Ahead of the third edition of our Next Entrepreneur Event, we sat down with James Higgins, Co-Founder & Group Director of EnVogue Travel, to hear more about what inspired him on his journey. From luxury travel to impact-driven experiences, James is building a brand that’s redefining what it means to travel with purpose. Here’s a glimpse into his story.
Hi James, we’re excited to have you with us today! Let’s dive right in: what was the inspiration to start EnVogue Travel?
I had founded EnVogue Media, a luxury media agency working with leading hotels, jewelers and watch brands to elevate their online presence. At the same time, my twin-sister was working for a travel concierge in London. She kept telling me clients are asking to privatise hotels, organise birthday celebrations in the Jungle and explore untouched parts of the Arctic!
It became apparent that travel was progressing from ‘holidays’ to full-blown adventures and world first experiences. People were desiring to travel bigger and discover experiences they and their friends had never heard of, let alone enjoyed.
With my network of luxury brands and potential HNW clients, the idea to join forces with Emma’s travel expertise meant we were in the position to ‘quickly’ start building this business and work together as trusted family members.
Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur? What do you find most exciting about it?
Yes. Coming from an entrepreneurial family, I had the privilege of watching my father go out and start a business from nothing, and through hard work and passion, scaling it and eventually selling it.
Of course, I also watched our holidays become better and better each year… so the excitement of creating something of my own and the potential freedom which came with success, inspired me.
I have always loved the mental exercise of designing and formulating a vision, so it has been magical to be able to bring a lot of my visions and dreams to reality. (That said, I can sometimes be too romantic about the vision and get lost in all my ideas!)
I also love problem solving and have found that I have a natural ability to process information quicker than most, so can often formulate the way forward first.
At its heart, entrepreneurship is just that; finding commercial solutions for commercial problems, quickly and succinctly, over and over again.
Could you give us an example of an experience that best represents what EnVogue Travel stands for?
We privatised Little Petra, a Wonder of the World for a client’s 50th birthday celebration. The experience included private desert glamping, securing a notable chef for the dinner and creating a party for family and friends, with Petra as an incredible backdrop.
For me, the ultimate adventure detail was the gift we had designed for the client’s partner. We had a bespoke backgammon board designed with the layout of the stars the night the couple met in Geneva, we then had it delivered to the Desert for our client to surprise her partner on the birthday occasion!
What about you: what’s one trip or destination that changed your life?
Slightly cheating here as it was business travel rather than leisure travel; but my first client for EnVogue Media was Nobu Miami. We were flown out to Miami to produce a cinematic film for the hotel to use in its digital advertising campaigns, in addition to then flying straight to Mexico to film their hotel in Riviera Maya. For this trip to be my first client and entrepreneurial experiences was pretty life changing.
This entire trip certainty set the trajectory for the amazing business and travel opportunities which transpired over the last 7 years.
Could you share with us the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Justice is like the Ritz Hotel, it is open to everyone.
Satirically speaking, while justice is technically available to all, in practice, those with the bigger financial pockets, can and will most likely win over the righteous. A great anchoring thought when navigating many aspects of business.
And if you could go back in time, is there anything in your entrepreneurial journey you’d do differently?
Spend less at the start!
Your assumption when you start is that it will immediately work, because of course you have created the best product or service on the market… but sales and cash flow take time and everything you do, ends up costing more than you forecast.
We like to finish our interviews with this one final question: what’s the next thing on your bucket list?
The Lake Palace Udaipur, India – An 18th Century floating palace at the centre of Lake Pichola in Rajasthan.
An incredible white marble sanctuary away from the world. This experience would be a million miles both physically and spiritually from my day-to-day life; so the contrast and majesty of this journey sits in my mind as a beautiful escape.
A big thanks to James for taking the time to reflect on what he’s built and the experiences that shaped him and his business along the way.
Stay tuned for more entrepreneurial stories!
