Criminal Employees and Why Grit is Mandatory for Small Business Leadership with Mark Fleming

CONNECT WITH JESSI ON LINKEDIN >>> HERE!Buying a small business sounds exciting.You get to be your own boss. Run the company. Build something. Create wealth. Own your future.But the reality is much messier.In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Mark Fleming of Owner Actions to talk about small business acquisition, searchers, SBA financing, people management, employee transitions, operational risk, and what it actually looks like to buy and run small businesses.Mark’s career started in investment management, where he evaluated public and private companies, worked with people after major exits, and developed a deep understanding of what makes businesses valuable. Over time, he and his wife Katie began buying businesses themselves. Then other people started asking for help, and Owner Actions was born.Today, Owner Actions helps people find, finance, acquire, and operate small businesses across industries including trucking, restaurants, retail liquidation, HVAC, water well drilling, portable toilets, edible arrangements, and more.In this episode, Jessi and Mark discuss:How Mark moved from investment management into small business acquisitionWhat Owner Actions does and how it supports searchers and operatorsHow SBA loans can help people buy businesses with relatively low down payments (CORRECTION: manufacturing loan limits are still at $5M - the Senate is still deliberating on the increase to $10M, though the increase passed through the House of Representatives)Why grit may matter more than analysis in small business ownershipWhy MBA-style thinking can sometimes get in the way of operating a real businessWhat makes someone a strong small business leaderWhy negotiation can come down to conviction and not movingHow employees experience the transition when a small business is acquiredWhy telling employees their jobs are safe is not enoughHow new owners can build goodwill with inherited teamsWhy leaders should actually sit down and eat the pizza with employeesHow employee theft and other crises show up in small business ownershipWhy HR risk management matters when SBA loans are personally guaranteedHow Owner Actions centralizes resources across its portfolioWhy finance, digital marketing, insurance, and HR are key back-office prioritiesThis episode is for searchers, acquisition entrepreneurs, investors, small business owners, operators, veterans, MBA students, and anyone considering buying a business instead of starting one from scratch.Because buying a business is not just about closing the deal.It is about what happens on Monday morning after the deal closes.CONNECT WITH MARKLinkedInTikTokOwner Actions