Sarah Kathryn- Owner of 1on1 Matchmaking on Marketplace NPR by One On One Matchmaking published on 2018-04-12T16:38:29Z Sarah Kathryn Walmsley is a professional matchmaker. She’s been in the business for nearly 20 years and describes herself and her colleagues as “headhunters for love.” In 2008, she was running her own matchmaking business when the #financialcrisis hit. “Ten years ago, none of us were spending money on anything. Everyone froze. I froze, the clients froze, and it was scary because you didn’t know when it was going to stop.” Her work required her to be on the phone with clients in metropolitan areas around the country. At the time she was running a “group dating concept” called “eight at eight,” where she’d get four single men and four single women together for dinner at 8 p.m. “I heard from them all the time that they couldn’t join [the dinner club] because of the economy,” she says. “I heard sad stories, I heard terrible house situations, divorce that left them totally underwater. It was unbelievable how devastating it was to people’s entire financial future.” Walmsley was feeling the pressure, too. As a business owner, she felt responsible for her employees who were also struggling to pay their mortgages. “It was one of the first times it kind of got more real. I’m responsible for other people's lives, and if we don’t attract clients who can pay the money, what are we doing?” So Walmsley decided to pivot the business. Instead of only offering the group dinner service, she created a luxury service for one-on-one matchmaking. While the eight at eight dinner is a $500 price point, the cost for the one-on-one service is $5,000. “It’s almost easier to work with a luxury market when times are tough,” she explains. “Even if it’s pinched for higher-net-worth white-collar professionals, they’re still flush.” Walmsley says the #GreatRecession was tough, but her business bounced back. “We have grown five times since 2008, so I have more staff and more employees. The whole experience of going through the recession was a great cold shower. It was a good reminder that, like, have money in the bank, make sure you’re not over extended, don’t be too aggressive and, you know, keep working.”
