In this episode, Demetrios Bafitis, stylist, barber, and multi-location salon owner of Bella Bethesda and Jordan Thomas Salon & Spa, shares how he went from working seven days a week behind the chair to running his salons remotely while spending much of his time in Greece.
Demetrios talks about what it really takes to step away from behind the chair and work on the business, not just in it: building a leadership team, creating systems, letting go of control, offering flexibility and benefits, reinvesting in the team, and making the salon about more than the owner.
For salon owners who feel stretched thin or are trying to pivot, this conversation breaks down the mindset, structure, and team development needed to build a business that can run without everything depending on you.
Follow/subscribe to be the first to know when new episodes are released. Like what you hear? Leave us a review!
Key Takeaways:
🔅Start by measuring how much the business depends on you - Demetrios shares a rule of thumb from his coach: if you are an owner behind the chair, you do not want to be more than about 10 to 12 percent of the salon’s service production. If your salon does $1 million and you personally produce $200,000, the first move is not simply “take more time off.” It is to build a team that can sustain the business without that much revenue depending on your hands.
🔅Do not confuse stepping away with disappearing - Demetrios still stays connected through daily check-ins, Zooms, leadership meetings, and regular travel back to the States. The shift is not from “present” to “absent.” The shift is from being the person doing everything to being the person leading, supporting, and building the structure.
🔅Build a leadership team before you expect freedom - At Bella, Amanda runs day-to-day operations. At Jordan Thomas, Mindy manages both locations. Zuzanna works across all three. Demetrios is able to step back because there are trusted people assigned to real leadership responsibilities, not because the business is magically self-running.
🔅Put systems around the business, not just talent behind the chair - Demetrios talks about systems, coaching, law firms, accounting firms, leadership support, and structured check-ins. Owners who want to step away need more than great stylists. They need clear processes for operations, finances, compliance, education, scheduling, communication, and decision-making.
🔅Let go of making the salon about you - One of the biggest mindset shifts Demetrios names is making the business about the team instead of the owner. He says he can walk into his salons and some people do not know he is the owner, and he is okay with that. For many owners, that is emotionally hard. But if the brand only works because the owner is visible, available, and personally producing, the owner has not really built freedom yet.
🔅Reinvest in the team before expecting loyalty - Demetrios connects loyalty to what the business actually provides: benefits, health insurance support, paid education, sick leave, vacation pay, maternity/paternal leave, and reinvestment back into the team. His point is that owners cannot expect people to stay if the business does not give them real reasons to build a career there.
🔅Flexibility still needs structure - Demetrios talks about adapting to modern talent and work-life balance, but he does not describe it as a free-for-all. He uses the idea of “free structure,” meaning flexibility within a system that still works for the business. Schedules can vary, but the team also has to understand demand, peak hours, weekends, financial implications, and the level system.
🔅Use career paths to make staying worthwhile - His structure includes an associate program, level system, assistants, leadership opportunities, shareholder options, and phantom stock. The message for owners is clear: if you want people to stay, they need to see more than a chair. They need to see a future.
🔅Train people faster, but do not skip standards - Demetrios wants associates on the floor quickly, ideally around six months, because it benefits the stylist and the business. But he also talks about weekly classes, bi-weekly classes, a rolling curriculum, consultation, cutting, color formulation, color application, on-the-job training, and the need for self-starters. Speed only works when training has structure.
🔅Hire for the person, then teach the skill - Demetrios says they mostly hire the personality, not the skill, because they believe skill can be taught. For owners, that means the hiring process should look beyond technical ability and ask: Is this person coachable? Do they want to work? Do they fit the culture? Will they grow inside the system?
🔅Be honest about the financial risk of ownership - Demetrios talks openly about owner financing, savings, loans, using a 401k loan, bank financing, collateral, and putting his signature on the line. For owners who want to grow, buy in, or acquire, the takeaway is not “go take reckless risks.” It is to understand credit, taxes, lending, cash, legal structure, and what kind of risk you are actually agreeing to.
🔅Share the upside with the people helping you build - Demetrios’ leadership team members are shareholders, and he also discusses buy-in opportunities and phantom stock. This is a major point for stressed owners: if you want people to think beyond their station, contribute to the larger company, and help carry the business, there has to be a way for the upside to reach them too.
🔅Build a business people want to protect - The big idea is that stepping away is not just operational. It is cultural. People are more likely to protect a business when they feel respected, compensated, developed, included, and connected to its future. Remote ownership becomes possible only when the people inside the business have a reason to care when you are not in the building.
🔅Understand that freedom is built in stages - Demetrios went from barber, to cosmetologist, to assistant, to employee, to high producer, to buying into Bella, to sole owner, to acquiring Jordan Thomas, to building a leadership structure that lets him work from Greece. The lesson for stressed owners is to stop looking for one move that fixes everything. The pivot happens through a sequence of decisions, systems, people, and investments.
🔅Decide what you are really trying to build - Some owners want to work behind the chair forever, and that can be fine. But if you want the business to run without you, the choices have to match that goal. That means building leadership, reducing dependence on your own production, creating team incentives, documenting systems, investing in benefits, and accepting that the salon’s brand cannot revolve only around you.
RELATED LINKS
📸Follow Demetrious on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dbafitis/
📸 Follow Bella Bethesda Salon on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bellabethesda/
📸Follow Jordan Thomas Salon on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jordanthomassalon/
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
