The View From Your Recession

A reader writes:

I'm a professional dating coach for men (if you've seen the Will Smith movie "Hitch," kind of like that). I take guys out to bars, night clubs, malls, bookstores -- wherever they want -- and show them how to meet women, talk to them and get dates.

Business is good. In fact, business is better than ever. And it keeps pouring in. I'm booked through the end of April coaching guys in four different major cities, sometimes making four figures in a single night out on the town. Then I go home, sleep until 3PM and do it again the next night.

But what surprises me more than the fact that all of these men are turning for help in their love lives, is HOW DESPERATELY they're turning for help.

Guys have been paying me with the last remnants of their bank accounts, deferring rent and bill payments, digging deeper into their credit card debt, even asking me to set up monthly payment plans for a single night out -- a night that typically nets a client only a few phone numbers and maybe a date or two.

I talked to another coach in the industry about it. And we agree that it's gone beyond the simple tripe of "sex sells." These single men who have become demoralized financially are seeking their solace not in some sort of economic recovery, but in the arms of a woman. The loss of financial security drives them to seek emotional security. And meanwhile, I'm cashing more checks than I even thought possible a year ago.