With this very short review, I’ll be covering the importance of all Rideshare drivers having a secondary source of income and some reasons why! Everyday when we wake up and head to work, it’s not a guarantee that that job will still be there when you arrive. We don’t think about it do we? Even if you already have the job and your boss provided you with a schedule saying that you’re supposed to work for the day, the week or the month, working that day still isn’t guaranteed! Your job could have experienced a serious, unexpected financial loss or could be under some type of poor leadership without you even knowing. Unexpected things happen all the time! It’s just the cost of being an employer or employee and guess what, being a Rideshare driver is no different!
As a matter of fact, sometimes it could be worse! You see as independent contractors or Rideshare drivers we find ourselves in just as much of a bad position as a person who’s an employee at McDonald’s. Drivers get suspended for undetermined amounts of time and/or unexpectedly terminated all the time for all sorts of stupid, unexplained reasons.. and I do mean unexplained reasons! It just doesn’t seem like it sometimes due to the fact that drivers control when and how they work for the most part, which makes us seem like we’re self-employed. That would be the only difference between us and employees! Everything else concerning Rideshare driving is the same as a college kid working at Popeyes.
Here at #1RideShareDoc, I’m all about sharing my story and personal experiences with you concerning the Rideshare driving industry. In other words, I’m all about sharing any and everything that involves my first hand experiences. I want the world to know what these Rideshare companies like Uber, Lyft, Via, and Sidecar don’t want you to know or think about! I want everyone to know what they’re getting themselves into before becoming a passenger and more importantly a driver. Let me prepare you for what’s ahead of you and more importantly behind you. Let’s relate and share our experiences with one another so we all can grow together like it should have been from the very beginning. Let’s begin!
This review will be divided into the following sections, for better absorption and clearer understanding purposes:
Introduction
What’s A Secondary Source Of Income?
Why Is It Important For ALL Rideshare Drivers To Have A Second Source Of Income?
What’s A List Of Some Ideas For A Second Income Stream For Rideshare Drivers?
What Are Some Unexpected Events That Could Take Place, Which Could Interfere With A Rideshare Drivers Primary Source Of Income?
Do Rideshare Companies Recommend Drivers having a Second Source of Income?
My Professional Conclusion!
What’s A Secondary Source Of Income?
In my book, I would consider a secondary source of income to be money that’s being paid to you outside of your primary or first source of income. You know, the income that you depend on everyday to survive! Yes, that would be considered your primary or original source of income. Whatever money you receive outside of your original source of income would be considered your second source or “side hustle“. So this other source of income could come from any avenue that has the ability to earn money like a business, job or investment opportunity. But these avenues of income would have nothing to do with your original or primary source of income! Hopefully that helps clear up the definition..
A Rideshare driver having a second source of income would allow them to do a few things which would all be centered around something happening to their primary source of income! Here’s a few reasons why:
1.) A More Stabilized Income: Everyone knows how unstable and unpredictable our incomes can be as Rideshare drivers. It could be because of the time of day, the day of the week or the time of year. But regardless of the reason for this unpredictableness, our incomes are not at all stable. So you could look at having a second job as your little safety net, just in case you’re having a difficult time on the road earning money or something happens unexpectedly.
2.) More Money For Expenses and Savings: Having to cover all of our own expenses like insurance, gas and maintenance on our own can be difficult, especially when dealing with those fluctuations I mentioned within the previous reason. Nothing is guaranteed! That being said, having that second source of income would add on to your spending budget making these car expenses much easier to handle and more guaranteed to be paid when they need to be.
3.) Retirement Planning: Would you happen to be planning on retiring anytime soon? If so, then having a second source of income could guarantee that you retire exactly when you want to versus not knowing when you’ll retire. That’s how serious this fluctuation of earnings can really be when you’re primary source of income is from Rideshare driving!
4.) Diversification: I would consider it extremely financially risky and/or dangerous on a driver’s behalf when they decide to rely on that one source of income provided by Uber or Lyft! By having a second source of income coming in, this would immediately not only provide the driver with more stability, but also more Independence when it involves needing that one particular driving job.
