Daily Busan
A conversation with entrepreneur Storm Reid
Storm Reid founded Tell Me Busan, a website that connects English-speaking foreigners to reputable businesses and services in the city. It is an essential resource for Busan’s English-speaking international residents and visitors.
Mr. Reid shared thoughts about his community and daily life in Busan.
Q. Please introduce yourself to Daily Busan subscribers.
Hello, I'm Storm Reid from the U.K. and the founder of Tell Me Busan. I also work as an English teacher in Kyungsung University. I've been here for almost 13 years. I'm married to a Korean and have two children.
Q. Can you tell us more about Tell Me Busan?
Tell Me Busan was started because I'm a foreigner in Korea and I'm married to a Korean. And I realized I might live here for the rest of my life. So, I thought, “How can I improve the quality of my life in Korea?”
The one issue that I found with my experience and with a lot of other foreigners is they're always looking for the best businesses to satisfy what they need. This ranges from cafes, restaurants and hospitals to maybe more serious services.
So, my entire goal is to bridge the gap between foreigners coming to Busan who do not have that information. They constantly ask for that information on Facebook or Kakao Talk, posting messages like “Does anyone know an English-speaking dermatologist?” or “Does anyone know an English-speaking eye doctor?”
So, I thought maybe I could create a place where people can find the information quickly and the information they find is recommended by foreigners. So, I'm taking all the recommendations from people and storing that information.
Then, I visit those businesses and tell them, “You have a great relationship with foreigners, so I want to promote you and let's find a way to help more people find you.” That's the goal of Tell Me Busan.
We have 10 different categories on our website, the directory. It could be gyms, or places where people can do hobbies like art, painting, drawing, and other things.
Q. Can you recommend any places from Tell Me Busan?
There's a cafe in Haeundae called Sangroksoo (상록수). They're one of the first people I worked with. It's a family business run by one brother and two sisters. My goal was to tell their story through videos I make, which becomes an invitation. One of them went to Australia to learn how to be a barista. Another one went to France, and she learned how to bake. And she speaks French. So when French people watch the video on the Tell Me Busan website, they’ll say, “I can go to a cafe and speak French.”
I think this is a different way to show Busan's highlights. Not just normal stuff that we know. It's not just to promote the cafe, but it's also to promote humans.
Q. What are the challenges or rewards of running your business?
Maybe the number one challenge is that I'm a foreigner. So, working with Koreans, they are still not very open. And most of the Koreans I work with, they have some foreign experience. So that's probably been the hardest thing, It’s about trust between foreigners and Koreans.
Q. What are the good parts of living in Busan?
There are so many, but I think Busan is super safe. I come from London, which is similar to Seoul, very crowded, very busy. Busan feels a little bit slower than Seoul. I can go to a mountain, go to the beach and just de-stress and relax. Also, the food is the best food I've ever had in my life.
Q. As a foreign resident, do you have any recommendations for the city?
I would say, and maybe they're already doing it, but I think the easiest way is probably just to listen to foreigners and listen to all kinds of foreigners because we are not the same. We come from different countries and are all doing different things here.
※ Tell me Busan
◎ Website: https://www.tellmebusan.com/
◎ Explore business directory: https://www.tellmebusan.com/business-directory
◎ Instagram: @tellmebusan
<Today's Vocabulary - 오늘의 단어>
found: 설립하다 reputable: 평판이 좋은 essential: 필수적인 resource: 자원 improve: 향상시키다 satisfy: 만족하다 range: 범위에 이르다 entire: 전체적인 goal: 목표 bridge: 잇다 gap: 간격 constantly: 지속적으로 dermatologist: 피부과 전문의 recommendation: 추천 store: 저장하다 relationship: 관계 promote: 홍보하다 category: 카테고리(분류) directory: 목록 invitation: 초대 bake: 빵을 굽다 challenge: 힘든 점 crowded: 붐비는
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