Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mary Kate Murphy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mary Kate, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

After I got divorced, my faith in love and relationships was at a negative 10. I simply didn’t believe it was possible and all the relationships and marriages I saw were just faking it.

It wasn’t until a friend asked me, “Have you ever considered that you just haven’t found your person yet Mary Kate?” that my cold heart at the time actually got a glimmer of hope.

As I began to make my way on to the dating scene, I started to truly warm up to the idea that perhaps love was possible. But I knew I wanted to do it right this time. Let me explain…

My whole life, I was always the girl that chased the guy. I tried way too hard. I decided that I didn’t want to be that girl anymore. Also, I had to take a look and own what went wrong in my marriage and acknowledge what went right in order to get clearer on what I personally required in a relationship. And then, I got really quiet. I meditated up the wazoo to determine the qualities and values that I looked for in a partner, according to who I was as a person. I got to know and love myself on a deeper level.

I bottled this all up and I called it my dating plan. I knew what I didn’t want which narrowed down easier what I did want and I grew my self awareness…It was like my blueprint for dating! And then I set out to put it to the test.

I dated like it was nobody’s business. I lined up those dates on the weeks I didn’t have my kids from Monday thru Sunday. It was like a part time job, no joke. But I had FUN with it! I didn’t think, “ugh I have to go on anotherrrrr date.” I was more like, “wooohooo I can’t wait to get on another date and see what data I’m going to collect with this one!”

I had my questions lined up, not like an interview or anything, but I knew what information was important for me to inquire about in order to make a decision on whether or not we’d see each other again. Dating with intention and without attachment is how I looked at it.

I’ll fast forward to the good part. In just a month and a half later, after putting my dating system to the test, I found the love of my life, my soulmate, my fiance. How? I followed the system and most importantly, I made the focus on FUN, rather than attachment to the outcome.

I then just so to happened teach this system to all my divorced friends – helping them land healthy and happy relationships. And then, I created a business around it.

But here’s why I feel called to do this….because I know the exact feeling of feeling hopeless in regards to love and connection. Dating has gotten so challenging these days, with the inauthenticity of the apps to the scams to people just not having the required communication skills to have meaningful conversations, people are giving up on it. Many are settling for a single life and part of me feels that that is adding to society’s epidemic of depression and loneliness.

I am confident that everyone has their person out there. And if there’s anything I can do or say to support people in building the skills (dating is a skill) to better navigate the dating landscape to get closer to their person, then that is my mission.

Mary Kate, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Mary Kate’s Matchmaking is an elite matchmaking service which focuses on building the communication skills of her clients in order to forge sustainable, healthy relationships. This business just doesn’t want to help you find your ideal match, but we want to help you maintain the relationship by equipping you with the right communication and problem solving skills.

We offer 3 different services to our clients. The cornerstone service of our business is our matchmaking where we work one on one with clients through our dating & relationship coaching service, as well as personally advocating for them to find their ideal match. The next is our dating & relationship coaching service where we guide our clients through their dating goals and we work behind the scenes, on their behalf, in the dating apps, helping them navigate more efficiently through the matches and conversations. The last service we offer is our online dating course called, “Mastering the Dating Apps.” Customers here can expect to enhance their dating strategy through the dating system that Mary Kate teaches in the class.

The customers that use our services don’t necessarily have a difficult time finding dates, but they don’t have the time to go on the wrong dates. They want to save themselves the headache and frustration that is typically associated with modern day dating.

We believe in attention to detail as every person is unique and wants different qualities in a desired partner. We are attune to those details and keep them in mind as we set out to find love for our clients. Also, all our clients work directly with Mary Kate. There won’t be any 3rd party handling your case.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

As any entrepreneur knows, creativity and thinking outside of the box is a constant for business growth. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel! However, we are always looking at what is working for others and thinking, how can I make it better?

So one way that I began growing my reputation within my market was figuring out a way to get my name out there with my audience. I began attending weekly networking events and that helped, but then I thought, how can I maximize my network, while also building a reputation for myself, while also adding value to my network?

I contacted the founder of the biggest networking event in Miami and pitched a new idea to him. I asked if I could introduce a business panel once a month at his networking event where entrepreneurs could come together and share their insights on their particular niche, with the objective of enhancing the audience’s either business or personal lives. It would be fun, entertaining and value driven. And I would be the host of it.

He loved the idea! So I decided to take it and run with it! Not only did it give me the opportunity to showcase local talent and give them the opportunity to share more about their own businesses, but it also gave me the stage to be in front of anywhere from 50-100 people once a month and share insights and tips on my niche ( dating and relationships). Furthermore, as the host, it gave me free publicity for my business and gave me another platform to market my single’s mixers events. The results: an abundance of referrals and multiple clients signed and increased my social media presence.

It was relatively simple to build as any entrepreneur wants the floor to be able to talk about their business, so finding panelists to present wasn’t a challenge. Just a small investment of a projector was needed as the event space already had a microphone, lighting and speakers.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Quality over quantity.

As I got started, my main focus was getting wins with my clients relatively early on and over delivering on what I said I would do in the contract.

By staying laser beam focused on doing the job RIGHT with my first handful of clients, that led to many referrals and more clients down the road.

As a matchmaker it’s a very personal partnership that you share with your clients and they’re investing a lot of trust in you; therefore, you want to make them feel secure in their decision to invest in you relatively early on in the partnership by producing a result. This is why I always have matches for my clients before they even sign on. I want to feel confident myself as well that I can deliver. So overall, it’s all about quality over quantity.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mkmatchmaking.com
• Instagram: instagram/mkmatchmaking
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mary.k.murphy.77
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-kate-murphy
• Youtube: @mkmatchmaking
• Other: Email: [email protected]