Author Won Il-ran uses the expression 'business cells'. Just as each of us has a different aptitude for studying, running a business also calls for its own set of abilities. To get into university, we study for years—attending academies and working through workbooks as we discover our aptitudes and our major. But starting a business is different. People dive into the field without even a chance to figure out whether it suits them, and without checking whether they have what it takes, they try to launch the easy way by simply following someone else's methods. They get by on instinct or nerve, soon give up, and repeat closures without ever knowing why they failed—all without realizing that the greatest enemy of an independent café is not the rival shop next door, but the owner's own 'seat-of-the-pants management' that shifts with the situation.
Starting a business is, by its very nature, something you should prepare and train for in order to meet the real challenge. Yet most people pour at least tens of millions of won into interiors and equipment while never actually studying properly. It's a contradiction—like buying an expensive car without ever learning to drive. The author's first book, "Café Startup ABCs" (카페 창업 ㄱㄴㄷ), lays out the overall flow of starting a business and the methods you can put to use on the ground, generously sharing the know-how of someone who started as a part-timer and ran a shop alone for 10 years without ever falling into the red. But while working as a café startup consultant, the author discovered a more fundamental problem: before stepping into the field, an owner should first judge for themselves 'why they want to open a café' and 'whether they have the qualities and the will to take a business on.'
"Café Startup Training" (카페 창업 트레이닝) begins with exactly that question. Before asking 'how to open a café,' this book first asks 'what kind of person you must become to run a café for the long haul.' It is built as a 10-step training program that develops the inner muscle and practical instinct an owner needs to hold their own on the ground. It begins with an aptitude test and checklist for self-examination, moves through menu composition and pricing strategy, and teaches how to plan both the visible and the invisible elements. Finally, it systematically covers a service mindset and hospitality, the power to bring customers back, and even the structure for turning a profit.
The stamina training of a true owner who sets unshakable standards and runs the business systematically—
start with "Café Startup Training"!