What do you want to do when you grow up? Do you want to be an everybody, or do you want to be extraordinary?
While graduating from college with a computer science degree, I thought for the longest time I wanted to be a computer programmer. My parents were blown away when I got a job out of school making bank. They thought I was "super successful", even though I was dying inside and did not like my job. I would be sitting at my desk doing the work I needed to and once I was done, I found myself writing stories, poems, recipes, researching my desired creative avenues, and applying to be on various TV shows. I knew my destiny in life is to create. While I have been involved in computer programming since I was 12 years old, I have taken my writing and performing adventures more seriously since I first started writing at age 15.
After I left my job out of school on my own terms (I am not one to burn bridges unless absolutely necessary), I was ready to make my own career instead of trying to fit a mold. I thought Uber and Lyft were the answer to "working on my own and making it big", but it turned into a failed business venture. I tried obtaining some freelance gigs in the meantime and had minimal luck (better than zero, but not enough to solely freelance). I sold a bunch of my belongings on the internet and have had luck reselling some stuff, but was not making enough to survive solely on that either. After 2.5 years of struggling (from February 2016 until July 2018), I decided to take the summer of 2018 off working completely in order to take a step back and truly find myself. I had a bunch of money saved up, which I spent all of it having fun and making some poor choices in between. My parents saw me as a "failure" because I wasn't going the traditional job route.
After a technical writing job blew up in my face in October 2018, thinking technical writing was ultimately what I wanted to do once I left my IT job, I still knew it was my destiny to create and make people happy. Sadly, in this capitalistic society, you need money, so I decided to get a job as a server and spend more time thinking what I really want to do. While I enjoy my server job and luckily have been working on finding balance to find time to work vs. create, I want to find the best way to maximize the skills I have and turn that into the most income possible. Some people take jobs just for the money, but I know when I do that, I get fired right away, which is a waste of everyone's time. Plus, getting fired sucks big time!
Success isn't a 9-5 job. Success is turning what you want to do into the greatest possible income. I want to be like the Bruno Mars song, "Millionaire" and "I want to be a millionaire so freaking bad". At restaurant land, I am maximizing my time there while learning valuable professional skills and making connections with other coworkers. Making connections is a more valuable experience than making money, even though money is nice and you need money to survive.
My next most valuable skill besides the knowledge of technology (which I still love and still want to write about) is writing. At this point, while working on turning my personal endeavors from writing and performing into a "full-time income" (ex. my blogs/websites, freelancing for other people, my youtube channel and various other creative content I write/sell/post on my own outlets, posting on other people's blogs and getting paid, writing my own books, etc.), writing for an income while turning my own thing into a career is what I want to do. It is possible to turn your dream into a reality. Don't give up or listen to other people's negative feedback. If you do what you want to do and follow your own set path, you will be happiest and live the most fruitful life. It is never too late either. You got this. It is time to create your own path!
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Bad Days When Driving for Uber
The title says it all! All of the information I am about to disclose is 100% true and actually JUST happened to me.
Today, a Sunday evening I drove from about 7pm to about 12:30am and took 1 bathroom break that lasted about 30 minutes (from driving to the place and doing my business). I also stopped for gas once, which didn't take too long.
I wanted to see which rideshare app would pay me more money... Uber or Lyft. I was also curious if I'd totally make bank because you can tip within the Lyft app on your credit card vs having to tip in cash only with Uber.
Unfortunately, I feel like this was probably the lowest grossing day of rideshare driving I've ever had or at least very close!
Sunday nights at anytime are generally pretty steady. There isn't much surge going on, but getting rides usually isn't a problem... except for today. I also feel like Uber has a higher chance of landing surge prices than Lyft, as well as Uber's fares are higher. Rides are also more frequent with Uber, but seem less likely to get canceled with Lyft at least from my experience.
