by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Attorney Maria Aguila used to have an office when she was with Boyer Tanzler & Boyer. Tracy Sadeghian, founder of Media Masters Group, used to have an office in San Marco.
Today, both have offices at home, but both spend very little time there. Instead, Aguila and Sadeghian have virtual offices in the Lamp Post Professional Building on Riverside Avenue.Their offices are so virtual — and both own the technology necessary to function at home, in their cars, in the offices of clients, at lunch or sitting on a park bench, for that matter — neither Aguila nor Sadeghian rents space in the building. Instead, both pay a minimal monthly fee for professional answering service, mail, other office functions and conference space if needed. There is a 24/7 answering service and business packages can be received and signed for.
As one-person companies, the evolution of the virtual office — made possible by laptops, Blackberrys, cell phones, etc. — has presented an affordable option for the small business owner who spends more time in the offices of clients than their own office.
“I have had my own practice since 2007,” said Aguila, an immigration and international adoption attorney. “It was a home-based business and I leased an office on Blanding Boulevard, but I didn’t like it.”
Aguila used to lease space in the Lamp Post Building, but eventually realized she needed little more than an answering service, somewhere she could have mail sent and a professional address for her business cards and letterhead.
Sadeghian was in a similar situation. The former TV reporter-turned-publicist opts to meet face-to-face with clients on their turf. She works from home some, but won’t meet with a client at home. Like Aguila, she needed a professional address and the benefits that come with a virtual office.
“Mine is a service industry,” she said. “Clients prefer to see me, so I go to their businesses to see what they do. It made smart business sense to no longer incur the overhead. This offers a professional office without that overhead.”
The Lamp Post Professional Building is owned by Roslynn and Robert League, who bought the building in February 2004 from Jack and Cynthia Fredenberger, who owned and operated Lamp Post Antiques for 45 years. The Leagues bought and renovated the building into 30 small offices. Most are leased to a variety of small businesses that range from tax preparers to attorneys to title companies. All tenants have access to the necessary office machinery and services, but those with actual offices pay more than those with virtual offices.
Despite being closed for several years now, League says many people still think the antique store is open.
“We still have people who come by and say, ‘where are the antiques?’ We wanted to keep the ambiance of the building and that took a while,” said League, who employs Alicia Cantwell as the receptionist for all of her tenants. “I think we have done a pretty good job. There are 19 offices and the Jacksonville Fencing Club leases 2,500 square feet in the back building.”
League believes a virtual office is a necessity in the current economy, especially for very small or one-person businesses.
“With the virtual office, we feel we offer an excellent opportunity in this economy. We have even lowered our prices,” she said. “We almost have an obligation to meet the needs of our clients. It’s an office without walls.”
According to League, it’s less expensive to lease a virtual office in her building than it is to establish a business phone. At $99 a month, a virtual office is hundreds less than typical office space and the same services are provided.
“I slashed my overhead in half,” said Aguila.
“People that use it, love it,” said League, adding the leases generally span six months, and “there is always a way out.”
Both Aguila and Sadeghian agreed there isn’t a downside to having a virtual office as opposed to dedicated space.
“For my line of work, absolutely not,” said Sadeghian. “This satisfies the need of a prestigious address and someone to answer the phone.
“Efficiency is really paramount. I was spending so much time going back and forth. This allows me to optimize my time in my home office. I am here about 20 minutes a week.”
League said there’s no desire to establish a second office building in town at this time. She said there’s room for 30 office tenants and literally hundreds of virtual tenants.
“Anyone in the United States could make use of the virtual office, if they wanted to,” she said.
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