Meet Tuval Baruch | Guy who turned a hobby into a business and got lucky ;-)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tuval Baruch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tuval, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
you can not do it alone. I don’t care what anybody else says, no matter how much drive you have, no matter how hard you work, you will need help on one thing or another, and you need to recognize what type of help you need, then go find the person who can fill that role. It can be a family member, it can be a friend, it can be a random stranger off the street that just walked into your store, no matter who it is, don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask for help. and always go to those who did it before you and ask them what they went through, and try to learn from their mistakes just a little more than you learn from their success.

What should our readers know about your business?
so i own a woodworking business where we also incorporate a lot of epoxy into what we do (well, we try to, it depends on the customer) about 90% of our business is custom work, so no two projects are the same. where we stand apart is customer service. we tell all of our customers that we are only human, and sometimes we make mistakes, but we will always fix our mistakes. in other words, if you arent perfectly satisfied when we deliver your product, we will go over what needs to be fixed, we will take it back, and we will make it right.
thats why we get recommended all the time on social media, because our customers have experienced what it means to really be taken care of. for example, we had a customer that ordered a very unique table, once it was delivered her dog got to it and chewed the table top (great dane), she called us asking for a stain color so her dad can fix it, instead we told her that we would fix it and since she just purchased the table we gave her a steep discount. she was over the moon knowing that the people that built the table are going to be the ones who are fixing it for her, and its not going to cost her an arm and a leg. obviously, when you open a business there are many challenges, I reached a point about a year after I started that I was doing everything, and as a result NOTHING GOT DONE! so I bit the bullet and hired the right people to start managing different aspects of my business. now my job moved from “the guy that does everything” to actually running the business and making sure everybody has the proper training to do the job to my standards. This was hard for me as I had to come to terms with the fact that I can no longer be hands on in every step of my projects, but rather I had to do more quality control for other peoples work. luckily for me it only took me about 3 months to come around, because i know a few people who still havent done so and they are essentially a slave to their work, something i did not want to happen to me. if there is anything i want the world to know about my brand it would be this:
we do our best to build the highest quality wood product to our customers specifications, but sometimes even we make mistakes, but we will always fix those mistakes, and we are always here to help our clients even after we deliver the project, so in case anything we built ever gets damaged, we can fix it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We are in McAllen, which is in South Texas, so obviously fishing in the waters in South Padre Island will be on the books. We also have some amazing birding trails and butterfly trails depending on the season. Dove season is huge down here, so if they come in september we are going hunting. as for restaurants, I would have to say Uncle Chops Burgers in Weslaco, Smoking Oak in Donna, Bodega in McAllen. all of these are some amazing local restaurants who can rival any big city restaurant any day. and on the weekend I would take them to 5×5 Brewing Company so they can enjoy some amazing craft beer along side local entertainment.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
first and fore most, my wife, Tatiana, who has been supporting me throughout the whole journey. if its me having to stay late to finish a project, or tightening our financial belt so we can survive between payments, she has been there to make sure that was able to focus on the development and growth of the business, as well as reminding me to take some time every now and then to make sure I don’t burn out. Then, my parents, they have been supporting us all the way from Israel, sharing all the business posts on social media and ordering custom projects as gifts for their friends (in exchange they would buy gifts for their grand daughters, a deal that my oldest deemed to be agreeable) and also, all of my friends who have hired/recommended me to everyone they know, and especially to my friends Jesus Montelungo, Nate Abir, and Benjamin Macmel, all three of which have gone above and beyond not only in terms of being good friends, but they have also become my mentors, helping me when I need advice, guiding me through their own personal experience, and being blunt and telling me when I make mistakes (probably the most important one).

To everyone, I say thank you.

Website: www.tuvyswood.com

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