Rideshare Drivers Setting Goals/Game Plans And Why It’s Important!

In this review, I’ll be delving into the significance of Rideshare drivers establishing goals or game plans and why it’s important! Setting goals or a game plan to succeed (especially as a Rideshare driver!) should be a crucial part of our everyday life right? I mean who wants to walk through life without having any aim, direction, or expectations? Even when you’re working for a regular everyday job like McDonald’s, clerk, or janitor, having a game plan before, during and after work is always vital. Or so it should be. That being said, they’re should be some sort of order or foundation put in place, before you start to tackle your day. Especially if you’re planning on becoming a serious, full-time, professional Rideshare driver

Just imagine for a second trying to build a house without a blueprint, starting to drive without a driver’s license, going to war without a strategy, or being a public speaker without having any topics written down to talk about. If none of these case scenarios make any kind of sense to you, then why would pursuing your day, evening or night without a game plan be any different? That would be like an angel or “goody goody two shoe” running into trouble, without the intention of actually wanting or asking for trouble! It’s not the obstacle in front of you, but the preparation beforehand that makes all the difference!

Here at #1RidesShareDoc, I’m all about sharing my 6 plus years of personal experiences with you concerning Rideshare driving. Let me share my story with you. That’s why I created this site! I’m all about sharing the good, the bad, happy, sad, the highs and the lows of the RideShare Industry and what it’s like to be on the road. This humongous industry includes popular companies like UberLyftVia, and Sidecar just to name a few. And though they may all have different names, all of these Rideshare services are just alike. Let me talk about and explain the things that these companies don’t talk about or want you to know.
Allow my lessons to become your stepping stones and your blessings.

This review will be divided into the following sections, for better absorption and clearer understanding purposes:

Introduction
My Definition Of A GamePlan/Goal
Why Is Having A Game Plan So Important?
Why Is not Having A Game Plan a Bad Thing?
What Are The Best Times To Start Driving?
What Are The Worst Times To Start Driving?
Your main Focus Should Be 3 Things!
Choosing The Best Moments To Drive, Maximizing Your Profits!
My Professional Conclusion For Having A Game Plane/ Setting Goals!

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My Definition Of Having A Game Plan/Goal

Having a game plan or goal in place before hitting the road and starting your work for the day (in my opinion), simply means planning to win! This is done by simply making certain calculated arrangements or decisions ahead of time. This is done by planning before you start your day, how you want your day to go instead of allowing your day to plan you! Aim for how you want your day to end. And whether you set up a game plan or not, either way you’ve set up your game plan. That being said, not planning anything means that you’ve planned to fail! That’s my little definition lol.

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Why Is Having A Game Plan So Important?

As a RideShare driver, setting up a game plan with goals in place is important. Game planning can help the driver (to a minimum!) earn a certain dollar amount, through a roundabout period of time (whatever goal you put in place.), before the work day or night is over. You’re giving yourself a fair chance to making more money by choosing when, where and how your going to drive, according to the circumstances. You’re bringing order to how much time and money you plan on investing for the day, in the most sufficient way possible. These are all important facts to keep in mind (including taking short breaks and meditation), as you put together your game plan.

Close up of people pointing to a graph with data. There is also a digital tablet and a laptop on the table.

Why Is Not Having A Game Plan A Bad Thing?

Not having any game plan or goal in place would leave a driver’s earnings up to chance or fate, like gambling at your local casino. If you win, you win and if you lose, you lose. That being said, gambling is exactly what you’re doing when you’re not setting goals or having a game plan put together as a Rideshare driver. You’re just rolling the dice, starting from when you pick up your first passenger of the day. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Especially if you’re mindful of the fact that every minute, hour, day, week and month are different and could be exercised to your advantage. That being said, working while not knowing what to expect and doing nothing about it is one thing.

But working while having an idea of what to expect and acting on these expectations is another! Take being a police officer for example. Having a job as a Rideshare driver is like having a job as a police officer, minus having the legal protection and the ability to call for backup. You never know exactly what to expect (but the basics!) because every day is different. But you do have an idea of what to expect, giving you a chance to prepare, act and move accordingly. That being said, having some sort of game plan in place can add structure and organization to your day, allowing you to fit other needs, or wanted plans into the mix!

