(NewsNation) — Plumbing is a dirty job, but you wouldn't know it by looking at Florida State's Richard Benny.
Baney is a plumber and a billionaire with his wife of 30 years, Laura.
“I'm proud to be a plumber,” he told NewsNation in a recent interview, talking about his business and how he started an online education platform called Million Dollar Plumber.
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However, Behney wasn't always a successful entrepreneur.
After becoming an air traffic controller in the U.S. Navy at age 22, he didn't know what he wanted to do.
But then one of his friends told him that the plumbing company he worked for was hiring. Mr. Behney needed a job and thought trading would be a lucrative opportunity, so he took advantage of the opportunity.
His first job was tough. Because it was snowing, Mr. Behney had his feet grabbed from the ground as he replaced a valve in a well he had dug four feet deep.
“That was my first job,” Baney said. As he worked, he recalls thinking, “What have I gotten myself into?”
But eventually, Behney's confidence grew. As he talked to more customers, they began to specifically request his services.
When Behney saw how profitable the company he worked for, he began to wonder why he couldn't do it himself.
“That's when you want to challenge yourself,” he said.
It wasn't easy. When he first told his wife he was starting a plumbing company, Mr. Baney had no money. He had just spent his last $1,500 on an “old, beat-up truck.”
Armed with the vehicle and some hand tools, Richard and Laura Baney began their adventure.
“We literally started at the kitchen table,” Benny says.
From that front, Mr. Behney was able to grow his business into a “multi-truck, multi-number plumbing brand” serving central Indiana, according to his website.
Laura Benny says it was difficult at first. It was especially difficult for young couples with children.
“But through that struggle, we went through a period where we said, 'We need to focus on the business, but we also need to focus more on ourselves,'” she said.
With the help of faith in God, counseling and date nights, they were able to get through this difficult time, Laura Benny said.
After selling his business in 2017, Richard Benny thought he was done with plumbing.
“You can make $3 million to $5 million a year and have millions of dollars in profits,” Richard Behney says. “We're going on vacation and the kids had everything they wanted. I mean, it's a wonderful life.”
Still, “there's a limit to how much golf and boating you can play.”
That's when he decided to create Million Dollar Plumber, which teaches people how to grow their own businesses.
“When you can take someone and actually change their life, it's very fulfilling,” Richard Benny said.
In fact, Laura Behney says seeing people helped by Million Dollar Plumber gives her “much more joy than when she was working as a plumber.”
“Many plumbing business owners that we have mentored literally started from scratch, grew their plumbing business, and then sold it,” she said. “It changes the trajectory of their family. It gives us extra joy because we know they are creating the free lifestyle they want. They literally change the lives of their children. We are changing.”
