wordpress-seo domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/matchmakinginsti/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Lisa Clampitt stocks her Union Square office with red wine and chocolate \u2014 ingredients that can heal a broken heart or spark a new romance.<\/p>\n
In her line of work, she needs to be prepared for both.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always loved setting people up,\u201d says the 49-year-old matchmaker, who runs the Matchmaking Institute, believed to be the only school for aspiring Cupids. \u201cIn New York City, a matchmaker could make well over $100,000 a year and create their own schedule. It\u2019s a real viable career if someone is good at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her parents\u2019 own divorce started her lifelong obsession with connecting people who want to find love, but it wasn\u2019t until she saw a job ad for a matchmaker that she considered it as a career.<\/p>\n
In 2001, the former social worker launched her matchmaking firm, Club VIP Life, where male clients pay upward of $15,000 to find the perfect mate. (Like many other matchmaking firms, females aren\u2019t charged.) She estimates her services have led to more than 100 marriages.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the matchmaking business has blossomed in recent years. In 2005, there were 1,200 matchmakers; now there are more than 3,000, according to Clampitt. And the industry shows no signs of slowing: Marketdata Enterprises, a research firm that tracks US dating services, predicts the industry will grow nearly 5 percent annually this year and mushroom to $2.54 billion by 2015.<\/p>\n
Clampitt relied on her social-work training for matchmaking because there was no formal study program. After getting some experience at a small firm, the then-aspiring Cupid started working as the East Coast director for Patti Stanger \u2014 a\u2009k\u2009a the \u201cMillionaire Matchmaker\u201d \u2014 and launched her own business soon after.<\/p>\n
Still, she found herself making mistakes when she started her own shop. There was the time in 2005 when a man who dated two women wanted one flown to London to meet him. Unfortunately, he gave Clampitt the wrong name, so the wrong woman showed up. The pair hit it off anyway and dated for a year.<\/p>\n
Another client claimed her date showed up in a cape and underwear. It turned out the couple was playing a practical joke and wanted to see the matchmaker\u2019s mortified reaction.<\/p>\n
Clampitt expanded her business by opening her matchmaking school in 2003. The training is not required to start a matchmaking business. Akin to bartending school, the course is targeted primarily at those who are interested in playing Cupid but need a business plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people come to me and say, \u2018I set my friends up all the time,\u2019 and \u2018I love love,\u2019 but you have to balance those qualities with the practical-side skills of opening your own business,\u201d says Clampitt.<\/p>\n
Over the years, she\u2019s schooled 500 men and women from as far away as Australia, Japan and England on the art of love, including how to screen candidates and market services. Pupils range from chatty hairdressers to mechanical engineers. For nearly everyone, it\u2019s a second career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s studying people,\u201d says Nara Tucker of Albany, one of 12 students who came for a three-day, $2,500 training session in January at Clampitt\u2019s headquarters. Mongolia native Tucker is an engineer in search of a more rewarding job.<\/p>\n
Each student is armed with a thick book of training material, including questionnaires for prospective clients and business models. They sit through discussions of chemistry, empathy and building confidence. Class is informal, more support group than MBA.<\/p>\n
Former student Jason Silver, 36, now a matchmaker in Chicago, at first thought the idea of starting his own business was a fool\u2019s errand.<\/p>\n
But after class, he was hooked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the hippy-dippy sense, it\u2019s spreading love,\u201d he says. \u201cOn the business level, there are so many people out there looking to meet other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clampitt credits Stanger\u2019s show and singles\u2019 frustration with online dating for the surge in the matchmaking business. Still, while her former boss is notorious for being a brash straight shooter, Clampitt comes off more as a therapist in her black-rimmed glasses, sensible black flats and gentle tone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel such pain for people who want to meet someone and can\u2019t,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking. They need to be grounded in the hope that they can find love again.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the profession can get lonely, she says, because matchmakers often work alone, spending lots of time scrolling through their databases and scrutinizing questionnaires. She encourages former students to keep in touch and holds a networking event in the Manhattan Penthouse on Fifth Avenue in Union Square every April for matchmakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s historically been an isolated job and competitive and territorial, but it\u2019s becoming more collaborative and fun,\u201d she says, because it\u2019s a growing industry and because there are so many niches \u2014 Jewish matchmakers, executive matchmakers \u2014 that they don\u2019t butt heads as much.<\/p>\n
As for her own love life, Clampitt approached her now-husband in a Manhattan coffee shop 11 years ago. Less than two months later, they married in Las Vegas. They now have two sons, ages 3 and 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were enamored with each other,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s the best guy ever, and we both feel like we found the catch of the century.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s not one for rules when it comes to dating, telling her own clients, \u201cIt has nothing to do with waiting or not waiting, it\u2019s about who you want to be with. When they feel meant to be, I just say, \u2018Go and get married.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n