Alec Reed: How I got lucky and made £60m

Alec Reed opened his first employment agency at the age of 26 with just £75 in his pocket. Now his company has revenues of more than £750m a year and he is worth over £60m

Alec Reed, 75, doesn't have fond memories of his schoolteachers. "They said I lacked ambition," recalls the founder of Reed Recruitment. "But I was making lead soldiers at home on my mother's kitchen stove. I was working with the milkmen every morning at 5am for two bob a round. To say I was lazy was ignorant."

The son of a civil servant, Reed grew up in an end-of-terrace house in Hounslow, west London. He left school at 16 and became a trainee accountant for Gillette, working part time for a girlfriend's father as an estate agent. "He was a sole trader with a double-fronted shop and I was his only employee. So I said to him one day, 'You're selling carpets in the other half of the shop. Why don't you turn it into an employment agency?'" Reed was turned down. But he didn't give up. "I left it for two weeks then said: 'Well, if you won't do it, will you rent me that half? You make £10 a week from your carpets, so will you rent it to me for £10 a week?'"

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Jody Clarke

Jody studied at the University of Limerick and was a senior writer for MoneyWeek. Jody is experienced in interviewing, for example digging into the lives of an ex-M15 agent and quirky business owners who have made millions. Jody’s other areas of expertise include advice on funds, stocks and house prices.