For one full year,
I devoted myself entirely to learning vinyl wrap installation.
Every morning started at 6 a.m.
I came home around 8 p.m.
At night, I watched installation videos
and practiced vinyl wrap techniques 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 vinyl wrap installation skills
- A sample book
- A used car — a 2016 Toyota Corolla
- An Instagram account
That was it.
I didn’t need a 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 understand vinyl wrap work.
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 vinyl wrap services before,
but there was no one who could do it properly.”
“Five years ago, we hired a vinyl wrap installer,
but the quality was terrible.
We stopped using it 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 vinyl wrap installation —
that’s impressive.
It’s actually a great niche business in Canada.”
“Since COVID, construction costs have gone through the roof.
Demand for vinyl wrapping cabinets and furniture is increasing.
You know how expensive renovations are in Canada.
Wrapping can save clients 70–80%.”
“There are no real vinyl wrap technicians in Vancouver.
If you trained 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 only on Korean clients.
The Korean market in Vancouver is simply too small.
Out of a population of three million,
only about 80,000 are Korean.
On top of that,
Korean-focused markets tend to have lower price ceilings.
Still, I needed work — fast.
I had to get the business moving.
Once a vinyl wrap business starts gaining momentum,
it compounds.
I was confident in my skills —
and more importantly,
in my finishing quality.
The reality was simple:
Promoting vinyl wrap services
to Canadian contractors who had never heard of it
was extremely difficult.
But promoting to Korean contractors
who already understood the concept
was easy.
All I had to say was:
“I do vinyl wrap installation.
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
kitchen cabinet vinyl wrap job.
That’s when I ran into a serious problem.
I had no idea
how to price vinyl wrap work in Canada.
Seoul Interior Film 