I have noticed the quality of Lyft passengers are higher and I don't get rides under 10 minutes with Lyft (with Uber I do quite frequently). At 7pm when I turned my Lyft app on, it took me about 5-10 minutes to land my first ride. Until about 10pm, rides were pretty steady. Then, duty called and it was bathroom o'clock. I didn't want a slight feeling of having to pee to turn into a "peemergency"; I decided to take care of it right away. Since most places are closed at 10pm on Sundays, I needed to find a 24 hour Jewel. Thankfully, I only had to drive 5 minutes to get to it. I also walked around, stretched, checked my phone, etc. Once I was done in bathroom land, it took me FOURTY minutes to land my next ride. I really needed to do an instant pay because rent is due soon. With Lyft, you need $50 dollars to cash out right away and with Uber, you can cash out with any amount greater than 0. It was also almost midnight and I didn't want the new week to start and be unable to cash out. I was so desperate for a ride I even drove into the areas I purposely avoid driving in just for someone to call me. I drove a couple laps around the area and ended up parking in a gas station to chill out and wait a bit. As I was about to text my friend how upset I was, I landed a Lyft Plus ride (same as Uber XL). Thank goodness because Lyft Plus has a higher fare rate. It was about a 5 mile, 15 minute ride. I finish the ride. Lalalala, I continue to drive some more. Another 10-15 minutes had elapsed and I was rideless. I end up receiving another Lyft Plus ride. It was about a 12 minute ride, $10 dollar fare. Ok, I'll take it. At this time, it was about 11:45pm. I was finally able to cash out and took care of it. At that point, I turned my Uber app on simultaneously with my Lyft app (11:45pm). Since I'm desperate for money right now, I was going to keep driving; I also have an interview tomorrow and need to get some rest to be on my best game. I cashed out at 11:59pm and was still waiting for a ride once again.
For Chicago people, I was on Ridge Street and Damen. I took Ridge all the way to Broadway Street, passed the Green Mill, passed the Target, passed the Jewel, passed the Holiday Club and turned right on Irving Park Road at Sheridan (I was close to Lake Shore Drive) to head back towards my apartment, as I was fed up with not getting rides. I told myself, "if I can drive all the way home down Irving Park Road and not get a ride with either app, I'm calling it quits." Driving from Sheridan/Irving Park to Elston/Irving Park is about a 15 minute drive without traffic. At 12:20pm, without a ride, I parked my car. Fuck that noise. I don't need to drive around, spending my gas, not making any money due to not getting any rides. I went home to post some items on Craigslist and hope my friends who don't have the Lyft app installed would download it and use my referral code in order for me to attain $20 dollars a pop. I need it! Bad!
Now that story time is over, despite all my riders being cool and talkative, here is how the moneys break down. Again, I am being fully honest, but people need to be aware of what a "bad" day in rideshare driving land looks like. It is a reality!
I was out for approximately 5 hours in the driving lands. I will consider myself "at work" during this time period. I had 1 40 minute period and 1 30 minute period where I was rideless (2 total). During the second bout of no rides, both apps were turned on simultaneously. During the first bout, only Lyft was on.
*Before deductions and overhead expenses (gas/caffeine to stay awake), I made about $73 dollars (rounded to the nearest dollar) in total fares. Only THREE of those dollars were from tips, thus, even with a tip option, I still don't get tipped extra. In addition, on a Friday/Saturday night of driving, I only made $7 in tips on a very long day/night of driving. LAME!!! I guess people still don't like tipping, though when I do receive tips, I am very thankful. On another note, the most I have received in 1 night of driving in tips was 2 people giving me $20 dollar tips for doing far drives. No matter the app, tips are still rare!
*Legal minimum wage in Chicago for a worker is $10.50
*Lyft takes out 25% of your fares for their commission fee (Uber does the same percent). It also costs 50 cents on both apps to use the instant pay function!
*After the commission deduction, I took home about $57 dollars (rounded to the nearest dollar). That's a bit more than 11 dollars an hour, just barely over minimum wage. Do you think a single independent person putting wear and tear on their car (and body) can LIVE off of that? But WAIT!
*I also had to stop for gas during this trip. I feel like on average of my gas expenses of hitting the least expensive gas station I can find, especially having an SUV, I spend about $60 or so dollars (up to about $80) on average on gas per $200 dollars I make. Sometimes, I spend less, but it depends on the rides. That's about 30 percent of my take home fares being spent on gas...
*Out of the 57 dollars I made today, I spent 20 on gas and 2 dollars on caffeine (22 dollars). So after my daily overhead, I took home a whopping 35 dollars! Don't even get me started on needing to set aside 1/3 of your pay for end of the year taxes...
