Capitol Hill’s hours can be unforgiving. And it’s not unusual for staffers, politicians, operatives and even reporters to find themselves lonely and tired on the other side of the legislative calendar or campaign cycle. It’s OK, Erika Ettin is there for you.

“Essentially, you are completely outsourcing your online dating life to me,” says Ettin, founder of A Little Nudge, a D.C. online dating consulting firm. In this instance, she’s referring to her platinum package, which entails her taking charge of a person’s dating life.
“With the exception of going on the date, I will do everything for you. So in this case, I will create your online dating profile, upload your pictures. … Then I will actually start emailing people on your behalf.”

Ettin, a former economist with Fannie Mae, started her firm a year and a half ago.

“[If] you’re in the D.C. area, I’d meet with you in person,” she says. “It is a pretty informal meeting, but I do ask certain questions to make sure I can write you the best online dating profile possible.”

Her average client age is 41, she says. Many are divorced and jumping into the online dating world for the first time.

Her starter package entails her meeting her client, writing a profile and helping choose profile pictures.

The second package includes drafting the profile, searching the dating site and writing introductory emails.

“I would search as if I were you,” she says. “Every week, I would find you five to eight people I think you might be interested in based on our conversations. Obviously, I won’t know who you’re attracted to, so you would let me know up to five [matches] every week who you do like. [Then] I would write you an email that you can send to them.”

Then there’s the aforementioned platinum package. “Obviously, whoever hires me has to have a lot of trust in me because I will be representing them,” she says. “My goal is not to trick anyone. It is really just to get people on dates who wouldn’t have time to do it on their own. All they have to do is show up and read the email chain.

“I try to keep the email chain short,” she promises. “I don’t want to say something that’s untrue. I just want to get them on as many first dates as I can.”