A Little Nudge: Founder Story

Ah, online dating.  Some people love it.  Some people hate it.  Some people love it so much they hate it.  I'm in the “love” category, and I always tell skeptics, if you meet the love of your life online (or even just a really good date!), you won't care how the heck you met—you'll just be thrilled that you did.

I was one of those kids who had lofty goals in life, always responding with “an artist,” when someone asked what I wanted to do when I grew up.  Can I paint or draw?  Not so much.  But it was a nice idea.  Then I got to college, and the practical side of me kicked in.  There was a voice in my head telling me, “Erika, you need to get a job after college.  Study something you can actually use.”  So I studied economics.  Don’t get me wrong—I actually loved economics.  I’ve always been a math person, so carrying math into practical applications was right up my alley. 

After college, I continued the “safe” route… taking a job at Fannie Mae.  (Little did I know that it wasn’t exactly as glorious of a company as it sounded at the time!)  I ended up working as an economist there for over seven years.  While I liked the job for a while, by the last year, I was itching to leave.  Like, poison ivy itching… and no amount of Calamine Lotion (or extracurricular activities) would help.  I would get frustrated every time anyone asked how my day went, which is, of course, not normal.  Given that I'm happy 99.872% of the time, something had to give. 

On the other end of the spectrum, I was a very early adopter of online dating, starting in 2001, when nobody did online dating!  I knew that this then-new way of meeting people held promise.  Over the years, through online dating, I had countless dates, numerous relationships, and enough stories to last a lifetime.  (Feel free to read some of them in my book!)  Then, being the numbers nerd that I was—and still am—I decided to start tracking my own online dating results in none other than a spreadsheet... the only way an economist knows how to do things! 

I honed my profile and emails to a point that my response rate, or percentage of men who responded to my initial email, was well over 60%, almost unheard of in the online dating world.  I was also able to convert over 50% of those into dates.  I found it interesting to test which emails worked, switch my pictures occasionally to see which drove more traffic to my profile, and even sign my emails differently every time.  (The closest I could get to a controlled experiment even though there were so many variables.) 

My philosophy is that if you market yourself well, you'll get more dates.  And, the more first dates you go on, the higher the probability that you’ll have a connection with someone, simply by increasing your odds.  I was, and am, of the opinion that you never know if you'll click with someone until you meet in person, so I erred on the side of meeting more people.

I had considered different options for a career change, but when it came down to it, I always went back to online dating.  It was simple—I loved what online dating could do for people, and my love for it made me want to help others with the process.  Friends were already coming to me to ask for help with their pictures, profile, and emails.  This was my calling, both to help people in a tangible way and to become an entrepreneur and startup founder.  

 So I quit.  I quit working at Fannie Mae in March of 2011 and haven’t looked back.  I didn’t want to start the business halfway, so I quit my former job before I even launched, which put even more pressure on me to make it work… and it did.  I was helping people with all aspects of online dating, from choosing flattering photos to writing a profile to crafting emails to planning dates… and everything in between. 

My concerns about not having enough clients were soon allayed.  I was profitable by month three, have worked with over 500 clients, and have slowly increased my prices over the last four years.  I also hired my first paid part-time employee last year. 

A cheesy as it sounds, my heart smiles every time a client contacts me to tell me a success story, in whatever form that takes, from a promising date after a long time out of the dating scene to a long-term relationship.  And I do it all as my own boss on my own terms.  Life is good.

Special thanks to Erika Ettin, Founder of A Little Nudge