Business Headlines: Professional Wingman; Holiday Sales Up

BOSTON (CBS) - Listen up men.

If online dating isn't getting you anywhere, a Boston-based entrepreneur says he can help you meet women.

He's a self-proclaimed professional wingman.

Twenty-six-year-old Thomas Edwards has been written up in the Boston Business Journal, the Wall Street Journal and AOL for helping men figure out why they can't connect with women.

He has a seminar in Boston next month.

Believe it or not, this is his full-time job.

He makes men ask themselves three important questions: what they want, what's preventing them from getting it and what's the plan to make it happen now?

And if you don't believe him, well, he just got engaged.

HOLIDAY SALES BOOST

Figures out today from the Retailers Association of Massachusetts show holiday sales were up a whopping 5.1 percent this season.

That's twice what had been predicted and it's well ahead of the national average, which was about 4-percent.

It's the second straight year that sales were up and local businesses are really loving this bit of good news.

Watch Lisa's report:

Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal can be seen weekdays at 6 a.m. on WBZ-TV.

You can follow Lisa on Twitter at @lvanderpool.