*All in all after overhead, removed commission, etc, after being at "work" for 5 hours, I made about 7 dollars an hour. I live on my own too and pay for everything myself and do this mainly full time. Can anyone live off of that?
*I am also injuring my knee and hurting my poor 2004 car with 180,000 miles, driving on weekends because they are the most lucrative times to drive, and I drive 40-55 hours a week, which feels endless, especially because I am also looking for jobs and playing the hustle game on top of driving for my main source of money. Since my car is older, I am also throwing myself in the hole with lots and lots of repair bills! Before overhead on a normal week, I average $500-$650 a week before overhead (after commission deduction) and on my best week I made about $800. However people make greater than $1000 dollars a week, unless it was when the "guaranteed fare rates" existed, I have zero idea how it's possible to do that anymore... :(
*This is a more lucrative "extra money" side job, but a decent placeholder job on most days. Today was just el sucko and I want to show people what a bad day in rideshare driving land looks like. I am also super stressed out because my bills are mainly at the first half of the month and I am surely surviving while riding the super struggle bus! The head honchos don't care if you make shit money, because they get money while you're driving anyway!
***In the meantime, I will always post updates on rebsuberdriver.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/rebsuberdriver to share my quirkiness, mischief, and mayhem. Please like and follow my pages :) ***
************If you don't have the LYFT app installed and you use the code REBECCA569169 you can get 20 bucks in free ride credit.***** You will also help a Rebs get 20 dollars who imperatively needs the money. Using this code for the driver side will also get you a bonus if you complete the allotted number of rides. Please share around. Much love <3 It will only take you a minute or two to do this and it would mean the world to me, especially because I feel like rideshare companies are finding ways to screw over drivers and I barely made rent this month (I also have a relatively low rent in general and for Chicago)************
************Also, Uber is having a promotion where if you sign up as a driver (even if you never do it again), it's 75 rides for $750 dollars. That's a lotta money and the only time I've seen the promotion that high!!!!! :D ************
Also be sure to check out rebsuberdriver.blogspot.com for more epic stories on me driving for Uber and Lyft!
Today, a Sunday evening I drove from about 7pm to about 12:30am and took 1 bathroom break that lasted about 30 minutes (from driving to the place and doing my business). I also stopped for gas once, which didn't take too long.
I wanted to see which rideshare app would pay me more money... Uber or Lyft. I was also curious if I'd totally make bank because you can tip within the Lyft app on your credit card vs having to tip in cash only with Uber.
Unfortunately, I feel like this was probably the lowest grossing day of rideshare driving I've ever had or at least very close!
Sunday nights at anytime are generally pretty steady. There isn't much surge going on, but getting rides usually isn't a problem... except for today. I also feel like Uber has a higher chance of landing surge prices than Lyft, as well as Uber's fares are higher. Rides are also more frequent with Uber, but seem less likely to get canceled with Lyft at least from my experience.
I have noticed the quality of Lyft passengers are higher and I don't get rides under 10 minutes with Lyft (with Uber I do quite frequently). At 7pm when I turned my Lyft app on, it took me about 5-10 minutes to land my first ride. Until about 10pm, rides were pretty steady. Then, duty called and it was bathroom o'clock. I didn't want a slight feeling of having to pee to turn into a "peemergency"; I decided to take care of it right away. Since most places are closed at 10pm on Sundays, I needed to find a 24 hour Jewel. Thankfully, I only had to drive 5 minutes to get to it. I also walked around, stretched, checked my phone, etc. Once I was done in bathroom land, it took me FOURTY minutes to land my next ride. I really needed to do an instant pay because rent is due soon. With Lyft, you need $50 dollars to cash out right away and with Uber, you can cash out with any amount greater than 0. It was also almost midnight and I didn't want the new week to start and be unable to cash out. I was so desperate for a ride I even drove into the areas I purposely avoid driving in just for someone to call me. I drove a couple laps around the area and ended up parking in a gas station to chill out and wait a bit. As I was about to text my friend how upset I was, I landed a Lyft Plus ride (same as Uber XL). Thank goodness because Lyft Plus has a higher fare rate. It was about a 5 mile, 15 minute ride. I finish the ride. Lalalala, I continue to drive some more. Another 10-15 minutes had elapsed and I was rideless. I end up receiving another Lyft Plus ride. It was about a 12 minute ride, $10 dollar fare. Ok, I'll take it. At this time, it was about 11:45pm. I was finally able to cash out and took care of it. At that point, I turned my Uber app on simultaneously with my Lyft app (11:45pm). Since I'm desperate for money right now, I was going to keep driving; I also have an interview tomorrow and need to get some rest to be on my best game. I cashed out at 11:59pm and was still waiting for a ride once again.
