Nett chatted to Slade Sherman, CEO of Myzerr.com, about where the idea for the business came from, and overcoming the challenges that Web 2.0 presents daily.

Why did you start a small business?

After working in the Rewards, Incentives & Loyalty industry for over 15 years, I started Myzerr because I felt that a free, Web 2.0 approach to doing business provided a better model for businesses & communities in the industry.

What inspired you?

I have always been fascinated by the growth of Web 2.0 websites that help people to help each other, specifically, websites that enable users to contribute free content and allow groups to collaborate for the collective good of the community.

Two years ago I was looking at Wikipedia as an example of this very process and I had that ‘bang of blood to the head’ moment, when all of a sudden it occurred to me: business owners are likely to be motivated in the same way as individuals who contribute to the knowledge base on Wikipedia! As a small business, why wouldn’t I make use of a technology that allowed me to promote goods and services to my local community and connected me to more customers, especially if it was free!

Driven by the need to explore this idea further I travelled to the United States, started researching Web 2.0 technologies and began to think about how I could enable communities, businesses and customers to come together for the benefit of all. And that’s where Myzerr came from!

What’s the next step for your business?

Myzerr is the first online service that allows any group to establish a rewards program and then invite businesses to provide discounts exclusively to their members. We would like to increase awareness among groups and businesses to promote on Myzerr. The response over the last two months has been great with over 1,100 businesses and 70 groups signing up and we would like this to continue.

The next step for Myzerr is to improve our website’s usability and launch our advertising platform. We’re also excited about real time location based apps and we plan to further develop our iPhone app and extend this technology to other handsets.

Which internet activities are you struggling with?

Our entire business is based on the Internet so we deal with challenges every day. The biggest challenge is in designing a user interface that makes it easy and intuitive for our users. This takes time, as we need to rely on feedback and real world user testing.

What have you learnt about business online since you started reading Nett?

I’ve learnt how internet startups and small businesses are using online marketing in an efficient, creative, targeted and cost effective manner. In our technological age, there are less barriers to entry for small businesses to promote their goods and services online. Many of the options to promote your business online are free, or low cost.

What are the 3 biggest issues that Australian small businesses face at the moment?

1. Finding good staff.

2. Attracting & retaining customers.

3. Trying to create something that is original, that stands out from the crowd.