What do you think?
Rate this book
Unsexy Business: How 12 Entrepreneurs in ordinary businesses achieved extraordinary success and how you can too
Forget the hype and the sexy headlines, this is where you’ll make your fortune.
In this revealing new book Jamie Waller, entrepreneur and self-made multimillionaire, shows how you don’t need to come up with some amazing new invention or app, or raise millions, to be a business success. What you need is hard work and determination. And you need to be looking for a business idea that is pretty unsexy if you really want to make it big.
We’re talking about businesses that collect debts, sell sofas or ship goods – real, solid businesses that you probably use all the time. They won’t grab the headlines, but they can make you very, very rich. And that’s what makes unsexy so attractive.
These are ordinary businesses made extraordinary by the people behind them and their commitment to taking their businesses to the top.
Jamie has spoken to 11 amazing entrepreneurs who have created just this type of business and in face-to-face interviews he uncovers the secrets to their successes and gets firsthand accounts of their compelling, and sometimes dramatic, business stories.
Jamie also tells his own inspirational story, of how he took his debt collection business from nothing to £33 million, facing stabbings and having a gun pointed at him along the way.
Discover how you too can make it really big by ignoring the glitz and glamour and building your own unsexy business.
Unsexy Business features:
Mike Clare, Dreams | Matt Storey, M&M Supplies | Lara Morgan, Pacific Direct | Reginald Larry-Cole, Buy2Let Cars | Rami Ranger, Sun Mark | Thomas Delgado, WeBuyCarsToday.com | Harry Clarke, RingGo | Kate Lester, Diamond Logistics | Nick Broom, PVL | Charlie Mullins, Pimlico Plumbers | Martyn Dawes, Coffee Nation
"A real insight into what it takes to make your fortune in business"
Duncan Bannatyne
“Unsexy Business is brilliant. I read every word, took pages of notes and felt inspired to ingest what I learned and apply it into my life. Jamie Waller has assembled an amazing group of entrepreneurs who share their roller coaster stories of how they made it and how you can do the same.”
Michael Heppell, Best Selling Author, Speaker and Coach
"What Jamie and the business leaders in this book have achieved is incredible and a real inspiration to the next generation of entrepreneurs”
Ian Collins, LBC Radio Presenter
“This collection of stories is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit, that with hard work and determination, people can achieve the extraordinary. Read this book to learn how great businesses and ubiquitous brands were established against all odds”.
Lord Karan Bilimoria, entrepreneur and Founder of Cobra Beer
"A fantastic book which will inspire many people to start a business and also give huge insights into what will make it a success . A must read book for every potential entrepreneur.”
Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, former CEO of Mitie Group PLC
"Jamie has told his own remarkable story and that of a dozen others in order to distil lessons from everyday businesses that we take for granted. While we get drawn like moths to a flame of the so called Unicorn businesses or other businesses that make the headlines, this book pulls out lessons that are personal as well as practical from entrepreneurs who have made fortunes quietly by meeting our needs."
Shailendra Vyakarnam; Director of Entrepreneurship at Cranfield University.
In this revealing new book Jamie Waller, entrepreneur and self-made multimillionaire, shows how you don’t need to come up with some amazing new invention or app, or raise millions, to be a business success. What you need is hard work and determination. And you need to be looking for a business idea that is pretty unsexy if you really want to make it big.
We’re talking about businesses that collect debts, sell sofas or ship goods – real, solid businesses that you probably use all the time. They won’t grab the headlines, but they can make you very, very rich. And that’s what makes unsexy so attractive.
These are ordinary businesses made extraordinary by the people behind them and their commitment to taking their businesses to the top.
Jamie has spoken to 11 amazing entrepreneurs who have created just this type of business and in face-to-face interviews he uncovers the secrets to their successes and gets firsthand accounts of their compelling, and sometimes dramatic, business stories.
Jamie also tells his own inspirational story, of how he took his debt collection business from nothing to £33 million, facing stabbings and having a gun pointed at him along the way.
Discover how you too can make it really big by ignoring the glitz and glamour and building your own unsexy business.
Unsexy Business features:
Mike Clare, Dreams | Matt Storey, M&M Supplies | Lara Morgan, Pacific Direct | Reginald Larry-Cole, Buy2Let Cars | Rami Ranger, Sun Mark | Thomas Delgado, WeBuyCarsToday.com | Harry Clarke, RingGo | Kate Lester, Diamond Logistics | Nick Broom, PVL | Charlie Mullins, Pimlico Plumbers | Martyn Dawes, Coffee Nation
"A real insight into what it takes to make your fortune in business"
Duncan Bannatyne
“Unsexy Business is brilliant. I read every word, took pages of notes and felt inspired to ingest what I learned and apply it into my life. Jamie Waller has assembled an amazing group of entrepreneurs who share their roller coaster stories of how they made it and how you can do the same.”
