Steve Mann talks about his business retreats and his philosophy about how he works with clients Wednesday at his office on Kettleman Lane. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Mann-ly success

Lodi business mentor helps clients achieve goals

When Steve Mann was growing up, his brothers buried their noses in comic books while he buried his nose in the Wall Street Journal. Simply put, he's always been interested in the "science of business."

These days, the vibrant 38-year-old business mentor is the president and CEO of Mann Financial Corporation, the president and executive director of Sonshine Specialized Camping Ministries, Inc., a co-owner of Domain Imaging and a board member of Action Coach.

Not only is he involved in the many different endeavors just mentioned, he is also an equity investor with properties in and out of California. He began that phase of his life at just 19.

Mann runs a monthly Business Bootcamp at the Lodi Chamber of Commerce, and helps people to maximize their business operations in two hours.

Mann took a few moments to sit down with Business Editor Marc Lutz to share some insights, philosophies and ideas on business.

Q: What was your very first business venture or job?

A: My first job was when I was 16 and I did light industrial work for Montgomery Ward in San Ramon. That came through ... Temporary Skills Unlimited. We did that until school started again.

Q: What are the keys to a successful business?

A: I break it down in three different ways, but two different descriptors of those ways. One would be executive maturity, business development and profit growth. And it's somewhat in that order.

Sometimes business owners jump in there and, yeah you need to market, but they haven't even figured out the basics as far as their destination, why they're in business, basics in terms of their money.

Overall, the three needs of business owners is time, team and money.

Q: What kind of person does it take to run a successful business?

A: It depends on the type of business. What I've found ... people are going to be successful if their behavior type matches what they're doing. So, if your behavior type — you're real analytical, you're detail-oriented, you're going to be successful running the quality control for all the contracts that are being produced by all the salespeople, who's behavior type is very relational, they love networking.

The successful businesses are those who have people who the behavior type matches what they're doing.

Focus, differentiating with your marketing, testing and measuring, self-discipline and then having a yearn to learn.

Q: You run a complimentary Business Bootcamp. Do you yell at the recruits and make them run spreadsheets?

A: That's an awesome question! My life has been about retreats. It says "bootcamp," but it really should be a two-hour "retreat." The bootcamp name was trying to get away from ... the word seminar.

I'm at a point in my life where I've had a great run. When I come into the workshop, I want to share. Life's been good to me, I want it to be good to you. This isn't a seminar, I'm not trying to sell. I'm trying to bring out the best in you.

Q: What are the biggest mistakes business owners make?

A: If somebody wants to go into business, they say, "hey I'm good at cutting hair, I'm great at carpentry, I'm a whiz at financial planning, I'm going to go into business for myself, and I'm going to make so much money, because I love what I do."

What happens is that they go into business, but they don't realize they can be good at cutting hair, great at carpentry and a whiz at financial planning, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you understand and are proficient at the science of business. They wake up a year or two later, and they're like, "where did my freedom go?"

Q: Lodi has an abundance of similar businesses, restaurants and coffee shops being the first to spring to mind. What kind of business does Lodi need?

A: We've thought about that. I get ideas all the time. If you come with a mission and a vision ... and you have focus, there's always a market for people like that to run anything.

Another really interesting idea, and somebody might run away with this ... the thought would be an indoor soccer facility. You set up some leagues, and it doesn't matter if it's 110 degrees or cold. You go to the soccer facility, and it's a novel idea.

Q: If a business owner sees a major slowdown in clientele, what can he or she do to start bringing in more customers?

A: I met with a guy yesterday, and he's seeing lackluster in regards to his sales. He's frustrated. I said, "what about going deeper before going wider." (He's) got four networking groups, and on average each has 40 people. Why not write down a few scripted lines to position these people to give him six referrals. He's got up to 1,000 people that he can get a (referral).

Q: What are some of the philosophies that you carry with you through life?

A: There's a formula called "be times do equals have." It's really simple: In order for you to grow spiritually, in order for you to grow emotionally and materially you need to be doing certain things. In order to be doing certain things, you need to be a certain way.

I believe that your words have the ability to change physical reality.

The greatest detriment to my success is me.

Have a yearn to learn.

Q: If you decided to do something else for a living, what would it be?

A: It would have to involve my wife and kids. My fun dream today is lying on that living room floor, holding my wife's hand, and have the kids roll and play on me. To me, that is life with a triple exclamation point.

Q: What are you reading right now?

A: Currently, I'm brushing up on "E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber. I've been reading a couple of Jeff Gitomer books. Sometimes what I read has to do with what I see clients dealing with. I've also been reading some biblical stuff, because I'm giving a message at a church this Sunday.