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One of the great things about moving to a new town is that you get to expand your social and professional networks by meeting a bunch of new people. One of the people that I have gotten acquainted with since coming to Philly is Gloria Bell. Gloria runs Red Stapler Consulting, a business which helps freelancers focus on their creative work by taking care of all that “Other stuff.” Here’s a quick email interview I did with Gloria about what she does.

Q: How would you describe what you do at Red Stapler Consulting in one sentence?

A: Red Stapler provides small businesses, independents and freelancers with a la carte office management and assistant services helping them run their businesses better and more efficiently and allowing them to be more creative, spend time with their clients and make more money.

Q: What services specifically do you offer?

A: We offer the same full range of services of an office manager or operations director, everything from accounting, contract review, scheduling, client relations, contact management to some personal assistant services. For a detailed listing of our services, see redstaplerconsulting.net

Q: What led you to decide to start Red Stapler Consulting?

A: My experience running a few small businesses, as well as friendships with independents and freelancers in the creative and tech fields made me realize there was a need for office management services to be provided in a much different way than the typical administrative, personal or virtual assistant format. The typical independent/freelancer/small business person, especially in the creative and tech fields, does not have the budget to hire a full-time, full-service office manager and may not have the business experience or desire to handle all of those responsibilities, but they still have the need to run their businesses in a profitable and efficient manner. Red Stapler came about as a means to provide these entrepreneurs with access to the specific business services they need at a price to fit their individual budgets.

Q: Why are you focusing on people in the new media/tech/creative space? Do you feel there is a unique need in that sector?

A: Although the need for this type of service is not limited to the new media/tech/creative sector, the people working on their own or in small businesses in these fields do have unique needs. They generally are working within restricted budgets that prevent them from hiring full service office managers. Also they may be extremely proficient in their craft, but may have limited “business” experience or backgrounds in all or some specific office management skills. Or they may just dislike handling a certain aspect of their business, much preferring to spend their time being creative and working with their clients. In addition the freelancers and independents working in these fields are often faced with “crunch time” projects that require their sole attention for specific periods of time, leaving them with little to no time to concentrate on the “business” aspect of their business. Red Stapler provides them with options that fill in the gaps in their office and business management needs.

Q: How are you using the web to get the word out about your business?

A: Twitter has been invaluable in helping me spread the word about my business. My followers tell their followers and so on. Red Stapler has a blog on its site that answers questions and provides tips on running a small business. I have also been blogging at commonsenseforyourbiz.com . I’m always looking for new options and suggestions on how to better optimize social media and the web to spread the word about not only my business, but my passion and belief in the value of small businesses, independents, freelancers and coworking. (Note from Jonny, you can follow Gloria on Twitter here

Q: Why do you focus on serving clients who are based in Philly? You’re a virtual office manager right? Can’t you have clients everywhere?

A: I am a virtual office manager. The wondrous world of the web allows me to provide my services to any client anywhere. My current focus is on clients in Philly because this is home. As a member of this community and a small business owner myself, my mission is to do whatever I can to advance the success of individuals, primarily in the tech/new media/creative community, but also any freelancers, independents or small businesses in this area.

Q: OK, why the name Red Stapler Consulting?

A: LOL, why Red Stapler Consulting? I wish I could give you some brillant, insightful response, but the reality is the name comes from one of my favorite movies, Office Space. The fact that the name is also representative of what my business does is just a bonus. The red stapler from the movie has become a fun-filled symbol of everything that can be wrong with a company and how not to run one. My Red Stapler is the solution to those problems.