Trying to be Scrappy

So as readers of this blog may know, I’m working on a tip site for Korea (seoulistic.com). Check it out if you want, but currently it’s still in development, so there’s not much to look at yet 😛

As this is an endeavor that I am going about on my own, I have to be scrappy. I don’t have any seed money, just a few grand that I saved up. So funds are extremely limited, and I have to find ways to get some resources. Currently I’m looking for 2 people. As mentioned previously, I’m looking for an attractive girl for some youtube videos. I’m also looking for someone to help me with quality control. I’m not offering much money, so hiring some help is a challenge. Here’s my approach:

The Internet

Of course I tried the holy grail of human resources, craigslist. I am looking for a native-Korean speaker, and that’s probably why the response was very limited. Craigslist is great for foreigners, but Korean users are next to nil.

Obviously, I would like to post on alba.co.kr (the go-to source for part-time jobs in Korea). That would be the real “craigslist of Korea.” But I am not yet incorporated. And just like any other Korean site, in order to register you need a registration number, in this case a business registration number. But there’s probably a fee that I don’t want to pay anyway.

I’ve also downloaded a few dating apps to see if any internet peeps wanna get up on this, but I’ve gotten lukewarm responses so far. Most of the girls on these apps are looking for flirtatious chatting encounters, and I’m not much of a flirt (damn!). I can’t even run some game for a date. How am I going to run enough game to get up on the internet and ask a girl if she wants to record a “video” for some money? (Creepy!)

Network

My network is extremely small and limited considering I am moving onto my fourth year in Korea. I’m a homebody, so I don’t get to meet too many people. The people that I do meet are mostly from work, so the people I know are pretty much a bunch of Korean-american guys (from my last job).

Networks are indispensable for any business endeavor, and I haven’t really built mine up yet. But I’ll have to see if anyone around them wants to become the next apple girl.

The Next Step

I’m not giving up though. Next on the to-do list is creating a flyer and posting around universities around Seoul. I believe the price is about 30,000원 for you to post for 1 month. That’s too rich for my blood. If you’re careful enough to escape those half-watching building ajeoshis (경비아저씨), you can just do the garage sale route and post on lampposts galore. That’s what I’m going with. It’s old school, but I’m optimistic it will work.

Hiring a Hot Girl Sucks

Alright, so I’ll be 100% honest. I got these videos lined up to teach Korean, and these videos have already been done. Just search “How to say hello in Korean” and you’ll find videos with tons of hits already. So I’ve already got some stiff competition. But I’m confident in the scripts. I think they’re funny, they’re entertaining and they’re educational. I’m good with that. I just want one more thing to put my videos over the top. A hot girl.

Sexist or not, hot girls = clicks on youtube, and that’s what I want. But some of the potential actresses that I’ve come across for this project have been some real sour apples. Case in point, I met an attractive girl last weekend and asked her if she was interested in acting. She gave me a very positive response. So the next day I text her to tell her the details, but turns out she’s backing out. She goes on about how she’s already in media and there’s a certain level of professionalism that she wants. She also busted out the words “make up artist.” Wow. For YouTube? Excuse me but who the hell are you?

Maybe I’m just looking for the wrong people. These high end trophy girls are a pain in the ass. It’s what I get for categorizing people into pretty and not-pretty enough. I get it. I deserve it. I do feel like a jerk just asking some girls and not others about it. I’m just not confident in knowing what white people (a big part of my target audience) will like.

All I’m looking for is an above-average attractive girl with minmal acting ability and ability to speak Korean that white people will like. Is that really too much to ask?