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What It's About
A stay-at-home mom transforms into an online dating fairy godmother.
Business Model
Service
Skills Required
Writing
Complexity
Low
Profit Potential
Medium
Words of Wisdom
Meredith has some encouraging words for those who struggle with fear, "I was nervous about doing something new and had common fears like "what if it fails!" but at the end of the day, I knew fear of failure wasn't a reason not to try. So my advice is to try it. Worst case it doesn’t work out! Better to try than not and have regrets later."
Fun Fact
According to research conducted by eHarmony, more than 1 in 5 people have had someone help with their online dating profile. It’s clearly working because the same research shows that 20% of all current committed relationships began online.
Notes from Chris
Episode 1024
In 2015, Meredith Golden was a stay at home mom living in New York City. With two young sons to take care of, her life was quite busy—and living in a bustling city didn’t make things any easier. Meredith's friends, however, had problems of a different kind—the dating kind. Meredith herself had been married for over ten years so was out of the scene. In fact, smartphones and dating apps weren’t even a thing last time she was single. Even so, she had her own way of communicating and her flirting skills were on point. These were talents her friends loved to tap in to. They’d often found themselves asking for advice on how to proceed with someone they’d matched with on a dating app. Meredith always seemed to have the right banter or flirty comment at the ready. By following her advice, her friends often found dating success. After receiving a lot of praise, Meredith wondered if this specialized skill of hers could be useful outside her circle of friends. Luckily, she was about to enter a period of her life where she could test the idea. Her youngest son had just started preschool which freed up a few hours everyday … so she decided to try offering dating app ghostwriting. On a whim she made a Facebook post about it. Within three days, Meredith felt like the belle of the ball. The response was tremendous! She received eight thousand, seven hundred likes and comments. The post had gone semi-viral and spread well beyond the people she knew. It seemed like a lot of people out there needed help navigating the treacherous world of dating apps. She launched her service and called it Spoon Meet Spoon. She already had her first client through the viral Facebook post so she started working on what she’d actually do. At first, Meredith would merely try to replicate what she did for her friends. It went a little something like this… She’d review the client’s dating app profile and offer advice on improving it. That might be by updating their bio or improving the photos. Then, Meredith would take control of the clients dating profile and handle all the back and forth messaging with their matches. Soon enough, that first client was going on more dates and having a great time. Word of mouth spread, and before she knew it she had too many clients to handle and was often working up to twelve hours a day. That was awesome at first, until she realized she wasn’t valuing her time enough and charging too little for the time taken. So, she came up with a system of pricing packages to maximize her time and offer the best possible service. Her top tier clients would be charged two thousand per month for an initial face to face meeting and daily communication about the engagement and success of their profiles. Meredith has been featured in several media publications like CNBC and The New York Times. This exposure continues to bring in clients on a regular basis. By only taking on ten to twelve clients at any one time, she’s able to remain focused and provide the best possible ghost writing quality. Meredith is still incredibly busy, sometimes still working all day and into the evening. On the bright side though, this romantic side hustle has proven to be quite lucrative. Merdith is on track to easily clear six figures in revenue this year. What started as a hobby helping friends has become a moneymaking project she’s fallen in love with.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Spoon Meet Spoon: Need a little help with your online dating game? Learn more about Meredith and her services at her website.
- Tech Employee Gets Paid to Visit Napa Wineries: This Bay Area transplant started blogging about Napa wines as a creative outlet, but she soon discovered that valley wineries were willing to pay for exposure.
- Writing Duo Makes a Vow To Improve Wedding Speeches: Two freelance writers use their wit with words to write wedding vows for tongue-tied brides, grooms, and sometimes even the best man.
- Organic Chemist Earns Six Figures Blogging for Pre-Med Students: After witnessing the struggles that many students have with one of college’s most challenging subjects, a chemist creates a blog to help bridge the gap in knowledge.
Quote of the Day
"I knew the fear of failure wasn't a reason not to try. So my advice is to try it. Worst case it doesn’t work out! Better to try than not and have regrets later."
—Meredith Golden #SideHustleSchool
