K. Joia Houheneka is a global leader in luxury entrepreneurship. She is the founder of Club Elevate+Aspire+, an application-only exclusive community for entrepreneurs building high-end, premium, and/or luxury businesses.
This is my quest to understand the meaning and importance of ambition for entrepreneurship, especially entrepreneurship that aims to serve as an impactful, potent force for good in the world. This started as I reflected on the story of my own entrepreneurial journey. And then I was fortunate to hear stories, perspectives, and insights from a wide-range of inspiring entrepreneurs…
“Luxury means ambitiously living your highest values.” (From “Quotes on Luxury” by K. Joia Houheneka)
Someone recently asked me: “What’s something we’re not talking about enough in the entrepreneurial space, something that’s important for success in entrepreneurship that deserves more attention?”
And to my surprise, I realized suddenly and immediately that I had a passionate response.
In one word:
Ambition
As I reflected on my own story of how I’ve gotten to where I am and what skills, traits, and convictions of mindset I’m honing as I work to propel to my next level, I realized there is a continuous theme that runs all the way from my earliest memories to my most exciting plans for the coming years.
That constant has been an ambition.
Although, interestingly, my specific ambitions have changed and evolved.
Especially now that I am a mother with a young son, my ambitions have shifted. I still want to engage in meaningful, impact-driven work that continuously pushes me to develop as a creator. I still want a global-reaching empire business that builds a positive legacy to last long beyond my years. But my ambitions now also include time and freedom for extended family time & travel, hybrid/home-schooling my son, and ample opportunity to focus on my own wellbeing, self-care, and personal growth activities.
My ambitions have certainly never been the status quo.
I think for many people, ambition means things like climbing a corporate ladder, putting in long hours, doing “whatever it takes” (even if it means sacrificing health, relationships, and time with family), fawning for status.
I think such people are not ambitious enough.
I believe ambition is about having a vision of what’s good and great for the world, and improving yourself continuously so that you can make that vision real, contributing with distinction by honing your unique potential.
In previous articles, I’ve written about my own mission to raise the bar for the high-end / luxury sector in entrepreneurship so as to make luxury synonymous with excellence and human flourishing; I’ve written about the perils and potential promise of “status” (and why I believe that concept should be replaced with “stature”); I’ve written about holding high standards without falling for unhealthy notions of perfectionism; I’ve written about Nike, elite athletes, and what human greatness actually entails.
At root, these have all been ideas and stories about ambition.
When it comes to ambition, I’m especially fascinated by stories to do what’s never been done before, to create at the highest levels, to be a visionary pioneer and trendsetter, to succeed against the odds, to take a stand for excellence and high quality (in work, health, relationships, and meaningfulness – all the things!), to be resilient in the face of repeated failures, to make a real impact in the world that furthers humanity’s potential AND to profit richly in doing so.
When I realized I believed that entrepreneurs ought to be talking more about ambition, I decided to start making those conversations happen, starting with the 14 entrepreneurs you’ll see featured below. It’s been delightful, eye-opening, mind-opening, and absolutely inspiring for me to learn what ambition has meant for other entrepreneurs passionate about making a positive difference.
I hope these stories, insights, and gems of well-earned wisdom are equally inspiring for you too.
“Ambition is part of the desire and dream combined that gives you that motivational drive”
Tammy Renee Thomas Maxwell, a Transformational Speaker & Coach, told me, “Ambition is connected to your core values. I don’t think you get that really big ambition if you're going for things that are not aligned with you. When you go for those things that are aligned with you, once you realize it, it automatically kicks in and you get excited, you get more motivated, you're driven, you have a destiny that you are working towards.”
TannyRenee shared a personal story of her ambition, relating how she had dropped out of high school, never went to college, never got a GED, and she was okay with that for many years – until she was 30 years old. And by then she was raising three babies. She was in a totally different state. But she realized that if she wanted to further her career, further her life, she should at least go for the GED. And once she got the GED, it sparked her ambition, and she went straight to college. She said, “That’s just one example I can go back to, that moment when I was by myself, and I graduated with my three kids. You know, I didn’t have to do that. But I had to do that.”
Today, TammyRenee’s ambitions involve expanding her work, which is in alignment with one of her core values: change. She helps others to transform and achieve their goals through mindfulness and self-discovery. TammyRenee believes: “If you want to be the leader of your dreams, you have to know what your dreams are. In order to know what your dreams are, you have to know who you are.”
“Ambition to me is having something on the horizon you can see happening, and you have a plan to follow through. It’s something that drives you every day and you actually wake up feeling energized thinking about it”
Tess Cheng is a Health & Wellness Coach who works with busy professionals and business owners, but she understands that ambition extends far beyond just work. “Maybe you want to do a marathon or climb up Kilimanjaro. That could be an ambition too. Or even just an ambition to actually adjust certain issues you have that you are aware of, so it could be mental as well.”
