I have a fun, rewarding, and enjoyable job. I make my own hours, I go out every night, and generally have a great time. I only work with people I like, and I never take on ethically compromising assignments. However, strangely enough, I have few peers in my field. Those that do participate in my industry are typically isolated, go-it-alone types. As such, there is very little common knowledge surrounding my business, and public perception tends to be rampant with stereotypes, misinformation, and misconceptions. That’s why I’d like to set the record straight about an industry that has historically been shrouded in mystery and stigma: matchmaking.

That’s right. I’m a matchmaker. I’ve been an old-fashioned, face-to-face, matchmaker for the past seven years, I have fifteen client marriages under my belt, and I love it. Before pursuing a career in professional matchmaking, I worked with people in a very different arena: I was a social worker. During my twelve years in social work, including my three-year tenure at Bellevue Hospital in New York, I worked with emotionally disturbed children and families under extreme emotional duress. Naturally, the job began to take its toll on me, and I found myself more and more emotionally drained, and less and less professionally effectual in my position. I wanted to continue working with people in a supportive, helping capacity, but was having an increasingly difficult time handling these very sensitive cases. So, I turned my love of counseling, working with people, and helping others into something more upbeat: a career as a professional matchmaker.

I know what you’re thinking. When I tell people what I do for a living, they usually swarm around me with a million questions. So I’ll address a few here. No, I do not have a specific religious or cultural affiliation, nor do I have a material or personal agenda. No, I do not run a dating service or a website. I have a website, like most companies do, but it’s purely informational. And like any other entrepreneurial professional, I have clients, an office, an assistant who schedules my appointments, and so on. No, my clients are not lonely, desperate losers. In fact, one of the biggest misconceptions about matchmakers is that we’re a bunch of coddling salesmen, catering to the frail egos of a sub-par client base. For me, this could not be further from the truth.

The service I provide is not a necessity stemming from desperation, but rather, it is a luxury item, like a personal trainer who keeps you in fabulous shape, or a private chef who prepares all your Atkins-friendly meals. My clients are exclusively affluent, successful men – many of whom have focused a good portion of their time and energy on developing their careers, and now want to re-focus their energy on relationships. I’m simply there to support them and “up their odds,” as they search for a partner.

Anyway, that’s what I do, and it’s a surprisingly solitary job, in spite of its numerous perks. That’s why I founded The Matchmaking Institute, banking on my advanced degree and New York State social work license, coupled with my entrepreneurial spirit and passion for this industry. The Matchmaking Institute is a private skilled trade school that offers intensive training seminars for people who are interested in starting independent businesses as professional matchmakers – or those who just want to learn the craft from a group of seasoned professionals. A handful of psychologists, social workers, and “relationship experts” are all on hand to help out. This sort of specialization of training may seem unorthodox, but considering that the single and divorced population in the country continues to climb, and that the concierge and service industries are both on the rise (Quintessentially, Social Circles), pursuing a career as professional, face-to-face matchmaker begins to make sense as a service profession. Not to mention the growing disenchantment with impersonal online dating.

How do you “teach,” matchmaking, you ask? Well, by combining my years of experience, the collective experiences of other matchmakers, my professional background, and those of others, I have been able to develop a strong curriculum that covers everything from Prescreening Tactics: How To Conduct a Client Interview, to Date and Relationship Coaching, to Utilizing Marketing, PR, and Networking, to help get the word out about your matchmaking business. Our course has been used for a variety of ends. We once had a publicist, who relied heavily on networking and hosting events to gain clients, attend the training. We’ve had students who were casually interested in honing their craft, and we’ve had students who went on to channel formidable business smarts into successful matchmaking enterprises. We’ve also had seasoned matchmakers attend the training, using it as a “refresher course,” before coming on board and joining our National Professional Network.

Practicality aside, my ultimate goal in founding The Matchmaking Institute is to mainstream the matchmaking industry for two reasons. First, I seek to erase the stigma, stereotypes, and misinformation surrounding our cultural mainstream’s vision of a matchmaker. Second, to ensure that there’s “quality control,” in the matchmaking industry, which I have accomplished by developing a national network of professional matchmakers who approve everyone that seeks to practice matchmaking professionally with our name as a credential. This helps get the message out to consumers that ethical, trustworthy, quality matchmakers are accessible to a variety of markets, and at a variety of different price levels.

To learn more about The Matchmaking Institute, feel free to contact me at: info@matchmakinginstitute.com, or visit us online at www.matchmakinginstitute.com.