How Dropbox gives entrepreneurs like Nappytastic an advantage

Saloma Kelly is a serial entrepreneur, running two small businesses while raising two children at the same time. You may ask yourself: how does she find the time? “I don’t even see it like that,” she replied. “I find the time because I’m doing what I love, and although it means making sacrifices – like giving up television of an evening – I don’t mind because what I am doing is exciting.”

Nappytastic, her latest venture based in Manchester, provides lavish baby showers for clients based in the UK. “I spotted an opportunity to provide a complete service for my clients,” Saloma says. “I offer full event organising, planning and even hosting if they need it. My website also offers other ‘baby occasion’ products for sale.”

When organising events for customers, keeping yourself organised is essential. Staying on top of multiple events for multiple clients with different requirements needs careful planning and flawless execution. “I use Dropbox Plus to keep myself and my business in order,” Saloma says. “I tried using an external drive but that broke. I work for myself as a Sole Trader, so losing access to my files was a disaster. Dropbox provides me with the security, reliability and access I need to work from anywhere, and it was all so simple.”

“I’ve been a Dropbox customer for a while,” Saloma continues. “I was introduced to it by a former employer and have used it ever since. I don’t know what I would do if it was taken away from me, it has become an essential part of running my business.”

By creating team folders and sharing them privately with web designers and graphic designers, Saloma is able to speed up the delivery process for her clients. “Working this way makes everything much faster,” Saloma says. “I just put all the materials into one folder, click share and then send the link to the team. I don’t need to worry about sending large documents over email anymore. It has saved me money on a file-hosting service and if I need to update a document, it is only in one place. It’s much easier to manage.”

At the moment, Nappytastic is primarily a local business but Saloma has big aspirations for the future, “I am definitely looking to grow the business. In order to do that I am always looking for new clients on social media or through email.” We pressed her a little more on how she uses social media and Saloma revealed that Dropbox plays a key role in that too.

“All the photos I take from events are automatically loaded to Dropbox. I can then use them on social channels instantly – I can do it all on the move, from anywhere.”

As a final question, we asked Saloma if she had any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs or small business owners trying to get an idea off the ground and into a successful business plan. “The main challenge to overcome is always financial,” she says. “Make sure that you are focusing on the essential aspects of your business and spend your time and energy on those. After that, be as active and as visible as you can on social channels to get yourself in front of as many people as you can. Find technologies that help you do that and you will be well away.”

To read more stories on how Dropbox is helping small businesses, head here.