Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SeoulMan6]

I agree with a lot of others here.

The safest way is to do private lessons from your (or their) apartment. Slowly add more and more students until your schedule, apartment, and wallet are bursting at the seams and you are having to turn away new students. Then you are ready to open a small hagwon with just a couple of classrooms. Hopefully from there you can start advertising, expanding, and perhaps even hire a 2nd teacher. If all goes well, you can move into a bigger place, hire more teachers, and become the "boss".

This way has the least financial risk.

[millyfrend]

Probably a lot of money to start up.

[Carbon]

[crazyechidna]

The posters that mentioned having a Korean run, at the minimum, the "customer service-side," (talking to the ajimas) are pretty much spot on.

If you're a waeguk, but fluent or near-fluent in Korean, I could possibly see that working -- but only after you build a reputation. A Kyopo would have a much better chance, especially if they are fluent in Korean (as many are).

If you haven't found out yet, Koreans aren't "racist" in the white-pointy hat and robes way. However, if their choice is between Joe American and Kim Kun-Pyo (assuming both are roughly equal quality) -- guess who wins? To be fair, I'd wager that most Americans, if given a similar choice between Leon and Semore, will pick the person that most resembles them (again assuming both are roughly equal quality).

Also, like any business, it requires a ton of money to startup. Again, like any business, don't expect to recoup that startup cost for about two to five years. Normally, this would be covered by a business loan and hopefully for little interest. Being a waeguk, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll be denied a loan. Hell, most banks probably have policies against loaning large sums of money to waeguks and for good reason -- the "pack up and leave in the night" method of quitting is well-known in Korea.

All this information comes from two years of my talking with my friend, who co-ran a hagwon with his girlfriend (her name was on all the papers). Their hagwon ended up being financially successful, but both of them had been teaching in the area for ~10 years prior. Many of their initial students were carry-overs from their previous teaching jobs.

[bobbybigfoot]