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Your Main Focus Should Be 3 Things!

As an UberLyftVia, or Sidecar driver (even as a taxi cab driver!), it’s very important to focus on some key categories or areas before creating your game plan and beginning your work day. 3 categories actually to be specific! Those 3 categories are time, money, and location. Let me elaborate. The amount of time you put in when it comes to picking up and dropping off passengers will determine how much money you make. The location you decide to work in will determine how fast you’ll make your money. Simple equation right?

Your app settings such as “Destination mode” or “Area mode” for example, could play a part in your goal setting or game plan, if you decide to just want to be in one specific location. “Destination mode” is a setting Rideshare apps have in place that allows drivers to drive towards a specific direction or address. I commonly use this setting to get me home at night, after a long day on the road. “Area mode” on the other hand, is a setting used to keep a driver in a specific area. I commonly use this setting when I’m not trying to get long rides or travel to other states! So in a nutshell, these settings give you more control over your location.

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Now without further ado, I would like to elaborate on what the drivers 3 main focuses should be:

1.) Time Goals: First things first! How much time are you willing to invest and at what times are you willing to drive? I’ll tell you right now from my personal experience, that a driver should be willing to invest at least 6 hours within a 24 hour time frame, if they plan on seeing any type of profit. You want to figure this out first for organizing purposes and probably for other things that don’t involve work. This is very important, especially since we don’t have work schedules or any boss telling us what to do and when to do it. So what better way is there to start your day, than with a little organization of timing!

You also want to figure out when’s the best time to start driving, that works for you? If you’re not a night time person for example, you would want to plan to drive more during the early evening hours. Especially since driving sleepy is worse than driving drunk! If you are not a morning person, then of course you want to plan more for the afternoon evening hours to drive! You literally set your own schedule, which is one of the greatest benefits we get to enjoy as professional RideShare drivers. When you drive during hours that you feel are more suitable for you, you tend to have the ability to drive more. Even if you’re not big on driving!

2.) Money Goals: When you figure out how much time you’re willing to invest and at what particular times you plan on investing it, it’s now time to figure out how much money you want or expect to make. When you have figured out how much money you want or expect to make for the day, whatever dollar amount you’ve come to a conclusion on, might cause you to change your original plans, when referring to your time scheduling.

You might have to increase or decrease the time you planned to invest and the hour or time you planned on starting.. So for example, if you set in your mind a goal to make $100 that particular day and you planned on only investing 4 hours, something would have to change when referring to your dollar amount. Either decreasing your expected dollar amount for the day or increasing the amount of time you originally chose to invest, would be a choice that you would have to make. There’s nothing wrong with having a change of plans either. Sometimes unexpected things happen!

3.) Location Goals: So now that we’ve gotten your time and money plans or goals together and out the way, it’s now time to figure out where you want to drive! Keep in mind that the amount of money you earn will depend on the area you choose to drive in. Are you looking to make a quick fast buck or do you have all day to make some money. That’s the big question you should be asking yourself, as you lay out your game plan for the day or week!

That being said, working in any city or downtown area, tends to give you the fastest, quickest profits. Working in the county tends to be the complete opposite. I’ll describe in further detail within the next upcoming section how to maximize your profits when it comes to driving in certain locations. That’s how big of a deal knowing where to drive is!

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What Are The Best Times To Start Driving?

