Tommy Nielsen didn’t set out to run a salon empire. With a finance and consulting background, the beauty industry wasn’t on his radar until an unexpected partnership led him to Rodeo, a bold new salon concept in Denmark.
Under Tommy’s leadership, Rodeo has expanded to 11 locations, attracted over 20,000 members, and redefined what a salon experience can be. In this episode of Growth Diaries, host Sudheer Koneru sits down with Tommy to explore how approaching the salon business like an entrepreneur, not a hairdresser, changed everything, from building an in-house academy and training stylists from day one to creating a membership experience that keeps 95% of clients coming back.
Tommy Nielsen didn’t set out to run a salon empire. With a finance and consulting background, the beauty industry wasn’t on his radar until an unexpected partnership led him to Rodeo, a bold new salon concept in Denmark.
Under Tommy’s leadership, Rodeo has expanded to 11 locations, attracted over 20,000 members, and redefined what a salon experience can be. In this episode of Growth Diaries, host Sudheer Koneru sits down with Tommy to explore how approaching the salon business like an entrepreneur, not a hairdresser, changed everything, from building an in-house academy and training stylists from day one to creating a membership experience that keeps 95% of clients coming back.
What You’ll Learn:
- How Rodeo turned a simple loyalty card into a membership program with a 95% adoption rate
- Why making salon data transparent to staff became a game-changer for culture and performance
- How creating an in-house training academy solved the stylist shortage and built loyalty from day one
- The role of “The Big Five,” Rodeo’s secret framework for unforgettable client service
- Why efficiency matters more than endless expansion when scaling service brands
- How being an industry outsider can help you see opportunities insiders miss
Tommy Nielsen is the CEO and Partner at Rodeo, one of Denmark’s fastest-growing salon brands. With no hairdressing background, Tommy brought an auditor’s precision and an entrepreneur’s mindset to Rodeo, helping turn it from a scrappy startup into a respected brand with 11 salons, 100+ employees, and one of the most successful salon membership programs in the world.
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