Black became sales manager of Southwestern Company of Nashville, Tennessee, then National Sales Manager for FISI In 1990, Black founded and was the CEO of accounts receivable company, Private Business, Inc. The company went public in 1999. That same year, Black co-founded bank mission-critical equipment and maintenance company, Tecniflex, then its sister company, Imagic Corporation.
In 2007, Black published an autobiography, The Boxcar Millionaire, which describes his impoverished childhood and his subsequent business success. Black has written columns for The Tennessean newspaper.
Black is a motivational speaker, giving seminars on ethical sales techniques. In 2008, Black partnered with Chicken Soup for the Soul author, Mark Victor Hansen, to give a series of one-day seminars on sales.