When driving for Rideshare companies like Uber, Lyft, Via, and Sidecar, it really matters when you choose to drive. Now even though sometimes it can be a 50/50 chance of these time periods not yielding what you (or I for that matter lol!) expect, it’s always a good idea to have a blueprint of your timing game plan, to aid in countering expected and/or unexpected events! Especially if you have goals that you’re trying to meet before the day is out. Keep in mind as you read each piece of advice that for these times to work, it would greatly depend on what day of the week it is that you’ve chosen to drive on:

Morning Shift (6:00am-12:00pm):

If you choose to work the morning shift hours, the best time to start driving for me would be anywhere from 6:00 a.m., to 12:00 p.m. Especially on a Friday morning! The days of the week that this time interval would apply to (for me!) would be:

-Thursday Morning – ThursdayAfternoon
-Friday Morning Friday Afternoon
-Saturday Morning Saturday Afternoon
-Sunday Morning Sunday Afternoon

EveningShift(5:00pm-10:00pm):

If you choose to work the afternoon shift hours, the best time to start driving would be anywhere from 5:00 p.m., to 10:00 p.m. The days of the week that this time interval would apply to (again, for me lol!) would be:

Thursday Evening – ThursdayLate Night
Friday EveningFriday Late Night
Saturday EveningSaturday Late Night
Sunday EveningSunday LateNight

Night/Graveyard Shift(10:00pm2:30am):

If you choose to work the night or graveyard shift hours, the best time to start driving would be anywhere from 10:00 p.m., to 2:30am. The days of the week that this time interval would apply to would be:

-Thursday Night – Friday Morning
-Friday Night – Saturday Morning
-Saturday Night – Sunday Morning
-Sunday Night – Monday Morning

Young man in bed late for work

What Are The Worst Times To Start Driving?

Morning Shift (2:30am-6:00am):

If you choose to work the morning shift hours, the best time to start driving would be anywhere from 2:30am, to 6:00am. The days of the week that this time interval would apply to (again, for me lol!) would be:

-Sunday Early Morning – Sunday Mid Morning
-MondayEarly Morning – Monday Mid Morning
-Tuesday Early Morning – Tuesday Mid Morning
-WednesdayEarly Morning Wednesday Mid Morning

EveningShift (1:00pm-5:00pm):

If you choose to work the afternoon shift hours, the best time to start driving would be anywhere from 1:00 p.m., to 5:00pm. The days of the week that this time interval would apply to would be:

-Sunday Afternoon – Sunday Evening
-Monday Afternoon – Monday Evening
-Tuesday Afternoon – Tuesday Evening
-Wednesday Afternoon – Wednesday Evening

Night/Graveyard Shift (2:30am-6:00am):

If you choose to work the night or graveyard shift hours, the worst time to drive (from my personal experience), would be anywhere between the hours of 2:30 a.m. and 6:00am. Especially on a Sunday night! So to reiterate, the day that you decide to drive on also plays a big roll in the best time you should choose to start driving.The days of the week that this time interval would apply to (in my opinion!) would be:

-Sunday Night – Monday Early Morning
-Monday Night -Tuesday Early Morning
-Tuesday Night-WednesdayEarly Morning
-Wednesday Night – Thursday Early Morning

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Choosing The Best Moments To Drive, Maximizing Your Profits!

Now that we’ve covered the importance of setting time and money goals and implementing them into your daily game plans, it’s now time to learn exactly how to maximize your profits to the fullest. In other words, this section will be covering the greatest ways of going about maximizing your daily profits! When choosing to drive and provide Rideshare services to the public, your best moments to drive are:

During The Holiday SeasonsDriving during the holiday seasons is one of the biggest, most crucial ways to maximize your profits, when providing Rideshare services to the public! As a matter of fact, anytime there’s a lot of people out and about (for whatever reason!), you’re going to pick up more rides and make more money than usual. Not only for you, but for your rideshare company (Uber, Lyft, Via, Alto and Sidecar) as well. These Rideshare services will be offering drivers 10 times more in bonuses and incentives due to these particular times of the year! So with that being said, these money making holidays include, but are not limited to:

Thanksgiving                            Washington’s Birthday
Independence Day                   Flag Day
Memorial Day                            Kwanzaa
Veterans Day                             Black Friday
Christmas                                  Groundhog’s Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day      Halloween
New Year’s Day                         New Year’s Eve
Labor Day                                  Saint Patrick’s Day
Juneteenth                                Passover
Columbus Day                           Valentine’s Day
Good Friday                               Mother’s day                                              Easter Sunday                           GoodFriday                                Father’s day                             

So be sure to buy a calendar or day planner and mark them up accordingly. Simply choose all the holidays that work best for you ahead of time and you’re literally good to go.

