A JOURNEY BUILT ON DECISIONS

My name is Bar Tzemach. I’m 37 years old, married, and a proud father of four children. I was born in Bat Yam, Israel, into an ordinary family with two parents and two children.

Growing up, I didn’t experience wealth or a life of luxury. My parents worked hard and did everything they could to make sure my sister and I had what we needed.

But even as a child, I knew I wanted to build a different future. I knew that when I became a father, I wanted my children to have opportunities that I didn’t have.

There is one thing my father told me when I was around 16 years old that has stayed with me throughout my life. We were sitting together during a family dinner when he said:

“Bar, if you want a life that other people dream about, you’ll have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do.”

At the time, I didn’t fully understand what he meant. But over the years, I began to understand.

At 17, I made the decision to leave school. It wasn’t because I was a poor student. I simply knew that university and a traditional academic path weren’t the right fit for me. I decided to focus on working and developing my own path.

After leaving school, I worked several different jobs, but I rarely stayed in one position for more than a few months. That changed when I started working at a store that sold sound and lighting equipment.

I started at the bottom as a warehouse worker. The work was physical and demanding, but I saw it as an opportunity to learn. Whenever there were fewer people around, instead of simply taking a break, I stayed close to the people running the store.

I watched. I listened. And I learned.

I wanted to understand how the business worked, especially the sales process. Over time, I learned what it meant to be a successful salesperson, the importance of providing excellent service, how business owners make purchasing decisions, and what makes a customer choose one supplier over another.

One of the most important lessons I learned was that business owners value reliability. They need to know that when something goes wrong, their supplier will be there to help.

I made myself available whenever they needed me. That consistency built trust. And I learned that the confidence and peace of mind a business owner gets from knowing they can rely on you can be more valuable than the price of the product itself.

Over several years, I built my skills, my reputation, and my relationships. But I still felt that something was missing. I was doing good work, but I didn’t feel that I was moving toward the financial independence I wanted.

Then, in 2011, I had an opportunity that changed my perspective. The owner of the store told us about a trade show taking place in China and was looking for someone from the team to join him. I immediately saw the opportunity and decided to take it.

I had always been interested in China and its role in global manufacturing. A few days later, I bought my plane ticket.

When I arrived in Guangzhou, the scale of the country immediately stood out to me. The buildings were bigger. The cities were busier. There were factories, trucks, businesses, and people everywhere.

I remember looking around and realizing:

The world was much bigger than I had imagined.

And if businesses around the world were sourcing products from China, I started asking myself:

“Why shouldn’t I be part of that?”

The two weeks I spent there changed the way I thought about business. I saw the potential of the market and became determined to learn more.

When I returned to Israel, I immediately started looking for the next opportunity to visit China. Over the next few years, I traveled there around eight to ten times. I studied the market, built relationships with suppliers, and learned about importing.

In 2013, the store where I worked began importing products directly from China, with my involvement, rather than purchasing through local suppliers. This significantly improved the business’s profitability.

Then, in 2016, two close friends decided to open a restaurant. I suggested that they import their restaurant equipment directly from China. For them, the goal was to reduce costs. For me, it was an opportunity to gain practical experience in importing products outside of the sound and lighting industry.

It was a win-win situation. They saved money, and I gained valuable experience.

Then came another important milestone. In 2017, my first son, Rafael, was born. Becoming a father gave me an even stronger sense of responsibility. It increased my motivation to build something successful and create a better future for my family.

In 2018, after years of experience in sound, lighting, importing, and working with suppliers and manufacturers, I received an opportunity to establish a sound and lighting factory in China.

The decision was not easy. I was 29 years old and had recently become a father. The opportunity required me to leave my family and spend several months in another country.

I remember coming home to my wife and telling her:

“I need to go to China for three months to establish a factory. I believe this can change our lives.”

Leaving home for three months with a newborn was a difficult decision. But my wife supported me and trusted that I was making the decision with our future in mind. That support gave me the confidence to take the next step.