Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Asiablue]

How does a foreigner go about starting his/her own school? Some friends and I have talked about this in a general way but any details/links and such like would help. We are not sure it is possible.

[jinju]

What are your visas? It wont happen if all you guys have E2s and if I was on an E2 would I trust an F5 to hold all the legal power? Not even if he was my bestestest friend in the whole wide world.

[Yesterday]

Step 1... marry a Korean person

2... build up a network of korean friends

3.... look around for some investors (big Hagwon)...

or 3... start your own one-room hagwon using your network
and spouse - then work yourself hard to the grit trying
to make it bigger..........

[laogaiguk]

I tend not to trust my Korean, Chinese or even Japanese bosses from the start and cover my ass. I NEVER trust foreign ones.

[fandeath]

I think every �Western� teacher who comes to Korea quickly realizes the obvious problems related to the teaching of English and the methods of learning English. They also witness a lot of unqualified hogwan bosses raking in the cash. And so, they come to a �logical� conclusion, �Hey, I can do that. if I opened up a school, I could certainly manage it in a better and more efficient way and I too will be rich�.�

Now most of these teachers are quickly stopped dead in their plan because they soon realize the costs involved in opening a school. Or they realize they need to trust a Korean partner, which after a few moments of thought, they realize that is almost as impossible as coming up with the money.

Now, there are another group(please ignore my generalizations). The ones who stay here a long time and are probably married. They are happy to have their F-2/F-5 Visa and are probably sick of working for someone else under a contract (I don�t blame them), plus they need something to ensure a stable and prosperous future. Most of us(the lifers) have an unstable and unknown future. We do not have job security and not many of us will know where we will be working in 5 years. Since the only thing they can do in this country is teach English, the highest level job you can get is owning your own business, and that business will probable be a hogwan.
(Again, please excuse my generalization for the remainder of this post. I do realize there are exception to everything I am stating here)

Anyway, a few years back(2001), I opened a hogwan with my now ex-wife(Korean). We had the money, we had the qualifications, we had the plan and we had the passion�and soon enough we had a hogwan(in my wife�s name). Of course, we had to make sure it was an acceptable size to employ me, I�m sorry I don�t remember how big it had to be, and maybe the rules changed now, but the Immigration office came to measure the exact size.

We invested about 40,000,000 for rent, advertisement, supplies, etc. We kind of knew what kind of business to expect and we hired 2/3 additional teachers. The school primarily taught TOEFL and TOEIC to middle school/ high school students. My wife worked 4pm-2am. I worked 4-9pm. Before you attack me for the unbalanced working time, I will explain that my wife was more qualified than me and in more demand than me. Plus, we hired a teacher better than me to teach/tutor the more �important� students after 9pm. I was mainly the conversation guy and after 9 pm that is usually just cram session time.

Well, the story is getting too long, so I get to my point soon.

The school was not big, but we did have limited success. After making our investment back and paying the bills and other teachers, my wife and I took home, at our peak, 5,000,000 won a month.
I do not count the first 6 months. Actually we made a lot more the first 6 months because we were the �new� school and I think everyone tried us once. But once we got established, we settled that we were, on average, a 5 million won a month school.

Now, it didn�t matter if we made 5 million or 10 million won a month, after a year we decided this is not worth it.

Why?

1) It is unstable. There are always new hogwans opening up - claiming to be better - stealing students. The number of students fluctuated too much. They will attack your hogwan verbally, sometimes in their advertisements. They will spread the word that your school has �unqualified instructors teaching poor quality English�. If you don�t always like being on the defensive, you are forced to play a little dirty. I was reported by other hogwans as an illegal worker 3 times to as many organizations. And each time, I was investigated� sigh.
2) Ajummas! The only job is to manage their child's education. So for some of them it is a full time job and they are watching you and your school in detail. Of course every adjumma wants their child to be treated like a little prince or princess and if we did not do that, they are quick to tell us of our �faults�. The complaints or recommendations on how we should teach were daily�and we were generally firm, but if we got in bad with the adjummas then word of mouth could kill our business, so we did have to bend on a lot of our teaching methods.
3) The staff. The other teachers always cause problems. They don�t teach the way you want. They are absent, they are late, they are sick, they get complaints, etc�
4) Stress. It is your business. You have to worry about paying the staff, bills and yourself.
5) It is a business, not a school. Eventually we were turning into these shady hogwan bosses that you often hear about. We were becoming corrupt/unethical in our plans and treatment of teachers�. and it gave us an overall dirty feeling. We did not want to go that direction.