During Bad WeatherDriving during bad weather can sometimes bring more earnings to the driver, than driving during the holiday seasons! The biggest reason (in my opinion!) is because a lot of your other fellow rideshare drivers won’t be willing to drive in that bad weather and/or risk the chance of having a car accident. You have to prep your mind to take serious risk like that or simply have a little bit of experience and patience under your belt, which part-time drivers tend to not have! So this fact alone leaves plenty of space and opportunity for the hungry full time Lyft and Uber drivers to take over.

But I do want to remind you that driving in bad weather (like snow, ice or heavy rain) can be dangerous and even life-threatening. So always use your professional discretion when choosing to add this to your game plan. All money isn’t good money you know! Now when it comes to the passengers, people tend to not like to walk in bad weather. Especially when it’s really hot or cold, icy, heavy rain or snow. I feel like this passenger part was needless to say, but you get the idea! Bad weather can equal really good money for Rideshare drivers! So be sure to always keep track of what the weather is going to be for the day and week. In other words, make sure your phone has a good weather app!

During Special Events Being HeldDriving during special events is another crucial factor that can play a big part in helping drivers maximize their profits! Like I’ve mentioned with driving during the holiday seasons, anytime there’s a lot of people out and about, you’re going to earn more money than usual.  So always be aware of what’s happening in your city, whether you plan on joining the events or not. Keep your eyes on the road and your ears to the streets. I tend to talk to all of my customers, which is how I get the majority of my information concerning what’s going on around me. Or I take the normal route by watching the news!

You could also go about maximizing your profits by:

Driving around Mass Transportation Areas (MTA)
To add to what I spoke on earlier concerning “location goals”, choosing a specific time to work while being located in a specific area can and will also aid the motorist in maximizing those daily profits! But for this to work, the motorist would have to choose specific working times where they would know that that particular airport, trolley, bus or train station for example, are going to be busy! Whether it be in the early a.m., the afternoon or in the mid evening “rush” hour times, which is like between the hours of 4:00pm – 7:00pm (where I’m located!). Just choose what works best for you.

You can always refer back to the section concerning “setting time and location goals”. With that being said, you could take this same knowledge and apply it to driving in other busy locations or areas that includes but I’m not limited to:

-Schools,
-Hospitals,
-Markets,
-Malls,
-Institutions,
-Clinics,
-Clubs,
-Bars and more!

Either way when you choose to work in any of these locations during certain times that you’ve planned for, the money you stand to earn could possibly be equivalent to Holiday money or bad weather money or even better!

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My Professional Conclusion For Having A Game Plan/Setting Goals!

So in conclusion, I would like to remind my Rideshare drivers again that having a game plan put together before you login to your Rideshare apps and hit the road, is extremely important. Driving without a game plan is like driving blind, while expecting not to get into a car accident! You’re completely setting yourself up for failure. That being said, you already want to have an idea of how much money you want to make, how much time you’re willing to invest and what areas of the city you plan on investing this time in. This is before you hit the road!

You should never have a “go with the flow” mentality. Especially if you’re supposed to be a full-time, professional driver! Let me explain what a “go with the flow” mentality is.. When I speak on a driver having a nonchalant, “go with the flow” mentality, what I mean is instead of a driver approaching the day with an air tight, well thought out game plan, the driver approaches the day with a “take what you can take”, “do what you feel like you can do”, “if it happens it happens” mentality! In other words, an absolute zero expectation mentality, which could possibly screw up your profits or worse!

Now that I’m nearing the end of another great discussion, you know I can’t wait to hear what you guys have to say! Let me know what’s on your minds and what you thought about this review. If you have anything to add, I would absolutely love to hear it. Simply leave your comments at the bottom of this review, and I will respond back promptly. And if you like what you’ve read, please feel free to Subscribe to my post! Just be sure to enter a valid email address. Everytime I make a post, you’ll receive a notification. Check your spam folder if you didn’t receive a confirmation email. Thank you so much again 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..

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