Tag: Popular

Global Love Report – February 8, 2023
Written by Pamela Stephanie

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According to our 2021 Industry Survey, 45% of dating coaches don’t offer matchmaking services. They also don’t refer their clients to matchmakers.

But, 61.7% of matchmakers stated that they offer both matchmaking and coaching services.

Now, as a dating coach, you may be wondering, “but why should I work with a matchmaker?” Or even, “why should I offer to matchmake my clients?”

Well, here are some of the reasons why!

Expand Your Network

One of the great things about working with a matchmaker is you get to expand your network! The great thing about this industry is that if people know you focus on a specific niche—or even if you’re located in a specific city—then they may refer others to you.

It’s not uncommon, for example, for industry professionals to ask if there’s a coach located in a specific locale. Or perhaps there’s a coach who specializes in coaching Indian singles or Jewish singles, for example.

Not only do you get to expand your network, but you may also get a new client out of it!

Referral Fees

We’ve mentioned earlier that you may get a client referred to you if you work with matchmakers. But you can also refer clients to matchmakers!

And it’s pretty standard in the industry for you to get a referral fee from the matchmaker. Provided, of course, that the referral was a success and the matchmaker gains a paying client out of it!

Help Clients Who Need That Extra Guidance

Your work as a dating coach is invaluable for your clients! And while some clients are capable of stepping out into the dating world and start to date, some people may need that extra help. And that’s when working with matchmakers not only help you but also help your clients!

Some singles do need that extra help that a matchmaker can provide. And when they work with matchmakers, they will definitely get to put those dating skills that you’ve taught them to good use!

Otherwise…Become a Matchmaker Yourself!

Are you unsure about collaborating with someone? Or do you prefer to work solo? Then why not become a matchmaker yourself? As we’ve mentioned earlier, 61.7% of matchmakers offer both matchmaking and coaching. In fact, some date and relationship coaches have already branched out into matchmaking as well!

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Interested in becoming a Matchmaker? Why not check out our Matchmaking Information Session? The next one is tomorrow, Thursday, February 9th at 1 PM Eastern Time (EST). Register now for this free info session!

(Image source: Pexels, Alexander Suhorucov)

Global Love Report – May 25, 2022
Written by Pamela Stephanie

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Not everyone is comfortable with accounting or finance. They may need a little crash course or tutorial to get started. But which ones are suitable for you?

Well, then you should check out our list! We have a new list of free business courses for matchmakers and dating coaches.
So, business owners who want to be more hands-on with the financial side of their business who are total beginners, check out these classes!

Small Business Management by Saylor Academy (Alison)

This is a comprehensive course and some aspects of the course may not be right for you. However, there are plenty of valuable information that can be obtained from this course!

It covers many aspects of managing a business: Strategic planning, Marketing Plan and making forecasts, how to create a business plan, recruiting employees, and even a section of calculating start-up costs.

As with any Alison course, you have the option to purchase a certificate of completion once you’ve completed this course.

Principles of Accounting by Accounting Intuition (Alison)

Completely clueless about accounting? Or maybe you just want an accounting course to focus on first? Then check out this one on Alison!

This course is great for true beginners to Accounting and guides you through the process step by step. It utilizes case studies and simulations to help you understand the concepts.

The course covers a number of different things: from revenue and cash, balancing receivables, cashflow, equity, financial statements and analysis, and more!

Finance for Non-Financial Professionals (Coursera)

Learn the basics of finance and accounting with this course! This course helps you identify key terms for finance and accounting, helps you understand financial statements, there’s also a module for cost that includes break-even analysis and pricing!

As with any Coursera course, please remember to click on “Audit” when you enroll for the course. It gives you one month to complete the course for free. However, you won’t be able to take any tests on the audit track.

Useful Excel for Beginners by Dinesh Natarajan Mohan (Udemy)

The last course on our list isn’t technically a finance course but it’s something that you may find useful: a free Excel course for total beginners!

It’s truly amazing to know that this massive course, which consists of 89 videos with a total run time of 9.5 hours, is completely free. The instructor uses Excel 2010 but a lot of the materials is still very valuable and can still be used even on newer versions of Excel.

The course covers everything from entering data, formatting and editing your content, calculations and even PivotTables! If you’re completely new with Excel or if you need a refresher, you really should take this course!

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We hope our list of free business courses for matchmakers has been useful for you! If it’s not what you’re looking for, then why not check out our other free courses list? Like our Sales Courses for Matchmakers or last month’s list of free courses! Come back next month for a new list of courses!

Global Love Report – December 15, 2021
Written by Pamela Stephanie

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In our previous article, we’ve listed Linktree as one of the useful marketing tools that a matchmaker can use. Linktree is a place where you can consolidate your important links. So, instead of trying to remember links to your website, your LinkedIn, your Clubhouse, and other accounts, you just need to give them your Linktree.

