Several years ago, Manhattan Beach resident Linda Murad and her business partner Liz Murad Waters created The2ndDate, a matchmaking company.
The dating services industry has annual revenues in excess of $2.5 billion. This may not come as much of a surprise, given that there are an estimated 122 million unmarried adults in the U.S. and the number continues to grow. In 1960, the share of adults married peaked at 72 percent and has been steadily declining since. Today, roughly half of all adults are unmarried.
The three primary segments of the dating services industry are online dating websites, dating apps and traditional matchmakers and dating coaches. New evidence suggests that these efforts have been effective in bringing people together. Two independent university studies concluded that more than one-third of marriages now begin with online dating. This bodes well for the industry. However, some business analysts believe the existence of over 1,500 dating sites has resulted in saturation of the market and may lead to slower revenue growth.
Impediments to growth may be the fact that over half of online daters state that someone else seriously misrepresented themselves in their online profile. Additionally, a Pew Research Center study found that 28 percent of online daters have been contacted by someone who has harassed them or otherwise made them feel uncomfortable. Challenges facing the industry include the presence of fake online profiles, fraudulent traffic, database breaches, and privacy safeguards.
While the online sites and apps have grown with millions of users, so too have the number of traditional matchmakers and dating coaches. Manhattan Beach resident Linda Murad, along with her business partner Liz Murad Waters created a traditional matchmaking company, The2ndDate, a couple of years ago. I had a chance to speak to both of them about their unwavering passion of “helping people find love.”
Murad and Waters They both related rewarding experiences “helping people find love.” Murad worked in advertising and Waters is an attorney. They have known each other for over 20 years but were never able to pursue forming a business together until their children were in school.
They do not take on everyone. Their clients must be genuinely interested in getting into a relationship and must undergo background checks. They conduct all interviews in person and coordinate first dates. These are true blind dates. photos and last names are not shared. The woman receives the man’s number the day of the date so she can contact him at the venue where they are meeting.
Murad and waters provide coaching on everything from their client’s wardrobe to real-time texting to turn a date around that may not be going well. They solicit feedback on the date from both parties the next day and help facilitate second dates.
A nominal fee is charged for everyone in their database. However, there is a success fee charged to the man if he completes a three-month relationship. With their business model now proven, they are taking steps to grow their business through social media. For more information visit the2nddate.com.
As seen in Easy Reader