Anyway, there a lot more problems. I do understand that numbers 3 and 4, will occur with any business, but it is hard to be a teacher and a businessman at the same time. Alone, teaching can be an energy-draining job.

We opened our school with, what I thought, was a superior program different than the other hogwans. We actually started the school with a strong desire and passion to teach. What changed us was the dirty tactics by other schools, the pushy Ajummas, and the system itself. I felt, they(who�s they? I don�t know) do not want something different. They are not concerned with what actually works. Image is more important than curriculum.

So we got out. We both went back to contract jobs.
Note: My wife and I eventually divorce, but the reason for that was not related to our business �failure�.

I am happy at my job now. I am under contract on an E-2 Visa and I must say each year is getting better than the previous year. I am happy and content with no desire to open another hogwan.

I understand this was only my situation and my opinions, but I hope reading this will help those of with a similar plan�or at least make you think twice.

-Me

[huffdaddy]

[MantisBot]

Anybody know anything about opening up a bar or some kind of other entertainment-based business? My sister (a bartender for a long time now) was playing with the idea in her head for a bit as kind of a joke, thought I'd look into it a bit in case play became serious:p

[ttompatz]

[JZer]

fandeath, can I ask what city you tried to start the hogwon in? I think the best bet is to find some smaller city that does not have many English hogwons. My town does not have an English hogwon. Some all subject hogwons offer English classes.

[MikeNelson]

The minimum school size is 34 pyeong in my city. The classrooms must me at least 5 pyeong each. There are many hoops to jump through, dealing with immigration, building and fire codes, hogwan association, education office..etc.....
You really have to be ready to put in a lot of hard work to be successful. I have 6 years experience in Korea so far, as a teacher and manager in Seoul for other schools. I opened my own school last December and am making out like a bandit. My Korean partner and I do all the work on our own so far but will have to expand and hire others within 7 months.
As far as parents, its a power struggle. They have a upper hand in the beginning, but if you market your product correctly, hold parent seminars, and stick to your guns, you might come out on top. We are now at the stage where we hold the power and have full classes and 3 month waiting lists. You product has to be better than those around you, fortunately thats not difficult, since most hogwon owners know nothing about education, modern teaching methods, western culture or managing people.

[seoulsista]

Fandeath, can you give some more specific examples of what types of demands/complaints mothers had and would you say it is the majority of mothers or just a vocal minority that makes these types of demands/complaints.

[Yesanman]

Like a couple of the other posters above, I also have my own school that my wife and I opened. It's been 3 years now and we also have made out like gangbusters.
Fandeath says that they made 5 million a month. I can tell you it is easy to make much more than that.
If you live in a -gun, you only need 25 pyung to open a language school. In Yesan that cost us only 5 million in key money. We spent another 15 million to get set up, but in all not bad compared to the money we've made.
Yes, the mothers can be a pain but if you are firm and stick to your guns they will unsually accept what you tell them. Just keep reminding them that 'I am a teacher. I know English. You don't.' If you have a plan/theory and make sure they know it before you start teaching their kids, most problems will be solved. We had to tell the mothers 'yes your kids will play games. Don't freak out about it.'
As for hiring other teachers? No way! I don't need that stress. Too many freaky waygooks.
In Korea I've worked in pubs, restaurants, publishing companies, hakwons, universities, being self-employeed is by far the best way to go. Good cash, less stress.

[Yesanman]

[o_time]

I've also been thinking about this. Does a hagwon actually have to have a location? I mean this. Would it be possible for my Korean partner to start a hagwon that does not actually have a physical location, employing only her and me, and then basically market me to teach at companies in the area and do one to one lessons. When I lived in the Czech Republic their was something called an Independent Business License where you could legally sell your teaching services to multiple companies and do private lessons. Is there anything like this in Korea? I'm assuming not but can�t hurt to ask.
Thanks

[Yesanman]

Yes you do need an actual location. To get a hogwan license you need to have the school vetted by the local education office and the fire department.
If you had the school open then you could work outside that spot if you got permission from Immigration and from the hogwan owner (yourself).