But if you’ve never used it before, you may be wondering what Linktree can do. So, let’s give you a brief breakdown on Linktree’s features—aside from adding normal links!

1. Social Links

As a matchmaker, you may use several social media channels in order to promote your brand or to find potential clients or matches. Keeping track of those links may be a hassle, especially if you have separate accounts for your company and for yourself.

Best of all, social links are displayed at the bottom of your Linktree, with their own icons so they won’t take up space from your other links.

2. Group Your Links

If you have a long list of things that you need to link to, you can also group your links together using Linktree’s headers. Do you have events coming up? Create a “Current Events” header and place the link to your event underneath it.

Or maybe you have a current promotion for Christmas or an end of year special? Create a “Promotions” header and add a link to your promotions!

3. Gated Links

Do you have links that lead to sensitive content or perhaps one which is designated for a certain age group? Then you can use gate links. For sensitive content links, anyone who clicks on the link will have to acknowledge that they’re aware that the link may contain sensitive content that’s not appropriate for all audiences.

For date of birth links, you can specify that only users who are over a certain age can unlock the link. You can even add a short description about what the link is and why it’s age restricted.

Now, that’s all for those who have a free account. If you have a pro account, you also have the option to set a code to the link so that only people with the code can access it.

4. Analytics

Do you ever wonder just how many visitors click your links? Well, Linktree provides you with some basic analytics for their free accounts. They also provide you with lifetime total analytics in terms of views—how many times your account was viewed—and clicks.

While the data is quite basic for the free account, it will still give you an idea about what people are interested in.

5. Payment Links

Linktree offers two different monetary links but the one that is relevant here is the “request payment” option. For this type of link, you can list the services that you offer to visitors. For example, if you offer one-off coaching sessions at $200-300 or maybe image consultation, you can use this.

Currently, Linktree only has 2 options for payment providers: Square and PayPal. Although their page did mention that a partnership with Stripe is “coming soon”.

Global Love Report – December 8, 2021
Written by Pamela Stephanie

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Sales Course

Sales and Negotiations Skills by Workforce Academy Partnership (on Alison)

As a matchmaker, if you work solo then you need to have several additional skills along with your matchmaking skills. Arguably, one of the most important one is your sales skills. Now, if your sales skills are great then you’re pretty much set! However, some people could use some pointers about how to hone their sales skills.

This course has three different modules: overcoming sales objection, communications strategies, and negotiation skills. It will help you get a “yes” after an initial objection from a potential client. It also teaches you how to view objections as opportunities and how to negotiate with your leads. And the Communication Strategies module will help you get over communication barriers and help you communicate more effectively.

Active Listening

Active Listening Skills for Beginners by Kelly Fidei

This free course on Udemy is a great way to improve your active listening skills. Active listening is a great skill to add to your repertoire as a matchmaker and as a business owner. Not only will it help you understand your client

This course is very easy to follow. It’s divided into 15 modules that are about 3 to 6 minutes long and includes interactive activities. So, you will get more than just the theory aspect of active listening. The course will also teach you the “how” through these interactive activities.

Looking for a powered-up course? Then check out the Active Listening Masterclass course by Everett Bowes, a top-rated paid course also available on Udemy.

Recruitment

Human Resources: Recruitment and Selection by OpenLearn

If you’re thinking of scaling up your business, then you’re probably also looking into hiring new people. Recruiting capable employees can be a daunting task. Fortunately, The Open University’s OpenLearn has a course on recruitment available for free.

This short course will teach you how to handle assessment of candidates: how to select a candidate effectively and how to ascertain if a person will fit with your company. It also teaches you about creating a job description and even gives you ideas on how to attract applicants.

While this course won’t turn you into a recruitment expert overnight, it does teach you some great skills you can use to make the recruitment process much easier.

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These are just some of the free useful online courses for matchmakers that you can take. For our next series, we will be covering the (free!) digital marketing courses that you should take in order to help promote your matchmaking business!

(Image source: Pexels, Vlada Karpovich)

Global Love Report – December 1, 2021
Written by Pamela Stephanie

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Marketing can be tricky but the right tools can make things easier for you. That’s why we’re sharing a list of the best (and free!) Marketing Tools for Matchmakers with you!

1. Hootsuite

Setting a schedule for your social media posts is a good strategy—especially when you know when your audience will be online. That’s why timing is crucial. However, life does get in the way of things sometimes.

Maybe you have prior commitments when it’s the perfect time to post. Or maybe you’re meeting a client. At any case, manually posting your social media posts can be annoying or even downright impossible.

That’s why Hootsuite is such a great tool to have and one of the most important marketing tools for matchmakers.

