Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gteacher]

[frankhenry]

[rooster_2006]

Though I haven't personally opened a business in Korea, my Korean friend opened a guesthouse and I've helped her out with it for about two years. She's Korean and knows the processes, and she's still struggling so much.

The problem is that in Korea, everyone and their little brother owns their own small business, so for small businesses, the competition is so fierce, small business owners are working with razor-thin profit margins -- often less than if they worked for someone else.

My friend is actually thinking about closing down her business and just going back to working at several part-time jobs because the stress of running the place is so high.

I cannot imagine why anyone would want to start a hagwon, especially in the current economy. The D-8 provides a loophole to do work that you want to do in Korea. I can imagine foreigners who have a different calling in life from teaching English to use it to pursue their dreams here, but teaching English is already conveniently covered under a multitude of different visas (E-1, E-2, Working Holiday, E-7 for certain English teaching-related, non-teaching positions, etc).

What do you hope to gain by working for yourself? You'll have to deal with even more 학부모 (if you don't know this word, don't bother starting a hagwon in Korea) than if you were a teacher, and many teachers are in charge of their own curriculums, anyway (and wish they weren't).

[Dazed and Confused]

My husband and I started our own hogwon this year. It wasn't as much a headache as everyone makes it out to be. It was expensive but being the frugal folk we are it was less than what's been quoted here.

The biggest mistake I can see the OP making is that s/he has no clients. Why anyone would open a hogwon without students is beyond me. Do privates, kong bu bang, or whatever to get the base before you open.

[Juregen]

[Xuanzang]

Then you have to face the bigger hagwons with their huge advertising dollars, bank partnerships and fleets of buses like Avalon. I think starting a hagwon now would be even more difficult and costly.

[gteacher]

I'm in the business, and everything you listed off is what we do and how we deal with what our competitors have thrown at us.

I especially enjoyed when Immigration should up and then apologized to me as they left.

I made the competitor look like a fool when she started to interigate me at the open house and gave her direct answers without blinking or missing a breath. Rumors are best killed by open communication between the parents and the school.

The hardest thing is re-training the Korean staff not to think like hagwon employees where everything is a secret.

[Xuanzang]

hey gteacher, what are the monthly wonjangnims meetings like? I`ve always been curious what goes on there.

[BRcouple]

[gteacher]

[gteacher]

[Teelo]

If a foreigner starts their own hagwon, and runs it, are we inclined to hate them too?

[Juregen]

[Xuanzang]

Foreign owners could become dirtbags too. Though the chanes are less likely as they usually are former hagwon employees themselves.

[gteacher]