5.) Debt Reduction: Having a secondary source of income can speed up the process of paying off debts in a more guaranteed time frame, if the driver happens to have any debts pending.
6.) Develop Skills: Now this isn’t something that a Rideshare driver necessarily has to think about. But these skills that you’ll be developing through having other sources of income could help out if something were to happen to a drivers primary source of income. There’s nothing wrong with having two or three sources of income. The more sources of income that a driver indulges in, the more chances the driver has at developing a new skill!
Before I get into this short list of ideas for Rideshare drivers, I want to first remind you guys to consider what interests, skills and available hours you may be working with. Once you’ve figured out what your skills and interest are along with how much time you’re willing to invest, then you’ll have an idea of what to look for within this short list.That being said, some examples of a secondary source of income might include:
1.) Delivering Items/Merchandise: Signing up with a delivery type of service like Door dash or UberEATS could be a route you could take. Especially between Uber rides when you have no one to pick up. As a matter of fact, this might be your best option! Especially since you’re already on the road a lot..
2.) Selling Merchandise: Since we constantly find ourselves picking up and dropping off strangers, you could try promoting simple products thru them like candy or clothes you may not want anymore. Any personal merchandise of value should do just fine. Especially when referring to a driver earning a second stream of income..
3.) Tutoring Kids Online: Would you happen to be that driver that’s experienced in another area that may involve education? If so, then tutoring kids online might be just for you.. and you can do it all from the comfort of your vehicle!
4.) Renting Out Your Car: You don’t drive for Lyft or Uber every single day do you? Well if you don’t, then you could try leasing your vehicle out to people on those days that you’re not out driving, which can be done thru car-sharing platforms.
5.) Manage Someone’s Social Media: You could also get paid for managing someone’s social media account, which you could also do from your vehicle in your spare time!
6.) Try Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is actually my secondary source of income! That being said, with all of that free time we have available between rides, you could try looking into and learning more about affiliate marketing. You’ll have plenty of chances at creating not just a secondary source of income, but multiple streams of income as well!
Now even though I would consider this entire list to be just some random ideas, you could still use this short list as your guide to an idea that you could at least start with! Especially if you couldn’t think of anything on your own. Either way like I said before when starting this second short list, you should first analyze yourself for a moment and consider what interests, skills and available hours your willing to work.
Figure out what it is that you might be comfortable with doing first to earn that second source of income. Once you’ve figured that out, you could even try coming back to this short list or searching online for ways to either supplement your income or add on to your income.
This part only pertains to drivers who drive full-time and depend on Rideshare driving as their primary source of income. If this section doesn’t make any of you Rideshare drivers think about finding a second source of income, then I really don’t know what will! Some people really like taking risks I guess! With that being said, there are 2 types of unexpected events that could get in the way of a drivers primary source of income besides the slowness of a drivers day. Both happen when you least expect it. A lot of times they take place when you’re having a great day, week or month. These 2 types of unexpected events include:
1.) The Driver’s Account Being Deactivated, Put On Hold or Terminated: Now even though there’re a few reasons why a Rideshare company would want to deactivate or terminate a driver’s Lyft or Uber account, I’ll give you what I feel is the most common reason why. That one main, common reason is because of an angry passenger making up false reports. Angry passengers make up false stories all the time concerning drivers who may have pissed them off! But that’s not where the problem really lies.. Can you guess how many passengers these Rideshare companies believe who make these reports? I’ll tell you how many.. all of them. That’s right, every last one of them and that’s where the problem lies! So with that being said, I now have some questions for my drivers.
Would you really feel comfortable putting all of your time and effort into a company that believes the customers are always right no matter what? Even worse, would you really feel comfortable putting all your time and effort into a company that believes in disciplining drivers before knowing whether or not the driver actually did something wrong? Just imagine for a second being out of work for an entire 7 days or more just because the passenger said for example that you were intoxicated or that you were blowing every stop sign on the way to their drop off destination. How about being deactivated or terminated for a passenger saying that you threatened them? Well wake up Rideshare drivers because throughout my 36,000 rides, these are all stories that have been made up about me, your wonderful Rideshare Doctor lol!
