The Scoop: The Matchmaking Institute (MMI) is the world’s only state-certified and accredited school for matchmaking. Lisa Clampitt founded MMI in 2003 to inspire more collaboration between professionals in the dating industry, and the New York Department of Education has approved the teachers and curriculum offered by this groundbreaking institution. Since its beginning, MMI has promoted the message that matchmakers can become more successful and effective if they help each other out. Today, the Matchmaking Institute organizes global conferences and certification programs to give professionals the resources they need to expand their businesses, find clients and colleagues, and hone their coaching, recruiting, and matching skills. The organization is also preparing to release an international listing service that will empower matchmakers to create a successful and well-connected business.
Before she became a world-renowned matchmaker, Lisa Clampitt, LMSW, earned her master’s degree in social work and passionately supported the altruistic agendas of nonprofits. She has a big heart, and she started her career by looking for ways to give back to the community.
Over time, however, Lisa realized that she was giving back so much that she didn’t have enough left over for herself.
Lisa Clampitt founded the Matchmaking Institute to help matchmakers network and learn from one another.
Lisa had become a professional matchmaker in 2001, founded the Matchmaking Institute in 2003, and spent over a decade trying to transform the matchmaking industry for the better. And she was exhausted.
Lisa knew she had to make a change if she wanted to avoid burning out and losing the trust of the matchmakers and clients who depended on her. So, she started practicing better self-care. She meditated. She worked out. She made time to eat a long lunch, and she kept to a regular sleeping schedule. Within a few months, she found her productivity levels and happiness soaring.
“I have a lot more energy to do a lot more now, and I’ve seen that snowball in my profession,” she said. “It made me realize how incredibly crucial it is to implement self-care and support.”
Lisa started the Matchmaking Institute to make the profession more transparent, standardized, and collaborative. Now she has decided to add self-care to the organization’s curriculum and ensure professional matchmakers maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Exciting Announcements at an Upcoming Conference
The Matchmaking Institute has become well-known for its online trainings, but it also hosts invaluable live two-day trainings and masterclasses at its annual conference. This engaging event is geared toward professional matchmakers worldwide. The event, which will run from October 8-10, will take place in London a few days before iDate 2018, thereby giving professionals a chance to get a two-for during their trip to the UK.
The MMI conference will welcome seasoned matchmakers who want to build relationships in the industry as well as self-starters who are just entering matchmaking and looking for a little guidance. Professionals travel from all over the world to learn from some of the best in the business. Lisa said the conference attendees include established dating experts from 34 countries, include the US, the UK, Australia, Mexico, China, Japan, and the Ukraine.
“Thank you for every detail and everything about this conference!” said Lauren Pena in a review. “I am filled with so much positivity right now because of you and the entire Institute.”
This three-day event will be packed with useful information and opportunities for new and established matchmakers. The program includes master classes, certification training sessions, and networking events. The Matchmaking Institute also plans to unveil its advanced listing service this year and showcase technology capable of increasing the revenue and reach of matchmakers throughout the world.
The listing service has been in beta-testing for months, and now it’s ready to go public and revolutionize the way matchmakers recruit, collaborate, and make matches. Thanks to this service, enrolled matchmakers will be able to share their networks and find compatible dates for clients living anywhere in the world. The global network will support newcomers to the industry by giving them a basis to start their businesses, and it will empower local matchmakers to take on clients who live, work, and travel around the world.
“You can monetize your client base by sharing them as possible matches or referrable clients to matchmakers around the world,” Lisa said. “That opens up more possibilities for the matchmaking business.”
Collaboration has long been at the heart of everything the Matchmaking Institute stands for, and this new service will put that mission into practice on a global scale.
Launching Coaching Certification Programs
Aspiring dating experts can turn to the MMI website to learn everything they’d ever need to know about starting a matchmaking business, recruiting clients, and expanding dating services worldwide. The site offers online lessons, which include with live Q&A sessions with a seasoned professional, to get newcomers up to snuff and help them establish and maintain a good reputation in the industry.
MMI has educated and endorsed many influential matchmaking professionals, and its resources support anyone hoping to make a difference in the modern dating scene.
The Matchmaking Institute certifies matchmaking professionals of all experience levels.
“Anything we learn as professionals, we are able to relate to our clients,” Lisa said. “The Matchmaking Institute has created the ability to network and support each other, and that’s been incredibly transformative.”
In addition to basic certification courses and in-depth master classes, MMI has recently launched a science-based coaching certification led by Dr. Terri Obuch aka the Love Doctor. This certification course will provide insightful tips on how to work with singles and prepare them to start a relationship.
Dr. Terri Orbuch has over 30 years of experience as a therapist, dating coach, researcher, and professor, and her insights on addressing self-sabotaging attitudes and identifying negative dating patterns can help matchmakers set their clients up for success.
Whether it’s providing a jump-stater kit to launching a matchmaking business or highlighting useful coaching skills, MMI trainings prepare professional matchmakers for all aspects of working with modern singles.
“We’ve got to create a place where matchmakers can learn and network,” Lisa said, “but also leave with a clear head and healthy priorities.”
Lisa Clampitt Emphasizes the Importance of Self-Care
The Matchmaking Institute has long offered educational resources to matchmakers, but, recently, the organization has begun supplementing education with peer-to-peer support. Lisa said her experience feeling downtrodden and exhausted by her work schedule fueled her to look into self-care as an unmet need among matchmakers and dating professionals worldwide.
“We’re really strengthening our conference to incorporate self-care for practitioners,” she told us. “We want to inspire each other and support each other.”
“Lisa, you are a talented teacher and a successful matchmaker. I consider you a great mentor.” — Robin Arnold, a professional matchmaker in Victoria
MMI trainers have begun incorporating self-care into training regimens, and it has been tremendously popular among participants, who have gone away from three-day retreats feeling refreshed and energized. Lisa said she also plans to start weekly support groups to help professionals recharge their batteries and learn from one another.
Lisa has a deep understanding of the needs of matchmaking professionals because she has worked in the industry for over 20 years and watched her colleagues face similar issues throughout their careers. She herself has learned the importance of balancing her own needs with her professional goals and good works.
“Our greater mission in life is to take care your ourselves and grow so we can be successful,” she said. “It is a chronic problem to be drained and not take care of yourself because you’re taking care of someone else and helping them find love.”
MMI Values Cooperation Over Competition
The search for love isn’t for the faint of heart. Just like online daters can experience burnout, matchmakers can also start to feel down on themselves or unequal to the tasks before them. That’s why the Matchmaking Institute is there to lift them up and empower them to excel personally and professionally.
In the last 15 years, the Matchmaking Institute has become a go-to resource for matchmaking professionals throughout the world. And it’s not done growing just yet. At its upcoming 2018 conference, the MMI team will announce a revolutionary tool that will increase international collaboration among matchmakers and make it easier than ever for aspiring dating gurus to start their own matchmaking firms.
Whether you’re new to the matchmaking game and want to know how it works or you’re an established dating expert looking to expand internationally, you can take advantage of the company’s specialized training and certification programs to grow your business and become a more knowledgeable, capable, and confident matchmaker.
“I want to implement tools for international collaboration in a concrete way,” Lisa said. “With our resources, it’s going to be like a business in a box. You’ll have the tools to get leads, access an international database, and have instant colleagues around the world. It’s unlike anything that’s been done before.”
