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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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mr_moula
Joined: 25 Jun 2007
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 Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:53 pm Post subject: What's missing here in Korea? |
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I�m a foreigner here in Seoul and looking to start some sort of business. What is missing here in Korea? I�m thinking of starting some sort of online shopping mall for various food products that are hard to come by for most foreigners. Which would include Costco products as well as other products that can be found around. I realize there is already one such website out there so maybe that�s not the best idea.
I was also thinking about cooking food such as lasagna�s etc. and delivering them frozen.
Another idea is to simply take requests for any product and then will try my best to get it� this could be anything from food to clothes etc.
Finally I was also thinking of using my vast knowledge of Seoul and its beautiful areas and take people on tours of places they have never been too in and outside of Seoul�
If any of these ideas seem useful to you please let me know. I have a lot of free time on my hands and would like to put it to good use by helping fellow expats.
Please contact me at [email protected] if you have any comments or suggestions... |
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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:58 pm Post subject: |
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How about "Rent a Future" I feel you'd make it big as the proprietor...  |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Do you have the money to put down for a business-type visa, something to the tune of 50,000 USD, or are you married to a Korean? If not, then don't expect Korea to open it's gates for you. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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Start a restaurant that serves breakfast food all day. You know what I'm talking about, pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, has browns, grits, country fried steak, omelets. etc....
If you make it, they will come. |
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dannylelievre
Joined: 11 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:42 am Post subject: |
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| pkang0202 wrote: |
Start a restaurant that serves breakfast food all day. You know what I'm talking about, pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, has browns, grits, country fried steak, omelets. etc....
If you make it, they will come. |
yes, and at night you can serve shots of syrup in the club above the restaurant |
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Mr Crowley
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Location: Suwon
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:59 am Post subject: |
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| pkang0202 wrote: |
Start a restaurant that serves breakfast food all day. You know what I'm talking about, pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, has browns, grits, country fried steak, omelets. etc....
If you make it, they will come. |
This place could use a Shoney's. |
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endofthewor1d
Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Location: the end of the wor1d.
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:14 am Post subject: Re: What's missing here in Korea? |
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| mr_moula wrote: |
I�m a foreigner here in Seoul and looking to start some sort of business. What is missing here in Korea? I�m thinking of starting some sort of online shopping mall for various food products that are hard to come by for most foreigners. Which would include Costco products as well as other products that can be found around. I realize there is already one such website out there so maybe that�s not the best idea.
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i, too, have the entrepreneurial bug. like you, i want to bring something i think is needed to an area that needs it. but not on such a grand scale as you. i just want to open a bar in the area that i live in, because there aren't any good bars here, and there are a lot of people who i think would really enjoy one.
the problem with this first idea of yours, as i see it, is that if you want to fly solo with this, it could be a really big pain in the ass. especially if you want to include things that can't be found at costco. more especially in the beginning. imagine getting your first customer requesting six things from costco, and then a particular brand of toothpaste that you vaguely recall seeing somewhere in itaewon. that'll be a hell of a lot of driving around for very little, if any, reward. also, like you said, there are a number of websites already set up for delivering costco goods. unless you really have all of your ducks in a row, i'd imagine it would be really hard to compete.
| mr_moula wrote: |
I was also thinking about cooking food such as lasagna�s etc. and delivering them frozen.
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i know of one such business in korea that does this, so i guess it's feasable. i was really jonesing for a turkey dinner for christmas. so i asked around and got tipped off to this website who cooked and delivered a turkey from gangnam to my place for 80k won. it was good, and it might be something i'd do again. but it was a pricey bird. and after all that they did, i'm not even sure how much profit they could have made on it.
| mr_moula wrote: |
Another idea is to simply take requests for any product and then will try my best to get it� this could be anything from food to clothes etc.
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i don't want to discourage you, but this idea honestly sounds pretty weak. what would you call this business? 'i'll see what i can do'?
| mr_moula wrote: |
Finally I was also thinking of using my vast knowledge of Seoul and its beautiful areas and take people on tours of places they have never been too in and outside of Seoul�
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i really don't have an opinion on this one. depending on what you would need to get yourself started, maybe it could work. on the other hand, korea has a limited amount of pleasant places to see, and they're already pretty saturated with tourists, as well as packaged tours.
| mr_moula wrote: |
If any of these ideas seem useful to you please let me know. I have a lot of free time on my hands and would like to put it to good use by helping fellow expats.
Please contact me at [email protected] if you have any comments or suggestions... |
i didn't mean to sound condescending with any of that, or to take the wind out of your sails. this board has been surprisingly supportive of me with my bar thread, and i'd like to share that encouragement with you as well. i wish you luck with any endeavors you embark on.
you've made a good start just by tossing out the first things that pop into your head. take in any criticism you recieve and refine your ideas. i picked up a book in the kyobo bookstore a while back called 'start your business week by week' by steve parks. since i already had a pretty solid idea of what i wanted to do, it wasn't all that helpful for me. but for a person like you who isn't really sure what he wants to do, it might be more useful.
good luck, and keep us posted. |
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shaunew
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Location: Calgary
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:18 am Post subject: |
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knock off tim hortons  |
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nicholas_chiasson
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Location: Samcheok
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:20 am Post subject: |
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| a store that sells logic and common sense, with some advance planning skills. They all seem to be missing in KOrea. Oh and get some 6 foot women. I miss 'em. |
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Cohiba
Joined: 01 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:17 pm Post subject: Business |
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Opening a biz that targets mighty whities is a really stupid idea. Sorry,
but look at the numbers. Out of the population there are about 1%
foreigners. Of those there are about 10% mighty whities. Of those there
are maybe 1% who will ever patronize your biz.
Therefore you are targeting: 0.01 X 0.1 X 0.01 = 0.00001% of the market?
There are a few foreigner run businesses in Korea. Most would be in
Itaewon. (Max % of whities) And even there the failure rate
and vacancy turnover is pretty high. |
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cangel
Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Location: Jeonju, S. Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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Heated buildings...
Social skills
Driver's Ed courses
International banking system for foreigners
A reality check (Soul of Asia my @ss)
Ok, this could be a really long list so I'll quit now... |
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GoldMember
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Easy Peasy, just sell a magical potion (derived from yak milk and koala *beep*) that is supposed to make your schlong bigger. They'll be knocking down the doors. |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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since you don't mention that you have special qualifications for cooking, I'd not recommend opening a food service business.
however, since you DID mention clothes - K has an over abundance of synthetic clothing - and a scarcity of cotten products. there are only one or two cotton stores here and they are very small with only a few products.
real cotton towels, t-shirts, socks, shirts (for both m/f), hats, scarves, dresses, skirts, shorts, etc. and BED SHEETS (this is a BIG item - very hard to find here)
as a matter of fact, something along the lines of Bed Bath and Beyond would be awesome - inexpensive, of course. K are just starting to step up to a store called Kosney's - they have one at Technomart and over in Myeong dong if you don't know what I'm talking about -
last summer I went shopping for some shorts and wound up having to buy these that were made out of the strangest material - it felt like paper and plastic - really odd - definitely not natural material. when I went to Thailand I literally bought as much cotton clothing as I could find.
Insadong has a few items but not much of a selection.
so I say - good for you, go for it - bring us some COTTTON!!  |
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