After short careers in pro-baseball, twin brothers Jason and David Benham went from mowing lawns and scrubbing toilets to running ten companies that turn over millions in profit every year – and they haven’t even reached their fortieth birthdays.

After retiring from sports, the Benham brothers made plans to start a non-profit ministry together, but felt that God was calling them to go into a different kind of ministry by starting a for-profit business.

They started small with a lawn-mowing business, picking up where they had left off in high school. Eventually, they were ready to move into real estate, and in 2003 they started a small real estate firm.

Today, that small startup has grown into Benham Companies, comprised of ten businesses that are growing rapidly across the United States and overseas.

What is their secret?

The twins are more than happy to share their secrets of success, but those secrets have nothing to do with the kinds of things taught at business schools.

The Benham brothers have always viewed their business as their ministry, and this has led them to develop four principles to which they attribute their success.

IFWE recently interviewed Jason and David about these four principles. Jason and David shared:

1. How to breathe the life of Jesus Christ into every business interaction, and how they reconcile their faith with their desire to dominate their industry.

2. How businesses can either be fountains or drains on their communities. What does it mean for Christian businessmen and women to be connected to God, and how does that impact their businesses and their communities?

3. How being faithful in the little things brings glory to God. What lessons can Christians learn from even the most mundane tasks?

4. How to create value for customers by leaving them with even greater value than the price they paid for your product or service. How can Christians balance the desire to serve with the need to make a profit?