Today we’d like to introduce you to May Hui and Katie Chen.
May and Katie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Katie and I were co-workers at a Fortune 500 company. I quit my job in upper management in Dec 2006 and toyed with the idea of starting a dating company. I did a lot of research, read numerous books about other entrepreneurs, and found the idea of starting a dating company fascinating. I tried to apply for jobs at dating companies but without success so I thought, “Why work for someone when I can work for myself?” I hatched the idea of starting my own matchmaking company in 2007 in Los Angeles, working at my kitchen table. When Katie got laid off in 2007, I quickly convinced her to be my business partner. She happily trained with me for months and got addicted to helping singles. Katie and I became business partners and we signed up our first client together. We knew dating was tough in LA and have seen our friends struggle with dating apps, meeting men in bars, and telling us horror stories of dating. Because Katie and I are outgoing, love talking to strangers, and want to help people, we were successful in what we did with a small learning curve. We knew we were onto something when we wanted to come to work every day with new ideas and be part of start something that was fulfilling. Since we are both Asian, we started getting more and more requests from male clients who wanted to meet Asian women. We slowly developed a niche in the market where we serve men of all ethnicities in LA and all over US who want to meet Asian women in Los Angeles. Today, we have the largest database in US with the most beautiful, intelligent, and amazing Asian women of all ages. We realized we wanted to help Asian and non-Asian men find their Asian partners and it became our passion. As of today, we’ve arranged over hundreds of successful couples and marriages and that number is increasing every day.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting our own business has not been a piece of cake and like most businesses, have had our challenges and obstacles. We had to do a lot of things with trial and error. The good thing is that Katie and I see eye to eye on many situations and we can talk things through. It’s an advantage that we were not good friends before going into business with each other. That allowed us to speak to each other like business partners, without hurting each other’s feelings, like you would do in a close friendship relationship. Looking back on our ten years of business, we’ve learned a lot. We learned that radio and newspaper ads were a waste of money for our business. We learned that just people chose us to advertise with them, doesn’t mean it would be money well spent. We had to learn to say NO to some organizations who wanted to partner up with us that wasn’t good for our brand. It’s tough to say NO to people, but we learned that we needed to politely turn people down on events we deemed were a waste of time and resources. As with any new business, we were always learning. Hiring a business coach did wonders for our business and it was money well spent. It helped to have a fresh pair of eyes on our business and to approach it from another angle. We realized that hiring a part time employee or two freed us to focus on things that truly mattered for our business. We should be doing things that drove revenue, not doing administrative things that didn’t move our business forward. We also learned that it was okay to reach out to other matchmakers in the industry to network and learn from. We struggled with our pricing (not charging enough, not realizing our time was worth more) when we first started. We undervalued what we did. Another thing we learned was branding (getting the correct look for our company name, business cards, etc) was so important. Finally, we had to figure out what demographics we wanted to focus on, thus creating a niche business for us. Talking things through and bouncing ideas between us really helped us figure out what we wanted Two Asian Matchmakers to be about and to succeed.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Two Asian Matchmakers – what should we know?
Our approach to helping singles is the opposite of multi-tasking. Each client receives special attention and sometimes, if needed, hand-holding help from us. To get our clients on the fast-track to finding their mate, we take the time to meet with potential matches and take a magnifying glass to values, lifestyles, and potential attraction between two people. As matchmakers, we highlight our client, hand-select matches, and focus on things that matter on behalf of our clients. Our clients have worked hard to be successful, to keep fit and healthy, and cultivate friends and family relationships and they deserve the extra time and attention we give to help them find love. We honor privacy for the CEO’s and industry leaders as well as any person who prefers privacy about their dating life. Beyond helping singles find love, we help them with challenges specific to L.A. and help them find a slice of sanity and joy while helping them navigate dating in LA. When two people want to meet each other, we set up the date for them. We arrange the time, place, make the reservation, and pick the activity for them. Our ideal client is someone who value their time more than money. We are known for first class service with our clients. The men are the paying clients and the women join our database and get set up for free if she is a good match for a man. We are known in the industry as the matchmakers with the largest Asian women database in LA, if not the US. We are most proud of our honesty, integrity in taking on a client. If we feel that we cannot help them, we will let them know. Each client works directly with the owners of the company, with Katie and me, May.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
What makes us great matchmakers is our compassion, empathy, and patience when it comes to helping our clients. We are their biggest cheerleader and they know that we are in their corner to help them be successful in dating. There are also times when we need to show them tough love. We need to tell them who they should be dating vs. who they think they should be with. So, there is a balance with being on their side and telling the real deal about why they are failing in finding love. We provide postdate feedback so our clients can become better daters.
Contact Info:
- Address: 800 S. Robertson Blvd. Suite #3, Los Angeles, CA 90035
- Website: www.twoasianmatchmakers.com
- Phone: (310) 876-2291
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.youtube.com/user/TwoAsianMatchmakers
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TwoAsianMatchmakers/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianMatchmaker?lang=en
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/two-asian-matchmakers-los-angeles-2
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
