Steve Gray is the co-founder of Free Business Tips, a business blog and lively forum with a huge amount of useful advice. Steve is a lifestyle and business coach as well as an avid artist. He talks to us this week as Free Business Tips celebrates its first birthday - having signed up over 400 members with more than 6,500 visits each month.

You’ve dealt with a lot of small businesses - what is the most common mistake they make when it comes to planning?

1. The fact that many do not have a plan, or create one on paper, it’s in fact rather rare to see any form of plan. The usual statement is “Oh yeah I have one, it’s in my head…” Most small businesses seem to have very limited knowledge of business terms and procedures. Most want the golden egg but not the process to get there. Therefore when it comes to a plan there is zip, at the end of the day what they end up with is zip.
2. The other BIG thing they often do not appreciate is their attitude, the right attitude in business can take you a long way. Too many develop a big head and an even bigger ego to match “Hey I’m in business look at me!” but the big thing here is the opposite is true too… It needs to be balanced and far too many small business people do not know the first thing about their psyche and how it may effect the decisions they make and the directions they take.
3. Not having enough cash to fund the biz, once upon a time you only needed to have enough to get past 3 – 4 months and then from there it was all shiny and golden, now it takes up to 4 years, even in a franchise.

Do you think being part of a networking group is essential for success in business?

A formal one, no. If it’s an informal process, they happen all the time, that’s different. If however you turn the networking to become a research ground, a chance to pick the heads of people in business, then it could well be a good starting point.

You always have lots to say about startup marketing, what is the most effective piece of marketing that you have seen?

A coordinated approach where the business knew what to do, how much it was going to cost, and when it need to happen. Being a new Biz they had sales reps crawling over them to suck them dry, they stuck to their guns and came out on top, that’s the value of real research. It sounds corny (in that they followed a text book formula) but it worked! They had a good logo, a catchy headline and the resources behind them to make it work.

What inspires you? And what are your regular sources of business information?

Inspiration… Analysing business, listening to other ideas, thinking what if (in positive terms), and a healthy fascination with everyday life (my art background taught me that) so I observe things, get fascinated and say “WOW!” Documentaries on TV have long held a fascination for me on everything from science to art and a few things in between. Biz info – Tom Peters web site – business books (I go to the book shop and flip pages when I can and pick up chunks of info that may be useful. I look at a small number of business forums other than FBT. However FBT is becoming much more than I thought it would.

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs who have big dreams but haven’t yet started?

Innovate – lead – be clear about your vision – figure out the $$ profit early – know what you need to earn $$ and pay yourself first –PLAN! - Understand expenses – surround yourself with great people (mentors) who support you but tell the truth! - get great at sales and presentation skills.

This week it is Free Business Tips’ first birthday. You have grown it from nothing to over 6,500 visitors a month with the blog and over 400 members in the lively forum. When you started the site you didn’t know that much about blogs and forums - how has your perspective of them changed since then?

Blogs I knew a bit about, forums I thought were old hat, but I was proven wrong very quickly and I now find them addictive. If you could have a blog that showed about 10 columns and could be dynamic, then that would be special and fill the forum gap. I still think that the blog on FBT should get more attention from the punters, but hey you can lead a horse to water…

What will Free Business Tips look like by its 3rd birthday?

Much the same, unless a benefactor kicks in some cash (donations welcome ) No seriously it may have crashed and burned by then so I don’t want to think that far ahead (my wife has a serious aversion to the thing and that makes a time commitment to it hard.) I would like the site to somehow be more fluid, a seamless world of blog and forum.

Interviewed by Ross Hill, an Australian entrepreneur with a strong interest in the social web - his current projects include Yabble, Rentoid, CoverHunt and The Hive.

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Posted on September 12th, 2007 by Ross