For one full year, I devoted myself entirely to learning interior film installation.
Every morning started at 6 a.m.
I came home around 8 p.m.
At night, I watched installation videos and practiced over and over again.
That routine lasted an entire year.
During that time, I learned everything I could from a craftsman with 23 years of experience.
To be honest, my installation speed was only about half of his.
But the know-how — the things that usually take decades of trial and error — I absorbed in just one year.
That’s why I consider myself lucky.
How many mistakes must he have made over 23 years?
A hundred? A thousand?
Before I left, he told me this:
“Go to Canada.
Use this skill.
Build a better life.”
I’m deeply grateful to Mr. Lee for sharing his knowledge without holding anything back.
In April 2022, exactly as planned, I boarded a flight to Vancouver.
What I needed to get started in Canada was surprisingly simple:
- Solid installation skills
- A sample book
- A used car — a 2016 Toyota Corolla
- An Instagram account
That was it.
I didn’t need an F-150 pickup truck.
I didn’t need a luxury office.
I didn’t need employees.
And I definitely didn’t need a marketing agency.
As soon as I arrived in Vancouver, I started calling and texting Korean renovation contractors.
I was confident about one thing:
any Korean contractor would already know what interior film was.
On a Korean community site in Vancouver, I found a list of 70 contractors.
Out of those 70,
20 responded positively.
The remaining 50 were barely working — many of them answering the phone at home while watching TV.
Here’s what I kept hearing:
“We’ve needed interior film before, but there was no one who could do it properly.”
“Five years ago, we hired a film installer, but the quality was terrible.
We stopped using film after that.
If you trained in Korea for a year, I’m willing to give you a shot.”
“Going all the way to Korea to learn interior film — that’s impressive.
It’s actually a great niche business in Canada.”
“Since COVID, construction costs have gone through the roof.
Film demand is slowly increasing here.
You know how expensive renovations are in Canada.
Wrapping cabinets, doors, and furniture can save clients 70–80%.”
“There are no real film technicians in Vancouver.
If you learned in Korea, I’m sure you’ll do well.”
After hearing responses like these, I was so excited that I literally danced.
That said, my original plan was never to focus on Korean clients in Vancouver.
The Korean market there is simply too small.
Out of Greater Vancouver’s population of three million,
only about 80,000 are Korean.
On top of that, Korean-focused markets tend to have lower price ceilings —
similar to how Asian restaurants in North America are often cheaper than Western ones.
Still, I needed work — fast.
I had to get the ball rolling.
Once a business starts moving, it builds momentum.
I truly believed that.
I was confident in my skills and, more importantly, in my finishing quality.
The reality was simple:
- Promoting interior film services to Canadian contractors who had never heard of it was extremely difficult.
- Promoting my services to Korean contractors who already understood film was easy.
All I had to say was:
“I install interior film. I trained in Korea.”
That alone gave me an advantage.
For the first three months, I followed up once a month — by phone or text.
To survive during that time, I worked as an Uber driver.
Then, about a month in, I finally received my first cabinet-wrapping job.
That’s when I ran into a serious problem.
I had no idea how much to charge in Canada.
Seoul Interior Film 