I (Tony) first met Scott at the Starbucks just outside of the Seoul National University Station ( on line 2 ) and interviewed him there!
He believes that current online English communities in Korea don?t seem to have a specific objective and shared his thoughts on why.
One thing that caught my attention on Waguk was the job service, where you don?t have to actually look for a job anymore!!!
This and other cool features exist on Waguk so let?s talk more with Scott.
*Waguk.com is set to launch for mid July
Waguk.com ~ The New English Community in South Korea.
My interview with Scott Finneran, the Developer of Waguk.
*We chatted for a good 30 minutes before I asked him the following questions:
What is Waguk exactly?
Waguk is just a very simple website that I made to fix some weaknesses that, in my opinion, currently exist with the English community these days.
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Why did you decide to make Waguk.com ?
There are a number of reasons.
The number 1 and most important reason is I really want one single place where all English speaking people in South Korea can come together. There is a strong gap between foreigners and Koreans that doesn?t have to be there.
This will make it easier to make friends. Find people in your neighborhood or with similar interests that you can find and talk to.
My own example: I play badminton and I want to find other foreigners who play badminton in Seoul and invite them to my club. I googled it and didn?t find anyone. However I know they do exist. So with Waguk I would just input Seoul and type badminton in the hobby box and anyone living in Seoul who listed badminton in their profile will show up.
Also I am very open to making new friends and I see foreigners in my neighborhood almost everyday while I?m walking around. We never really get past the Hello and a friendly nod stage as everybody is just too busy or not in the mood to stop and chat at that particular time. However I would like to catch them at a good time and invite them for a beer some place near by if they have some free time. So with Waguk?s platform it offers a great way to meet them.
So reason number 2 is, I want to find some private tutoring around my area if and when it?s available. So being listed on Waguk will make it easy for any Korean mother to find me and send me a message. Today there is big and growing demand for private tutoring, both from teachers and from mothers. With Waguk?s ability to search people by neighborhood I hope this will make it easier for mothers to find teachers and vise versa. Hopefully this will open the floodgates on what could be a great way for a lot of teachers to make a new living and be their own boss.
Reason number 3 is the Job platforms available today.
The number one place is craigslist, and it?s great to have all the jobs listed in one spot.
However these days there are more and more foreigners working just freelance style. These teachers are always on the look out for new part time, temporary or private tutoring jobs. So the problem with craigslist is there are sometimes really good jobs posted, perfect for me or someone else however we miss the chance to see it because we didn?t look on the site that particular day. I mean who is motivated to search jobs? So with Waguk I made it so people can just fill out a form regarding what kind of jobs they are looking for; so those jobs will be sent directly to your email. Then you can apply with one click of a button.
So I guess the last reason I made Waguk is to have a discussion board to talk about any kind of topic and have all of Korea give their views and advice. So if their is a topic that interests you, you can just click ?follow? and any time someone posts something else in that discussion it will be sent to your email.
Where do you hope to see Waguk in the next 2 years?
I hope Waguk in 2 years has all of us in the English community listed and making life easier for us. I hope these good Korean people can find it easier to socialize and invite us foreigners into their circle of friends and vise versa. People are good, at least most of us, and meeting more people is just one way to fulfill your time here whether its a short time or a life time, and most of us, me included, are deciding to make Korea their home.
What is one piece of advice you can give someone looking to start a business in Korea?
Don?t think of it as a business. If there is something you want that doesn?t exist yet just make it happen. If you want it chances are others want it too. Don?t think about making money; think about making yourself and others happy.
Okay thanks Scott. I really appreciate that. Do you have any final words?
Yes I want people to know that Waguk is not being started to make any money. It is all free and will never charge money for anything including job posts.
About 3 years ago I worked for an agency for one month and they owed me 900,000 won, only to not be paid. What a headache that was.
Waguk will be contacting all schools and encouraging them to post direct with us and avoid dealing with recruiters.
So Tony I appreciate you talking with me I hope I was good company.
Yah, it was good! I hope we can meet again in about 6 months for an update.
That would be great!
Check out www.waguk.com (sometime after mid July) or contact him directly at?scott_asia@yahoo.com?for more info.
Business Network Korea
Business Network Korea is more than a networking community. Our site features stories on entrepreneurs, small businesses, ways to network while in Korea and other business related topics in Korea. Contact us with your story: info @businssnetworkkorea.com
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