Today we’d like to introduce you to Flip Howard.
At age 12, he started his first business painting address numbers on the side of curbs for his neighbors. He learned quickly that hard work and tenacity would reward much more than his weekly allowance, and he had caught the entrepreneurial bug. After he graduated from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, he came back to his home town of Dallas and started a laundry business for college students and later rented an executive suites office near Mockingbird Station. While in the office, he quickly realized the shared office business center was a much-needed concept and purchased the company in 2001.
Since 2001, Flip has owned and overseen operations of Meridian Business Centers. Just recently, Meridian rebranded to WorkSuites, to better reflect what the brand represents, and has grown to 21 locations, 5 of which were in 2019, throughout DFW and Houston. The new brand mirrors the way in which co-working has evolved to fill the need for all types of flexible workspaces.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Owning a business is never easy, but we are lucky to have a great team that is persistent, hardworking and loyal. Over the years, we have made it through two recessions, a company rebranding and restructure, experienced growing pains that come along with expansion, and the recent coworking boom in Dallas. Five years ago, there were only one or two companies for us to compete with, now there are countless. All great problems to have!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with WorkSuites – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We have successfully evolved from a traditional executive suites company into a coworking company that specializes in providing a private, productive, and professional atmosphere for our community of professionals. We are locally owned and customer-focused, you will never feel like a number here. We provide more space, more amenities, and more Administrative and IT staff for less money.
We offer Integrated Coworking as opposed to communal open coworking so our clients can get real, focused work done. If you don’t want to work alone, but also don’t want to feel like you’re in a crowded coffee shop all day, this is the perfect office solution for you.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We opened five new locations in 2019 and have four more scheduled to open by mid-2020. We plan to add several more in DFW, triple our footprint Houston, and possibly explore locations outside of Texas as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: worksuites.com
- Phone: 888-312-WORK
- Email: workisgood@worksuites.com
- Instagram: @worksuites
- Facebook: @worksuites
- Twitter: @worksuites
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwkd6r6wDLVMLKc0JGGC3mA?view_as=subscriber
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