Michael Heppell, Best Selling Author, Speaker and Coach
"What Jamie and the business leaders in this book have achieved is incredible and a real inspiration to the next generation of entrepreneurs”
Ian Collins, LBC Radio Presenter
“This collection of stories is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit, that with hard work and determination, people can achieve the extraordinary. Read this book to learn how great businesses and ubiquitous brands were established against all odds”.
Lord Karan Bilimoria, entrepreneur and Founder of Cobra Beer
"A fantastic book which will inspire many people to start a business and also give huge insights into what will make it a success . A must read book for every potential entrepreneur.”
Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, former CEO of Mitie Group PLC
"Jamie has told his own remarkable story and that of a dozen others in order to distil lessons from everyday businesses that we take for granted. While we get drawn like moths to a flame of the so called Unicorn businesses or other businesses that make the headlines, this book pulls out lessons that are personal as well as practical from entrepreneurs who have made fortunes quietly by meeting our needs."
Shailendra Vyakarnam; Director of Entrepreneurship at Cranfield University.
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
266 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 12, 2018
11 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 4, 2023
Pretty cool book, some good ideas and revenue models. Would recommend if you want a business.
May 31, 2022
Recién terminé: "Unsexy Business" de Jamie Waller. Un libro sencillo y práctico que relata 12 historias de 12 emprendedores y empresarios de múltiples industrias que lograron éxito en negocios tradicionales. Ninguno tecnológico, ninguno en Internet. Todos relacionados con productos y servicios del diario, todos en mercados maduros. Para destacar las 5 conclusiones del libro, los atributos que comparten todos estos empresarios: 1. Trabajo arduo; 2. Apetito por el riesgo; 3. Compromiso; 4. Resiliencia; y 5. No se quedaron en los planes, todos iniciaron. Muy fácil de leer, muy útil, recomendable.
Waller, J. (2018) Unsexy Business. How 12 Entrepreneurs in Ordinary Businesses Achieved Extraordinary Success And How You Can Too. Londres, Reino Unido: Harriman House Limited.
Waller, J. (2018) Unsexy Business. How 12 Entrepreneurs in Ordinary Businesses Achieved Extraordinary Success And How You Can Too. Londres, Reino Unido: Harriman House Limited.
October 25, 2025
Really interesting little interviews with entrepreneurs in boring-seeming businesses. A bit like a British version of Main Street Millionaire, except these people started their own businesses - and this book came first.
Admittedly at least one of the businesses subsequently failed and its leaders are still involved in legal proceedings, but that happens. Businesses fail, and not everyone acts honourably.
It's great for showing how much effort it takes to grow a business, the risks involved, etc.
Admittedly at least one of the businesses subsequently failed and its leaders are still involved in legal proceedings, but that happens. Businesses fail, and not everyone acts honourably.
It's great for showing how much effort it takes to grow a business, the risks involved, etc.
June 28, 2020
This book is great for the amateur businessman/woman starting off in business. Those experienced in business are unlikely to gain as much from it but still interesting to see where money can be made from basic ideas. For my full review check out my channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4nvl...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4nvl...
December 19, 2021
A collection of stories about how several British entrepreneurs made money in less glamorous industries.
You've probably never heard of most of these people. Which was sort of the point, I guess.
The featured founders have succeeded in businesses such as bedding, meat and even debt collection.
As such, this book provides a unique perspective to most other business books on what it takes to start and grow an enterprise.
It also seems to boil down to persistence and hustle.
But you probably already knew that.
I didn't finish this book. Not because it was bad, but because I put it down one day and realised I just didn't care as much anymore to finish.
You've probably never heard of most of these people. Which was sort of the point, I guess.
The featured founders have succeeded in businesses such as bedding, meat and even debt collection.
As such, this book provides a unique perspective to most other business books on what it takes to start and grow an enterprise.
It also seems to boil down to persistence and hustle.
But you probably already knew that.
I didn't finish this book. Not because it was bad, but because I put it down one day and realised I just didn't care as much anymore to finish.
December 3, 2023
"Success comes from embracing the unsexy and making it extraordinary." - It encourages entrepreneurs to find value and innovation in less glamorous industries, highlighting the potential for success by approaching even the mundane aspects of business with creativity and dedication.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews