In this review, I’ll be covering 19 essential tips that every aspiring professional Rideshare driver should consider before signing that dotted line. Who doesn’t like having a heads up before getting themselves into something serious? In other words, who doesn’t like being prepared for what’s ahead of them or for what’s about to come, when deciding to join this type of dangerous, adventurous profession? That being said, I don’t think any of my readers fit this description or this type of individual. If so, you wouldn’t be reading this review.
People sign contracts and join major corporations every day without really understanding what they’re getting themselves in to. That being said, it’s only one way to offset this problem. That way is having someone with a lot of experience explain to you what it is that you’re getting yourself into. Moving right along, I want you guys to look at this article as a look into your future of what you could expect when becoming a Uber, Lyft, Via, or Sidecar driver. Look at this review as your warning to expect the unexpected, so you can protect the unprotected which is your sanity and your peace of mind!
Here at #1RidesShareDoc, I’m all about sharing my story and 6 years of personal experiences with you guys concerning the Rideshare industry. Sharing my experiences with you guys is the whole reason why I built this platform. I want you guys to be prepared for what’s ahead of you and more importantly behind you. I want you guys to understand the goods and the bads that come with working for these scary Rideshare apps. Allow my scary stories and lessons to become your dream stories and blessings!
This review will be divided into the following sections, for better absorption and clearer understanding purposes:
Introduction
Why Is It Important To Know In Full, What You’re Getting Yourself Into?
Tips To Keep In Mind, Before You Sign That Dotted Line!
My Professional Conclusion
Why It’s Important To Understand In Full, What You’re Getting Yourself Into?
Before starting any job or profession and signing that contracts dotted line, it’s always a good idea to understand in full what you’re getting yourself into. Especially when it comes to long term connections of all types including relationships, employment and/or career opportunities! When you fully understand the situations that you’re putting yourself into, you can make a better, more well informed, conscious decision if you decided to change something! In other words, you can expect things to happen while expecting other things to not happen!
Depending on the scenario, knowing this type of information could make it easier for you to accept the outcome of your final decision! Especially if things happen to not work out in your favor. Knowing what you are getting yourself into helps you plan better for the situation at hand and for life. And to sum this paragraph up, not planning to win is in direct correlation of you planning to fail.
So with that being said, plan on keeping these 19 pieces of advice in mind before you decide to sign that dotted line as a Rideshare driver. You’ve been officially warned!
19 Tips To Keep In Mind Before You Sign That Dotted Line. I’ll Elaborate A Little Bit On Each For A Better Understanding Of What You’ll Be Facing:
1.) You Have To Pay Taxes: Now this is an area that you rarely hear people or Rideshare drivers talk about. But it’s as serious as serious can get! Imagine for a second hitting the road every day, picking up and dropping off passengers and putting your life on the line to make a dollar. Then after slaving all year and taking care of your responsibilities (off of $60,000 of personal earnings!), you find out you owe $8,400 to the IRS!
Take a walk in my shoes because that’s exactly what happened to your RideShare Doctor. Just imagine if I had kids. Imagine no further because I would have been homeless! No Rideshare company takes taxes from your earnings. So you’ll have to put aside around 20% of each check to be sure that you’ll be able to cover what the I.R.S charges for your freedom!
2.) You Have To Maintain Your Vehicle: Now this is an area that all motorist talk about, not just Rideshare drivers! That being said, the more you drive, the more money you’ll have to invest in your vehicle to keep it up and running. Keep in mind that you’ll be driving for long periods of time, even if you’re just a part-time driver! So put aside at least 10% of each check for unexpected maintenance fees. This doesn’t include paying for your own gas! So make that 20% of each check..
3.) You Have To Maintain Your Stomach: Unlike your average day job, Rideshare companies don’t pay for your food when you decide to take a break. Not even at least 50% of the cost, like Burger King or Wendy’s lol! So you have to already have in your game plan a certain amount of money you plan on spending for your personal nourishments! So with that being said, setting aside about 10% of each check should do the trick.
4.) You Have To Have A Strong Stomach: If you can’t handle the good smells along with the bad smells that people bring into your car, then this most definitely isn’t a profession you should be looking into. Damn near every other ride you complete is going to be with a person who doesn’t smell very pleasant. It doesn’t have to always be their body! As a matter of fact a lot of times it isn’t their body. It’s their disgusting breath lol!
5.) You Have To Smell Good/Car Too: If you never liked taking showers in the past, you definitely have to get past the fear of soap and water now! My personal rule has always been, “if I can smell it, you can smell it”. Depending on the passenger, some call you out on how bad you smell (especially kids!), if you or your car gives off even the slightest bad odor! Either that or they might ask you to roll the windows down, which is another dead giveaway! It’s the most embarrassing feeling in the world. So just be mindful of the way you smell and your car as well or the customers might remind you..
6.) You Have To Love People: Having a strong love for people could actually help you in overcoming the majority of this list. The same goes if you have strong hate for people, only vice versa! You won’t be overcoming anything. You should just hang it up now on becoming a Rideshare driver or you just might end up hurting one of your innocent, funky Uber passengers lol!
7.) You Have To Make Your Own Schedule And Stick To It/Game Plan/Goal: When it comes to your time, money and work location, being able to come up with your own game plan and stick to it is 100% your responsibility. So if you lack at having good planning skills and setting goals, this profession may not be for you. Especially if you have a problem executing your game plan. Being your own Boss was never built for tired, lazy, non-ambitious people!
8.) You Have To Be A Good Driver: You would obviously have to be a good driver. If you aren’t, you’ll find out pretty quick with every ride you complete! When I say you have to be a good driver, what I mean is that you have to have good acceleration, turning and breaking skills. Not driving too fast or too slow is key, but it takes practice! Depending on the passenger, you can sometimes do what you want within reason. But you also have to know the right times to do so, which you’ll learn over time if you make it that far!
9.) You Have To Love Driving Long Hours: You don’t necessarily have to love driving for long hours, but instead not mind driving for long hours! Loving the road and being in different places at different times helps me cope with my long hours. I actually enjoy long rides. Now before you sign that dotted line, you should find yours! I say this because your average ride is going to be 10 minutes or longer, not including the time you drove to get to your pickup location. So prepare yourself to complete rides that may be up to 4 hours long!
10.) You Have To Be Able To Drive In Any Conditions: Sometimes in the middle of a ride you’ll find yourself in the middle of a big thunderstorm! But regardless of the rain, sleet or snow, you still have to get your passenger to their drop off destination safe. No matter the road conditions! So not only should you love driving, but you should also have at least 2 years of experience, a strong mind, a large amount of patience and a good amount of confidence. If you feel as though you lack any of these four (especially patience, confidence or experience!), walk out of your Lyft or Uber orientation now and don’t look back!
11.) You Have To Adjust Your Body/Stretch A Lot: Adjusting and stretching your body parts is something else that you would have to remind yourself to do, while you’re driving those long hours and/or distances. Especially those legs! You could actually hurt yourself by not stretching before, during and after a few hours of heavy driving. Making sure your blood is flowing throughout your body without any restrictions is more important than what you may think. Your legs just might go to sleep on you or your back might cramp up in the middle of a ride. So also keep this in mind, before signing that dotted line!
12.) You Have To Take Naps: Getting plenty of daily rest is very important. Especially when it comes to driving long hours! So if you’re not the type that likes to sleep or if you have kids that don’t allow you to sleep, then you also may not be a good candidate for this type of profession. Or at least not a good candidate for becoming a full-time Rideshare driver. Being sleepy while driving is like drinking alcohol and driving but worse! That being said, you might want to take naps between rides if that’s what it’s going to take for you to drive these long hours and distances! That’s actually what I do, since I rarely sleep more than 5 hours at home.
13.) You Have To Protect Yourself: Are you ready to defend yourself if one of your passengers decide to attack you over not making a stop or over the GPS taking you the wrong way? If you aren’t ready to protect yourself, then this profession isn’t for you. Keep in mind that you’ll be taking a big risk with every stranger that sits behind you in your vehicle. A risk of you being robbed, kidnapped, car vandalized, punched, stabbed or even worse, shot! So be ready for these types of scenarios or suffer the consequences!