All of these stories came from a passenger that I somehow managed to piss off when all I was trying to do was give them a simple clean and safe ride from point A to point B. All of these stories make up the reasons why Lyft took it upon themselves to immediately deactivate my account without question and they’ll do the same to you when you least expect it. So I say that to say this.. never put all of your eggs into one basket. There are too many things that could take place unexpectedly, that could interfere with your Rideshare primary source of income. Hopefully me using myself as an example helped get my point across..
2.) The Driver Getting Into A Car Accident: I believe that the second type of unexpected situation that could take place would be just as popular as the first one on the list. I’ve also experienced this one first hand multiple times throughout my 6 and a 1/2 years of driving. So the second unexpected happening that could get in the way of a Rideshare driver’s primary source of income, would be getting into a car accident. It doesn’t matter how big or small of an accident it was which is the even scarier part and I’ll tell you why of course..
Whether an accident is big or small, the Rideshare drivers fault or the other drivers fault, Rideshare companies immediately deactivate the Rideshare driver’s account without question. Now if that doesn’t get in the way of your earnings or primary source of income, then I don’t know what will.. This deactivation could go on for days, weeks or even months. They had me deactivated for 2 weeks and the accident wasn’t even my fault! Again, this is before Lyft or Uber knows who’s fault the accident actually is! Why, because it’s supposed to be their protocol for protecting themselves. They have to protect they’re name right?
Or at least that’s what the rep told me! So just imagine for a second if the motorist that was at fault was the Rideshare driver and not the other driver. Am I making my point now on why it’s important for all I Rideshare drivers to have a secondary source of income? Now I do know and understand that accidents happen! It’s a part of life right? But what I don’t understand is why does the rideshare driver always have to be the bad guy or the guilty one, with the majority of the time being treated as both? I’m pretty sure passengers (especially the ones making those false reports!) would even agree that this is wrong!
Even though a person might consider this to be a really good question, I would have to say that in a way this would be a very silly question. Or at least in my book it would be! I mean why would Lyft or Uber want you to look somewhere else to make your money or for your primary source of income? That should really be the question! Seriously though, why would they want you earning money for another money hungry company and not them?
If all Rideshare drivers had another main source of income to depend on, wouldn’t that also mean that drivers possibly wouldn’t put as much time and effort into Rideshare driving? Yep it sure does and I’m pretty sure these vampire, blood sucking Rideshare companies know that. That’s exactly why they don’t recommend you go anywhere other than wear that drunk passenger is telling you to go!
My Professional Conclusion!
Now to conclude this short article, I would like to say that you never know what tomorrow holds. It could hold a blessing or it could hold a curse. The blessing would be considering you still having a job when you arrive at your work site and the curse would be the company going under before you even had a chance to punch in or plan for it. So at the end of the day like I say in a lot of my articles, it really matters that you plan ahead before unexpected tragedies take it’s course. Preparing for tragedies like the entire day for the driver, week or month being slow or like passengers making up stories on drivers and getting them permanently deactivated for absolutely no reason!
I think this in itself makes Rideshare driving worse than becoming a law enforcement officer. At least they can defend themselves and/or call for backup! Oh, and at least you’ll know why you’re suspended or terminated, if something were to happen. You’ll be talking back and forth with a real person face to face during the whole process! When it comes down to Lyft or Uber, they’ll deactivate you off the strength of a passenger’s word and that’s it! Knowing if it’s true or false doesn’t matter, which makes being a Rideshare driver completely unreliable!
So not only do you have to worry about it being slow and not making the money that you planned on making, but you also have to worry about the company deactivating you or terminating you (through an old, pre-written termination email!) for something you didn’t do. But hopefully you understand now why having a second source of income as a Rideshare driver is so important. Especially if you have a family to take care of or if you completely depend on yourself with zero outside dependencies like myself!
Now that I’m bringing this article to a close, would you guys happen to have anything to say pertaining to the importance of Rideshare drivers having a second income? Do you guys agree that it’s very important for not just rideshare drivers, but all people to have a secondary source of income? Would you happen to have any other examples of work that Rideshare drivers could do between rides? If you do have any information or have something that you would like to share, please feel free to do so in the comment section below. I would love to read what you guys have on your minds!
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