, career paths and thoughts about the craft and industry so you can become Hairdresser Strong! They do not necessarily reflect the positions of HairdresserStrong.com
