Virtual Offices
Lawyerpreneur Sets Out to Launch Virtual Office Network
Published June 5th, 2009 by Jennifer LeClaire
Kent Morlan has a vision. He sees a national virtual office network that gains quick momentum from coast to coast. His strategy? Finding building owners suffering from high occupancy rates that are willing to convert some of their office space into micro-suites he can market to the entrepreneurial masses.
So far, Morlan has sold his vision to two office building owners in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. His next step is to move into Little Rock, Arkansas, then hit the road looking for his office developers looking for a new revenue stream.
Morlan is an attorney and office manager who runs Morelaw Suites, a virtual law office concept staged at Tulsa’s Beacon Building. In one scenario, building owners would invest about $6,000 to build out two micro-suites. The break even point settles around six or seven virtual office clients that pay $150 each monthly for 16 hours of conference room use.
“The advantage of this is there’s no licensing, there’s no franchising,” Morlan told the Journal Record. “None of that stuff applies because these individuals are doing their own deal. I just tell them how to do it, and they do it. Then if they find tenants for their space, they rent it. If I find tenants for their space, I do it.”
Morlan would get about one-third of the revenue in exchange for marketing the concept. I like Morlan’s entrepreneurial spirit. I haven’t seen this model spring up in the industry yet, and it seems he’s on to something.
Although office building owners may not want to venture beyond their core competency of renting office space, Morlan has the know-how and the winning track record in the virtual office front to make a go of this strategy regionally, if not nationwide. Morlan is reducing his own risks by avoiding any capital expenditures for retrofitting temporary office suites. It’s brilliant.
Now let’s see if it catches on beyond his home market. If office building owners are hungry enough for the recurring revenue, it seems they have little to lose and plenty to gain with Morlan’s model. Much of it probably depends on if he’s as good a salesman as he is an attorney. He’ll also have to compete with the likes of Davinci Virtual in any given market.
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Melanie Jones June 5th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Interesting. This guy clearly has a big vision. I am not sure it’s realistic, and even if it was I would think a larger player in the virtual office world would come in and steamroll the guy. Who knows? Maybe I’m wrong. It’s am ambitious plan to take virtual offices into abandoned space in any case.
Bill Brookshire June 5th, 2009 at 11:20 am
At those prices, I’m not sure how this fellow thinks he can compete with the likes of Davinci Virtual. Maybe I am missing something here. I don’t get it. I agree that it’s a great concept and that it’s a brilliant model in theory, but there’s a disconnect somewhere. I am not sure he’s taken the virtual office competition into consideration.
Elizabeth Sanchez June 5th, 2009 at 11:55 am
The big players like Davinci Virtual aren’t going to strike deals for a couple of office suites with an office building developer. That’s just not their model. This attorney can go into markets where the virtual office industry hasn’t gotten a foothold yet. There are plenty of markets where he could introduce this type of service.
Maggie Correta June 5th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
I think it’s a great idea. I am not sure if the virtual office industry is so mainstream that Morland can convince hurting office building owners to spend another couple thousand dollars to renovate some office space, though. Then again, that’s a sneeze compared to some of the concessions I’ve read about in the office lease market. I guess we’ll have to just wait and see if his concept catches on beyond the Tulsa market.
Rob Zeus June 5th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I don’t know. I have no doubt that a guy like this can succeed. If you can get through law school you can do just about anything in my book. It sounds like he could definitely hit a strong niche in virtual offices for lawyers. That seems like his best bet. I didn’t see mention of whether or not that is part of his strategy, but if I was his business adviser, I’d suggest focusing his virtual office vision where his expertise lies.