I opened chezous six months ago. At that time, I had a business partner, a cafe I wasn’t particularly proud of, and no clear vision for the future. Now, all of that has changed. I parted ways with my partner, I’m proud of what the cafe has become, and I have a very clear vision of what I want this place to be… I want to make chezous synonymous with crepe in Korea. I want people’s reaction to be, “I didn’t know crepe could taste this good!” and “I didn’t know crepe could be this beautiful!”. I want to hear, “You have to try this!”. To me, that’s a goal worth chasing.

It’s hard to go more than five minutes in Seoul without seeing a cafe. It’s even harder for that cafe to survive more than a year. Combine that with my zero experience running a business or kitchen and there’s an almost certain chance of failure. To further add, I don’t possess any skills that could help me here like marketing or brand design nor do I have experience as a chef or barista. I am, however, very good at failing. It’s not that I don’t get hurt. I do. And I take criticism personally… But after each failure, for some reason, I get back up and try again.

My mom always says,”똥인지 된장인지는 찍어 먹어봐야 안다”, which translates to, “You have to taste it to know if it’s poop or soybean paste”. And that’s kind of my approach to everything. I’m willing to test everything out, slowly, and I mean slowly, learning and building upon previous lessons that I’ve internalized. And I think this opportunity to grow excites me more than the success of the business itself. I am excited for the person that I will become after this journey.

There are a couple reasons I’m starting this blog – some practical, some personal.

First, I want to communicate and think clearly. I believe writing is a forcing function to think clearly. Bad writing shows bad thinking. Whereas if you have great thinking it’ll show in the writing.

Second, I want to become a better storyteller. Like I want this blog to be entertaining – I don’t want you to read it just cause you care about me! I’ve always admired my friends that can raise such high levels of emotions in such low stake environments. This journey isn’t all that serious, there’s a lot more to life than business – that’s exactly why I think it’s a great medium to tell this story.

Third, I want you to be involved in my life. I don’t use social media much anymore and a lot of people I care about are spread across the world. Writing things down – properly, in detail, is my way of letting you into my life.

This last one is just for me. I’m going to need this. There’s gonna be many moments where I’m down, insecure, and just not having a good time. We’ve all been there, we know what it’s like. In those moments, I’m going to need me to tell me that it’s alright and that I can keep on going…

cheers,
austin