For Chicago people, I was on Ridge Street and Damen. I took Ridge all the way to Broadway Street, passed the Green Mill, passed the Target, passed the Jewel, passed the Holiday Club and turned right on Irving Park Road at Sheridan (I was close to Lake Shore Drive) to head back towards my apartment, as I was fed up with not getting rides. I told myself, "if I can drive all the way home down Irving Park Road and not get a ride with either app, I'm calling it quits." Driving from Sheridan/Irving Park to Elston/Irving Park is about a 15 minute drive without traffic. At 12:20pm, without a ride, I parked my car. Fuck that noise. I don't need to drive around, spending my gas, not making any money due to not getting any rides. I went home to post some items on Craigslist and hope my friends who don't have the Lyft app installed would download it and use my referral code in order for me to attain $20 dollars a pop. I need it! Bad!
Now that story time is over, despite all my riders being cool and talkative, here is how the moneys break down. Again, I am being fully honest, but people need to be aware of what a "bad" day in rideshare driving land looks like. It is a reality!
I was out for approximately 5 hours in the driving lands. I will consider myself "at work" during this time period. I had 1 40 minute period and 1 30 minute period where I was rideless (2 total). During the second bout of no rides, both apps were turned on simultaneously. During the first bout, only Lyft was on.
*Before deductions and overhead expenses (gas/caffeine to stay awake), I made about $73 dollars (rounded to the nearest dollar) in total fares. Only THREE of those dollars were from tips, thus, even with a tip option, I still don't get tipped extra. In addition, on a Friday/Saturday night of driving, I only made $7 in tips on a very long day/night of driving. LAME!!! I guess people still don't like tipping, though when I do receive tips, I am very thankful. On another note, the most I have received in 1 night of driving in tips was 2 people giving me $20 dollar tips for doing far drives. No matter the app, tips are still rare!
*Legal minimum wage in Chicago for a worker is $10.50
*Lyft takes out 25% of your fares for their commission fee (Uber does the same percent). It also costs 50 cents on both apps to use the instant pay function!
*After the commission deduction, I took home about $57 dollars (rounded to the nearest dollar). That's a bit more than 11 dollars an hour, just barely over minimum wage. Do you think a single independent person putting wear and tear on their car (and body) can LIVE off of that? But WAIT!
*I also had to stop for gas during this trip. I feel like on average of my gas expenses of hitting the least expensive gas station I can find, especially having an SUV, I spend about $60 or so dollars (up to about $80) on average on gas per $200 dollars I make. Sometimes, I spend less, but it depends on the rides. That's about 30 percent of my take home fares being spent on gas...
*Out of the 57 dollars I made today, I spent 20 on gas and 2 dollars on caffeine (22 dollars). So after my daily overhead, I took home a whopping 35 dollars! Don't even get me started on needing to set aside 1/3 of your pay for end of the year taxes...
*All in all after overhead, removed commission, etc, after being at "work" for 5 hours, I made about 7 dollars an hour. I live on my own too and pay for everything myself and do this mainly full time. Can anyone live off of that?
*I am also injuring my knee and hurting my poor 2004 car with 180,000 miles, driving on weekends because they are the most lucrative times to drive, and I drive 40-55 hours a week, which feels endless, especially because I am also looking for jobs and playing the hustle game on top of driving for my main source of money. Since my car is older, I am also throwing myself in the hole with lots and lots of repair bills! Before overhead on a normal week, I average $500-$650 a week before overhead (after commission deduction) and on my best week I made about $800. However people make greater than $1000 dollars a week, unless it was when the "guaranteed fare rates" existed, I have zero idea how it's possible to do that anymore... :(
*This is a more lucrative "extra money" side job, but a decent placeholder job on most days. Today was just el sucko and I want to show people what a bad day in rideshare driving land looks like. I am also super stressed out because my bills are mainly at the first half of the month and I am surely surviving while riding the super struggle bus! The head honchos don't care if you make shit money, because they get money while you're driving anyway!