Hootsuite is a social media management platform that you can use to manage your social media accounts in one place. But the best thing about Hootsuite is that you can use it to schedule posts.

You can choose the date and time for your posts and it gives you the chance to create a content calendar for the entire month or more! This gives you time to think about your content strategy and experiment with what types of posts your audience likes.

Tip: Are you only on Facebook or Instagram (or both)? Then you can also use the Planner feature on Facebook Business Suite.

2. Mailchimp

Are you thinking of starting a company newsletter? Well, then you should consider Mailchimp for your email marketing automation needs.

Mailchimp lets you design and create your own newsletter—though there are limitations on the free plan—so you’re able to create one that caters for your needs. It also gives you a sign-up form that you can add to your website.

Additionally, Mailchimp also provides you with data: it tells you which of your subscribers are interacting with your email and how many of them actually opens the email.

3. Linktree

Do you have a lot of links that you share with your audience often? Then you should consider using Linktree.

While Linktree’s free option may not have plenty of options in terms of customizing its appearance, there are still plenty of things to like about the free account.

Linktree consolidates all of your important links in one place. What’s more, it’s very useful for Instagram, which only lets you have one link on your profile.

Earlier in the year, they rolled out embedded video links and commerce links—where you can direct potential clients to pay. Currently, only Paypal and Square are integrated, however.

Another new addition is Form link which lets you obtain information from visitors. Form links can also be used to sign up for newsletters.

4. Canva

Are you interested in posting on social media but aren’t confident with your creative skills? Here’s where Canva can help.

Canva provides all kinds of templates that you can use to create various marketing collaterals. From Instagram stories to novel covers to short videos! They even have free (and paid) elements that you can use to create banner ads or even email templates.

The good thing about Canva is it’s relatively easy to use. You don’t need to be a Photoshop master to create something nice! It also gives you the option to save your file into different file types, depending on the type of content you’re creating.

For example, you can save a presentation into a PDF, an image file or even MP4 video file—with more options available on Pro.

Canva is one of the absolute must-haves in terms of marketing tools for matchmakers.

Tip: If you’re trying to create new marketing materials or social media posts and trying to find free pictures to use, check out Pexels or Unsplash for free images that you can use. Looking for free illustrations? Pixabay has that and more.

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(Image source: Pexels, Pixabay)

Global Love Report – July 28, 2021
Written by: Pamela Stephanie

In some industries, companies are competing fiercely with each other and working with businesses in another industry is also not feasible. Therefore, collaboration is nigh on impossible. The beauty of the matchmaking industry, however, is that collaboration is possible and it’s also a great way to grow your business.

However, are you stumped on exactly who you should collaborate with? Well, we have some suggestions for you.

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Salons

Hair salons or beauty salons can be great to collaborate with. Some matchmakers may offer personal branding coaching as part of their service.

What’s more, people tend to chat with their hairdresser or makeup artist, and thus the workers at the salons do have some ideas as to who may be single and looking.

Restaurants

Most first dates take place in a restaurant or a café. So, a collaboration between you and a restaurant or café frequented by daters—especially online daters—is a great choice. In fact, it may bring many opportunities your way.

When daters are tired of being unable to find the right one or being unable to get that second date, especially after an unsuccessful date, seeing your business card or any kind of marketing collateral at the restaurant may inspire them to contact your business.

Divorce Attorneys

Some people who have just gone through a divorce are immediately ready for a relationship. There are people who prefer a relationship to singledom, after all. So, one feasible option for a collaboration is to have one with a divorce attorney.

And even when the recently divorced is not actively seeking, they can also be a potential client in the future, whether it’s a couple of months or even a year from now.

Other Matchmakers

And of course, there’s also other matchmakers.

Referrals from other matchmakers are extremely valuable, especially if you’re having trouble finding a match with a client. And not only that, for a matchmaker who is starting their business, collaborating with other matchmakers can mean gaining knowledge and experience from them.

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Global Love Mastermind covered the topic of Collaboration during the May 2021 Workshop, “Collaboration Guidelines”. Certified Matchmakers can contact the Global Love Institute for more information.

If you’re a Matchmaker but you’re not Certified by the Global Love Institute, please click here for more information on obtaining a Certification.

Global Love Report – July 7, 2021
Written by Pamela Stephanie

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Online dating platforms have made it easier for singles to connect with other singles but dating safety is still a concern. After all, anyone can register with these platforms. Some platforms offer a cursory check but most apps don’t do that. And that’s why there are plenty of stories about users dealing with unwanted advances or even outright harassment.

Vetting Process

For a matchmaker, vetting a client is an important part of the process. You can determine that the person really is genuine in their intentions—thus saving you the headache later. Background checks are also important—just in case you’ve missed something during your initial assessment of the client.