As someone who helps others deal with the ramifications of burnout, Tess knows all too well the potential pitfalls of ambition, especially when ambition is tied to work: “You can become too focused on it that you neglect other aspects of your life – your relationships, your health, your social connections, even to have enough free time to have fun, to make sure you get enough rest, to do something joyful.” She notes how people often feel guilty somehow if they’re not working, especially people who work for themselves. She likes to remind everyone, “But we need to rest. We need to have a break so that we can refocus and recharge ourselves.”
For Tess, ultimately it all comes down to balance. “Everything has to be balanced because otherwise you can feel overwhelmed. You have to sit back and be mindful about what you’re doing, and you have to have a plan and a focus every day, otherwise, one thing can just take over more than the others.”
“Ambition comes down to – how long can you stay with what you said you were going to do”
When I spoke with High Performance Coach Rogelio Diaz, he pointed out the importance of momentum. As he put it, “We’ll be ambitious, and we’ll put the foot on the gas, but we take it off as soon as we start to get momentum. But that’s the thing to keep riding that wave, keep tapping into that drive. At least give yourself a chance to do a couple of months, a year, two years, see what you can do with that.”
Rogelio emphasized the importance of daily processes to reach a long-range ambitious goal. For example, he told me about a time he set an ambitious goal to reach out to 100 people for podcast interviews. To achieve that, he created a system to reach out to 10 new people every workday. He found his momentum, and ended up connecting with more people than he could ever accommodate.
He also stressed the importance of developing a routine that supports you, so that you’re progressing toward your ambitions without the risk of burnout. Just make sure it excites you and keeps you fired up. As he says about his own ambitions as a coach, “I want to see how far I can take it before I leave this earth.”
“Ambition is enjoying the journey and still having a desire for more… that ‘go-getter-ness’”
Kylie Rae Fitzgibbons (whom you might know as “Kylie Rae of Sunshine”) is on a mission to bring positivity to the productivity and profitability side of the service industry. Her career journey began in luxury hospitality, where ambition propelled her from server assistant to general manager by age 30. And that’s just the beginning.
As she told me her story, “Post-pandemic, I retired the same year as my father. Though when I retired, it was more of a redirection for ambition. I went the entrepreneur route and was able to take Service with a Smile, my training program and consulting business, to new heights. And it wouldn't be possible to go through all of those different chapters, different phases of life, different opportunities without ambition… I think when you have a driving force and a bigger belief that is your purpose or your why or whatever you want to call it, your guiding light that leads you to take action – that's ambition.”
Ambition helped Kylie Rae through challenging times, like moving internationally to take a job as a Pre-Opening Director of Front Office at the Kimpton Seafire Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. And ambition motivates her toward her next big goal: to bring Service with a Smile to each of the 50 United States.
“For me, ambition means just constant driving force to find those things in life that will help you from not giving up and from not being complacent”
“For me, it's all about just making sure that I do not give up in order to create the legacy that I need for my family, to be an example for when things get hard – to show them that things will get hard, they will be difficult, and just because it's difficult doesn't mean that you have to stop or that you have to give up on what your dreams are and what your goals are.”
Nrgy Abrams, a Self-Mastery Coach, has not only dealt with hard times personally, she has also coached others to manage their own difficulties. I asked her what tips she would recommend to help others when things get hard, and she began by advising to write out your goals, desires, and dreams, making them much more real and having them to serve as a reference and reminder in that difficult phase. She then suggested taking that next step of committing to it, no matter what happens.
That sense of commitment, she believes, is key to ambition. It also aligns with one of her own life mantras: “When you master your mind, when you master your emotions, and when you master your assignment, you can live your purpose and live on purpose.”
“Ambition for me is doing what is necessary to take care of the people I love”
Mindset & Business Coach Chi Dam described ambition as “having a purpose, a driving force for me to wake up on daily basis, to push myself to work hard, to provide a life that I promise the people that I love.”
I asked Chi if ambition was also a relevant factor for his clients’ success and their ability to make more of an impact, and he agreed it’s 100% relevant and stressed the importance of finding a good mentor to support that ambition. He told me, “I think this whole world is just one gigantic loop of people trying to serve each other and trying to elevate each other, so we're just in different steps of our journey, and it's just kind of looking for people a few steps ahead of us to propel us forward.”
Chi also mentioned the importance of focus for ambition. “We live in a world full of distraction. You can do this; you can do that. There’s always going to be what Alex Hormozi calls ‘the lady in the red dress’ that’s going to try to pull you in different directions. But if you stay focused on what you’re trying to achieve and stay true to your purpose, your mission, and your ethos, I think that gets you most of the way there.”
