Buying a business: unexpected journey from employee to first-time business owner required assistance; persistence and a bit of faith.

• Position: Extreme Outfitters

Marion Plocica of Jacksonville hadn't been looking for a job when she joined Extreme Outfitters as its business manager in 2005. The owner of the company, which sells rugged clothing and high-tech equipment for military and paramilitary personnel and die-hard outdoor enthusiasts, had been a family friend since he sponsored her son, Zakk, in motocross events and later hired him to work in the store. An energetic former Navy man with two stores, an e-commerce business and a stake in a distributorship that carried much of his company's inventory, Steve Sideras realized he needed someone to handle the details of his thriving operation. He thought Plocica, with her natural organizational ability and background in accounting, fit the bill. When Sideras made the offer, she was happy to help someone she considered a friend. Never did she imagine, though, that eight years later she would find herself owning the company.

But that's exactly what happened when Sideras died unexpectedly in 2013, unmarried and with no will. He had started the business in Virginia Beach in 1997, moved it to Jacksonville in 2001, and had big plans for the future. All at once, the livelihoods of 30 employees in two states--Extreme Outfitters had a second store in Georgia by then--were at risk. As a key employee with a longstanding relationship with the owner, Plocica felt responsible for the business. But the first lawyer she approached about trying to save the business discouraged her from pursuing that path. His advice: "Polish up your resume."

What happened after that, Plocica asserts, was providential. Her husband, Jim, a retired Marine, was on board and formed a holding company with her. Other lawyers, including the executor of Sideras' estate, told her it might be possible to save the company. Sideras' elderly parents, who were his heirs by default, were willing to work with Plocica. And she connected with two staff members of the UNC system's Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) in Wilmington, who helped her apply for a Small Business Administration (SBA)-backed loan to buy the business.

In the end, the Plocicas' holding company bought Extreme Outfitters' assets using a 10-year SBA loan (Plocica declined to say how much they borrowed). Sideras' interest in the distributorship, meanwhile, was bought out by its other partners. To keep things manageable, the Georgia store location had to be shuttered and its staff laid off--a process Plocica recalls...