14.) Your Responsible For Your Passengers: Do you feel like you can handle the responsibility of another person’s safety or life? I’ll tell you right now, if you don’t care about people or even like people for that matter, you know as well as I do the answer to that question. If something was to happen that’s exactly how your Rideshare company including your passenger is going to look at you! Your responsible for what happens to that passenger once they get in your car. Even if the passengers are grown.. Keep this in mind before you sign the dotted line!
15.) You Have To Be Strong/carry Bags: In a profession like this that requires you to pick up and drop off passengers, it’s almost inevitable that you’re going to cross a passenger that has a lot of heavy bags. With that being said, you’ll have certain customers that will actually expect you to get out of your driver’s seat and help them with their bags. Regardless if you have the strength or if it’s yours responsibility or not! That’s why I recommend that you have a little spare time in you (if that’s a good way to put it!), when deciding to become a ride share driver. No passenger likes a weakling lol..
16.) You Have To Find Your Own Bathroom: This is something that I had an issue with when I first joined the Lyft platform! That being said, depending on how strong your bladder is, you might want to reconsider joining this type of profession. I say that because some of your rides are going to be long, as I explained earlier. So if you don’t have the ability to hold your bowels long enough to find a bathroom, this profession may not be for you. Sometimes finding a bathroom can be a lot harder than you think. Especially if you’re working graveyard shifts!
17.) You Have To Deal With Road Pains: Are you good at handling pain? How about dealing with pain while driving. Did you know that pain can be distracting? That being said, if you’re not doing regular stretching as your completing these short and long distance rides, then expect to be in some type of pain! Especially when it involves your legs, hips, neck or back. Keep this in mind as well before joining the Rideshare industry!
18.) You Have To Deal With Alcoholics And Drug Addicts: This is actually very serious and could affect your life, especially if you’re either an ex-alcoholic (like me!) or ex drug addict! Just imagine for a second trying to battle an addiction, while having a drunk passenger sit behind you indulging it. Could you handle the pressure?
Could you also handle the thought of being pulled over and given a ticket if the police were to actually find any drugs or alcohol in your car? If your answer to any of these questions is no, then I suggest you look elsewhere and leave the Rideshare service business alone!
19.) You Have To Expect The Unexpected/Open-minded: Last but not least, you have to literally always expect the unexpected! Not just the things that was described on this list, but any and everything else as well. You see when you deal with the public or people in general, people or public types of situations happen. So to conclude this list, I’m going to say to you what my homies used to say to me, when I was out there doing the wrong thing.. “Don’t get caught slippin” and “don’t say I didn’t warn you”!
My Professional Conclusion For These Things That You Should Keep In Mind:
So in conclusion I would like to say to always do your own research before taking it upon yourself to sign a contract or join something you’ve never joined before. Especially when it comes to becoming a Rideshare driver! Some experiences are simply not meant to be experienced you know? Especially if it’s going to put you in uncomfortable or unexpected circumstances.
Now that I’m nearing the end of another great discussion, you know I would love to know what my readers are thinking. Surely this review has stirred up some new decisions in some of your minds. Especially if you didn’t have anything from this list on your mind as you were thinking of becoming a rideshare driver! Some of you might have even changed your minds about working for a rideshare app. Either way I would love to hear what you guys are thinking or if you might have something to add that wasn’t mentioned in this review.
If you do, please don’t hesitate to leave your questions, comments, or concerns at the bottom of this review and I will respond back promptly! If you liked what you’ve read please feel free to Subscribe to my post. Just be sure to enter a valid email address so everytime I make a new post you’ll receive a notification. Check your spam folder if you didn’t receive a confirmation email. Thank you for reading my post and as always drive safe out there!
If you’re not interested in driving strangers around in the backseat of your car, but interested in having a flexible lifestyle, you could always start a business working from home! If you’re interested, please don’t hesitate to read my review on Wealthy Affiliate. Thank you again for reading..