“I have had a love-hate relationship with ambition”
Licensed Therapist & Personal Brand Strategist LaChelle Barnett explained to me, “I would consider myself to be a pretty ambitious person, having big goals and things that I want to do. But I heard a sermon one time where the pastor basically talked about how all ambition is bad. And it really shook me for a while. Ultimately, I was able to work my way through that, but it created this dissidence around ‘Go All In.’ ‘Don’t Do That.’ I would say that would be a good depiction of how my relationship with ambition has gone historically.”
As a therapist with a background in both trauma and addiction, LaChelle sees firsthand the dangers when entrepreneurial ambition leads to an addiction to achievement. She told me, “Mostly what is happening is people are seeking external validation from the things that they want to accomplish and trying to get the business to give them things that the business is not designed to give them. And so it creates all of these internal problems as a result.”
That said, ambition can also have a positive side, especially when you can “wrangle it and manage it,” as she says, to become a better person: “Ambition has the ability to help you tap into the potential that usually goes to the grave with people. We're actually capable of much more than our current state typically is when you just look at physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually – we're just capable of so much more. The positive of ambition is who you get to become in the process if you allow yourself to go through that process, and how many more people are able to be helped as a result of you becoming who you were supposed to become.”
“Ambition is when you love something so much and feel so strongly, it becomes part of not just your business but your life”
Having a different view of ambition is what it normal for Marissa Loewen, a Founder & Business Coach who works with many neurodivergent clients. Those who are neurodivergent have often “been told they lack ambition, because their needs, the way that they look at the world, the way that they work, and the way they achieve success or even set goals might not necessarily fit with what we have said is ambition.”
Marissa also works with many impact-driven small businesses whose ambition isn’t necessarily measured in money, influence, or power. When I asked her what ambition could be for her clients, she told me, “It’s really that permission to pursue what they want on their own timeline, in their own capacity, and what it looks like it might be different.” She also highlighted the importance of asking for help as a part of ambition, to create ambition together with a support system to help you get things done, instead of feeling like you’re on a solo track.
“If we can actually tap into what fuels a person, what allows them to get up every day and say, ‘this is what I want to do,’ we've seen what ambition is”
“Ambition to me today, after healing, it’s creating an impact”
Devika Saha, a Trauma-Informed Intimacy Coach, grew up never seeing herself as an ambitious or career-driven woman. Her mother had been decidedly job-focused and ambitious – and it left young Devika feeling abandoned at home. It also left her with major blocks around both ambition and making money.
She told me, “I associated that, ‘maybe women who are career-driven and ambitious, this is what the sacrifice is, that they have to leave their children at home.’ That also became a huge money block for me until I realized that, and I healed that. Because how we view our childhood stories becomes our money blocks. And it’s very closely related to what definition we create about ambition, it’s our story about what money is. And then I started to heal that, and a lot of things changed in my relationship with money since then.”
Through practices including meditation, hypnosis, talk therapy, and breathwork to heal through four layers (mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual), Devika now has a more empowering entrepreneurial perspective around money. She also has a new perspective on ambition. She likes to ask: “what impact as a leader do you want to create in the world? I feel focusing on that impact part of the ambition is the feminine leadership that I that I love talking about.”
“I believe that ambition represents my desire to actually live my purpose. I didn’t get what that was when I was younger”
Paulina Xerri has been ambitious throughout her career. But her understanding and definition of ambition has changed radically. She worked in corporate for over 25 years, quickly ascending in just three years from a $20K to a $120K salary and getting to work in event management for some of the world’s most prestigious events, such as the Olympic Games.
But her motivation back then was all external. She told me, “I had a false understanding of ambition until I became a coach and understood I had been in that space of just wanting to compete, to be better against other people, and to be noticed.” It was a work-hard, play-hard lifestyle always burning the candle at both ends, always focused on competition and that external validation.
Today, Paulina is fueled internally. She now works as a Business & Mindset Coach helping other women leaders trapped behind the masks of limiting beliefs. She told me, “Ambition is very different now. For example, I value determination and courage, so I connect those two values internally and that’s what fuels me to get up every day. Now I understand that when we’re deeply rooted and connected to why we do what we do, have meaning to why we do what we do, and charge that with positive emotion, now my vision is to be abundant, to live financially free, living a life where my purpose is on show all the time.”
“Having your dreams, visions, and goals mapped out and in plain sight for you to review will help you accelerate the process”
Karl Frybrug understands adversity. But his life story is not just a tale of woe, but of ambitious rebirth and reinvention too. At 58 years old he was involved in a tree-cutting accident that resulted in his losing a limb. He suddenly lost the ability to work (the generator of the majority of his family’s income stream) with bills and new medical expenses mounting. Months later, he was just starting to recover, when COVID struck and the world screeched to a halt.