These are the two steps currently missing when someone signs up on an online dating platform.

Singles More Open to Background Checks

However, studies have shown that nowadays singles are more open to having a background check just to ensure their own dating safety.

A recent survey done by YouGov showed that at least 66% of single females have done some form of checking before meeting a match online. Of the options given on the survey—respondents could choose multiple answers—44% have searched their match’s name online. 51% have searched their social media profiles and 22% have even searched the match’s phone number online.

It’s interesting to note that the survey also asked if they have run a background check on their match. 13% of them did. In fact, on the same survey, 61% of single females and 60% of single males stated that they think dating apps should have background check information available on their potential dates.

How To Convince Potential Clients Your Agency is Better for Their Dating Safety?

So how do you convince them if dating platforms are starting to offer background checks too?

As a matchmaker, you actually have a couple of advantages. The main one is that you vet each client personally. That means you or someone in your company has spoken to the person. Whether it’s face-to-face or virtually, you have had direct contact with the person.

As we’ve mentioned earlier, anyone can open an account on dating sites or apps. They aren’t personally vetted by someone before they enter the database. And so, being a matchmaker, you already provide your clients with their very own 2-tiered security.

The second is that even though the Match group plan on offering background checks, from what they revealed so far, it does not seem to be a requirement. Therefore, it’s still relatively easy for a scammer or someone with bad intentions to open an account without people knowing who they are.

While some platforms are starting to use video to weed out catfishing, some see it as the bare minimum. And though Match group does apparently screen for sex offenders, they only do so on their paid apps. Free app users aren’t so lucky.

And here’s another reason why your matchmaking agency is better for them: Privacy. While you do vet them and run a background check on them, that information will stay private unless they tell you that it can be disclosed to another party.

Many agencies with high-profile clients conduct background checks and keep their clients’ information a secret after all.

We can’t really say how background checks will look like on these dating apps and websites. However, we can assume that the platform in question will be sharing more information. As a matchmaker, you can assure clients that their match has been vetted and are who they say they are—so you can assure one client and protect the other’s privacy at the same time. So, their dating safety is better with your matchmaking agency than if they chose an online platform.

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(Image source: Pexels, Scott Webb)

Global Love Report – June 16, 2021
Written by: Pamela Stephanie

Rural dating in the US is not something that most matchmakers would consider, especially when most matchmaking agencies are located in urban areas. However, in states like Iowa, some 22.7% of men and 30.5% of women have never been married.

There is also the issue of migration. Some young people move out of their hometowns for college and never move back. For those who do move back and for the ones who never left, the dating pool has shrunk dramatically.

Not as Bad as China

Fortunately, the problem with rural dating in the US is nowhere near the case in China. There are no bachelor villages in rural America like there are in rural China. And the problem is not so dire as to need government intervention.

China needed a thinktank to come up with a way to solve the problem of unmarried men in rural areas: matchmake unmarried women in urban areas with these men. However, this idea was met with scorn by many of these women, with some citing that the differences between the lives of urban women versus rural men.

Differences between Rural versus Urban

While the income disparity of rural versus urban living may not be that big in the US, particularly when looking at someone in the urban area with a mid-level income compared to farmers or ranchers. In fact, the average base pay for someone in mid-level in US cities is $67,364 per year, according to Glassdoor. Whereas a May 2016 salary data for farmers and ranchers showed an average salary of $75,790 per year.

Aside from the differences in income, there is also the fact that living in an urban area is different than living in a rural area. The question will be, would a match living in the city be willing to relocate to the countryside for a client and vice versa?

Some Women Prefer Rural Dating

Thankfully, it seems that there are those who actually prefer dating in rural areas. Take Thrillist’s Sex & Dating Editor, Nicole Caldwell, for example.

Some women find it scary to go on a first date with a complete stranger, even with a full background check. That’s not the case in rural areas, though. In small towns, people tend to know one another. Even if they don’t know the person directly, they may know them through someone they know.

To Caldwell, being able to know her potential date is a big plus. This way, she has less things to worry about.

Advice for Matchmakers with Rural Clients

For matchmakers who do have clients in rural areas, here are a couple of tips from dating coach Laurie Davis Edwards: tell the client to be patient. Tell them to call their match over the phone or Zoom a few times first. This is because oftentimes the potential match is usually a long drive away from them.

Let the client be certain of the connection first before they commit to driving hours away for their date.

Another tip that Davis Edwards has is valid for matchmakers who may have crop farmers as clients: reach out to a match before work is slow, which is usually after the growing season. That way, she says, they will have had time to build a connection before they finally have enough free time for dating.

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(Image Source: Unsplash/Priscilla Du Preez)