***In the meantime, I will always post updates on rebsuberdriver.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/rebsuberdriver to share my quirkiness, mischief, and mayhem. Please like and follow my pages :) ***
************If you don't have the LYFT app installed and you use the code REBECCA569169 you can get 20 bucks in free ride credit.***** You will also help a Rebs get 20 dollars who imperatively needs the money. Using this code for the driver side will also get you a bonus if you complete the allotted number of rides. Please share around. Much love <3 It will only take you a minute or two to do this and it would mean the world to me, especially because I feel like rideshare companies are finding ways to screw over drivers and I barely made rent this month (I also have a relatively low rent in general and for Chicago)************
************Also, Uber is having a promotion where if you sign up as a driver (even if you never do it again), it's 75 rides for $750 dollars. That's a lotta money and the only time I've seen the promotion that high!!!!! :D ************
Also be sure to check out rebsuberdriver.blogspot.com for more epic stories on me driving for Uber and Lyft!
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Adventures in Adulting 103: Figuring Out What To Do With Your Life
Being an adult idea ventures on 5-10-16:
*Going to bed without crashing means having to set limits for yourself
*Water is your friend
*Comparing yourself to others is harmful because if you see another multitalented person and "want to be where they are", chances are you're already on your way. However, said person you're wishing you can be has totally different talents and interests than you and you need to accept your own gifts, especially if no one's ever seen them before. I also need to keeptelling myself how my journey is *mine* and there's probably 0 people in this entire world will have the same journey as me (identical twins are also a rare breed and being a black belt is cool af)
*I'm buying a digital clock I had been eyeing for awhile. No more phone charging next to me. No more giving into social pressures while trying to sleep.
*Be yourself. Your version of weird and different isn't the same as anyone elses.
*Stay humble. Money isn't the most important thing in the end!
*Going to bed without crashing means having to set limits for yourself
*Water is your friend
*Comparing yourself to others is harmful because if you see another multitalented person and "want to be where they are", chances are you're already on your way. However, said person you're wishing you can be has totally different talents and interests than you and you need to accept your own gifts, especially if no one's ever seen them before. I also need to keeptelling myself how my journey is *mine* and there's probably 0 people in this entire world will have the same journey as me (identical twins are also a rare breed and being a black belt is cool af)
*I'm buying a digital clock I had been eyeing for awhile. No more phone charging next to me. No more giving into social pressures while trying to sleep.
*Be yourself. Your version of weird and different isn't the same as anyone elses.
*Stay humble. Money isn't the most important thing in the end!
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Adult Problems: Low on Food, Money, or Both
I am very blessed to have cooking ability and I'm sure I'm not alone in being low on food and/or money. What would you do if you were in that situation? Go out to eat? Go get Mickey D's? Nah! Why not just throw together what I find in my apartment and call it a day! You know, kind of like Chopped and making a "food salad" combined! This way, I can still feel like I'm eating gourmet, but on a budget! #poorpostcollegegradproblems
*Cous Cous: I have made WAY too much Cous Cous for my own good, but the 5 minute cous cous in the box isn't a bad idea. I got the tomato and lentil flavor and added peas, red onions, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, onion powder, a dash of cumin, chives, red bean noodles (from Whole Foods that I keep at my apartment at my disposal), a package of veggies from an already-used Ramen Noodle pack, and Tabasco Sauce. This can give me up to 4-6 servings, depending on what I use it for!
*Cous Cous: I have made WAY too much Cous Cous for my own good, but the 5 minute cous cous in the box isn't a bad idea. I got the tomato and lentil flavor and added peas, red onions, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, onion powder, a dash of cumin, chives, red bean noodles (from Whole Foods that I keep at my apartment at my disposal), a package of veggies from an already-used Ramen Noodle pack, and Tabasco Sauce. This can give me up to 4-6 servings, depending on what I use it for!
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