It might have been easy to give up and wallow in a “poor, poor, pitiful me” state of mind. But Karl had other plans and different, ambitious goals. He revitalized his entrepreneurial spirit, remaking himself into a Real Estate Investor, an Author, and a Motivational Speaker.
Today, Karl’s ambitions involve helping others to simplify the goal-setting process so that they too can actually achieve their dreams in spite of daunting obstacles. When it comes to the importance of taking action, he likes to share one of his favorite quotes, ““Speak of what you will do, and I will Listen! Do what you speak of, and I will Believe!”
“Ambition really is about the desire to grow”
“Personal growth leads, to me, to the idea of ambition. Whether it’s relationships or business, my personal growth is the accelerant that makes it all happen.” As someone who grew up as an undiagnosed autistic and a polymath, continuously moving around overseas, Tanja Diamond had to learn through trial and error about ambition and personal growth, ultimately developing a set of protocols for nervous system optimization that she now shares with others.
Tanja’s ambition has helped her gain extensive knowledge in a wide-ranging number of subjects and modalities that she’s been able to integrate in her work as an educator, healer, and speaker.
Tanja told me she once was asked by a high school marketing class to define success, and she answered, “It’s my ability to lay my head on my pillow at night with my integrity uncompromised.” She added, “I think if you're not driven by integrity and personal growth, you can be as ambitious as you want, but you probably won't succeed. No matter what you're doing out there, understand that the fastest way to learn and grow is to fail. So, I love to fail fast, fail hard, fail quickly so that I can learn what I need to move on to wherever it is I want to go.”
“What started when I was young as that ambition in my business has now become more an ambition of myself and self-care”
As an entrepreneur with over 30 years of success, Brenda Bailey had a lot to tell me about how ambition can evolve. “I think as entrepreneurs, people can be a little tunnel-visioned, especially the first couple of years. And I think that what happens with ambition is that people don’t modify it as they grow.”
Brenda herself has certainly gone through several significant modifications in her entrepreneurial journey – from starting out wondering why she would pay someone to do something she could just do herself, to learning that making money means you can afford to pay to put the best people and systems in place, such that the business generates even more money, and you don’t feel like you have to “sell your soul for 7 figures.”
For her current business, Brenda made sure to do things differently, creating a business that could feed her soul as well as help other people. “I'm just much more balanced in what I want now, in hindsight, and not feeling like I have to do it all. I have figured out what to hand off and how to hand off… it’s having that balance and saying, yes, I want this, but I’m not willing to do it at the expense of myself any longer.”
“Ambition is not just about setting goals, but also about the resilience to overcome the challenges and the courage to want to defy expectations”
“Ambition brings into play all those things like taking risks, making tough decisions, even sometimes when they go against conventional wisdom. The main thing for me is just staying true to your own values and your own aspirations and trying to keep out that white noise in the background.”
Dr. Nicola Parry learned what it meant to be ambitious when, as a teenager, she decided she wanted to be a veterinarian, but received 100% discouragement from her career advisors at school. At the time, it was a highly male-dominated career, and she herself admits she believes those around her had the best intentions to try to keep her from wasting her time. But she was determined, and she persevered in spite of the obstacles.
She told me, “I look back, and I think if I had just heeded everybody's warnings and good intentions to keep me on a very narrow path, I wouldn't have had all the fun and all the amazing experiences that I've had over the past three decades. These experiences have really left me shaped differently in how I behave as a mentor these days. I’m not a Pollyanna person, but I strive to be a source of support and motivation for my mentees. If they have high goals, I do my best to really be a source of support.”
Concluding ambitions
Echoing Dr. Parry, I’d like to conclude by saying if you, too, have high goals, it is my hope you find support and inspiration from these diverse entrepreneurial perspectives to keep you ambitiously moving forward.
Now can be your moment to become more than you ever thought possible before.
Are you ready to rise?
(PS: If you’re an entrepreneur serious about ambition, impact, excellence, and building a high-end, premium, and/or luxury-level brand, you can connect with your peers as a member of Club Elevate+Aspire+. Even at the complimentary level, we curate Club membership to ensure high standards. Find out more and apply today to join us.)
K. Joia Houheneka, Luxury Travel Advisor & Excellence Coach
K. Joia Houheneka is on a mission to Elevate Luxury to make luxury synonymous with excellence. She has a background as the owner of a luxury travel agency, Delve Travel. However, much of her current work involves coaching entrepreneurs in her bespoke method that combines luxury business strategy, training in flow states & self-actualization, and growth-focused travel – it is designed for those who are serious about achieving excellence and flourishing across all areas of life. Entrepreneurs with high-end, premium, or luxury businesses are invited to apply for a Complementary Level membership to Club Elevate+Aspire+ to discover more.
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