Jim Steele

Co-founder, Steele Solutions

National Account Executive, CSSI Services

Branson, Missouri · Indiana University, Business · CSSI sales page

Background

Jim grew up reading the fine print. After his business degree at Indiana University, he spent years on the bank side at First National Bank of Omaha working in merchant processing, where he earned President's Club recognition. The bank job taught him two things: how the processing economics actually work, and why most merchants overpay without ever realizing it.

When Jim and Kim launched Steele Solutions in 2024, the decision to run independently — not as employees of a single processor — came from that bank background. Independents shop multiple options. Captive reps sell whatever's in the bag.

What Jim Handles

• Free statement audits. Every merchant statement that comes in lands on Jim's desk. The line-by-line report you receive is his work.
• Credit card processing strategy. Interchange-plus, statement transparency, multi-processor shopping.
• Small business lending. Working capital, equipment financing, MCA fit decisions, SBA referrals.
• CSSI cost segregation. Jim is a CSSI National Account Executive. CSSI engineering-based studies for commercial property owners run through him.
• POS strategy. Matching POS hardware to actual business workflow rather than the rep's commission pile.

Credentials

• Indiana University, business degree
• President's Club, First National Bank of Omaha (banking + merchant processing)
• CSSI National Account Executive (engineering-based cost segregation)
• Years on the bank side reading merchant statements before launching Steele Solutions

How To Reach Jim

For Steele Solutions work (POS, processing, ATM, lending, local Branson MO):
Direct: 417-294-1882
Email: steelesolutions4u@gmail.com
Hours: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm Central; after-hours by text for existing clients

For CSSI engagements (cost segregation, 179D, R&D credits, national):
CSSI sales page: stelle.rocks (redirects to Jim's National Account Executive profile on cssiservices.com)
CSSI email: james.steele@cssiservices.com
CSSI corporate switchboard: 866-757-6484

The depth of the bank-side experience

The Indiana University business degree and the bank job are easy to summarize on a bio page. The actual experience that shapes how Jim works runs deeper.

The First National Bank of Omaha years

First National Bank of Omaha is one of the largest privately-held bank groups in the United States. Jim spent years on the merchant-processing side, which means he wasn't just selling card processing to small businesses — he was reading the actual interchange tables, the actual processor pricing structures, the actual chargeback handling rules. The President's Club recognition came from sustained production over multiple years.

That bank-side experience is the reason Steele Solutions exists as an independent brokerage rather than another captive sales rep for a single processor. Jim knows what tiered pricing actually buries inside the buckets, because he saw the underlying interchange categories every day on the bank side.

The CSSI National Account Executive role

CSSI National Account Executive is not a marketing title. It means CSSI has authorized Jim to source, qualify, and shepherd engineering-based cost-segregation engagements through CSSI's national engineering team. CSSI handles the engineering; Jim handles the client-facing relationship.

This role gives Steele Solutions clients access to the same caliber of engineering-based cost segregation that big-firm tax practices arrange for their largest clients. The difference is the relationship economics — you don't have to be a top-50 client of a Big Four firm to get the work done correctly.

How Jim runs a statement audit

Each statement that comes in gets the same treatment: every line item identified, every fee categorized, every markup separated from each legitimate pass-through. The report you receive is hand-built — there is no automated statement-reader pumping out reports. Two business days is the turnaround because that's how long actually reading a statement carefully takes.

Why he doesn't use 800 numbers

The bank side taught Jim that a 1-800 line is where merchant relationships go to die. Existing clients have his direct cell. The cost of giving every client a direct number is some after-hours texts; the value is that nobody ever feels lost in a queue. That's the model.

Reachable

Direct: 417-294-1882. Email: steelesolutions4u@gmail.com. Mon-Fri 9am-5pm Central; after-hours by text for existing clients.