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.
For years, I struggled to grow my business. Then I discovered I had been trying to implement the strategies of a mainstream business model purely by default and from not knowing any other way was possible when I should have been luxurious all along. Have you intentionally chosen whether your business model should be luxury, premium, or mainstream?
“A vision shivers Breaks forth into a form made real Nature, transcended” – (From “Poetic Fragments” by K. Joia Houheneka)
Of course, I knew of luxury brands like Chanel, Ferrari, and Loro Piana but it never occurred to me that my coaching business could be luxury.
Probably like most entrepreneurs, my journey of developing and evolving my business has been one of continuous lessons and pivots. I actually started my career in academia on track to be a lifelong college professor until I realized my deepest fulfillment could only come from the freedom of working for myself. I was holding down jobs as a freelancer and a fitness instructor when I was first introduced to the coaching profession. I loved the certification courses (I’ve been through multiple coach training programs), but I struggled to implement the “proven best practices” when it came to establishing and promoting my business in ways that felt aligned with my highest values.
Then, I discovered that my business should be a luxury.
This certainly wasn’t an overnight realization. It was a long, circuitous path that started when I had the insight to incorporate travel into my coaching offers (because travel experiences and retreats had been some of the most profound transformational catalysts for myself and many of my best ideal clients). I studied and worked hard to develop the skills, knowledge, and tools of a trusted professional Travel Advisor, and it was through that process that I was introduced to the world of the luxury sector of travel and what distinguished a luxury business model from a mainstream business model.
It wasn’t an immediate “a-ha moment” because, frankly, there is much in the history and current practices of luxury that I don’t believe lives up to true excellence and high quality. However, I am, by nature and inclination, an aspirational person, and luxury still stands for aspiration. In fact, as I researched deeper, I learned that there IS much I admire and want to make my own from the luxury approach to doing business, along with stripping away the negatives and adding new insights from the study of human flourishing. (For the record, today I am on a mission to elevate luxury and make luxury synonymous with excellence and flourishing).
When I look back, I realize the truth of “you don’t know what you don’t know.” I had no idea that the business lessons I was being taught were only mainstream business model lessons and there is a different “proven” path I could follow based on luxury principles to grow a successful brand.
Today, I know There is absolutely nothing wrong with a mainstream business model as it is a demonstrably valid and ethical way to conduct a profitable enterprise that delivers value to the world. It’s just not the business model for me, given my personality, propensities, and passions.
Just like it’s perfectly fine and wonderful to be a duckling unless you were born to be a swan.
If I had known about the different business options, I could have made an intentional choice sooner. This is what I wish I knew.
Luxury or premium business model?
I consider my current business to be luxury/premium, and for the remainder of this article, I will contrast luxury/premium against a mainstream business approach. However, there is a generally understood distinction between luxury and premium, which is worth understanding. As I’ve written in a previous Brainz Magazine article:
“One consideration that frequently occurs in discussions of the definition of “luxury” is a distinction between luxury and premium. Put simply, premium offers are regarded as those at the top end of their industry based on tangible markers of functional quality. Luxury offers are considered to go beyond this to incorporate intangible and symbolic value. Premium is purely logical and rational, whereas luxury is an emotional seduction perceived to go beyond reason.
Audi is generally considered premium. Rolls Royce is undeniably luxury.
Interestingly, when it comes to luxury entrepreneurship, I have found that all high-end brands, whether positioned as “premium” or “luxury,” can benefit from learning and leveraging insights from a luxury strategy.
After all, a luxury strategy is always an art that must be tailored to a distinct brand in its specific moment. Further, it seems the key distinction for entrepreneurs is whether one is creating a high-end, unique offer or a mass-market commodity. In fact, anyone entrepreneurial brand may be in a particular stage of growth, be it a luxury, premium, or both.”
If you’re interested to learn more, I recommend the rather comprehensive article referenced above. However, with this basic understanding in mind, let’s now explore the major differences between luxury/premium vs mainstream.
4 key characteristics of luxury & premium business models
Building and developing a luxury business is always an art, there is no formula to follow. In fact, disrupting the status quo in the quest for authenticity and greatness is generally at the heart of a luxury project. That said, certain key characteristics frequently distinguish a luxury or premium approach from the mainstream. Notably, a luxury/premium brand is often:
1. Creator-driven
Much like a work of art, a luxury brand is often the unique expression of a creator’s vision. Yes, it is still a business that serves a clientele. But a luxury brand doesn’t merely provide its audience with what that audience purports to want. A luxury brand expands the vision of its customers, showing new possibilities, and revealing new ways to desire and dream.
For those who are at heart creators, like myself, a luxury brand is ideal because you literally get paid to grow and evolve, to go on a journey into the exciting unknown and bring your audience along with you.
Luxury icons like Coco Chanel or Karl Lagerfeld exemplify this approach. So, too, do Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, who grew Apple and Tesla by leveraging luxury brand strategies.
2. Highly personalized
Luxury brands can generate the same if not more revenue than mainstream brands working with fewer clients. This means each client can receive highly personalized service and a true depth of human connection that is impossible to replicate via automation. This means you as the business get to be selective, you get to pick and choose the clients with whom you will work.
You could generate a million dollars in revenue by selling 250,000 units at $4, or you could powerfully serve 4 clients and charge them each $250K. My personal preference is for the latter.
3. Trend-setter
Luxury brands are pioneers and trailblazers. They don’t look to the left and right to see what everyone else is doing and try to copy. They look ahead and forge new paths.
Luxury brands are the trend-setters. They make bold experiments, and, yes, sometimes they fail, but when they win, it is often spectacularly so. This is why it is important for a luxury creator not to get bogged down in debilitating perfectionism set your high standards and keep pushing toward greater progress. Keep replenishing a vibrant sense of ambition to pursue the next great vision ahead on your horizon. Soon you’ll glance back to realize others are chasing to keep up with you.
4. Category of one
Luxury brands don’t compare. They don’t position themselves up against competitors to try to show why they stack up better. Instead, luxury brands create their own worlds and make themselves inimitable. They pursue an excellence that is uniquely their own. They embody the essence of being a category of one.
This is one of the reasons they can and do charge so much.
4 key characteristics of mainstream business models
The above contrasts with the major traits of a mainstream business:
Customer-driven
Many mainstream businesses begin and grow by literally surveying the customer base and delivering on the reported feedback. It can be a profitable way to establish a working business. But it makes for a miserable way of existence if you are a maverick or a visionary.
Volume-based
Most mainstream businesses have slim margins and rely on volume to generate profits. Admittedly, automation tools make it easier than ever to deliver on volume sales with a certain degree of customization. Further, things don’t have to be couture to be of high value. This business model presupposes a mass-market, which is totally fine. I just know I prefer my slim but powerful niche.
Trend-follower
Mainstream businesses don’t innovate. They look to see what people are already buying and jump on the latest trends to try to capture some piece of an existing customer base. It can be safe and predictable (at least while the trend lasts). For me, it’s just boring.
Commodity
Even if they have certain “unique selling features,” mainstream products or services ultimately are just commodities. This is why mainstream businesses rely on discounts and sales, because at a fundamental level, they’re just competing on price. I want my work to bear my signature and rise above the status of a mere commodity. Do you?
If your brand fits as luxury/premium and belongs among the elite, then come play with us in Club Elevate+Aspire+.
Even at the complimentary level, membership is exclusively curated only for those who are serious about building a luxury and/or premium brand as part of a life dedicated to ambition, creativity, excellence, and human flourishing.
Discover more and apply today to begin your membership.
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.
